All right, time to talk about the elephant in the room: Yes, FineScale Modeler, among other titles, has been sold to Firecrown Media. You can read our story about it below, if you haven't yet heard.

First and foremost, FSM's staff will be transitioning to Firecrown and we will not have to move. The plan is to open a new Firecrown HQ in Wisconsin for the brands acquired from Kalmbach, including Model Railroader, Trains, Classic Trains, Classic Toy Trains, and Astronomy. The deal did not include Discover or Saturn Lounge.

FSM was purchased as part of the overall package that leaves Kalmbach with two brands it is working to sell. This was a decision by the Kalmbach Media board to dissolve the company. It is a closely held entity, not publicly traded, and therefore the board does not have to divulge its reasons for wishing to sell.

What does this mean for FSM? It's all ahead full for us. We are in the midst of transitioning our workflow to Firecrown, and they are in the midst of onboarding 67 new employees. There's plenty of work to do for all the brands, but we're concentrating on continuing to produce a quality magazine. We're traveling to shows, working on the Sept/Oct issue (which we're under deadline for right now!), and shooting a video a week. We're planning the editorial calendar for 2025 and lining up contributors.

Lastly, none of us can predict the future. But we feel good about this next chapter for FSM. FSM is positioned well for the future, due in large part to editorial changes that we've made over the last few years. For us, it's now time to shift into a higher gear.

Thanks for your continued support! -Tim Kidwell, editor, Scale Model Brands, Kalmbach Media/Firecrown Media

PS. It's impossible for us to follow all of the social media and other posts surrounding this acquisition. Frankly, our time is better spent working on editorial content, and, if I may be so bold, yours is better spent at the workbench. But to each their own.