Entry Dated October 9, 2007 - Got the Two Modeling Books...

Well, I picked up the two books that I was looking at. And they are both very comprehensive. Along with the on-line articles on A.R.C., one should be able to make a good solid basic set of skills for model-building with the acquisition of these books. These books after further reading are definitely for the lay-person and are written to reflect that audience.

The Basics of Scale Modeling is chock-full of tips from modeler safety, airbrushing, drybrush techniques to how-to-build-a-kit-in-a-weekend type articles. This will give you an in-depth look at the basic techniques every model-builder needs to put into their cranial tool-box. Even the advanced model-builder needs to take a look at this book once in a while to refresh himself on the certain techniques. Another thing that is extremely useful is the Popular Modeling Scales table which gives you different scales and what genres are available. For example, you learn that you can put 1/48 aircraft and O scale trains together to do a nice model diorama. But those trains, planes and automobiles are mostly WW2. Unless you do a diorama of a Japanese Bullet-Train and a Japanese F-1 and call it “the Race”. Hell…I think I may do that one.

The other book is a terrific book that enables you to learn a lot more about painting and finishing from surface preparation to weathering. You also learn about how to bare metal foil a Lightning or any other bare-metal aircraft with nothing more than some special adhesive (Microscale Metal Foil Adhesive) and your ordinary dollar-store kitchen foil. This technique is time-consuming however results in absolutely beautiful metallic finishes. Hey, after all you are using metal!



Another acquisition that I made was a DVD. Of course, it’s not on model-building, however it is on Air Force subjects. There was a big to-do about this DVD on an IMAX subject early on a couple of years ago on A.R.C. Most people probably paid about $30.00 for this CD, including shipping and handling. With employee discount at London Drugs, I bought this particular DVD for $12.84 CDN last Friday. With two DVDs, one of which was the HD-DVD version that could be played on a HD-DVD player and a 50” Hi Definition Plasma Screen TV (of course, I don’t have that yet!), it was quite the bargain. The graphics are exceedingly great and Stephen Low gets some great shots. Not to mention, Canadian Tax dollars paid for some of the movie making so there are some decent shots of CF-18s in the movie as well. But mostly it was about Captain John Stafford and his thoughts on the Red Flag exercise that he took part in. Not to mention after the filming of the movie, he completed another Operation Red Flag training exercise and then ended up doing three combat tours in Operation Southern Watch and Northern Watch, as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom. I would have liked to have seen this in the IMAX theatre however, I don’t believe that it even made it up above the 49th Parallel, which is a shame. There are two other DVDs that I’d like to get; one of which is a 4 DVD box set on different military aviation (U.S. related), and another which is “The Magic of Flight”. I think one has the VFA-41 Black Aces flying the F/A-18F Super Hornets while they were making the transition from the Atlantic Fleet to the Pacific Fleet.

Another thing that I know has to be acquired in the event that we move out of this motel and into an apartment suite of our own is the acquisition of some shelving. For the model kits, these would be good, as there would be plenty of airflow and since some of the kits are of odd sizes, a little extra space wouldn’t hurt. I do tend to like the larger of the two, but a smaller sized one to put my toolbox and little shelving for “resin” aftermarket parts would be nice. But a pair of the big ones would go well for putting the model kits up in storage. And if they were up against a wall or between two stiff bookshelves, it would stay steady. These shelves on their own are not suitable for heavy objects no matter what people say they are able to do. At least I wouldn’t trust my possessions on them. But it will be nice to be able to have a place of our own and a way to outfit it so that we’re able to do what we need to do. I want to be able to have a small “studio” set-up so that we’re able to do portrait photography as well as product photography and that office will suffice as a place to do models. The living room will do double-duty. The porch on the other hand will be my “spray-painting” area with adequate ventilation. Then I can bring the models in to dry in the “office”.