Vodka and Water Meets the Sultan of Seizings

[johnegert]

As some of you have reluctantly gathered, I am getting my cheap act together to start a GREAT PROJECT of an as yet unknown nature, and I dusted off my ship book collection yesterday in prep for this mighty undertaking. Two bits of latter-day incunabula came to hand, to wit:

"Hornblower's Ships-- Their History & Their Models" by Martin Saville.

I came late to the Hornblower scene, but went crazy for the whole series once enlightened. ( I am assuming everyone here was not so stupid, and has memorized each pixel of the series, not to mention the books--- if not, jam that Xacto into your wooden leg and IMMEDIATELY buy all 8 episodes) This book is one of the strangest sagas you will ever encounter. It tells the amazing tale of how the HH film models were made and used, generally in a welter of frenzied deadline pressure in a Russian shipyard, where lots of crappy tools and lots of good vodka fueled the enterprise. It is amazing that Saville escaped this hellish scene with a shred of sanity left. I guarantee that you will like this book. HOWEVER, do not pay Amazon nor anyone else the $50 or so for a new one. Why are we not all buying used books? We just foul them with hide glue and bitter tears anyway... Check the used prices for my beloved McNarry "Ship Models in Miniature"--- 19 cents plus shipping-- I should corner the market. BTW, what the hell is the story on McKay's "HMS Victory"? $500 bucks new???

Ah, another heinous digression... but in the Nelson vein, I also unearthed Gene McClure,s

"HMS Victory--- How to Build a Masterpiece in 1:96 Scale". Apparently, this baby is hard to find now. It recounts McClure's build of the old Mantua kit( though most of the kit was discarded in favor of improved parts) and is an immensely valuable log of his build--- if you had this book and Longridge, you'd be good to go. I have become obsessed by the bow basketry and the stern galleries of the Victory, which are the hallmarks of a good(or bad) model, and McClure leans heavily on these topics. His standing rigging is demonic, too-- wonderful seizing techniques.

The loose leaf format is really handy, and if you come across this tome, mortgage the farm and snap it up--Hell, you already sold you kids into slavery to get your Caldercraft Victory... in for a penny, in for a pound, eh??

Two marvelous books. Maybe, as with finches and their never-ending nest building, I'll just keep fetishing over my books and screw actually building anything....

john

[Ulises Victoria]

Someone is selling it through Amazon "USED" at 1,500 bucks. Hell... Can I sell mine for half of that???   

BTW, what the hell is the story on McKay's "HMS Victory"? $500 bucks new???

[johnegert]

OK, Uli----- You sell yours, and I'll sell my TWO (a double click on the "purchase" key, which, until lately, I tried to cover up), I'll meet you at the Monterrey airport, we'll hop it down to Cancun, and lay on the beach like two huge marine iguanas 'til our $ runs out.

john