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
open on your workbench, you have your own private tutor guiding you through the troublespots.