QUOTE (alastairq @ 9 Aug 2008, 10:40)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>..Those ideas are based on the premis of utilising what is out there,
what many actually throw away... to produce locomotive types not covered by the RTR brigade.
This, as a branch of locomotive building, is a very worthwhile pastime...
I believe Alastair is bang on here in identifying the author's intent, but suspect that to make a really good job of a book with this intent would be pretty expensive. The minimum requirement is a decent scaled drawing and photographs of the intended prototype, plus photos and diagrams to show how the RTR parts may be used or modified, with any fabrication required to deliver the end result.
The formidable competitor to such a book is the internet. The collective 'knowledge bank' of on line contributors easily outdoes that of a single author. Over the past three years I have seen a fair number of such projects on line, usually with good results in evidence. Not all have been directly appropriate to my modelling interest, but are almost invariably worth looking at as a source of ideas and for suggestions of useful technique. For those that are of direct interest, the money which could have gone on the book, is instead spent on acquiring drawings and and any other necessary prototype information, specific to the chosen project(s).
QUOTE ..This, as a branch of locomotive building, is a very worthwhile pastime.....although I suspect it's one that has been in decline over recent years.
It certainly is a minority interest, something which I do find a little surprising given the incredible variety of prototype subjects in the UK; which if we confine this just to locos, even the whitemetal kit makers at their peak didn't cover 10% of the classes which ran in C20th. Sometimes there are surprised comments to the effect of 'you took two new models to pieces to produce your chosen subject?'. To which the answer is 'why not?'; it is not to be had any other way than by building it, and using RTR models as feedstock works out much cheaper than buying individual components. When in funds, I am in the habit of buying identified useful donor models whenever an example shows up at a low price.