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Modelling Books Published |
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Modelling Books Published |
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| 101 Trackplans for Model Railroaders | Kalmbach | |||
| Linn H. Westcott | £10.50 | 72 pages | Softback | 2000 |
| Reprinted for the 23rd time and now having sold in excess of half a million copies, this remains an excellent introduction to and manual of railroad planning. It is very American in its outlook and yet contains much of interest and value to modellers of any other nationality, not least the British market. Attractively drawn and marked out, the plans are drawn onto impressions of scenery, with several full "3D" drawings included. | ||||
| 7mm Modelling Part 2 Building a Layout | Wild Swan | |||
| Gordon Gravett | £15.95 | 122 pages | Softback | 2000 |
| Written and conceived by ace modeller and all round "good egg" Gordon Gravett, this is a really wonderful book. It is full of well thought out and original ideas and unlike some other modelling "ideas" books, the schemes are all born out of practical experience. The book is aimed at the larger scale, but I defy any modeller in smaller scales not to find something of interest within its pages. In addition to very good photography, the book benefits from Gordon's drawings and sketches - wonderful to look at just as pictures. Ditchling Green is well featured, but as Gordon says, he has "poked his camera lens" at lots of other peoples work - how about a layout that masquerades as a grandfather clock when not in use! People who aren't interested in model railways just have no idea what they are missing out on. | ||||
| Constructing & Operating Semaphore Signals | Challenger | |||
| Mick Nicholson | £9.99 | 64 pages | Softback | 2000 |
| Signalling from the modeler's point of view. The first three chapters discuss the basics of the prototype, including the at times confusing question of where signals should be placed, whilst the rest of the book sets about constructing models of a wide variety of prototypes. Profusely illustrated by numerous drawings and detailed photographs of both prototypes and models, this is a valuable reference on the subject. | ||||
| Designs for Urban Layouts | Atlantic | |||
| Iain Rice | £14.99 | 80 pages | Softback | 2002 |
| A very inspiring and readable book, proving that the author has lost none of his wit and artistry over the last decade or so, and returning to mainland Britain for inspiration. Using prototype photographs and the author's distinctive and attractive sketches, different ideas and themes are worked up into mini layouts, working dioramas and complete layout schemes. I personally like the intelligently discussed references to other people's layouts and ideas and think that there is a lot of truth and interest in what is said. By the way, the "unrecalled" location of the rather eye catching photograph on page 27 is where the S&DJR crossed the Lower Bristol Road on its ascent out of Bath, only the pub on the left still survives. | ||||
| GWR Switch and Crossing Practice | Great Western Study Group | |||
| David J. Smith | £14.95 | 152 pages | Softback | 2000 |
| Subtitled "a design guide for 4mm modellers", this is a fantastically detailed but still readable look at the design of GWR pointwork, discussing and describing every conceivable technical detail of track construction. Equally suitable for modellers in any scale the information is drawn from official sources and relates to the period from the 1930s to the 1950s. Timbering, different chairs, crossing geometry and when and where to use gauge widening - you name it, it's here and in detail. | ||||
| Modelling the British Rail Era | Santona | |||
| Fleming Flint Gibbons & Taylor | £14.95 | 96 pages | Softback | 2001 |
| This is the first book to cover modelling the "BR Blue" era and it is not half bad. An interesting collection of prototype facts and photographs together with some good modelling ideas and atmospheric photos of model railways which depict the era. The text is a bit evangelical in places, I'm not sure there ever was any "tragic fogging of the facts" over the period in question - the railway was in decline and was less attractive than it had been in the past. It's an interesting era to model though, and for a whole generation it is of course nostalgic, along with the Bay City Rollers and Some Mothers do 'Ave 'Em - enough said! | ||||
| Narrow Gauge Railway Modelling | Wild Swan | |||
| Peter Kazer | £16.95 | 124 pages | Softback | 2001 |
| Another superlative production from Wild Swan, illustrating and explaining the thinking and methods behind the exquisite models produced by one man. Peter has covered aspects of the subject which have not appeared in other related books, and uses his model of Corris as an example throughout. The book contains a wealth of prototype detail, and covers two other prototypes and models in some depth, the Welsh Highland (model of Dinas Junction) and the Southwold Railway. Reprinted in 2005. | ||||
| Trackwork and Lineside Detail | Kalmbach | |||
| Kent Johnson | £12.95 | 96 pages | Softback | 2000 |
| A guide to building reliable and realistic model railroad track, being a collection of articles extracted from Model Railroader. Starting with the basics of laying track, then describing how to build turnouts, showing how to weather and detail track and finally model lineside details. Although describing U.S. prototypes, much of the book and the techniques described are equally applicable to British modelling. | ||||