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What's All This?

Submitted by MarkHindell on Wed, 21/10/2009 - 12:04.

W
ell, that depends a bit on whether you are reading this from a paper copy or on a computer, but it's a bit of an experiment really; a one-off attempt to put together a Messerschmitt magazine collaboratively via the internet without ending up with something that looks like, well, like a printout of a web page. As such the name, Pilot, represents this experiment. All the source material for this magazine started its life on the MEC website (www.messerschmittclub.org) and is released concurrently with the printable version.

KaRoScene

Web site? What web site? You may or may not have tripped over the MEC's KaRoScene web site at www.messerschmittclub.org, but it's been out there for a couple of years now and has been steadily accumulating articles and pictures. The name 'KaRoScene' is something you can thank Alan Hitchcock for, basically a pun on kerosene (aka paraffin or aviation fuel). It made me laugh so we stuck with it. Besides, it's sort of expected for web sites to have daft names. Google? YouTube?


Fundamentally of course we hope to have produced something that is enjoyable to read with useful and informative content. Isn't that the core objective of any magazine? But beyond that we've got a number of other goals.

While the quality of the content is paramount, we also hope to achieve a high print quality, with good quality typesetting, layout and photographs. We want the magazine to look as good as a commercially produced productWe want the magazine to look as good as a commercially produced product, so if you're reading a paper copy then we hope that's what you find.

By assembling the magazine on the web site we've tried to streamline and distribute the production system so that the labour of magazine production doesn't overwhelm the creative efforts of its contributors or become a burden on its editor. Putting a new issue together should be fun rather than a chore, and by using better and faster tools in production it will also be possible to turn the magazine out quicker meaning that it will be fresher and have more up-to-date news.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly we hope you'll provide us with some feedback. Does Pilot 'do it for you'? And for that we link back to the magazine's point of origin, the web site. Here you can leave messages for the magazine's writers, post comments on the articles and find additional material beyond that which appears in print. Alternatively you can send email to pilot@messerschmittclub.org.

So there it is. As an experiment perhaps not as grand as the Large Hadron Collider, but then, it didn't cost so much either.

Thanks for reading.
Mark and Alan

Print Your Own

Fancy printing your own copy of Pilot? Go ahead, that's what it was made for. Although it's perfectly possible to read Pilot on a computer either online at www.messerschmittclub.org or offline with a PDF reader (like Adobe Reader — get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/) you can't do that in the bath so easily.

The magazine has been set to print best in an A5 format by printing the pages on A4 paper using a standard inkjet or laser printer and then folding them in half. Quite a lot of printer software offers the option to do 'Booklet' printing like this.

Alternatively you can download a ready made booklet version of the magazine that you can send straight to your printer: messerschmittclub.org/karoscene/epublish/4/14.

BUT... whichever way you do it don't forget that if your printer can't print double sided pages then you must print the odd pages first, then flip them over and put them back through the printer to print the even pages. Some more printing details can be found at messerschmittclub.org/karoscene/node/447.

Stapling the pages is left as an exercise for the reader.



Published in Pilot, December 2009, Volume 2009, No. 1