I first discovered David Neat's work via his website where he delves deeply into all sorts of fascinating interests, from furniture design to natural history to art. Mainly what drew me there was his extensive tutorials on all aspects of miniature model-making. The amount of content he's posted is staggering, as is the quality of everything. Read comments about David's site (or this book) and you will hear from seasoned pros, surprised by how much they've learned from David's work.
Model-Making: Materials and Methods collects some of David's best content from the site. While only 176 pages, this book manages to cram in a lot of eye-opening tips and techniques for building miniatures. David comes from the theater set-building world and teaches design and model-making, mainly with theater, TV, and movie models in mind, but the techniques in this book can be applied to all forms of model-making, from dioramas and dollhouses to tabletop miniature games and train layouts. Chapters cover model construction, molding and casting, working with metals, creating surfaces and textures (one of David's strong suits), and finishing techniques.
I love a book that has so much to offer, you can simply poke your head into it for a few minutes and you've added a few more wrinkles to your brain by the time you put it down. Model-Making: Materials and Methods is such a book.
Model-Making: Materials and Methods
by David Neat
Crowood Press
2008, 176 pages, 8.5 x 0.5 x 11.0 inches, Hardcover
$33 Buy on Amazon
