The Ship Model Forum

wow... it has been two years, i don't know how I just saw this post now and not when jimmy brought life back to it, but yeah... I fully expect a new book since i was never able to get ahold of your old one! However, finish the Vermont first and put that in the book.... hehe.

Hey ARH!!!

.........2 years gone and no book!!!!
I know I'm late here!!!!

Victorious wrote:Can you imagine being on exercise with that on board.


From ship on the horizon " Okay guys see that red box, that's your target"

Yes , the ship would have a list to port, unless there were two aboard. THE SITE WAS HACKED A SHORT WHILE AGO, IN MAIN FORUM, WE ARE KEEPING AN EYE OUT,

Can you imagine being on exercise with that on board.


From ship on the horizon " Okay guys see that red box, that's your target"

But what kind of question is this ???? To me, there�s only one response ...

I will love to have it in print. Count me in!!!

Victorious wrote:Now come on, do you expect us to believe THAT! The King of Tonga, I ask you

Actually, it's the latest trend, so that all those Matelot's can phone home, from anywhere at sea.

LOL, strange maybe, but true. As for phoning home, there is a problem there, it is called a RadCall and every other ship and establishment in the Navy listens in on the conversation! I never did live down my calling my wife in mid Atlantic only to have her yell for every Operator in the Fleet to hear "Mike, you have to get a blood test, urgent!" (She had just found out she was pregnant and there was a possible problem, but try convincing anyone of that!)

Actually I was pondering odd cargos and recalled the last Ark Royal fired an old car off the ship using a steam catapult during families day.

Now come on, do you expect us to believe THAT! The King of Tonga, I ask you

Actually, it's the latest trend, so that all those Matelot's can phone home, from anywhere at sea.

ARH wrote:I thought Dr WHO had landed,

It ranks as the oddest cargo I know of! (Bet someone can Black Cat it though!)

I checked out prices of train sets while visiting the York Railway museum this weekend btw, Admiral, think I will have to stick with scratch building! �90 for a basic oval with one point, one locomotive and three carraiges, and that was one of the cheaper ones!

I thought Dr WHO had landed,

The last book I read employed a workshop so well equipped I doubt BAE could do better, bit demoralizing really, "I turned the dead eyes up on the lathe with a forming tool ground from high speed steel bar and..." That is why I like Ron's posts, no special tools! I would love to hear more about the guy mentioned at the IFOS who makes all his models from matchsticks and boxes!

He he, gotcha then! Okay, it is HMS Sirius transporting a gift to the King of Tonga on the occasion of his Coronation. Apparantly he used to go all misty eyed at the sight of them and comment how he always associated them with England. Odd, I always associate them with toilets and Miss Whiplash and her friends!

Hi Middle Watch Well you�ve got me stumped. The Sea Cat launcher I see but that big red thing. I know it�s a practice round. Actually your comments regarding books are very valid indeed and I couldn�t agree more. Magazines by their very nature are limited by the need to vary the content and by definition try to deal with a wide variation of subjects to please every interest group. Which is impossible in a monthly magazine.
As this on going discussion highlights all mediums have they�re strong and weak point and yes a book on a specialist subject like ours is always of value. The last truly articulate publication dealing with scratch built warships was "Scale Model Warships" edited by John Bowen and that was published in 1978. But the real true iconic bible if you will was "Building Warship Models" by PC Coker For those old enough to have been able to get an original copy then you will instantly know when it is said that it is still the best of its genre ever printed. Both publications go into great detail on the constructional methods involved in scratch building. However I think time has moved on and those entering modelling tend to search for the "quick fix" this is not being critical but reflects life in general. Also the skill base is now spread very thin. I grew up very much in the shadow of the shipyard were 60% of the working population of our area including a large number of my family were employed in the industry or supply. This gave a good skill base and model building came naturally to many. Personally I think you can't have enough "how to" books but singularly one of the major advantages that book have over magazines or the electronic medium is that you can include detailed Illustration and drawings that can fold out and look at. But as Ron so rightly pointed out this all comes at a cost and specialist books aren�t cheap these days .
Dave Wooley

I get Model Boats for the Rangefinder article (a mix of current and past warships reviewed for the modeller - another Middle Watch over simplification!) and because there is usually a scratch build or part build article, one of each if lucky. My only "complaint" is that due to the limitations of space bits are sometimes jumped over and you are left looking at an assembled mast and thinking "How the heck...?" A book would be most welcome. Since becoming interested I have drawn several from the library but not been that impressed, they tend to be very general in nature, a book of soup to nuts on a particular project would be very welcome, particularly if it followed the format of my computer books and included a CD of photos and video clips!

And here is my revenge on Dave for all those hours turning the mag upside down and squinting at obscure images!

What are we looking at?

Lozza1981 wrote:Simple idea is yes it would be an excellent idea, but it maybe simplier if Ron sublitted the article to one of the RC model magazines here in the UK?

Articles in Magazines are condensed, they only skimp over somones build. A book, if done properly, can describe a breif history of the model, step by step instructions showing how the model is built, from the humble beginnings, including hull, decks, superstructure, fittings etc, right up to fitting the radio control and ending with a chapter on sailing the model.

Fine with me! NOW GO WRITE THE BOOK!

Hi Guys, I like this thead, First of all it takes money and hard work, the hard work is no problem, but money can be, its a small market and publishers do not want to invest in someone they do not know, thats how I published my own book , with the help of the captain. In my research I found out so much about the ship it would have been a shame not to do a book, modellers were writting in to modelboats asking , why there was so little info on this ship, at that time there was only 2 photo,s of BRYONY, I found a book full.
As to size of photos, the minimum size I take is 2 million pixels, all good quality, bar an odd one or two.
I am looking at a CD have started getting all the pics together , I always back them up on a CD in case the computer crashes, there,s a lot of pictures, on this site alone there is 100 just on the decks alone, weeks ago there was 250 at least, It would be a thick book, you would need a truss to carry it. ARH

That's a good one Kenny never thought of it that way but to have the reference work by your side in the workshop is definitely a plus. I suppose a further example would be in keeping photos as reference. I take photos into the workshop and either place them in a folder or place them on the plans board next to the area I�m working on . Yet I have all the same pictures on the lap top but that very rarely goes into the workshop.
Dave Wooley

The CD is a great idea as well, but then it might as well be online or saved on a computer. Granted that goes against my argument that virus's can destroy all that but one of the main factors i'd like a book is that then i can have it right there with me at the workshop....I dont know about you guys, but my computer is no where near where i model.... and it would be too much of a hassle to keep running up here trying to figure stuff out....while with a book i can just flip a few pages and keep it open studying the pics and text while i work on my ship.

Devin For my sins I have been involved in writing since the late 1960s and my own work for good or ill keeps popping up somewhere. As for Books well libraries often retain books on reference shelves for many years. This of course is not whether the electronic medium of storing information on our chosen hobby is better or worse than other mediums like magazines and books it's just different, but there are other considerations. As for reproduction of photographic material on the web you are correct. AH is no doubt fully aware of this. All "Paper" mediums do require high resolution or high quality photos, which to be fair is not a hurdle it was . For books the problems are centred on getting a good publisher. Specialist books which tends to be a label for activities such as ours don't always sell in great numbers but do find there way into libraries and thankfully on to the shelves of those with a real interest in the subject. In trying to inform modellers in a "how to fashion" it's beneficial to explore all the mediums available but Books remain one of the best ways to condense what we as modellers have to say and are not reliant on any of the electronic pathways to disseminate that information, it is their to feel and look at any time. Well it�s time to get of my soapbox and go and do some modelling!
Dave Wooley

How about doing it like Rusty White does. Put it on CD. No printing costs which can make or break your profit line.