The Car Modeller's Handbook [Paperback]

Mr. Nick J. Wigman (Author), Mr. Daryl Keenan (Author), Mr. Alan Bottoms (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2007

Cars are now more popular subjects for modelers than they have ever been.  An ever increasing range of kits allows the modeler to build a wide variety of highly detailed road and racing cars. Of paramount importance to the car modeler is the perfection of finish, but this can be difficult to attain without the necessary experience. This book, written by three expert car modelers, sets out everything you need to know to produce a superb model car in one of the popular scales. Covering construction, detailing, modification and finishing, this book will appeal to the beginner and the intermediate level modeler anxious to improve his or her skills.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Cars are now more popular subjects for modelers than they have ever been. An ever increasing range of kits allows the modeler to build a wide variety of highly detailed road and racing cars. Of paramount importance to the car modeler is the perfection of finish, but this can be difficult to attain without the necessary experience. This book, written by three expert car modelers, sets out everything you need to know to produce a superb model car in one of the popular scales. Covering construction, detailing, modification and finishing, this book will appeal to the beginner and the intermediate level modeler anxious to improve his or her skills.

About the Author

David Hoy has been involved in flight training for most of his professional career. Originally trained at Hamble, David worked for DF Aviation as the chief simulator instructor and then flight instructor specializing in instrument rating and commercial training. David went on to form his own company, DH Aviation, and after two years was approached by Cabair who absorbed his company and promoted David to CFI for their eight flying schools. David worked for Cabair for nearly twenty years. He was then headhunted by BAe Systems and recruited as head of training commercial at Woodford, Manchester. Redundancy followed 9/11 and currently David is manager of instructor training at Oxford Airline Training College.

 

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Crowood (August 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861268939
• ISBN-13: 978-1861268938
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #432,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very well produced handbook for those serious in building scale model cars, November 22, 2009

By 

Michael Cabrera (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Car Modeller's Handbook (Paperback)

It is what it is; A handbook on scale model car building. I found this very book very appropriately titled. Handbooks are not intricate, explicit, step-by-step instruction manuals. They are guides that cover the general scope of the subject or topic.

The Car Modeller's Handbook was published in the UK, so many of the reference products and materials such as paints and tools might not be available in other regions outside of the UK. Thankfully many of the model brands, paints, supplies, tools are distributed worldwide, so this is not a big worry when reading. The handbook works well for the customer if he or she has general model building skills. It is a good resource for awareness for beginning modellers; however, it does not have adequate information to serve as a "how-to" guide.

The handbook's pictures are all well done and all in glorious full color. (Please see the 5 user images I have provided for Amazon) There are 3 projects featured in the book. The first being a build that is straight up out of the box with no customizations or modifications. The second project concentrates on adding extra detail such as carbon fiber decals and photo-etched parts. And the final project is for direct customization, which utilize advance techniques. Each project is well covered for a satisfying reading.

I have been building scale model cars for over 13 years and I still learned a good amount of new information when reading this book. When searching for information on specific techniques such as applying photo-etched parts, transkits, or building styles, often it is very difficult to find a good amount of information whether on the internet or in book form. And more often than not, when it is in book form, it is usually very sparse and limited. I really dislike finding message board threads and forums on the net that require some sort of membership just to read the information, only to find out hardly anyone participates or even responds to your questions. The reading from this book will partially be a solution to that, and will give the reader a good amount of information to digest.

I do believe this is a necessary read for anyone looking to commit into this time consuming hobby. The only reason why I did not award this a 5 star review is because it is not a fully comprehensive "step-by-step" guide. A publication on that type of level would definitely require a lot more than 144 pages. That being said, I am very satisfied with this purchase and would recommend it if you take scale model car building seriously.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There are no Hot Rods in this book., October 24, 2010

By 

T. Lantz "Mechanical Romanticist" (Stuck in Dutch Country, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Car Modeller's Handbook (Paperback)

Don't buy this book if you are seeking a how-to on building a Hot Rod or muscle car. But the skills taught in each of these builds can relate to the skills needed to build other automotive styles.

If you wanna great guide to build some great Japanese kits and a conversion of a Ferarri kit - as well as a very good build of a Formula 1 Ferarri - this is the book for you.

This book is very well written with very good illustrations. Each build is given its own chapter which follows each build from start to finish.

I recommend this book for novice builders to build their skills and "raise the bar" on their builds.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars handbook for dummies, January 30, 2010

By 

Marilyn J. Richmond - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Car Modeller's Handbook (Paperback)

After reading this handbook, I am going to start my car modeling sooner than I planed! Great information for anyone..........