Mushroom
Monthly – the background story!
MM started life back in 1984 as the newsletter of Chiltren Scale Model Club/IPMS Chiltren, instigated by Alan Ranger. Over the next few years it slowly developed, still with a limited circulation in CMMC (and Watford SMC) plus a few sales at model shows. Alan dropped out after five issues, to be replaced by Roger Wallsgrove and the next major turning point was when Roger joined forces with James Kightly, then with ALM and IPMS SE London.
For a while MM ran a s joint production from all four model clubs, expanding its circulation and becoming available on subscription. The formal link with ALM and IPMS-SEL didn’t last too long, but the readership stayed.
Initially typewritten, MM went through various changes in style and presentation as the editors gained access to (and learned how to use!) PCs. Right from the first issue, the most obvious characteristic was colour photo on the cover, as initially devised by Alan. Several other club magazines copied this, including one in Poland (Fanatyk Plastiku), but MM was definitely the first!
After 10n years of regular production, the end came in 1995 when both editors had career changes. The MM name didn’t die completely – Tony Martin produced a few issues of purely CSMC newsletter under the MM banner. But in essence the established MM was finished – 10 years of monthly deadlines was definitely enough!
Thast’s the history – but why produce a club magazine when there are so many commercial & IPMS magazines? Well, as the start IPMS-UK was going through a bad patch (hence the Mushroom tag!), and commercial mags were (still are) pretty bland. Reviews with no useful information (no criticism, that would upset the advertisers!), articles that just said, “...I stuck the two halves together” and worse.
Right from the start the intention with MM was to “tell it like it is” – proper reviews of kits, decals, accessories, which told the modeller exactly what they were (or weren’t) getting, without fear or favour. Articles on topics no mainstream mag would consider, useful hints and tips from wide range of expertise within the clubs, whatever seemed interesting and useful. Plus a determination to reflect the fact that our hobby id FUN, and neither we nor it should be taken too seriously!
To our continuing surprise, the mix seemed to work. By the end, MM was going out to readers all over the world, from Argentina to Australia to Finland (to ... everywhere!). More to point, articles and information flowed back.
This legacy of contacts, friends and information flow seemed too valuable to throw away, hence the rebirth of MM in a new quarterly format. All established MM features will continue, but extra space should allow us to get into more depth. We’re also intending to improve the production quality and photo reproduction. We hope you enjoy it.
If you haven’t come across MM before, a few back issues are still available. Write to Roger Wallsgrove for a complete list.