Entry Dated September 29, 2007 - Books, Books, Books...and MORE BOOKS!!!!!

When I was browsing around in Burnaby Hobbies last week, I came across a few books that were of interest. As an avid model-builder, I like to ask a lot of questions with regards to tips and technique. But when I find that I’m spending MOST of my time on the board and not enough time at the modeling bench, that’s when I start to seriously question what I’m doing.



What would be nice would be a book that answers the majority of the questions that I’m trying to find out online and have it handy when I need to peruse it. I came across three books that had an amalgamation of FSM (Fine Scale Modeler for those who aren’t in the know) articles written and are handy references.

This particular book has the basic articles dealing with painting, assembly and airbrushing that need to be learned by the beginner and mid-skill range model-builder. It touches on scratch building and the like. The articles range from a healthy mix of aircraft, motor vehicle, military tanks/jeeps and ships.

I find that the articles in this book are really helpful as sometimes when I get into the grind of building, I tend to have little "brain-forgets" moments. And then I have to go running either to the board or to the books. With these articles at my fingertips, I’d be able to go and get the tasks done quickly.



This particular books "Modeler’s Guide to Realistic Painting and Finishing" gives vent to the "creative" streak that I’ve been wanting to elicit on my models. I’ve been wanting to "weather" and apply metallic finishes to my models. I’ve been itching to try my Bare Metal Foil technique on a F-104 Starfighter and I’ve also been eyeballing my Voodoo with the intention of doing a BMF finish and decaling it with the 409 Nighthawk squadron, RCAF.

These two books cost respectively 21.95 for the Basics To Scale Modeling and $22.95 for the Painting and Finishing guide and I think it’s pretty much well worth the money.

The third guide that I found was Paul Boyer’s "Building and Displaying Scale Model Aircraft". A long-time contributor and staff member at Fine Scale Modeler, his skills are renowned throughout the model-building community. This book takes you through the basic skills right through to building "vac-form" and "resin" kits and that is done through 9 skill-building projects. I think this book is well-worth shelling out modeling dollars for.



As a matter of fact, all three are going into my model-building literature library.

A few model-builders will knock FSM, but it has been one hell of a resource for me since the mid 80s when I first discovered it existed. I can’t afford every issue of the magazine, but I certainly get it when I can.

Of the bunch, I find that tanks and ships are two of the most difficult subjects to work on. Tanks if their treads are separated into links (you have little pins that go into place to give the tank tread it’s customary "give"). Ships have small little "fiddley parts" that usually at the worst possible minute go M.I.A.