I have seen advertisements in the recent Model Railroader magazines for a new scenery book by Kathy Millatt titled Building Realistic Model Railroad Scenery. I know Dave Frary has written several editions of How to Build Realistic Model Railroad Scenery and Lou Sassi has written Basic Scenery for Model Railroads. I own multiple editions of the books by Lou and Dave. Is there anything new in Kathy's book that would make it worth buying?
Modeling the D&H in 1984: http://dandhcoloniemain.blogspot.com/
Saw this advertised too and am wondering the same thing.
Will keep an eye out for responses to this thread.
charles
When I see claims like this “scenery maker's bible”, I shy away.
I'm guessing it's more of the same, so if you have scenery books already just use them and YouTube.
Peter
I received it, and have only had the time to give it a cursory look through. From what I've seen so far, I'm very impressed and glad I decided to buy it. For comparison, I have Dave Frary's 2nd edition and its 132 pages long. The new Kathy Millatt book is 191. Has to be something fresh in those 60 more pages. Just think about what new scenic materials came out since Frary's book. Guessing she covers them, but like I said, I haven't read it yet and certainly haven't compared it to Frary's book directly.
Mike
Ms. Millatt has many excellent videos on You Tube, I haen't read the book, but if it is anything like the videos it should be interesting.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I have Bill McClanahan's book which I believe is over 60 years old and the more recent Dave Frary book which is about half that. Both hold up well but that doesn't mean new techniques and materials aren't worth exploring. Scenery is my favorite part of layout building, the only part I really enjoy, so I'll be paying close attention to this thread.
A point of view from 'over the pond'.
I like scenery. I like looking at it. I like to paint pictures of it.
Seeing what I see and not what I thought I saw.
The fifty shades of green. The sky is rarely blue. Water is a number of colors etc. etc. etc.
Books by all authors contain information that is new. Whether the reader acts on it is a different matter.
Then comes a time when 'enough books are enough'. Putting what has been read into practice.
Personally I have purchased books from my favorite modelers. Taken ideas from the books and adapted them to my situation.
Most of all I looked at scenes in real life and added them to the layout. Life is not perfect. Three scenarios in one scene. Repairing a broken fence after a storm. Broken guttering. Clearing debris from the garden.
As for the OPs original question. I haven't read the book, but I am sure there is some 'pearls of wisdom' in it.
If you are still looking for some inspiration probably the book will kick start the imagination.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
I've just received it and it is excellent so far. I consider my scenery skills to be pretty good and I've learned a whole bunch of new things. I consider the book to be an excellent addition to my library.