Customer Reviews

How to Build Plastic Ship Models

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I've used this book as a basic guide to building and enhancing several fully-rigged plastic model ships, and it is excellent. Besides having outstanding closeup photographs of built-up ships, basic modeling techniques are illustrated in step-by-step fashion, culminating in a complete chapter covering the construction of a 1/96 scale model of the USS President (modified from the USS Constitution). I especially found useful the special tips on hull strengthening and rigging, which are quite different with plastic models

This is a valuable and frequently used guide on my model ship workbench. Written with the novice plastic model shipbuilder in mind, Wilkins de-mystifies the process of building a kit containing hundreds of parts, with complex instructions for sails and rigging. The pictures clearly show that with patience and the tips contained in this book, one can build a museum-quality sailing ship model comparable with scratch-built wooden ones. His technique for weathering a ship's copper bottom is excellent; I used it to realistically weather Revell's 1/96 "USS United States". The section on building the "USS President" (sister ship to the "USS Constitution" is a good systematic approach to modifiying and completing a complex model kit. The illustrations are excellent. I hope to make it up to the museum in Wisconsin to see Wilkins' collection of model ships.

this is a really good book very helpfull Im unable to put it down
wish I had brought it sooner what can I say