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TSC 2:1 (October, 1977)
IN THE INTERIM....
What happens to the letters you write to us at TSC? The only thing that doesn’t happen to them is filing in the round file (wastebasket). As time allows, I respond directly to as many as I can. But whether answered directly or not, all letters are read, sorted, and saved for future reference. They carry a wealth of information and suggestions of which some can be given an immediate response in TSC and others become pot-boilers for future changes: a directory of sources for 1” scale wood; how to dress and edge sand case piece parts; basic case piece construction; a glossary of terms used in TSC: an annual binder for each volume of four issues; Russian punch techniques; soft metal casting; ete.
This issue of TSC reflects several changes suggested by our file of letters. The “To Err Is Human” page, listing corrections of copy in past issues, has been printed on a loose leaf. It can be cut up and added to the appropriate issues without mutilating your current TSC. And a new “Letters to the Editor” column has been added as well. On some occasions we will use the column to print and respond to the views and opinions of our readers. Now and then, when your letters have focused on a particular topic, the “Letters” page will appear as a short article on that topic. For example, in this issue we have taken up the cudgels on behalf of scale measurement and the use of an architect’s scale.
Something else begins with this issue: the regular appearance of needlework projects under the guidance of needlework editor Kathy Sevebeck. She is launching this with the first articles in a four-issue series on miniature rugs. In addition to the rug in this issue by Kay Sobers, future pieces by Kathy, Doreen Sennett, Barbara Cosgrove, Susan Pasco, and others will appear. Kicking off the series, Kathy haa written an introductory article on needlepoint which is aimed at the beginner. Some of you will find it to be too elementary to suit your needs. As a beginner in needlework (who, Like most of our male readers, has a knowledge of needlework that is limited to having been sent off to college some years ago with instructions on how to sew on buttons and darn socks), I have read the introductory articles and resolved to needlepoint a rug. (After all, if ex-professional football lineman, Rosie Greer, can needlepoint. so can I.)
If the more advanced craftsman is feeling neglected by our inclusion of introductory materials for beginners, I invite them to turn to the Empire couch in this issue. This lovely meridienne by Helen Dorsett with stretch your skills (and perhaps your nerves) to their limits. In addition, Bill Sevebeck (in the Shop Manual). has turned to some more advanced techniques in lathe work.
It is a pleasure to welcome several old acquaintances to this issue of TSC as advertisers: the catalogs from Walther’s and James Bliss. Some of you who have built scale model railroads or ships need no introduction to these prime sources of builder’s materials. All will find them to be treasure lodes of information on tools, materials, and techniques. For example, are you looking for some turned hail posts to dre5 US a Queen Anne or Chippendale highboy? Try the lovely brass handline stanchions (turned and predrilled) from the ship’s fittings section in the Bliss catalog or some cast and drilled locomotive handrail standotfs from Walther’s. I know that it is a cliche, but gold is where you find it.
One last comment before space runs out. If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, then the value of our insistence on listing the “full” dimensions of a piece on our plans is reflected in the report that Constance Rusk of Halifax, N.S. is building the Whitman house in 1/2” sale from the dimensions on our plans. That is a model that I would like to see!
.....Jim Dorsett. Editor
TSC 2:2 (January, 1978)
IN THE INTERIM.....
Scarcely a week goes by when we do not receive at least one request by the sponsors of a miniatures show to list their event in the forthcoming issues of TSC. These requests present us with something of a dilemma; for while we do not wish to ignore the importance of such shows to the growth of the hobby, we have no space allocated in TSC for such a listing! There are several reasons for the absence of an “events calendar.” While important to the hobby and the miniaturist (both collectors and craftsmen). such shows are primarily aimed at the collector in miniatures rather than the scale modeler. And the content of TSC is focused on the scale modeling segment of the hobby. We also assume that most of our readers subcribe as well to one or more of the other nationally-distributed periodicals in the field (Nutshell News, Small Talke, NAME Gazette, Miniature Collector, etc.), all of which do carry such a calendar of events. What we do carry as a regular put of our content is the “Workshop Directory”: a free listing of shops and individuals who offer scheduled classes and workshop in the miniatures craft. We would like all of our readers to be aware of these opportunities for help in the hobby, even though only a small fraction of the readership may reside in the immediate vicinity of such workshops.
We have not been able to attend as many miniatures shows during the past year as we would like. However. one show that we did attend and which we heartily commend to others in the hobby was the Miniature Fair and Trade Show (October 8-9,1977), sponsored by the Midwest Miniature Trade Association. It brought together a fine blend of manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and hohbiests in what was one of the most comprehensive and excellently planned events that we have attended. My con(patu1ations to the MMTA and to show manager Marlene Mayer. I have the highest regard for the Mayers (Marlene and husband Pete) who managed the show for MMTA and on behalf of Medi-Check: a nonprofit organization which provides bracelets that identify the critical medical conditions of the wearer. Medi-Check, which raises funds through the management of miniature shows. was founded by Pete in 1965, the same year in which the Mayer’s infant daughter died following an allergic reaction to an antibiotic.
This issue of TSC introduces a product review section which we expect will remain as a regular feature of the journal. In addition, the letters column takes a calculated leap into an issue which tends to generate more heat than light: rights and copying in the miniatures field. It is not my intention to fan any flames or to open a forum. However, we have been asked where we stand on the issue, and I have tried to make our position clear.
.....James Dorsett, Editor
TSC 2:3 (May, 1978)
IN THE INTERIM.....
In the process of printing and binding any publication. a few less-than-perfect copies sometimes result. While the record of The Scale Cabinetmaker is reasonably good in this regard, there is always the chance of a slip-up. In the assembly and binding state, a blank or misprinted page slips into the stack, "signatures" get out of sequence or are perhaps omitted, resulting i scrambled paging. If any reader should receive an imperfect copy of TSC, I would appreciate its return so that we may replace it with a good one.
Some readers have written me during the past year to chide us over our failure to print a promised article on stencilling. Well...chide no more! Shirley and Jim Hillhouse have redeemed my promise in a fashion that makes the wait worthwhile.
The usual standard of TSC of "modelling from a full-scale prototype" shares space in this following issues with its counterpoint. The wonderfully imaginative staff of Miniature Maker's Workshop begins building a shadow-box bedroom in this issue in a manner that focuses on the inventive use of materials and techniques rather than on the exact reproduction of a particular room.
Jim and Harreit Jedlicka have entered the first of several articles on lighting and wiring. A future issue of TSC will explore their approach to "scale" lighting, i.e., achieving the intensity and distrubution of lighting in a room that reflects the differences between light sources (from candles to incadescent bulbs).
Harry Whalon's mastery of the use of color and technique, explored through an interview with Kathy Sevebeck, offers a further invitation to me to try needlepointing a rug. If the genius of the true miniatures craftsman lies in the capacity to adapt materials and techniques to the requirements of scale reduction, then Harry Whalon's mastery of canvas and thread (so harmouniously displayed in the Thorne Rooms) should invite us all to the improvement of our skills.
Finally, Bill Sevebeck and Helen Dorset6t begin the exploration of some shopskills in this issue that shoud be part of every modeler's workbench repertory. Bill beghins a series on building and using a shaper table, and Helen starts to explore the A-B-C's of scale modeling through the scratch-building of a modern end table and assembly of a scientific models library cabinet.
Looking ahead, the summer and fall issues of TSC will carry a two-part series on how to detail and finish a kit house shell, using materials that are commercially available. So I believe that this and the following issues of TSC should provide a lot of fun for all of us.
.....James Dorsett, Editor
TSC 2:4 (May, 1978)
IN THE INTERIM.....
Whatever demographers may make of the fact that one out of every five American households moves its residence across a county line every year. I am quite certain what it means to me as a publsher. It means that a given proportion ofTSC subscribers will change thelir address each year. And, if given the opportunity through a timely "change of address" card, we will bend every effort to pursue your shifting residence wlth a current issue of TSC: from Garden Grove to Goshen. Allentown to Enumclaw. or fmm a house on one street to an apartment around the comer. We will even arrange to regularly rotate the mailing addresses of "snowbirds" who spend half the year seeking out the sun and the other half avoiding it. And when we slip-up (as does occur when a finger hits the wrong typewriter key), we will rectify our mistake by sending out a replacement for your lost or misdirected copy of TSC. I shrink from the thought that anyone who wishes to recelve TSC should miss a single copy.
Throughout the past two years, we haw sent without question replacements to anyone whose original copy went astray for whatever reason. And we will continue to do so. . .with one exception, henceforth.. If you should move, but fail to notify us at least fifteen days before the first day of the next publication month (i.e., the first day of Feb., May, Aug., Nov.), we will mail your TSC to your last known address. Its inglorious fate (if you have failed as well to guarantee forwarding postage for your second class mail) is to have its label tom off and to be dumped unceremoniously into the trash. (Perish the thoughtl) The label is then returned to us for a fee, belatedly correcting our knowledge of your whereabouts.
At that point. your problem is with the postal service, not with us. In short, no replacements except at the single issue price ($3.75). Goodness knows. it is much easier for both d us when a change of address notice is received in time.
A new publication with an interesting angle has recently appeared on the scene: Maison Mini Miniature Magazine, edited by Sylvia Maniscalco in the Netherlands. For those travelling overseas and those who wish they could, This new quarterly serves as a guide to andt through some of Europe's premier miniatures collections under the hand of such knowledgeable folk as Clementine Kutt-schrutter.
TSC's travels this fall will be somewhat less ambitious, ie., to the 7th Annual Philladelphia Show and the MMTA Show in Chicago. Several of the many places we would like to be, but will not, are the Miniature Maker's Sociiety in White Plains and the St. Louis Miniature Exhibition '78 (both in September. But someone has to stay home to record the changes of address.
.....James Dorsett, Editor
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