Customer Reviews

Terrain Modelling (Modelling Masterclass)

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

 

 

Richard Windrow's book is a must if you are seriously interested in terrain modelling. The professional skills on display within make it definitely worth his price.

In my country, the author is known as the artist behind the several magnificient paleolithic and medieval dioramas displayed at the Cantonal Museum of Early History in Zug - in the odd 1:62 scale, which means he had literally to build everything from scratch.
Each chapter of the book is dedicated to a particular scene or technique to model a specific environment in a step-by-step manner. Essential details about how to integrate human figures and vehicles effectively into a diorama are also adressed in the same way, and so are widespread mistakes. By the way, did anyone ever notice how many military dioramas lack any trace of tracks or tires in the mud around vehicles, as if those had fallen right out of the sky ?
Richard Windrow's solutions to this and many other common problems you may run into when building your diorams are simple but effective.

In front of the enormous wealth of details I found it pretty difficult to pick a favorite scene among all those discussed in this book. Perhaps the two most puzzling and therefore not to be missed are the jungle (Indeed, no other seems to have tackled that subject in such a depth before), and the fantastic Sherman Firefly armour diorama.

Don't hesistate for a moment to click the "ADD TO SHOPPING CART" button for this one! Windrow's book is excellent! This book will guide you through the construction of just about every scenery element found in dioramas or model railroad platforms. It contains plenty of photographs, step-by-step illustrations, and concise commentary. The chapters devoted to twisted wire armature trees, seasonal scenery, and water effects are extraordinary. 5 Stars . . .

As someone else mentioned this is a good but not great book. After looking at some of the photos in the 'look inside this book' feature I thought it would be a great resource. The truth is that many of the techniques are outdated and for modellers today not detailed enough and out of scale. The photos are only so-so as well (in print quality) And there aren't really many step by step pictures to help explain the text instructions.
Some of the positives are that there are some decent reference photos of real world equivalents in the different sections and it is fairly well written (except for the section on trees which is excerpted from another book)
For military modellers I think Shep Paine's book is a better buy, and more suitable for beginners, although it is also rather outdated.
Some of the newer xtreme modelling publications are much better than these books (not available through amazon though)

I own a copy. Let's temper the rating of this book realistically. The photos shown in this book are good, not superlative. There are many unusual products and techniques used for creating terrain modelling nowadays which are not featured in this book. This book is really a nice primer for creating terrrain on a scale larger than HO/OO.

Great book, very helpfull as I am a novice to this subject. Inspirational and in depth information.

Read every page, and now constantly using as a reference. Great book for beginner and intermediate ability modellers. Definite A+ recommendation.

Really great book.

Author explains how to make every imaginable kind of terrain and foliage, with many variations. Water, ice, man made structures, rocks, fields, meadows, trees - just about anything. Trees are really spectacular.

Each topic is explained step-by-step, and is illustrated by great photographs. Many of the examples shown are bases for vignettes / dioramas, but look so good that could be models on their own.

If you're interested in making vignettes / dioramas - this book will show you how to make stunning terrain for them.

The techniques and materials for producing life-like dioramas. Clear, easy-to-follow, well illustrated. Copious crystal-clear color photographs. Eye opening.

I was pleased with this title. It has been very informative and helpful in my hobbie. The author is very knowlegable in the field of diorama making.