in July 1949. Harold Carstens joined the staff as an associate editor in 1952, after previously contributing several articles. As of 1954, the magazine staff consisted of Charles Penn as editor and publisher, Jim Thompson as executive editor, Hal Carstens as managing editor, Sam Skean, Bill Schopp as technical editor, and Edwin P. Alexander as research editor. The Carstens era In 1962, Hal Carstens was named publisher and president following the retirement of Charles Penn. Hal Carstens later purchased the company, and the name was changed to Carstens Publications in 1969. Tony Koester joined the staff as an associate editor in 1968, and later became managing editor in 1971. By 1972, Jim Boyd was working full-time as editor of Flying Models, but was also listed as an associate editor of RMC. The last big move came in 1973 when the publishing company moved to rural Newton in northern New Jersey, housed in a newly constructed suite of offices with an attached warehouse. Koester and Boyd worked together to push more modern prototype content and fine scale modeling features in contrast to the more loose interpretations of the hobby previously published by Hal Carstens. Boyd would be named editor of the new Railfan & Railroad magazine launched by Carstens in 1974. By 1980, Jim Boyd and Bill Schaumburg were listed as associate editors (Bill joined the staff in November 1976). In 1981, Bill Schaumburg succeeded Koester as managing editor, and Chris D'Amato and Jim Ankrom joined the staff as associate editors in 1982. By the mid-1980s, Boyd was dropped from the masthead as he was now concentrating full-time as editor of Railfan & Railroad. The magazine was published 12 times a year by Carstens Publications, located in Newton, New Jersey. As its name would suggest, Railroad Model Craftsman concentrates more on scratch building and kitbashing than its closest competitor. In-depth features relating to prototype historical research, model construction techniques, and high-quality detailing and finishing are common themes. The editors have also closely followed the emerging trend of Railway Prototype Modelers, who seek to reproduce scale replicas of actual existing pieces of railway equipment as closely as possible, and share those techniques with other modelers. Although the magazine is not scale-specific, most of its plans are published either in HO scale or O scale, with instructions on converting them to other scales. Almost all of the content in the magazine is generated