Building Realistic Model Railroad Scenery

I use this book when I'll do scenery.

Bought this for a modeling friend. He was impressed!

This is far from the first scenery book from Model Railroader magazine's publisher, Kalmbach Media, but author Kathy Millatt brings a refreshing look at the subject matter.Millatt's style, honed on her YouTube channel, is one of teaching by experimentation, often using minimal sized dioramas as her sandbox, and showing her audience what works AND what doesn't. It's a very Bob Ross style of encouragement, to novice and old-timer alike, to not be afraid to think outside the box and try new things.In "Building Realistic Model Railroad Scenery," Millatt provides an amplified level of encouragement with a rich tapestry of examples from her own work, as well as several other well-known modelers - including retired hobby manufacturer George Sellios, author Pelle Søeborg, and YouTube scenery sensation Martin "of Sweden" Tärnrot, among many others.Because of the aforementioned teaching style and amazing examples in book, I strongly recommend this book to any and all hobbyists - and professionals - who need to build realistic scenery. Though aimed at model railroading, this material easily translates to military modeling, Warhammer 40k bases, dioramas, etc.Kathy Millatt did not disappoint with this reference book, and I expect it to live on my workbench more than in my bookcase in the coming years. BRAVA, Kathy!

I just received my copy of this book today and wasn't expecting much after seeing another review claiming the quality of the book's paper, cover, etc were substandard. Well, I'm happy to report that my copy of the book is exactly the same product quality as all of the dozens of other Kalmbach books I have in my library. Do not be scared away by a single review criticizing the book quality.Now, for the quality of the CONTENT of the book, what can I say besides, Oh Wow! This has to be one of the best model railroad scenery books on the market. Everything from planning, to tools, to materials, to techniques are covered in both well written text and accompanied by great photo examples of the process and the finished product. Excellent book and worth every penny of the list price!

I'm a fan of Kathy's and love her work. The book she wrote is fantastic as are the photos. What I did notice was the poor physical quality of the book. Recently I bought Thomas Klimoski's book Building the Right Sized Layout and noticed the different in publisher quality. Thomas' book has a heavy duty paper cover, thicker pages and more glossy print. Much what I would suspect on a book like this. The publisher Kalmbach Media gave Kathy's book a cheap cover with fuzzy front page photo and thin, non-glossy pages. Most of the photographs were not high quality. Certainly get this book! Its the best scenery book I've seen since the legendary Dave Frary's book How To Build Realistic Model Railroad Scenery. Kathy's work is amazing! So are her videos. Highly recommend....just expect it not to last.

Kathy is known for her incredible model work and this is a huge book that goes over a lot of important concepts for how to build realistic looking scenery. It's organized in an effective way as to show a lot of the techniques she uses as well as a lot of options for those who need guidance who are just getting into things. Cannot recommend enough.

I like this book.

Good info and explains the how to aspects well.