Book Review: The Art of LEGO Scale Modeling
No Starch Press, a publisher that usually amazes us with new and exciting LEGO related books has published the excellent The Art of LEGO Scale Modeling. We can consider this book as a Hall of Fame of builders of large scale models, and it has been written by two recognized builders of these type of MOCs: Dennis Glaasker (interviewed at HispaBrick Magazine 017) and Dennis Bosman.
It features models of 24 builders (including the writers) of large scale vehicles of all kind. All the vehicles are reproductions of the real ones, in different scales, but always big and detailed. The book is divided in 11 chapters, 9 of them devoted to different type of vehicles, and two final chapters explaining how these models are built and a small bio of each builders.
Every vehicle has two or four pages with excellent pictures and a small description of the real model. The first chapter is dedicated to trucks, one of the specialities of both authors. I am happy to see a reproduction of a truck from a Spanish brand, PEGASO, and decorated with the colours of a Spanish factory of Cider, EL GAITERO. I remember these kind of trucks from my childhood and this reproduction, made by Iván Vázquez is simply fantastic.
The second and third chapters are dedicated to ships and aircrafts. There are all kind of ships, from fishing ships to yachts. I really like this diversity in the models. Sadly, and perhaps it’s because of my preferences, I can't say the same about the aircrafts. They are all fighter aircrafts and I would appreciate some more diversity, with the addition of civil and private aircrafts.
Perhaps my favourite chapter is the one dedicated to Racing. There are reproductions of some racing cars, especially the Formula 1 cars. Due to that I am involved in motorsports, I can especially appreciate the efforts put in these models. I’d like to highlight Luca Rosconi and Carl Greatrix, who have built some of the most famous Formula 1 cars ever, and I can say that sometimes is difficult to believe that they are built with standard LEGO parts.
The next chapters are dedicated to Heavy Equipment, Trains, Military, Motorcycles and Cars. Of course all of them are full of nice models. Again there are some chapters with a good diversity of models, like the Trains, with electric and steam engines, and other more focused in one specific type of vehicle, like the motorcycles. All them are Harley Davidson.
The two last chapters are the ones that the AFOLs will appreciate the most. They explain the basic guidelines on how to build these kind of models, with some interesting tips that will help a lot to the new builders in this big models. Furthermore, a small bio of each builder is included. You can see their experience and the models included in the book.
The Art of LEGO Scale Modeling is a fantastic book, essential to have in your library the best of the best on Large Scale Models, and inspiring to encourage more and more builders to start building at this scale.
Agreements: No Starch Press for providing the book to review.
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