Ah... I faithfully subscribed for over 20 years starting right after I saw the pilot issue that a friend showed me while I was stationed in Berlin. For the first decade and a half FSM was outstanding, but then it slowly morphed from FINE Scale Modeler to AVERAGE Scale Modeler, establishing an almost annual publishing routine of the same beginner articles over and over and over - the annual "best glue" article, the "how to apply decals" article, the "airbrushing basics" article, the "decal setting solution comparison" article, and so on and so forth. Not only did it become boring, but it made you feel like a dupe for paying for a 'script and getting the same content year after year. Oh well, I suppose nothing good (or great) lasts forever, and with the advent of the interweb, I don't suppose we'll ever see another dead-tree rag the likes of FSM in its early haydays. Too many opportunities for really good modelers to self-publish these days while controlling their content and message 100%. FSM was good while it lasted, though.

Wise words my friend! Growing up in the Soda City area, I remember Snipe's Toys and Hobbies up town a block or so off Main Street and the Dutch Door shops - one on Assembly St. and the other in Boozer Shopping Center. The best of all, though, was Gene Baughman's Military Hobbies on Two Notch. Gene is the guy who pointed me the way to the local IPMS chapter. As a 12 year old precocious modeler, I was very flattered at the attention from a "serious, grown up modeler." I probably owe a karmic modeling debt to Gene Baughman as large or larger than the one I owe Shep Paine!