Military Model Scene

Title: Sailing Ships from Plastic Kits
Author: Kerry Jang
Publisher: Seaforth
ISBN: 978-1-3990-7860-3

A new book on model sailing ships from author Kerry Jang and Seaforth Publishing, this time focussing on getting the best results from plastic sailing ship kits. A 128-page hard-cover book.
This one starts off with some background history as plastic kits came along, to make things easier than building them from plans and wood. It made the subject more achievable for many more modellers, although there were some simplifications in them, thanks to the limitations of plastic moulding technology when these models were first produced. Many of them were made a lot of years ago now, but are largely still available as they have been reissued over the years, even under different names sometimes. But it does bring us right up to date with modern 3D printed resin models. Then there are the challenges that face you in building a model of a sailing ship, notably rigging, sails, ratlines and shrouds. How to make your own and etched brass alternatives all included It goes on to tackle building a kit 'out of the box', and making some enhancements before moving on to building some examples of some classic models, but to a very high standard. Examples you will find in here include the Airfix 1/180 Victory built from the box, the Airfix 1/ Bounty, but going beyond the box, adding an array of enhancements. The next chapters showcase some high quality builds by other modellers, including the Mary Rose and the 1/350 kit from Aoshima of the Sail Training Ship, Winston Churchill. The most elaborate come in the final parts, with a build of the Heller 1/100 Le Soleil and then the Heller 1/100 HMS Victory, which also includes the addition of some fantastic crew figures to bring life to the model.
This is a marvellous book for anyone tempted into the world of building a model sailing ship. Many of the challenges which have always made me hesitate from trying one, particularly the extensive rigging, is very neatly explained and there is a lot of inspiration in here, assisted by the very well illustrated text all the way through the book, and helpful instruction on how to go about the featured builds. Not the first book on ship models from the author and Seaforth, and once again they have done a very good job of it.
Thanks to Seaforth/Pen & Sword for the review copy.

Robin