Customer Reviews

Scale Spacecraft Modelling

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Modeling spacecraft, both historical and fictional, is a niche within the modeling world. This book speaks to those interested in that niche. It covers such diverse topics various modeling materials, scrounging to make what is desired from what is available, painting, decaling and, especially, sources for obscure materials and kits.

This is dedicated primarily to static models and not the flying ones but can be useful for the latter crowd as well.

It is a British publication but is applicable for all.

Scale Spacecraft Modelling is a must have for anyone interested in modelling. It has something for everyone; whether its paper (or card)modeling all the way to the specialty kits made from resin. This is neither a beginner not advanced book, but written so every modeler no matter what their expertise will get something from it. Besides chapters dealing with tools needed, plastic, card and resin models; chapters also include weathering your kit, building dioramas, and scratchbuilding a futuristic Mars habitat ship.
It is a natural segue from his Creating Space: The Story of the Space Age Through Models (Apogee Books Space Series) book. Highly recommended.

Matt Irvine has produced a great companion piece to his previous effort "Creating Space" from Apogee books.
As a model builder I loved how he explored various mediums from Plastic to paper to resin models of our various favorite space ships. His exploration into the best and newest models out there is perfect, and what he did in his explanations to improve upon the models and their displays was great. (I loved what he did with the Apollos!) It was uncanny that we both did dioramas about simular vehicles like the V-2's at White Sands, New Mexico.
Maybe it is a space geek thing!
Highly recommended to all spaceship modelers!

This was a book that was much better than I expected. I started modeling space back in the early sixties with Revell's 1/48 Mercury and Gemini. Mat's book covers everything old and new, from styrene plastic to resin and even paper models. His tips are invaluable. This book makes the difference between a so-so model and a real looker that captures people's attention. A must for the space modeler.

This is the best book ever published on the subject of scale spacecraft modelling. It is well written, very well illustrated, and very much up to date. Many congrats to Mr. Irvine for the production of this fine work.

Mat really did a great job with this book. I fell back into modeling after about a 25 year layoff. This book goes throught he method of building many of the space models that you may want to purchase. I even emailed him some questions and he was kind enough to respond. I am going to check out his other books. I think he has a total of 10 or so out there.

For one thing, this book is fairly modern. Mentioning everything from eBay, resin kits, to Google. So you know it's not something printed 15-20 years ago or out of date. It's packed full of clear well done COLOR photos. Matt covers model ships and vehicle subjects from Real Space to Sci-Fi. Including many kits long out of production.

The book has plenty of text to detail every build. Full of techniques and tips, things he's aquired working on real TV Series from Dr. Who to Blake's 7. His enthusiasm for building models is in every paragraph.

He covers all the topics, from printing decals, to vacuum-forming. The builds range from Scifi imaginary ships, to real craft, such as Gemini, Apollo, Spaceship One, and the Lunar Rover.

If you are going to get just one book on building Scifi or Real Space kits, that will take your modeling to the next level, this is the one to get. Highly recommended.

The book is OK but at a basic level. Anyone who models in plastic or wood will see the same tips and tricks here as any other basic modeling book....Nice for beginners...Andy