“Building Large Scale Sci-Fi & Fantasy Models” Review

You may know Jason Gares as a modeler, author, and the host of the Video Workbench YouTube channel. Jason has written frequent articles for the excellent British publication Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller magazine. Sadly, Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller ceased publication in 2017. Luckily for us, Jason has compiled eight extensive articles written for the magazine into a new e-Book, published by KLP Publishing. The articles include varied sci-fi subjects such as:

• BAN DAI’s C-3PO and R2-D2
• Dragon Models’ Hulk
• Lunar Models’ Invaders from the Fifth Dimension from Lost In Space
• Quarantine Studios’ Mars Attacks diorama
• How to mold and cast a moon base
• Apikitt L. Highway’s Engineer from Prometheus
• Masterpiece Model’s Time Machine
• Spyda Creation’s Tournament Challenge

Each article features in-depth instructions for the completion of each project. When I say in-depth, I’m not joking around guys, Jason’s build of BAN DAI’s Star Wars figures weighs in at a whopping eighty pages! Everything you’ll ever need to know about building and weathering C-3PO and R2-D2 are in this massive article. The articles cover many subjects, mostly figure related, with the exception of the Time Machine. Speaking of, I really liked the Time Machine article. There are so many techniques used to create this amazing kit. It’s worth purchasing the book just for it alone. What’s great about articles like these are there are many tips and tricks you can gather to help you not only recreate what Jason does, but to apply these techniques to projects of your own. There are dozens of techniques to explore. Jason walks you through general prepping and priming kits, painting, and weathering, working with putty, molding, and casting, applying pearlized and metallic paints, working with stencils, decal work, wiring and lighting, and so much more. One thing I like is that Jason mixes it up using many products from different sources which gives you a fine overview of the variety of choices modelers can draw upon to finish their own projects. Nearly every major company has something featured.

The book itself has 473 pages that feature a clean and bold, easy-to-follow design with multitudes of excellent photographs to illustrate each article. In all, the book is an excellent undertaking and well worth its reasonable price. This is an e-Book, so you’ll need to purchase and download your copy from the link provided in this review. If you are reading this review, then I know you already have a PDF reader of some sort to access and view the book. I commend Jason for his hard work and effort, whether you are a beginner or experienced modeler, there is something here for you. I recommend you add Building Large Scale Sci-Fi & Fantasy Models to your modeling library!