I've bought a book or two on modeling, wood ships mainly, but found they don't hold up well to time. Take a look at those Shep Paine brochures, some of what he wrote still holds but much of the techniques, while still work just fine, are out moded when compaired to the new materials and after market products.

I'd still say yeah, go for it. I'm sure there are several techniques that you've learned that would benifit many, including myself. If you write one, I'd buy it. Plus, it'll always be there long after we're gone. A legacy, kinda like a photograph.

Hello TB!

Let me start with a joke that goes like this: Well if it's the only way to see the pictures of your builds - dang, I'll buy it!

And again - with no pictures I don't think it would be marketable...

Then again - you're writing all the time, anyway - making a book out of it isn't that much of a hassle...

Nowadays you don't have to worry about printing press, matrices and stuff - just make a pdf and put it up for a print-on-demand service (like lulu.com). Even if there's only one taker, they will print it, bind it (even hardcover if you like) and ship it even to Poland - and you make whatever margin you dial in.

So like you see, that's no big deal any more... I say try it if you have some free time on your hands...

While writing this I just remembered I was supposed to do something similar with the memoirs of my gramps from the times when he was a slave laborer in the WWII Germany... Would anyone want to read something like that?

Good luck with your book and have a nice day

Paweł

Answering your questions;

"Who would publish it?"; how about you .  .  . self publishing isn't that hard.

"Who would read it?"; more than you might expect.

As a published author, I thought my first book would be nothing more than a niche book; for USS Arizona and Pearl Harbor historians, and maybe a few more. In fact, I have sold over 400 copies, nearly 300 to the bookstore at the USS Arizona memorial alone. My second book, a young reader story, has not done as well, primarily due to its launch last summer, in the middle of the Covid thing.

Now, if you are at all interested in doing this; and it seems that you are otherwise you would not have brough it up, then look at other modeling books. See what they have, and more importantly, what they don't. That should give you a good idea what to cover.

Now the big factor; cost. If you add art, especially color, then the cost jumps up exponentially. Black and white pictures can be done like text, but color pictures get expensive; and a modeling book would definitely have to have pictures.

I write the occasional article for publication in small circulation newsletters, such as our church bulletin.

The thing is to write about personal experience as that is something unique that only you posess. Otherwise you can assume someone else wrote something of general knowledge in an informed and literate way which you could only hope to match.

Hoo states it well, without direct reference. He is the ONLY USMC deep sea diver who has walked the decks of BB-39 and then written a good book about it (I own a copy) that I have read, and I'll bet I haven't missed any other ones.

I would read a book you write about your time in the Sac Delta running spill boats that were converted LSDs or whatever they were, and builds models of them.

Bill

Id buy it!  I've bought two books in the past year or so.  The revell book, very cool but useless. And a kalmbach publication on model airliners. You have to write it in your unique TB dialect though ;)

NAVY Deep Sea Diver, Bill, but thank you for the complimentary plug.

Okay,Mr Hard-Hat!

 I have a question for you! I learned to Scuba dive to the maximum depth allowed-On Mix! Now of course that's out of the question. So the question. Didn't you feel stifled and somewhat confined in the hat with the little round windows in it??

     Thaat's why I did the Scuba thing. I even have a hard time thinking about how many times I used a Hookah Rig!

Never had an issue with any of the dive rigs I've used, and I've dove a bunch of them. In the Mark 5 (the spun copper helmet with the little windows) your face is close enough to the port that it doesn't really obscure the view that much. As you would expect, some of the other rigs do have better visibility, but there is just something about diving the old ones that is so cool. Aside both single and double hose scuba, the rigs I've dove include; the MK-5, the Mk-1, the Mk-12, MK-20, MK21, the KMB-10 and 12, the Superlite 17 and 18, the old triangular, free flow 'Jack Browne', and several hookah masks. I've been to 120' on scuba, 285' on surface-supplied air, and 300' on HEO2 mix. Never had the opportunity to play with any nitrox gear, but did try out the MK-16 rebreather.

Ya Know;

     I wish I remembered half of the vessels I have dove on. The most fascinating and dangerous was the " Doria". I have a personal connection to her from childhood. Not going into it here. Now the Hookah was okay for river dives on salvage jobs, But it could get dangerous if you didn't pay attention. My partner got trapped that way. I had to take an aux tank down to get him air till we could get the boat off him.

     Of course, he was one of those Cocky guys who knew it all! That day the partnership was dissolved. I wasn't going to lose a diver on my watch! So I went back to solo easy jobs and recreational dives. On my own with my Buddy always at my side or nearby. Great sport and work for a Husband and Wife team!

     It's been long enough that I don't even remember the series I dove with, But, I did get to try the Re-Breather type and wished I was a lot younger and my heart had behaved!

There is an old line,"Never share a foxhole with someone braver than you", that goes in diving too. In 'work' diving, as opposed to recreational diving, You have to be able to not only trust your buddy, but to be able understand and know how the guy thinks. It keeps you out of trouble and can most definitely save yours or their life.

You know, the funny thing is that when people hear you're a diver, the first thing they ask about is sharks. The fact is that sharks are about the last thing on your mind, as there are a whole bunch of things that will kill you that are more prevalent and more hazardous than the 'big gray hungries'.

modelcrazy

I've bought a book or two on modeling, wood ships mainly, but found they don't hold up well to time. Take a look at those Shep Paine brochures, some of what he wrote still holds but much of the techniques, while still work just fine, are out moded when compaired to the new materials and after market products.

 

I still like a book/magazine.  I'm ears deep in technology professionaly, but when it comes to relaxing on the sofa reading a book or a magazine.... nothing beats that. 

The only way a new general modelling book would fly is if it were heavily illustrated and took up about a thousand pages! There are just too many sub-topics, too many different types of models, too many tools, too many types of adhesive and paint, and too much variability in the quality of models. But I do think that some books would fly, and I would buy them in a second.

What I would like to see, for example, is a good book about weathering. That's one subject that I've had trouble getting a handle on, and the few times I've tried to weather one of my models I ended up without the slightest change in the model, or a disaster. And I've even tried to "study up" on the subject through You Tube videos, magazine articles, and entire books, most of which are simply discouraging because I simply don't have the skills to replicate what I see and read about.

I think that one type of book that is missing from the "library" is one about the philosophy and psychology of building models. Why do we build models? Why do we choose particular types or scales of models to build? What are or should be the goals of building a model? Why are some modellers happy only with perfection in the final result, while others are pleased if their neighbour, who knows nothing about scale modelling, seems blind to obvious faults in a model and says, "Wow! That's incredible!" To be truly useful, such a book intended for beginning model makers would include just such topics. 

Bob

TB, I reckon I'd read anything you wrote. Your posts are always entertaining! I have no doubt that a book on your life would be an absorbing read, as you seem to have had a very interesting and varied life experience. You also have a good 'take' on things. If it was going to be about modeling, then my choice would be for card models. This is a relatively unknown and fascinating subject, in which you have great experience.

Incidentally, I would recomend Hoo Yah's book on the USS Arizona to anybody. A fascinating and informative read.

Gee Whiz Dodgy, I'm blushing!!!

Thank you for the totally honest and refreshing review.

No problem mate! That'll be 10 bucks. Cash only, no cheques!!!

Just put it on my tab, and throw in a case of Four X, I'll catch you at the end of the month.

keavdog

I still like a book/magazine.  I'm ears deep in technology professionaly, but when it comes to relaxing on the sofa reading a book or a magazine.... nothing beats that. 

 

bill

Well?

   Whaddya expect when you write something Right and Proper? Just picked it up. Anything on the AZ. I will read!

Oh;

      You are so correct! The last thing I worried about was the Toothy Grey thingies. A falling beam or loose hardware that would pose a danger more than them was more on the mind! I only had an incident once where I even saw one close. I was cleaning the tunnel for a transverse propulsion gear that had lost it's grate and one came by to see what's up. There were some chewed up fishes in there!

      I slowly backed off using only my hands to move and he went right in there. came out real quick too! I guess he didn't like Blended fishies!

Low class shark; not into pate'. Bet he makes slurping sounds with his coffee too.

Once did a diving presentation at one of my son's school. Hooked up two hats to a comm box and let the kiddos talk back and forth. showed them lots of gear and told them all about diving and working underwater.

And the only thing they asked questions about .  .  . sharks.  Figure the odds.

From 1986. About building plasticmodels and some scratchbuilding.

Sorry, only in Finnish.

H;

      You know HooYaa, that's the primary thing I still get asked about even today."Did you see any Bull sharks in the Bay?" "Did you see any sharks in the Oakland Tributary?" . I dove in Suisun once,Tricky one there, Currents are nasty. Mothballed ship got some wreckage tangled up in it's half exposed prop. Folks on the ship's deck were asking if there were any sharks down there. There may have been. I didn't see them. My job came first and my " Buddy" didn't see any either!

Back in 1988, we were tasked with a mock ship attack on a ship going through refresher training prior to deployment. We were driving a Boston Whaler around Pearl Harbor in the middle of the night and jumping out to attack the ship. Now one should note that Pearl Harbor is a breeding ground for hammerheads, so there's usually a bunch of them in the neighborhood. 

So, there I am, slowly swimming across East Loch, several hundred yards from any shore, when I suddenly recall the hammerhead breeding ground fact .  .  .     Middle of the night, I can't see anything around me in the dark .  .  .    Oh, well, back to work!

And a good time was had by all.         The End.

Hello!

I got the book from Brian and I can also say it's very good!

Compared to you guys I have so little experience with water one could say I don't even know what it is, but reading your shark stories I couldn't help but remember one lame joke from when I was at primary school. At school in Poland they have a show and tell and Johnny (the jokes are always about Johnny) brings a strange looking black box. What is it Johnny? - the teacher asks. That's my invention, says Johnny - a shark repelling device. But there are no sharks here Johnny! - the teacher says. See how awesome my machine is? - answers Johnny!

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Now Pawel;

      That's something I thought about. Shark Repellant-A waterproof 50.cal machine gun in semi pistol form!

HooYah!

 They either took the night off or were sleeping off a heavy meal of their own?

Well lucky me, I guess.

As for the books, I've got three 'in progress' so to speak; two sea story anthologies, and a kids book, second of a planned series for the middle grades (ages 8 - 12). I also am acting publisher for another anthology of poems, prose, and stories for the writing club I belong to. I don't have a big model stash, I've got a book job stash. 

Ahhh, what kind of idiot would think a shark would bother a diver!?!?

Everyone knows the natural enemy of the diver is the mighty octopus- aka the DEVILFISH!!! 

All joking aside what is the name of your book detailing your work on the USS Arizona book Hoo Yah? I'd be interested in reading that!