SAMI: Super Models Revealed for the Jet Set (Scale Aviation Modeller International)

Member Name: Hishyeness

Product:	Scale Aviation Modeller International
Date:	15/08/09 (155 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Packed full of useful features

Disadvantages: Limited market.

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INTRODUCTION
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About five years ago, foolishly thinking that the birth of my first child would leave me at a loose end during paternity leave, I jumped head first back into my childhood hobby of building model aeroplanes. Head first is the only appropriate description, as in the space of a few short weeks, I accumulated more plastic kits than I could ever build. My wife thinks I am mad at the best of times, but my enthusiastic imitation of an over-excited magpie had her questioning my sanity a bit more than usual.

Of course along with the kits, paints, glue and other periphery, I needed some decent reference material. I wasn't simply content to knock a kit together out of the box - I wanted to master the art of producing really life-like miniature versions of the original aircraft. So, along with a few weighty tomes like "Fighting Aircraft of World War II" which could easily double as a doorstop (for a portal of palatial proportions), I looked into getting a decent monthly magazine to keep me apprised of developments and expand my knowledge.

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SAY HELLO TO SAMI
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I have an excellent local model shop (or two), and seeking a recommendation on one of my many visits to one of them, I was pointed toward the colourful looking Scale Aviation Modeller International (SAMI for short). After a quick flick through, I paid the £3.95 cover price and took it home for a proper read.

Finding a suitable hobby magazine is a trickier proposition than you may think. Modeller's are a strange bunch and don't work particularly hard to dispel the lingering stereotype of forty-somethings pottering about in the garden shed trying to recapture lost youth. This is not the kind of hobby you tell people about at parties - it seems to carry the same sort of social cachet as trainspotting, bird watching and collecting beer mats.

Many of us have very specific interests (mine is World War II single seat propeller driven combat aircraft), so finding a periodical that caters to a wide audience in what is already a fairly small target market is crucial. Fortunately, SAMI (www.sampublications.com), which has been going for over 15 years now, delivers in spades.

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FORMAT
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SAMI is a specialist full-colour glossy magazine which runs to around 100 pages a month, with a healthy mixture of regular sections, special features, advertising, news and competitions. Model aircraft are built in a variety of media (plastic and resin being the most popular) and sizes, and cover a very wide range of subjects, both civilian and military. SAMI encompasses all of these, so every issue has a main article that is of interest to most in the kit-building fraternity.

As mentioned, the cover price for individual issues is £3.95. As a subscriber, I take out a two-year subscription for £80, which translates into a monthly cost of around £3.30 (or a 15% saving off the cover price). There is usually a free gift or two (normally a kit) when you subscribe. Shorter 6 month and 12 month subs are also available, but represent less value.

Every now and again, SAMI does a series of issues providing a freebie - recent examples include a comprehensive back to basics guide for modellers, sponsored by Airfix (the twelve eight-page hole-punched sections, printed on glossy card, were delivered with each issue over a year and you then sent away for a free plastic binder) and also a series of twelve sixteen page colour pull out aircraft guides (on a single subject) sponsored by Squadron.

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REGULAR SECTIONS
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The magazine logically splits into three sections: news, kit previews and reviews, and feature articles:

> News

A run down of news and gossip from all major kit manufacturers, from the well known such as Hasegawa, Airfix, Italeri and Revel, to the more obscure, limited run companies such as Pavla, MPM and A Model. Usually there are also reports and photos from some of the major model shows on the exhibition circuit, although the biggest ones, like the annual IPMS Scale Model World in Telford tend to get their own feature articles. A helpful calendar of events is included at the back.

> Previews and Reviews

SAMI features a healthy section of "in-box" previews and "build" reviews of the latest releases, write-ups on new after-market products (stuff you can buy to enhance the basic kit such as specialist decals, replacement parts and etched brass add ons) and reviews of reference books and aircraft profiles, from WW1 "String Bags" (biplanes) to modern day "Fast Movers" (fighter jets).

> Features

There are usually a good three or four lengthy articles on highlighted aircraft - some illustrating the kit build process, others providing extensive close-up photographs of aircraft interiors, surfaces and features, primarily as reference material. A regular section called "Modeller's Profile" is particularly useful, giving aircraft history, scale drawings, aircraft markings and paint schemes, and available kits and aftermarket products for its subject. There is also an excellent classified section and the details and addresses of all of the advertisers in the issue, as well as local model clubs and model associations.

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VERDICT
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SAMI is an invaluable asset for all levels of kit modeller. The articles are very well written, excellently researched and accompanied by top notch photography. The regular features are always varied and interesting (to us anyway!) ensuring that the magazine will appeal to a wide audience. Recommended.

© Hishyeness 2009

Summary: An excellent resource for aviation enthusiasts and model builders.