Book List

It's funny you should ask, I'm planning next week to catalog ALL my book collection. I'm starting to pick up second copies of something I'v already bought. ........... That's when you know you've got it bad!

Jake

When you're finished you should just list all the modelling related ones.

I kinda feel almost all of the books in the collection would fall in that catagory, as almost of all of us would probally use them to referance.

Jake

There's a shortage of good books aimed at the beginning or intermediate ship modeler. The usual pattern seems to be that the veterans write books and articles that show off their stuff (which frequently scares normal mortals out of the hobby), and the "beginner books" are written by people who never got far beyond beginner status themselves.

If I had to recommend one source for starters it probably wouldn't be a book but a set of CD-ROMs: the set that contains the full run of the magazine Ships in Scale. Those two CDs are a real treasure chest of information about ship modeling on many levels, with as wide a range of subject matter as anybody could ask for. They're available through the website of the magazine: <www.seaways.com>. They'd set you back quite a few sheckles, but they're more than worth it. The two CDs contain thousands of pages of information.

As for books - I'll start with the assumption that you're most interested in twentieth-century warships. A good introduction to the subject, if you can find a copy for an affordable price, is Building Warship Models, by P.C. Coker. It contains hundreds of inspirational pictures and a good, solid text. Its big weaknesses are scarcity and age: it was published in 1974, so it's pretty dated now.

A slightly newer one is Scale Model Warships, edited by John Bowen. This is a British book, first published in 1978. I think I'd recommend it as the best general text on the subject with which I'm familiar. Its age is a problem (photo etching, for instance, was just appearing on the scene in the late seventies), but it's full of good, solid material and has an excellent chapter on plastic kits. (The Coker book tends to thumb its nose at plastic, except as a scratchbuilding material.)

An excellent work that just came out a year or so ago is Building Model Warships of the Iron and Steel Eras, edited by Peter Beisheim. This one falls more in the category of inspirational literature, in that most of the articles in it deal with highly-detailed, scratchbuilt models. It does, however, contain a fine - and up-to-date - chapter on plastic kits by one of the most knowledgeable people in the business, Loren Perry.

Mr. Perry's company, Gold Medal Models, sells a paperback book on the use of photo-etched detail parts. I don't have the title in my head, but it's available through the Gold Medal website.

Our good friends at Kalmbach, of course, publish a couple of good books on basic ship modeling skills. I suspect, though, that if you're taking part in this forum you may well already have most of the info in those.

That's where I'd recommend starting. Modern warship modeling isn't my biggest personal interest, though; some of the other members may have some other ideas. Good luck. It's a great hobby.

I just did some surfing to find prices on the works I referred to in my last post. The Coker book, as I feared, is scarce and expensive. The cheapest copy I found (admittedly I only looked for a few minutes) was on the Barnes and Noble "Used and Out of Print" site for $92.14. The Beisheim book is new; the retail price is $36.95. Bowen's Scale Model Warships, on the other hand, is a bargain: $10.45 on the Barnes and Noble used site.

I garbled the story of the Ships in Scale CDs a little. They're in two sets of two CDs each. The newer one (probably the one to get first) costs $39.95; the earlier one is $42.95.

The Bowen book would be an excellent, reasonably priced start.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your advice.

I'm "replying" again to get this thread onto the first page of the forum. The topic has come up in a recent post.

guys
for books try

www.abebooks.com

or

www.bookfinder.com

aussie phil

Don't underestimate prowling used book stores and charity book sales. It's amazing the stuff that gets dumped because someone doesn't have time to model, or room for 10 reference books on 19th Century British seapower, etc.

There's a great book by Tony Gibbons called The Complete Encyclopedia Of Battleships, which is an outstanding reference work. I was fortunate enough to inherit it and a ton of other maritime history works from my grandfather. It documents every capital ship class from 1860 to HMS Valiant in 1946, and even throws in the Kirov class battlecruisers as a bonus. The vast majority of the entries have one or more large, detailed paintings. In a few cases (HMS Hood sticks out in my mind) there will be several color illustrations of various refits. I'll be building USS Oregon later this year, and the three beautiful illustrations in Gibbon's book will probably be all the reference I need to turn out a realistic model.

It's available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0517378108/qid=1105556706/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-7702273-3091310?v=glance&s=books

Another good reference is Modern Naval Combat By David and Chris Miller. The edition I have is from 1986. The book details naval technology and tactics, but it also has a section that profiles 43 classes of ships serving at the time of publication. Each profile has a large and detailed color illustration, a location chart for major weapon and electronic systems, and one or two color photos. Also, the photos in the tech and tactics sections are all color, and some of the closeups of various weapon and electronic systems are very nice.

And...It's also available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0517613506/qid=1105557886/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-7702273-3091310?v=glance&s=books

Actually, there's a pretty good variety of information out there if you know where to look. Mike Ashey's ship modeling book from Kalmbach is a must-have if you're a beginning ship modeler. Over time, the techniques you learn from the book will be modified and improved to suit your needs, and eventually, it will end up gathering dust on your bookshelf, like most how-to books do. I gave my copy away to someone who was starting out, my way of perpetuating the hobby.

Rusty White from Flagship Models does a wonderful series of how-to CDs targeted specifically at the ship modeler.

Perhaps the best (and least expensive) resource is right here on the forums. There's an incredible cross-section of modelers here from all over the world. Some have access to supplies that others don't, and as a result have developed techniques that even the most experienced ship modeler could overlook.

So don't be afraid to ask questions...because chances are, someone here has perfected some sort of technique to achieve the results you're looking for.

Jeff

If you are looking for wooden sailing ship modeling help and are a beginner, I recommend "SHIP MODELING SIMPLIFIED" by Frank Mastini.
Some of the main topics are:
choosing the right kit
deciphering complicated plans
setting up an efficient workbench and buying the right tools
keeping sane while working with miniture blocks, lines, and planking
painting, decorating, and displayiing your finished model

I found it a great help with the plans for my first ship model, The Wiiile L Bennett, a chesapeake bay skipjack.

In the WWII domain, The Painter's Guide to WW Two Naval Camouflage by P. Hreachmack, 1996, Clash of Arms Publishers, is very helpful relative to colors of and schemes of subterfuge for the major combatants. Check alnavco.com for acquiring this publication.

Be advised, Mr. Hreachmack's book is full of glaring errors, especially to color references and prescribed camouflage practices. A few years ago, the noted naval historian and camouflage expert Alan Raven (Of the Ensign Series, Man o' War, and the Raven and Roberts series of books, and most recently, Warship Perspectives) wrote a review in Plastic Ship Modeler magazine which was anything but kind. Of course, he substantiated all of his remarks with photos and documentation, something the original author failed to do.

It gives the modeler a good basis for many of the typical paint schemes, but, like any other resource, you should have multiple sources of information if you're concerned about, or striving for, accuracy in your models. While I don not suggest that you should avoid Mr.Hreachmack's book, I strongly suggest you question everything in it until you can verify it with a second source or photographic evidence.

That being said, photographic evidence for most capital ships exists online, often times in large quantities if you know where to look. All ship modelers that are on the internet should have the following web sites bookmarked.

Naval Historical Centers Online Photographic section - literally thousands of photos of warships, including many foreign vessels as well. http://www.history.navy.mil/

Patrick Clancy's Hyperwar Project - an extensive (mind boggling) compilation of data, including ships' histories http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-ships.html and all sorts of compositions, essays, and transcribed historical documents. You'll spend lots of time here if you're a history buff. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/ is the main page.

Haze Gray and Underway - Andrew Toppan's site - another mind-numbing compilation of photos and ships histories www.hazegray.org

Destroyers Online - www.destroyersonline.com a must see sight for Tin Cans.

I could go on and on, but the point is, that the information is out there, you just need to look for it!! :-)

Best,

Jeff