Scale Modeling how to books, worth the read or no?

Yes and no.What ate you thinking about ?

I could recommend Michael Rinaldi's Tank Art Series

How to Build Dioramas and Modeling Tanks and Military Vehicles by Shepard Paine are both pretty much classics, and still very relevant today.  Besides covering basic techniques, they came from an era where there was little aftermarket, so they are good now for detailing up on a budget. They showed you a solid foundation, and how to go farther.

I just picked up a copy of Aircraft Scale Modelling F A Q buy Daniel Zamarbide (AK Interactive). It was on a whim but here are lots of really useful stuff in there. Sometime its nice to see another way of doing it or a completely different idea to give you some motivation on a build

Aha !

   There have indeed been and are now , many books related to building a better model . My question would be How far do you want to go ? and is it for yourself or is it that you want to compete against fellow modelers ?

       Shep Paine's books were the cat's meow when they came out . That was before dot filters or P.E. Zimmerit . When I see what's out there now I actually get kind of jealous of you younger fellows . Just think , Before I reported for " Nam " duty there were no books on detailing or building models that qualify as good today .

Except Shep's books , which I happened to pick up when I rotated home between duty assignments .

Go for it and don't be afraid to ruin a model to get it right .Sometimes that's what it takes .

I had never heard of Shep Paine until this thread. I just searched him on the web. Holy crap!!!!! His figure painting is un-freaking-real. And his dioramas!!!!!! Yeah, I'm gonna pick up a few of his books. Man, that guy is good!!!!

There is just so much out there. Paine's books are jewels. Other stuff is hit or miss. I can only speak for diorama, space, and scifi. Check the railroading books for dioramas. Don't know anything about the armor or aircraft books. I'm not pandering here but the Klambach books for diorama info are pretty good.

Some of them are great--you can't go wrong with Shep Paine's. His books were my own modeling manuals that taught me the basics and instilled good modeling fundamentals. Shep wrote to teach and to educate -- other books that I have seen., however, seem to be more "vanity showcases" for an individual modeler, with little actual clear technique or descriptive photography. Some of the Osprey modeling manuals are this way--lots of highly complex models and often scratch building skills that are just out of the range of the great majority of modelers. A Panzer IV modeling manual comes to mind where the interiors and other incredibly intricate details of some of the models were just mind boggling in complexity. I looked through it and felt defeated rather than inspired.

Mike Rinaldi's book on German armor is well done. It has some valuable advanced finishing advice.

This same standard is also seen in some of the "how to" guitar videos out there, by the way. Some of them are very deliberately produced with the idea of actually teaching and showing novices how to improve. Other players simply use them as a sort of egocentric display of their abilities--rather like "betcha can't play THIS!". Such productions, whether video or book format, are of use to few but the actual author for purposes of braggadocio.

There have been some good modeling books that are now out of print.  However, internet used book places, including Amazon, can do an amazing job of finding these old books.

For the model shipbuilder a classic is A Modeler's Guide to Rigging by Richard Mansir.  If you are into the wood plank on frame or plank on bulkhead models his A Modeler's Guide to Hull Construction is good.  The later is also a good look at what that construction entails for someone considering that.

I don't read how-to books. I just run with it on the fly and learn as you go. Learn the tricks of trade on forums like here and elsewhere.

I will tell you, having modeled for a few decades, I re-read Paine's diorama book regularly, and always either pick up something I didn't notice before, or re-establish a good technique. I say acquire all the how-to books that interest you, there will always be value in their pages.

I second Mike Rinaldi's book on Tank Art.  Very informative.  

John