QTM Magazine

By Adrian Hopwood Full gallery at the end of the Article Price – £4.00 It’s not often that we review other magazines here, but in this instance; I think it’s worth covering a new addition to the rather thin ranks of Figure magazines. There’s some good, and some bad magazines out there, and everyone has their own opinions on each – sometimes differing quite drastically, even on the same issue of the same magazine. So this is my take on the new QTM magazine. The idea seems to promise a lot – a bi-lingual magazine aimed at Italian and English speaking readers. The inclusion of both fantasy and military subjects, with descriptive “how to” articles……well it all seems too good to be true. I got a sample of the “test shot” magazine that was printed a few months back, and although the pictures were a little dark, it gave the impression that there was something here that was worthy. O.K. I’ve waffled enough – this is a good magazine. It’s a first issue, so the producers are still probably trying and testing things, but if they can keep both the quality of print and the quality of painters up to this standard, then I don’t think they’ll go far wrong. That of course is the trick, and getting regular articles off the likes of Danilo Cartacci, Fabrizio Russo and Mirko Cavalloni might be a tall order. The sculpting article from Vincenzo Alberici is good too, in fact all the articles have merit, I just really like the models and quality of painting in those mentioned. In fairness, I think photographs could perhaps be more in depth to the flow of what the painter is doing, and more in progress shots might help the text explain each of the artists methods better, but that would probably mean cutting down on the amount of articles, or adding more pages, the latter would mean a hike in price. The single article that bucks this trend is the one on painting the Panzergranadier by Aleks Michelotti. In this article there are plenty of photos to walk you through how white is tackled by this painter, and along with descriptive text, it is most helpful to anyone wanting to try the method shown. The magazine is quite short – just 35 pages, but it packs a lot in, and it’s managed to be articles with a spread of interests – Napoleonic, Native American, Medieval, fantasy and WWII. Of the thirty five pages, twenty three and a half are taken up by articles ( eight articles in total ), there’s a couple given over to a contents page and an editorial too, so there’s not huge amounts of advertising to wade through – although what there is of that is devoted mainly to figure companies and is of interest to the readership. I think it’s a reasonable price for what you get – compared to competitors at least – and I’d certainly encourage people to consider buying a copy to see what they think for themselves. As I mention above, there are no doubt going to be changes as the magazine develops, but this is a very good start. Thanks to Celine and Matt at El Greco for supplying the sample. The QTM magazine is available from them – address and website given at the end of the review. Adrian. El Greco Miniatures 63 Glebe Drive Brackley NN13 7BX United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0)1280 840364 Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Home Page: http://www.elgrecominiatures.co.uk