Old modelling handbook reviews

[Jakko]

In these days of web sites, YouTube videos and what have you with tutorials on how to build models, I find that old books — you remember those, surely: stacks paper bound or glued together to form pages that you have to turn over by hand — about modelling often provide useful instruction in the basics of how to actually do basic modelbuilding. They often describe techniques that are still very useful today, even if a lot of modellers seem unaware of them because of the way the hobby has changed over the years. Of course, a lot of these books also have information that’s no longer useful for the exact same reason. Many materials and even tools that were very common and taken for granted in the past are now no longer in use at all because superior alternatives are easily available.

What I intend to do in this thread is to post short reviews of the old modelling books I have in my collection, with an eye to how useful they still appear to be for today’s hobby. The point here being that should you come across one, whether online or in a second-hand bookstore, is it worth picking up or don’t you need to bother with it? (Naturally, this is all my opinion, and your experiences may vary )

[Jakko]

The Modelmaker’s Handbook

Written by: Albert Jackson and David Day
Publisher: Pelham Books, 1981
Translations:
Dutch: Handboek Modelbouw (Kluwer, 1981)
German: Das große Ravensburger Modellbau Handbuch (Otto Maier Verlag, 1983)
Norwegian: Teknologisk forlags store bok om Modellbygging (Teknologisk Forlag, 1981)

This is a book that covers pretty much all aspects of scale modelling: it explains not just the skills needed to build and paint plastic models, but also fairly extensively describes how to scratchbuild from wood, metal and even fibreglass, plus it describes static modelling (of vehicles, aircraft, ships, figures, dioramas and more) as well as model railroads and remote-controlled planes, ships and cars.

It’s probably the best all-round modelling book I own, which is why I start with it Sure, some of the techniques are old-fashioned, but because much of what it describes are basic techniques and skills, it’s hard to find things in it that are absolutely pointless to do today. It also explains it all in a clear, concise but still pretty thorough manner, so that even if it doesn’t always go into as much depth as you might like, it still gives a very good basis for discovering the rest on your own. It also has plenty of good example models, including ones that seem specifically built for the book in order to illustrate and explain the methods and techniques used. The main thing it doesn’t really cover is resin parts, likely because these were uncommon at the time — commercially available resin kits and accessory sets only really started to take off in the 1980s.

I may be a little biased because it was one of my favourite modelling books 35 years or so ago when I was given it (my copy has a well-used appearance by now, even if I rarely use it anymore) but I would highly recommend buying this if you happen to come across it.

[Jakko]

Scale Models in Plastic

Written by: Roger Chesneau, Ray Rimell, Len Manwaring, Alan Edwards and Dave Patrick
Publisher: Conway Maritime Press, 1979

This is another book that covers a wide range of subjects, but unlike the previous, it limits itself to static, plastic models — to the extent that some parts of the text are almost apologetic for suggesting that you might want to use other materials to enhance your plastic kit.

After a detailed look at how plastic kits are manufactured (some of which still applies today, though other parts have been superseded by computer-aided design), it covers tools and techniques for building, painting and decalling plastic kits in general, followed by chapters for specific types of model: aircraft, military vehicles, figures, ships and civilian vehicles all get their own chapter, and the book concludes by one on presentation. The latter covers both simple display plaques and cases as well as scenic bases and dioramas.

This book is still quite good, though some of the techniques and materials recommended feel dated. The worst part in this respect is probably the one that talks about how to modify polythene figures, which was quite commonly done in the late 1970s, but nobody these days would probably even contemplate it. The book also seems to assume a degree of skill (and tools) in things like woodworking to make items to assist in building plastic kits, which I feel are mostly totally unnecessary, but I suppose the authors didn’t Also, the writing is … old-fashioned is probably the best word. It’s often very technical, detailed and wordy — take this example:

It is reasonable, however, to submit that the majority of plastic models represent prototypes which are themselves coated — for protection, for decoration or for camouflage — and it is entirely logical that a model should be treated in exactly the same way as the original in order to show this coating, in other words it should be painted.

I’m sure this was enthralling language to modellers of a hundred forty or fifty years ago, but it feels unnecessarily longwinded to younger generations, if you ask me

Still, this is a minor point for what’s basically a good book about how to build models. Like the previous, it doesn’t cover resin much or at all, though. This could well be for the same reason, rather than it possibly being considered “not plastic” by the author.

[Jakko]

Modelling Military Vehicles

Written by: Bill Evans and David Parker
Publisher: Robert Hale, 1990

The title is slightly misleading, because although models of military vehicles are what this book is about, it really focuses on armour. There is exactly one photo in it of a model of a soft-skinned vehicle, for example, and hardly any of the text talks about these. It does cover crew figures, though.

Though it’s a decent enough book, it has a number of problems that make me say you might as well pass on this. The main one is that it was written at least a decade too late: Bill Evans, who is the principal author, was a 1970s modeller writing for a 1990s audience, and it shows. Many of the techniques he explains are no doubt still useful, but the results he achieves with them look dated even in his own book. The principal reason for this is that the other author (though he seems to have contributed little actual text) is David Parker, whose models are extensively used to illustrate the book — and he has far greater painting skills than Bill Evans. So you end up with this strange duality in the book, when the methods described for building and painting produce models that look not-so-great compared to many others that appear a few pages before or after. The text also doesn’t flow that well, jumping back and forth at times to only explain things later on that were already mentioned much earlier.

In short: this is not a book you absolutely need to have on your shelf. It’s not bad as such, but it’s far more old-fashioned than its publication date makes it out to be.

[Jakko]

How to Build Dioramas

Written by: Sheperd Paine
Publisher: Kalmbach, 1980; second edition 1999
Translations: Published under the same title in Japan, with the translated title デイオラマの作り方 also appearing on the cover

One of the best sources for those who want to know how to build convincing dioramas. It doesn’t just cover the technical aspects but also planning and composition to make the diorama more visually appealing, and isn’t limited to military vehicles either: also featured are dioramas of aircraft (on the ground), ships and figures, as well as boxed dioramas and tips for photographing your end product effectively.

Since this book dates from before the widespread availability of commercially produced diorama kits (buildings, walls, bridges, trees, fences, etc. etc. etc.) it goes into a good amount of depth about how you make any or all of these from scratch, which in diorama-building is a very big plus. Seeing ten versions of the same tank isn’t really noteworthy, seeing ten dioramas with the same building in it kind of ruins believability, in my opinion.

Highly recommended.

[Jakko]

The Verlinden Way Volumes I through VI

Written by:
Vol. I: no author indicated
Vols. II & III: Hans Wilms
Vol. IV: no author indicated
Vol. V: Hans Wilms
Vol. VI: Willy Peeters and Bob Letterman
Publisher: Verlinden Publications
Vol. I: 1980
Vols. II & III: 1983
Vols. IV & V: 1985
Vol. VI: 1986
Translations: Volume I may be found with an insert in Dutch to provide an abbreviated translation, Volumes II and III were also released in Dutch with the same English title (but the subtitle translated)

Since this is a series, I might as well cover them all in one go.

Obviously, these books are all concerned with building models the way the biggest star of 1980s modelling, François Verlinden, did it. Volume I is more of a showcase of his dioramas, with only a fairly brief section about his actual methods. The others explain the techniques and materials he used quite well, and though as before, they are often a little outdated, much of it is still perfectly valid. Rather than focussing on generic methods for creating models, the books mainly describe how specific modelling projects were done, usually dioramas or small vignettes of military vehicles and aircraft. A few also have more general chapters about such things as tools and techniques for building aircraft models (III) or painting figures (V), but these are the exception rather than the rule. Still, those specific projects teach a lot of useful techniques exactly by illustrating them actually in use rather than describing them in an academic way. Volume II also has a chapter by Shep Paine, while vol. VI includes chapters on models or dioramas by Eddy Janssens and Lewis Pruneau.

Beware, though, that the higher the volume number, the more these turn into a showcase for Verlinden’s company’s own products. In Volume II, for example, several dioramas include ruined buildings that are mentioned as being by MDA (Military Diorama Accessories, which later turned into Verlinden Productions) but they’re not overly emphasized — not really more than Tamiya or Italeri are. By Volume V, pretty much everything in a diorama that isn’t a plastic vehicle or aircraft kit, is by Verlinden Productions. Volume VI is a little better in that respect, but really only because of the contributions by other modellers.

As such, I think Volumes II and III are the ones really worth getting if you happen to come across them for a decent price (they appear to go for quite high prices, probably largely due to the name on the cover), but the higher-numbered ones, you might as well pass on. Volume I is mostly of use if you want to look at photos of Verlinden’s work, but his techniques don’t matter that much to you.

[Jakko]

Building Military Dioramas Vol.I through VIII

Written by: Verlinden studio
Publisher: Verlinden Publications, 2000–2002

There are eight volumes in this series, though I only have the first. Going by its contents, I don’t really need the rest … This is why I’ve only included one cover above, instead of hunting all eight down, too.

As I mentioned in my previous post, above, the Verlinden Way books devolved into a showcase for Verlinden’s own merchandise. The Building Military Dioramas books take it to the logical conclusion by explicitly showing how you can use VP products to build dioramas: aside from most of the vehicle kits (and the board underneath the diorama), just about everything used here is Verlinden. There is one exception, a diorama of American troops in a Vietnamese jungle, but this just shows the finished article rather than illustrating how it was made.

OK books if you like looking at pictures of dioramas, but there are far better books if you want to learn useful modelling skills.

[Jakko]

Modeling Tanks and Military Vehicles

Written by: Sheperd Paine
Publisher: Kalmbach, 1982

This is a book aimed at the complete novice as well as the more experienced modeller, and describes its subject matter from the basics of how to assemble and paint a plastic kit, through references, making additions and conversions, to complete scratchbuilding of entire vehicles. It does this both in generic terms and showing some specific projects, with clear explanations and illustrations that work very well to show how it’s done.

Though the models shown are not to today’s standards, the methods pretty much all still apply. It’s the kits that have gotten better since this was published, not these techniques that have aged. Another one to recommend without any reservations.

[Jakko]

The Encyclopedia of Military Modelling

Editor: Vic Smeed
Publisher: Octopus Books, 1981, and Peerage Books, 1985

A big book, A4 hardcover in size and in full colour, which would have been quite impressive in the early 1980s. It gives an overview of military modelling, as well as the historical periods that are often the subjects of models, and explains the techniques for building those models. A lot of these are still relevant, though as with other books this age, a good deal also aren’t — like the polythene figures I mentioned for another book, which also are treated in some depth here.

Unfortunately, it looks like the editors didn’t really know what they wanted to actually do with this book. Partly, it seems to be intended as an introduction to modelling, but it’s also partly a history book describing the periods of interest in far more detail than is needed, and the parts about actual modelling often show a standard that seems mediocre even by early 1980s expectations, especially in the dioramas. The bits about tools and techniques are reasonable but not overwhelmingly useful, and most of these feel like they don’t go deep enough into the matter — probably due to a shortage of space caused by the other, less relevant bits.

Nice to have on the shelf, but it doesn’t live up to its title or the goal it seems to have set for itself.

[Jakko]

Stan Catchpol’s Modelling Workshop AKA The Complete Modelling Workshop

Written by: Stan Catchpol (pseudonym of Bryan Fosten)
Publisher: MAP, 1983 (as far as I know), and Squadron/Signal, a few years later

In the late 1970s and 1980s, Military Modelling magazine published an irregular series of articles about basic modelling techniques, naturally aimed mainly at military modellers, written by well-known illustrator Bryan Fosten under the pseudonym “Stan Catchpol”. These were compiled into the book Stan Catchpol’s Modelling Workshop around 1983, and an American edition was later published as The Complete Modelling Workshop by Squadron/Signal (mainly known for their books about real vehicles, aircraft, ships etc.). Somewhat oddly, there are apparently differences in exact content between the two (I only have the latter, though, so I can’t actually compare them), and the American edition has not been edited for an American audience at all — its spelling is UK English, British names for materials are used, etc., even the page size is A4 rather than letter. There is just a “translation” list for North American readers on the inside of the back cover.

Anyway, this book is a bit of a mixed bag, IMHO. On the one hand, it explains basic modelling techniques quite well, and most of them are still very much usable today. On the other, a lot of those techniques feel rather outdated, and many of the materials used even more so. Acrylic modelling paints, for example, are hardly mentioned at all, but various artist’s paints that virtually no modeller uses anymore are widely recommended for all sorts of things. I would say this is a book to read to learn ways of doing things, but not for the materials you may use to do those things with. Also, I found it a little tough to get through, taking a good deal longer to read than I would expect from its size. I guess this is largely to blame on the book consisting of the exact text of the original articles, without any apparent editing to make them flow better together. If you got one of these articles a month, as when originally published in the magazine, they would probably be much easier to digest.

[Jakko]

Painting and Lining Scale Models

Written by: Ian D. Huntley
Publisher: MAP, 1976
Translations:
Dutch: Het schilderen van modellen (Kluwer, 1982)

Don’t let the title mislead you: this book is more about paint itself than about painting models. It takes the author three chapters, or almost half the book, to even get to one that begins to talk about actual painting, rather than about which types of paint there are, how paint is made, how paint works, what paint is composed of, which tools can be used to apply paint … and even then, the book is far more concerned with using proper technique and working neatly than with explaining how to actually get the finish you want on your model. Furthermore, he often jumps back and forth, suddenly adding side notes about things he already covered earlier in sections about entirely different subjects.

I get the strong impression Mr. Huntley was a trained painter (but not the artistic kind) and wrote this book to impart the kind of knowledge you get drilled into you in painters’ school, and to try and make modellers paint “properly” in the manner that kind of training teaches. Reading it feels much like, oh, I don’t know … taking driving lessons which focus on how the various kinds of fuel available make their way from the oil fields into your car‘s engine and how you can ensure that engine runs well while you drive, rather than on how to make the car get you to where you want to go? That seems a reasonable analogy.

Regardless, almost everything it teaches is very much out of date. Nearly all of the types of paint mentioned are hardly ever used by modellers at all, and some beggar belief that he even included them. What kind of modeller needs instruction in how to bake paint onto a model?! (The only ones I can think of would be those who make working steam engines, I suppose.)

If I had paid more for it than the three euros that I did, I would heartily recommend against this book. As it is, it was kind of interesting to read, but I don’t think I would advise anyone to buy it except as a curiosity.

[Uncle-Heavy]

Thanks for the reviews

If I ever get the idea to create a diorama I would look
into that book but I’ll pass on the others.

Tips and tricks are shared on internet forums so I don’t
feel any need for a book. Things were different before
the widespread availability of the internet.

[Jakko]

@Uncle-Heavy

Tips and tricks are shared on internet forums so I don’t
feel any need for a book.

My main reason for writing these (some years ago, I posted them elsewhere originally) is exactly because I’ve observed that modellers raised on forums and YouTube frequently wonder about ways to do things that many of these books explain quite well, but modern sources apparently don’t. Which makes me think that books like these still have a place, especially since many of them are available very cheaply from second-hand book sites.

[Barney]

I would like his books, Bjørn Jacobsen. They look very well done.

dioramas-and-models.com

[Armor_Buff]

Jakko, fun reading! Thank you.

Thoughts on this one?

[Jakko]

@Barney

I would like his books, Bjørn Jacobsen. They look very well done.

They do, but I would consider them too new to include here

@Armor_Buff

Thoughts on this one?

“I would like to own a copy of it” Which is to say: I don’t have it, so I can’t say anything useful about it. The ones I already covered in this thread are really all of the old general modelling handbooks I have, except for one other that I’m currently about halfway through reading. That will appear here shortly after I’ve finished it.

[Damraska]

@Jakko Thanks for the book reviews, Jakko. Historical articles and reviews make these forums fun and informative for someone like me who missed almost everything.

@Armor_Buff I purchased Panzer Modeling Masterclass back in 2005. I would summarize the book as follows: “If you install a 1,000 piece Aber brass etch set, do some soldering, and scratch build some stuff, the resulting model will look more detailed.” It was not very helpful for me but the author’s models certainly look nice. The painting techniques are simplistic by modern standards, heavily emphasizing forced shadows and panel shading, but produce a pleasing result.

@Uncle-Heavy What I have learned about dioramas:

1. Find a flat board.
2. Find some junk lying around the house and glue it to the board to create hills and stuff.
3. Cover everything with celluclay and paint it a few shades of brown.
4. Make a building out of some kind of board. Paint it a few shades of brown. Glue it to the celluclay.
5. Find little pieces of junk that kinda look like plants, including really small plants.
6. Glue whatever junk you found in (5) to the celluclay.
7. Stick a tank or truck or plane in the middle of the board covered with celluclay and junk.
8. Paint some people and glue them to the board covered with celluclay and junk.
9. Buy some junk that looks like scale junk and scatter it around on the board covered with junk.
10. You are done. Your cat, dog, and any female in your household will now sniff at your junk covered board, trying to figure out what that smell is.

[Dioramartin]

Wow are you sure we’re not related?? My own Dio Philosophy right there – although you missed the part where one cruises the streets late at night looking for large pieces of Styrofoam being thrown out from domestic-appliance packaging. Well that’s what I always told my wife anyhow.

Also agree about Greenland’s book which I also have. Fantastic builds, fascinating process, but somehow depressing because he flat-out refused to realistically weather his creations.

[Armor_Buff]

I have Greenland’s book as well…and agree with what’s been said. It was worth the $5 paid on clearance to add to the shelf.

[KoSprueone]

Some serious classics in here. The Shep Paine books very inspiring.