''Model Engineer Magazine'' was first published (in the United Kingdom) to support the hobby of model engineering in 1898 by

Percival Marshall Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table, Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Pe ...

, who was to remain its editor for over 50 years. It has been owned by

MyTime Media MyTime is a software company headquartered in San Francisco that provides an all-in-one scheduling, marketing, and point of sale solution for local and International service businesses like Salons, Spa, Therapists, Fitness, Government, Financial ...

since 2008. The magazine addressed the emergence of a new hobby — the construction of models (often working) and experimental engineering, largely in metal. It transcended class barriers, appealing to professional engineers, jobbing machinists and anyone interested in making working mechanisms.

Contributors

The magazine has had many notable contributors, but foremost among these was LBSC (

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Lillian 'Curly' Lawrence). From the inter-war period to the 1960s he produced many designs for simple but reliable small model steam locomotives. Most of these were published in ''Model Engineer'', and brought the construction of small passenger hauling locomotives within the reach of the typical home machinist. Other notable contributors include Henry Greenly,

Edgar T. Westbury Edgar T. Westbury was perhaps best known as a major contributor to the English recreational magazine ''Model Engineer''. He contributed under his own name, and also under the pseudonyms 'Artificer', 'Ned', 'Kinemette' and Exactus. Beginning in 1925 ...

, J. N. Maskelyne and one of the most notable editors, Martin Evans. Fifty years later, the editor again has the name Martin Evans but is not of course the same person.

Model Engineer Exhibition

''Model Engineer'' has had a long-standing association with the

Model Engineer Exhibition A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

, originally held at

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

in London. The exhibition is almost as venerable an institution as the magazine itself, and is notable for the display of some of the finest examples of the hobby.

Magazine content

The subject matter of the (now fortnightly, earlier weekly) magazine ranges from articles about techniques and tools to profiles of full-size prototypes of modelling subjects. The main content is, however, 'constructional articles' describing projects at various levels of detail. Such articles range from single pages to long-running series in alternate issues, some of which can last for many months, if not years. These more detailed series generally appeal to a wider audience than those engaged in the project. It is often as much in the (often loosely) related anecdotes alongside as in the processes described.

''Model Engineer'' today

Over the years the magazine has waxed and waned, but is currently enjoying the increased popularity of the hobby engendered by the availability of comparatively cheap machine tools from China and Taiwan. In 1990 it spun off a companion title Model Engineers' Workshop which enjoys similar success but focuses more on workshop techniques and tooling.

References

{{Reflist

External links