Scratch building - tips, tricks, and what not...

[ColonelKrypton]

I am always looking around for new ideas and techniques.

One of the good old books on scratchbuilding was by Scratch Built by John Alcorn, George Lee, and Peter Cooke. First published Schiffer Publishing in the late 80's ( I think ) and now on it's edition. This is one many here are likely familiar with.  Sadly John and George have since passed but I don't know if Peter is still with use but I do recall his having an accident of some sort which I think led to his retirement. I have had a copy of this book in hardcover since it was first published. The pages are getting a bit dog eared and I must have read and thumbed through it a thousand times.

https://www.schifferbooks.com/scratch-built-a-celebration-of-the-static-scale-airplane-modelers-craft-2150

A follow on to Scratch built was The Master Scratch Builders: Their Aircraft Models & Techniques by Alcorn. I am only aware of this book and have never had a look.

https://www.abebooks.com/9780764307959/Master-Scratch-Builders-Aircraft-Models-0764307959/plp

There are newer books available and these are what prompted my post.

From Inside the Armour Publications:

Scratchbuilding Aircraft by Megas Tsonos  https://www.insidethearmour.com/product-page/scratchbuilding-aircraft-book

Scratchbuilding Masterclass and More Scratchbuilding Masterclass https://www.insidethearmour.com/product-page/more-scratchbuilding-masterclass

The later two are AFV related but good technique and ideas are applicable across many fields of interest - my copies are already starting to get a bit dog eared and I haven't had them that long.

One I just received lately is Modeling Building with Brass by Ken Foran also by Schiffer publishing and now in it's second edition.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=15DxswEACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions

If you search around you will find details on his 1/16 scale Fokker E.IV, DR.1, and D.VIII

David Merriman is name most will not recognize. An ex USN submariner, he has been a model maker for many years and has published much. While submarines may not be your interest you will find many interesting tid bits in his postings on various on line sites, and these are just a small sampling:

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/merrimans-submarine-modelling.31899/

https://culttvman.com/main/david-merrimans-scratchbuilding-the-dove-unfinished/

https://culttvman.com/main/on-the-bench-223b-david-merrimans-von-braun-cargo-rocket-part-1/

https://culttvman.com/main/acid-etching-part-1-by-david-merriman/

cheers, Graham

[RichieW]

Many thanks for posting this Graham, I just got a copy of Model Building with Brass by Ken Foran and it is superb.

Richie