WardEss

Yes, that's a good one, too! (I have a "real paper" copy, myself.) Someone scanned it in, apparently ... it's available over here: https://rclibrary.co.uk/download_title.asp?ID=1216

> The stash MIGHT start quaking in fear a bit IF > I could stop buying/acquiring new kits...... seems > I get as many as I build each year and the stash > just doesn't shrink much if any. I think I'm beginning to understand that feeling, at least where Vacu-Formed kits go. My "secret" to obtaining lots of Vac Kits to practice on, and to learn from, now that I'm playing with Vac's, is basically to try to look up "lot" sales on eBay -- while not caring much at all what the model's actual subject matter is. Price and quantity are mainly what I'm aiming at! Finding myself something to work on that is sort of "airplane shaped" is (not always, but often enough) fun and relatively easy, if I don't care what company the kit was made by; what type it is (military versus civilian); what era (pick a decade in the 1990s, for instance) or if a model is large or small ... that sort of thing. Some of the kits I picked up recently were less than four dollars US per kit, when bought in a "lot". Not like I know of anyone who is willing to sell me kits made from resin (or high-end injection kits) that are that cheap?! And it matters to me that Vac Kits are more fun, right now, since I'm not used to them yet. Figuring out what to do, with kits I'm not used to working on, makes for a very good "dollars spent per hobby hour" goal!

(quotes ON) Just finished my 10th for the year. (quotes OFF) I'm guessing that means the rest of your kit stash is quaking in it's boots, since it knows it can't escape, and it's just a matter of time? (Heehee. Good for you, Mr. Gil, sir!)

To me, this whole build thread is just impressive as heck! Definitely not what I'm used to seeing, in terms of subject matter. (Single vehicles of some type, usually; with no added "context" or "world" for those scale models to be seen in.) Very cool!

I also would (politely, and in a well-meaning way) question the term "average" in this context. Nicely done, all around!

Thanks much goes to Gil Hodges: he passed his copy on to me! I've been reading it, for several hours now, and WOW does it have some cool info in there! Would the average person on the street love a book like this one? Nope! But I love it! Thanks again, Gil!

Nicely done, Chris!

Thanks bunches, Mister Gil, sir! Yes, I would definitely like to have that book you showed an image of, above! I sent you an email, as you requested, at the email address you listed above ...

Hi all. I'm looking for another specific old scale modeling book, about vacuum-formed kits. This book is by a UK author named Hugh Markham. The book is called "Scale Model Aircraft from Vac-Form Kits" I've never seen this particular book, in person, but I understand it is a lot more common in places like the UK; rather than the USA, where I live. I doubt that I could easily afford postage from the UK, on this book (?) so I'm hoping someone in the USA has a copy they would part with. My understanding is that the book is only about 50 or 60 pages long, and it's probably all in black-and-white, as far as photos or drawings go. (Whoo-hoo for going full-blown "Old School" with a portion of my scale modeling library!?) I looked the book up on Amazon dot com ... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0905418344/ ... and they acknowledge / realize that the book exists, but they almost never have a copy of that 1978-ish book for sale. At least when I was looking, they didn't have any spare copies to offer. Amazon says the ISBN information for this book is: ISBN-10: 0905418344 ISBN-13: 978-0905418346 I had also tried the "Inter-Library Loan" process, via my local public library. No luck. Lots of copies available in the UK, but none in these United States, that any library here in the USA (at least that I am aware of) would agree to lending out. To put this request in more context -- I already have a lot of individual articles about the subject (assembling and detailing vacuum-formed kits) in old magazine back issues (FSM / FineScale Modeler, and others such as Scale Models) and I also have a copy of the book (at roughly the same length as Markham's) called "Building and Improving Vacuum-Formed Model Aircraft" by Kalmbach and author Richard "E. R." Staszak. I like that cool old book, and the info in places like that looks useful ... and I just got in another cool old book from this era, too ("Making Model Aircraft" by Bryan Philpott) ... but I find I want more than I already have. I'm getting more and more interested in "VacForm" kits and I love to read how-to information, so it's pretty natural for someone like me to want all of the books I can get, on subjects like this one. Even if it's sort of the same information, over and over, that's okay. (As long as the price of any new book or magazine back issue is something I can afford.) I'm just liking the "Old School Vibes" of how things were done back in the 1970's and 1980's, hence looking for more books from that era. This is kind of a time machine, for me: I can go back and find / build kits, now, that were once way out of my childhood "league" as a kit builder. If anyone here has a copy of "Scale Model Aircraft From Vac-Form Kits" that they would not mind parting with, and would sell to me for non-collector's prices -- (please!) -- just send me a PM (private message) on these forums, and I'll get back to you. Thanks much! -- Ward Shrake --

Hi all. I'm looking for an old book. I've never seen the book itself. I recently saw a reference to the book in the Oct 1986 issue of FineScale Modeler magazine, on page 57. It was at the top of the section called "FSM Book Briefs". Here's the full review that FSM gave that book: (quotes on) Book Title: "In Plastic: Vacuum-Formed Kits" John W. Burns is well known as the editor and publisher of Kit Collector's Clearinghouse, a bimonthly newsletter for plastic kit collectors. His new book is divided into two major sections. First is a list of all known published references to vacuum-form modeling and how-to-do-it articles on specific kits. Burns then provides a list of vacuum-formed kits known to exist or to have been announced by the end of 1985; their manufacturers (including addresses); and details such as scale, availability, and market value. There is an index arranged by company. This 84-page, 8.5 inch by 11 inch soft-cover book sells for $15.00" (quotes off) Does anyone here have a copy they want to sell? Or give away, to a good home? I'm just now getting into kits of that kind, and I'm finding that the challenge of it, and the mindset of building VacForms, is quite interesting to me. I would love to find out more about the people who used to make that kind of kits, and the companies they once ran. I have always loved to read Old School style articles from the 1970's and/or 1980's (or later, if possible) on any scale modeling topic, so when the quotes above said that then-new book includes, "a list of all known published references to vacuum-form modeling and how-to-do-it articles on specific kits," that's all it took for me to want a copy of it! It won't matter a bit to me that the price guide portion of that book is four decades out of date! Does anyone out there have a copy they don't mind selling? Send me a PM, please, if you have a copy of that book you would part with! Thanks much!

It puts a smile on my face to see kits being worked on that, how shall we say it, "aren't known to give too many people good first impressions, when they initially opened the kit's box". Nice to see that despite fit problems and the like, that these are being built!

Since I'm still getting re-acquainted with how IPMS does things, I didn't even know that such a category existed, but yeah ... this (really nicely done!) build-up looks perfectly suited for a class with that name. Kudos to the builder / painter / writer! Thanks for posting those pics and that story! Personally, I'm glad to see Monogram's older kits "getting some love" and attention. I look at it this way: if those kits from that company and that era were good enough for Shep Paine to do his magic on, back when I was a kid in the 1970s, then I can't personally fault those kits, all that much. And even if I could, why would I want to? (Those "Diorama Tip Sheets" still resonate with me, all these years / decades later.) But then again, hey, what do I know -- I'm starting to like playing with old VacForm kits, too!

Thanks for that info, Noel!

Thanks again, for the kind words you're throwing my way; and for you guy's Warm Welcome to these forums! Coolness, about those other forums. I signed up for that place, almost as soon as I knew it existed; but that was only a short time ago. And I haven't posted anything over there, yet. But down the road, when I get more organized, etc., I'll see about posting some stuff. It will likely be a while before that happens, but that's the plan.

Thanks much for that reply, Gil -- and for supplying that much detail. Much appreciated, Mr. Hodges! I'll have to check out that Smooth-On product. Sounds interesting! (And I already use their resin and RTV rubber, and I like those, for what little mold-making or casting I end up doing. Which for me is mostly small sub-assemblies for projects I'm scratch-building.) I don't want to pull your thread off into Tangent Land, too much, but I'm going to (gently) assume -- based on what you had said, a day or two ago, over on my "intro" page -- that you would be okay with it, if I chimed in / talked about some of my personal favorites (or about products I have used) where things like epoxy putties go? Let me know if I'm over-stepping, by chiming in with such things. Probably my all-time favorite of the two-part epoxy putties is Magic Sculpt; but I also use Apoxie Sculpt at times, too. And Milliput -- especially their "Black" and "Super Fine White" products. I like how those two mix together, to make a nice grey colored putty. I have used "Green Stuff," at times -- which some folks may call "Duro"; or by various other names. Lately, for some tasks, I've been mixing a little bit of Green Stuff into Magic Sculpt (mixing them like normal, first; MS with MS, like it was all I was going to use; and GS with GS; also separately, like it was all I was going to use -- and then, mixing MS with GS: varying the proportions of mixed MS and mixed GS "on the fly," by color or by how it's feeling, as I'm kneading / mixing it) and I like some of the properties that hybrid mixture gives me. (But mostly that's for things like "deliberate practice" when I'm trying to teach myself how to sculpt things.) Which product I end up using, largely depends on what "substrate" I'm trying to alter (plastic, wood, metal, MDF, etc.) and what size I'm working at; what the end goal is on the project, and some other factors, as to which one I end up using, on any given project. And shelf life -- I've found that I can keep big tubs of Magic Sculpt or Apoxie Sculpt around, for years, and it'll still be use-able. To me, Magic Sculpt smooths easier with a wet finger, or a rag or something, than most of the others; including Apoxie Sculpt. And I like that the color ends up being (or so it seems to me) a bit more uniform, after it's mixed. But I use both -- it "just depends" on if I'm running out of one or the other, and what mood I'm in, and so on. Another thing I like about it Magic Sculpt is that, because it is so much easier than most products, to smooth it with just slightly damp fingers, or barely wet rags or towels, is that I could get away with stuff like filling big gaps I had forgotten about, that I should have dealt with, before a kit's paint job went on. For instance, I had almost completely forgotten about the transparent resin wind screen part, when I was working on my version of the resin "Hornethopter" kit -- and had the paint job, and all sorts of nifty little details, all sitting the way I wanted them ... and then, remembered to look in the box, to see if I had left any parts off. I was kicking myself, on that, big-time, for a while -- but "Magic Sculpt to the rescue". I got the windscreen added in, and blended, in minutes. I was thinking I had majorly screwed up; and with epoxy putties that "like" to use a solvent for smoothing, maybe it would have been a minor disaster. (Especially with a deadline looming, on that build-up!) Apologies to all, if I'm "butting in" and/or end up "talking too much". I realize I tend to be rather wordy, by most people's standards! Gil, I think I'm going to send you a private message. There's some other (way off-topic) things / ideas I want to kick around with you -- some of which are things like Deal's Wheels kits, which doesn't feel even remotely appropriate for this particular message thread!) -- Ward Shrake --