Books

Books : reviews

Albert Jackson, David Day.
The Modelmaker's Handbook.
Guild Publishing. 1981

The Modelmaker’s Handbook will show you how to: plan a model railway; put together dioramas and landscapes; construct buildings; make and run radio-control aeroplanes, boats and cars; identify faults; tune motors and engines; set up a workstation; handle materials; read plans; apply paint and vanish; reproduce textures; detail figures and vehicles; imitate weathering and camouflage; get the best out of kits or start successfully from scratch

Albert Jackson, David Day.
Collins Complete Woodworker's Manual: revised edn.
HarperCollins. 2005

Collins Complete Woodworker’s Manual begins by examining the basic raw material, revealing in great detail the qualities and characteristics of every major species of softwood and hardwood.

To fashion the wood, a woodworker turns to the tool kit. This book boasts an unrivalled illustrated survey of every type of tool – from a bench plane to a Japanese chisel to a powered mitre saw – and each is comprehensively described to help the novice, inform the tool buyer and assist the experienced woodworker to plan and stock a safe machine shop.

Tools are nothing without ideas and this book examines each stage of three-dimensional design, featuring real-life designers’ sketches and inspiring examples of furniture, both cutting edge and traditional, to provide the reader with the skills to realise their ideas.

The accomplished woodworker needs a wide range of skills and techniques. None is more critical than joint making, to which Collins Complete Woodworker’s Manual devotes a whole chapter of photographic examples and step-by-step drawings of every type of joint. And whether it is woodcarving, veneering and marquetry, bending or finishing wood, the book provides detailed coverage of each of these appealing crafts. Add to this a comprehensive range of fixings and fittings – from the latest in adhesives to locks and handles – and you have everything you need to complete the job.