This vintage volume is a complete and novice-friendly guide to making novel model boats and ships. Written in clear, simple language and profusely illustrated, this book is perfect for the model builder looking for new and interesting projects. Contents include: “Tools and Materials”, “Hulls”, “A Catboat”, “A Thermostatic Boat”, “A Model Power Submarine which dives and comes up again”, “A South Sea Island Outrigger Canoe”, “A Tension Motor Speedboat”, “A Simple Ferryboat”, “A Lee-Board Sailing Boat”, “A Plank-section Sailing-Ship”, “A Hydro Glider”, “An Outbound Motor-Boat”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on building models.

Building a model from a kit is an excellent way to develop your modeling skills. But once you've mastered the basics, where do you go? If you're looking for a challenge, you move on to scratchbuilding. And that can be imposing: With a kit, you worked with someone else's plans, materials, and building instructions. Scratchbuilding makes you master of your own fate. You do the research, choose the subject, the scale, the material. The choices are limited only by your enthusiasm. Edwin B. Leaf scratchbuilt his first model--a Baltimore clipper--nearly fifty years ago, and he's been refining and building on his skills ever since. In Ship Modeling from Scratch he lays out the principles--from concept to construction to display--on which scratchbuilding is based. In clear, concise language complemented by detailed illustrations he tells how to interpret existing drawings or create your own, what materials to choose, what tools to buy, and what techniques to use to build everything from plank-on-frame, plank-on-bulkhead, or modern steel hulls to creating sharp and properly scaled details--paint to portholes. Building a model from scratch is a singular pursuit that requires patience, confidence, and ingenuity. With Ship Modeling from Scratch open on your workbench, you have your own private tutor guiding you through the troublespots. Ship Modeling from Scratch expands the horizon of any kit builder looking for a challenge, including choosing the right subject finding and interpreting historical material building from plans drawing scaled plans from photographs buying tools and materials building everything from half models to plank-on-frame or plank-on-bulkhead versions of traditional sailing craft to modern steel cargo ships painting and displaying your model