Top tips for crafty constructors
Sailing Ships from Plastic Kits, by Kerry Jang
Model ship supremo Kerry Jang is back in time for Christmas 2024 with another comprehensive work on building miniature maritime masterpieces.
The book starts with a history of plastic ship-modelling kits, pointing out the welcome improvements to the accuracy of each ship's appearance compared to previous materials.
Then, as with his previous books, Jang starts his tutorials on how to get the best out of kits from the likes of Airfix. He offers tips on glueing, painting and attaching fiddly bits, and he points out where you can improve on the colours or designs.
The author focuses on the plastic kits for several particular vessels, including the Vasa and HMS Victory, but the lessons that readers learn will stand them in good stead for tackling other kits, and may even give them the courage to try making ship models from scratch.
Sailing Ships from Plastic Kits
By Kerry Jang
Seaforth Publishing, £25
ISBN: 978 13990 78603
Buy this book in the Nautilus Bookshop
While you're there, why not browse the rest of the titles in our unique maritime bookshop, which sells all the books reviewed on these pages.
Buy nowMore Books
Unexpected family fallout from the Titanic disaster
Titanic Legacy, by Dan E. ParkesDan Parkes, a filmmaker known for his 40 years of award-winning work on the Titanic, brings a different story to life in his first book, which explores the legacy of the disaster for the family of Captain Edward Smith – a member of the Nautilus predecessor union MMSA.
When the Merchant Navy goes to war
The QE2 in the Falklands War, by Commodore Ronald Warwick and David HumphreysWhen the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2 became a STUFT (ship taken up from trade) in the 1982 Falklands War, the vessel's civilian crew were up for the challenge.
Crowning the latest Queen
Queen Anne: A Photographic Journey, by Chris Frame and Rachelle CrossThis glossy title celebrates the launch in May 2024 of the Queen Anne, Cunard's second largest ship, and the eighth 'Queen' in its fleet of luxury passenger vessels.
Passenger liners at their peak
The True Transatlantic Super-Liners, by David L. Williams and Richard P. De KerbrechThis captivating book transports the reader to a world before the advent of affordable air travel, when passenger liners ruled the Atlantic Ocean.