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The Crowood Press Military Vehicle Modeling by Phil Greenwood Reviewed By Christopher Broman, #32341 |
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ISBN 1-86126-557-3 |
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The Crowood Press,
Marlborough This is a well written book, with good details on many subjects, plenty of illustrations to show different techniques and it covers areas not often found in other books and I recommend it. It is especially helpful for all new or moderately experienced modelers. Receiving this book I figured it was the same as any other "how to" book. Once I started reading, I was amazed at the wide variety of topics the author covered. The "standard" topics, such as weathering, building, detailing, were covered but I was surprised to see topics over which I have rarely seen or in this much detail. One of these was Popular scales, a chapter explaining the different types of models in scales ranging from 1:76 to 1:16. It gives a brief history of that peculiar scale and also the companies who tend to produce kits in that scale. I found this to be quite informative. I also liked the chapter over a modeler's tool kit. Many books tell you what equipment you should have and what type the author believes you should have. This book shows you the different types of equipment a modeler might need, but it also shows the variety of brands and accessories associated with the different products. It also shows the different ways they could be used with the author giving his recommendations on the ways the equipment would be the most effective. Overall the book seems to be more guided towards beginners or moderately experienced modelers. The author uses a variety of models to show progressively more difficult modeling skills. He starts off by showing the basic techniques of removing the pieces, gluing them, fitting, etc. and moves on to painting, weathering, detailing, resin, brass, detail sets, and conversions. He also gradually goes up by scale from 1:76 to 1:35 to show the increase in detail available. The author used fifteen kits to show these skills. He used a 1:76 Airfix Bofors Gun & tractor and a 1:72 Hasegawa Abrams M1E1. In 1:35 scale there was a: Tamiya Centaur, Accurate Armour Challenger, Tamiya Cromwell, Accurate Armour E10, Italeri Elefant, Dragon Firefly, Tamiya Kubelwagon, Dragon PaK 97/38, Tamiya Panzerkampfwagen III, Tamiya Sherman, Fine Moulds Type 3, and a Fine Moulds Type 97. The author later gives a brief chapter about simple diorama building. Even though it is only a couple of pages long, it covers the basic necessities of this challenging art. The author also explains the different materials that can be used and how to make it look "real," not "posed." I greatly enjoyed this book, but there are a few areas I would have liked to see more information. The segment on figure painting was vague on some of the more important areas, such as shading and detailing. Towards the middle of the book it became a little monotonous with the author changing only a small part of the of the building process while repeating the exact same steps mentioned in the construction of the previous kits. Overall, however, this is a really nice book. For those beginning the hobby of scale modeling or those who have been in the hobby for a couple of years, I highly recommend this book. Older, more experienced modelers might find it a bit basic. This book is available from the Crowood Press, Marlborough, Wiltshire, United Kingdom SN8 2HR; http://www.crowood.com; or you local hobby shop. |
