Product Description

"Model-making: Materials and Methods" focuses primarily on the wide variety of materials that can be employed to make models; those which have been favoured for a while and those which are relatively new. The book looks at how these materials behave and how to get the best out of them, then illustrates a range of relatively simple methods of building, shaping, modelling, surfacing and painting with them.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79243 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

About the Author
David Neat has trained both as a theatre designer and a teacher. He is a practising sculptor and model-maker with more than twenty-three years professional experience. He currently tutors at five leading design colleges in and around London, as well as regularly running his own courses in model-making. Resident - Surrey

Customer Reviews

Model-Making - Materials and Methods
Whether you are a designer in training, teaching or practising in the entertainment industry this is a must-have book - the ultimate companion for making models. Other books have looked at modelmaking for theatre, but not until now has a book so clearly demonstrated techniques, ideas and methods from practising designers' work. It is particularly useful if you are a student and your design course does not devote much time to modelmaking.
This "Bible" is all you need to get through any design brief with confidence. The size allows for detailed explanations and includes excellent photography by Astrid Barndal. It is broken down into chapters which cover each stage of the design making process, from constructing through to casting, working with metals, modelling, creating surfaces and painting. This book deals with any problems you might have when making models, for example, warping.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it is by far the best model making book on the market. There is a materials directory at the back of the book so you can refer to that to make notes of certain materials required to make a chair or stone wall, then you can refer to the materials supplier to see when you can buy the materials from - a huge timesaver when you have a design deadline looming!

Invaluable
This is a fantastic book and as a theatre designer or model creator this book is invaluable. It is often difficult to determine what material would be most effective for making a particular object let alone how to actually make it; what's more, where are all those great shops to find interesting materials? Well it tells you everything right here in this model making book.

Admittedly I have been priveleged to be taught by David Neat over the past three years during my degree... and you may therefore believe that I am a little bias. Perhaps I am, but I am also writing based on experience because David has such ingenuity with such attention to detail. What I have been taught by him, I see in this book and more. The book simply provides you with his great expertise while alowing you to develop your own skills along the way.

Excellent model-making know how
I have recently received this book and I am thrilled with it. I frequently make scale models of theatre sets and I needed a technical manual that would guide me through the process of how to make a particular texture or how to make a scale tree for instance, what materials I would need and where I could get them from.

This book does all of that and more. Instructions are detailed and easy to follow. The many photographs are very clear and well presented and show what effects can be achieved. There are several time saving techniques included, for instance casting (mould making) in order to quickly reproduce an item rather than making it from scratch each time, and etching metal foliage for trees.

Topics covered include: constructing, methods of casting, working with metals (including making scale figure armatures), modelling techniques, creating surfaces and painting. There is a useful directory of materials, a list of suppliers, and a bibliography.

David Neat's book is not only a practical manual but an indispensable reference book that I will refer to again and again.