Today is Saturday and hot in San Francisco. Nice warm, sunny and dry air as any city in the Northern California should be and is often but San Francisco gets this way once-in-a-while. Today it is that nice. I have finished a few books. I am fairly sure I won't be reading more model building books. I think I got what I expected from my readings. I have a couple on hold and may or not read them. Before I get to them, I did read Building and Flying Model Aircraft by Schleicher and Barr and Real Astronomy with Small Telescopes by Michael Gainer. I enjoyed the first book a lot though it is fairly old considering how fast the technology changes. The information is still valid today and I will read more in that area soon. The second book is hard to read and is one of maybe 30 similar books in a series on astronomy. I learned a good deal but the level of information requires more background or re-reading. I have a couple of more books in the series to read before I can decide where I stand with astronomy hobby.
I read four short handbooks on making model aircrafts and each one interested me in their own area: How to Use An Airbrush by Robert Downie is the first edition of the text and is great. I had no interest in airbrushing prior to reading the book and though my knowledge (this is a skill to learn) is still weak and I need practice, I was sure by the time I finished the book, I would like to learn to airbrush even if it is for the sake of airbrushing and not painting anything. Basics of Scale Automotive Modeling by Pat Covert is a very well written book. Though I have similar information in other earlier books, I could understand the context so much better from his writing and learned a good deal about making automobile models and is not for me. Modeling Tanks and Military Vehicles by Sheperd Paine is a very fun book to read. It actually reads fast unlike the other modeling books I had to read and the pictures with the information are great fun. I have only built one or two tanks in my days and this is one of my lower priority interests. The last book is Building Plastic Models by Robert Schleicher and is both an absolute beginners text and a text perfect for children. I have to admit it was one of the best books I read so far. Instead of trying to impress by complicating techniques and providing mountains of details, this book teaches 60% of what any model builders needs to know in a very clear and straightforward manner. This book with its silly name is one of my favorites. I may or not read the couple of books I have yet to check out but I am sure I am done with my upgrading of knowledge in this area.
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