About FMT

FMT

FMT – Flugmodell und Technik – is a German monthly magazine for model aviation, published by the Verlag für Technik und Handwerk neue Medien (VTH) in Baden-Baden. Founded in 1952 as Modell-Technik und Sport, it describes itself as the most traditional model-building magazine in Europe. Appearing monthly with twelve issues per year, the magazine covers the entire world of model flight – from building tips and techniques to new products, technologies and the community's events – and every issue includes a construction plan for building a model aircraft, a unique feature maintained since the first issue.

Overview

FMT is the journal of the model-flying community: the monthly magazine for everyone who builds and flies model aircraft – from the beginner assembling a first trainer to the experienced competitor flying aerobatics, gliders, jets or helicopters. The editorial program combines practical building knowledge with product journalism and community coverage: tips and tricks for building model aircraft, tests of new models and equipment, reports on technologies and materials, and coverage of the competitions, exhibitions and events that structure the model-flying year.

The magazine's signature feature is the construction plan included with every issue: since the very first issue in 1952, each FMT has carried a plan for building a model aircraft – a tradition that has made the magazine's plan archive one of the great resources of the model-building world. The publisher's program extends this tradition into a catalog of some 2,500 construction plans, milled-part sets and kits, alongside around 200 book titles on model building.

The readership is the German-speaking model-flying community: the builders and pilots who practice one of the most technically demanding hobbies – a community that spans generations, from the young pilot flying an electric trainer to the veteran building scale models from plans. The magazine serves this community with the combination of practical instruction and technical depth that has defined it for more than seven decades.

Within the VTH publishing program, FMT is the flagship for model aviation: the publisher – a specialist house for functional model building with focuses on remote-controlled aircraft, ships and truck models – publishes four specialist magazines, special issues, books and the plan archive, with FMT as the title that has carried the program since 1952. The current issues are also available digitally, extending the print tradition into the e-paper and online formats.

History

The first issue of the magazine appeared in 1952 as Modell-Technik und Sport, published by Alfred Ledertheil. Ledertheil had founded his Verlag für Technik und Handwerk in Augsburg in 1946, in the difficult conditions of post-war Germany – publication dates and the number of journals were not governed by a fixed schedule but by the difficult availability of paper. By 1954 Ledertheil had published a total of eight issues; only from 1955 did a regular rhythm emerge, with initially six magazines per year.

In the 1950s and 1960s, self-building was the principal way to obtain a model aircraft – ready-to-fly models were the exception, not the rule. This determined the young magazine's editorial direction: tips and tricks for building model aircraft. The construction plan for building a model aircraft, included since the first issue, became the magazine's enduring unique feature – a tradition maintained to this day.

In 1956 the publishing house – and with it Modell-Technik und Sport – moved from Augsburg to Baden-Baden. With the January 1957 issue (consecutive number 21), the magazine was renamed Flug+modell-technik; the abbreviation FMT developed in common usage only years later. Although the term "Flug" now stood explicitly in the title, reports on model ships and other model-building disciplines continued to appear, for which no dedicated journals yet existed. Only with the emergence of dedicated specialist journals for the other model-building disciplines did FMT concentrate exclusively on model aviation from the 1970s onward.

In 1978 Alfred Ledertheil sold the VTH to the Egmont publishing house, which later sold it to the WAZ newspaper group (today's Funke Mediengruppe). In 2012 the publishing house – with FMT – passed to a private investor group and traded as Verlag für Technik und Handwerk neue Medien. With a ceremony, the Baden-Baden publishing house celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2016 and the 65th anniversary of FMT. At the end of 2018 the publisher moved, as the existing publishing building was demolished to make way for a new construction; the publisher was to move into the new office building as well.

Through all these changes of ownership and address, the magazine maintained its identity: the monthly journal of model aviation, with the construction plan in every issue, serving the builders and pilots of the German-speaking model-flying community. The complete 2025 volume – twelve issues with plan supplements – documented on the community marketplace RC-Network, testifies to the magazine's continued monthly rhythm into the present.

Content and Sections

The editorial program of FMT follows the model aviator's year. Building reports form the core: detailed accounts of building model aircraft from plans and kits – the techniques, materials and tricks of the craft, from wood construction to composite materials, from covering to finishing. The construction plan included with every issue gives readers a complete project: the drawings, the parts list and the building instructions for a model aircraft to build at home.

Product journalism covers the industry's innovations: tests of new models, radio-control systems, motors and drives – electric, glow and turbine – batteries and chargers, servos and accessories. The magazine reports on the technologies that are transforming the hobby: electric flight, FPV, stabilization systems, telemetry and the digital radio systems that have replaced the old frequencies.

Competition and event coverage documents the community's sporting and social life: aerobatics competitions, glider competitions, scale meetings, jet meetings and the great exhibitions – above all the Faszination Modellbau fair in Friedrichshafen, where the FMT team presents the indoor flight show. These reports connect the magazine's readers with the events where the community meets.

The plan archive – some 2,500 construction plans, milled-part sets and kits in the publisher's program – extends the magazine's building tradition into a comprehensive resource: the plans published in seven decades of FMT, available for the builders who want to recreate the classics or tackle new projects. The publisher's book program, with around 200 titles, provides the theoretical and practical literature – from the RC flight primer to the aerodynamics of model flight.

Publisher and Organization

FMT is published by the Verlag für Technik und Handwerk neue Medien (VTH), the Baden-Baden-based specialist publishing house for functional model building. Founded in 1946 by Alfred Ledertheil in Augsburg as Verlag für Technik und Handwerk, moved to Baden-Baden in 1956, the publishing house has been the home of model-building journalism for nearly eight decades.

The publisher's program focuses on remote-controlled aircraft, ship and truck models: the portfolio includes four specialist magazines, special issues, around 200 book titles and 2,500 construction plans, milled-part sets and kits for model aircraft. FMT is the flagship title – the magazine that has carried the program since 1952 and that describes itself as the most traditional model-building magazine in Europe.

The current issues are also available digitally, extending the print magazine into e-paper and online formats. The publisher's online presence – at vth.de and fmt.de – serves the community's daily information needs between print issues, with the plan archive and the book program available through the publisher's shop.

Digital Presence

The digital home of FMT is fmt.de, the portal that extends the monthly magazine into continuous community coverage. The site publishes news, product information and event announcements, serving the daily information needs of the model-flying community between print issues. The publisher's site vth.de provides access to the full program: the magazines, the special issues, the book catalog and the plan archive.

Digital editions of the current issues make each monthly magazine available in electronic form, complementing the print subscription. The community's online life – above all the RC-Network forum, where complete volumes of FMT are traded among enthusiasts – testifies to the magazine's status as the community's journal of record: the issues are kept, collected and passed on, and the construction plans remain buildable decades after publication.

With more than seven decades of publication history, twelve issues per year, the construction plan in every issue, a plan archive of 2,500 drawings and its position as Europe's most traditional model-building magazine, FMT remains the central journal of the German-speaking model-aviation world – the magazine that has taught generations of model builders their craft, one plan at a time.