Customer Reviews (3)

Building Ship Models From Scratch
This book is filled with exceedingly useful information. Its only drawback is that it recommends using what are now outdated materials by current practice.The largest difference is that Mr. Porter advocates using balsa wood where more currtnt books advise basswood.But it is an easy leap to make to more modern practice. It is a book that I wish I had had when I first started making ship models many years ago.His conversion charts are are very helpful.

The book seller, James L. Gray, acted beyond my expectations.I had the order delivered in three days from purchase and in a condition far better than I expected.

Five stars to both the book and the dealer!

Model Building at its Best
I have years of experience with model building and was looking to start on ships.What an EXCELLENT book for just that purpose.The author's writing style and philosophy is wonderful and he does an excellent job of explaning the different kinds of ships and their historical purpose.This serves as a great introduction before diving right into model building and this is a thick book folks!It is thourough but wonderfully easy to use.I definitely learned alot which I am applying to my first model ship which I'm working on now.I'm making a scale model of a 12'-6" sail boat that I would like to build in the next year or two.I am constantly refering back to this book.I cannot overstate its indispensibility.

This book is riddled with technical errors.
This book presents too much information that is just incorrect. Too much effort is expended in building a model ship, to have the results be noticably incorrect. Many of the examples he uses are completely unworkableon a real ship and look rediculous to anyone with just a passing knowledgeof sailing ships and/or naval architecture. There are much better textsavailable. ... Read more

Product Description
The only complete technical guide to building integrated business systems using the convergent architecture approach
In his groundbreaking Business Engineering with Object Technology (0-471-04521-7), David Taylor introduced the concept of convergent architecture (CA), a framework for building the business design directly into the software systems that support it. Now, in this important follow-up to that 1995 classic, expert Richard Hubert provides systems developers and architects with their first complete blueprint for building integrated CA business systems using the hottest technologies, including Enterprise JavaBeans, XML, UML, Rational Rose, and others. Following a detailed introduction to the elements of CA, he walks readers through the entire CA design and implementation process, using examples in Java and EJB to illustrate key points.
Companion Website provides hands-on tutorials, links to related tool sites, and updates to the CA methodology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Great work, but not a reference
This is a great work that defines an entirely new method of software development, architecture and testing. As part of that it advocates code generation through use of Model Driven Architecture (MDA). If you are looking for a practical work showing step by step use of MDA with screenshots, this isn't it. But if you are looking for a methodology book, and something that will stretch how you think about development, this is the book for you.

Worth Reading
This is a great book for understanding why MDA is important.

My favorite quote from the book;

What large IT organizations need is less philosophical discussion regarding absolute truth and more agreement on Architectural Style.

Another great theme that I'm kind of parapharasing;

If we built airplanes like we build software there would not be much of an airline industry. Most of that is due to style, no one builds an airplane from first principals, why do we so often build software that way.

This book is worth the money. Like one of the other reviewers I was dissappointed in the 'tutorial' nature of everything past chapter 3. However, I thought the first 3 chapters were worth the price and more importantly the time to read it.

For example in Chapter 1 the author goes into the 'higher level of communication' we get out of a style. When someone says 'car' a huge amount of information is transfered in that small 3 letter word. With an architectural style, the author argues, we can begin to have this same level of high bandwidth communication.

Hopefully we have all been on at least one project where there was a practical mind meld in the team. All to often though we are on teams that have to have 2 hour meetings to define the word 'entity'. Until we can perform mind melds for real a 'style' will help us to communicate better.

I give four starts instead of five due to the tutoral nature of the last half of the book.

A Real Treat!
I started this book with no anticipation of the treat in store. Having read it, I have to say that if you're interested in significantly improving software development efficiency, and you read only one book this year, then this is it! It's a "must read" for any software engineer, architect, or manager involved in boosting "time to market", "responsiveness", or "timeliness".

There is a slowly-growing body of experience in proven approaches to high-efficiency software development. This book shows Richard Hubert to be clearly among the front-runners in the field.

A foundation observation in this field is that, across many projects, there is often much commonality. "Silo" or "stovepipe" developments ignore this commonality. A core goal is to capture commonality and apply it as widely as possible. This is feasible because the technical content of many projects is similar: one web service app is broadly much like another, as are most mainframe batch apps, or stand-alone GUI apps. However, capturing commonality alone is not sufficient. Other key factors are architecture, process, tools, and organization. They must all be brought together into a cohesive whole.

Most industries (other than IT) have known for many years that meeting their "time to market" goals requires this kind of cohesive approach, which Hubert calls "Architectural Style", and fully describes at the start of the book. Thus designing an building a range of products that are similar (such as a range of cars, or a range of houses, or a range of hairpins) can benefit from having the same architectural style, which is understood across the industry, is taught in schools, which evolves over time, and which implies a given set of structural concepts, processes and organization, tools, and technology outlook. Hubert explains how these are the four major elements of an architectural style.

The particular architectural style presented in the body of the book is the "Convergent Architecture" of the title, and addresses distributed applications such as web services. This style has as its metaphor not the mass-production of Chaplin's "Modern Times", but rather a machine shop with highly skilled engineers, each doing what they're best at. Hubert presents the Convergent Architecture in terms of its major elements - base enabling concepts (which he calls the metamodel), component architecture, the IT organization model, development process, and tools. Along the way, project design and management is covered. Also, the process of taking components from the business model straight through to implementation shows how one of the major promises of OO can be delivered. And the way it's done-this is what MDA really means!

It might be thought that Hubert's approach requires a revolution, but this is not so. Like other practitioners in the field, he proposes an evolution, and includes process support for its management. For example, he shows in some detail how RUP is tailored for the Convergent Architecture, so building on currently-available products.He also touches on some of the low-down and difficult challenges, such as how much technical glue to write to make life simpler for application developers - the more you write, the further from standards you get.

Last, but not least, there is a worked example, using Hubert's company's Convergent Architecture IDE, "ArcStyler", from business model right through to EJBs. Now it might be thought that spending over 40 pages on a proprietary product is mere publicity-seeking. But it's not. It's proof that the tool market is now starting to address one of the great challenges facing our industry: how to move away from the cottage industries of stovepipe development into seriously productive development. And if it also advertises the product, well, if it does the job, what's wrong with that?

Finally, this book is well-written, well-structured, and at 250 pages, a comfortable read. If you've read any of the few other books in this field (such as Peter Herzum and my "Business Component Factory", or "Software Product Lines" from the SEI), then this book is an essential companion, bringing valuable new insights. If you haven't, then this book is not only a first-rate introduction to the field, but also a major contributor to it.

A Real Treat!
I started this book with no anticipation of the treat in store. Having read it, I have to say that if you're interested in significantly improving software development efficiency, and you read only one book this year, then this is it! It's a "must read" for any software engineer, architect, or manager involved in boosting "time to market", "responsiveness", or "timeliness".

There is a slowly-growing body of experience in proven approaches to high-efficiency software development. This book shows Richard Hubert to be clearly among the front-runners in the field.

A foundation observation in this field is that, across many projects, there is often much commonality. "Silo" or "stovepipe" developments ignore this commonality. A core goal is to capture commonality and apply it as widely as possible. This is feasible because the technical content of many projects is similar: one web service app is broadly much like another, as are most mainframe batch apps, or stand-alone GUI apps. However, capturing commonality alone is not sufficient. Other key factors are architecture, process, tools, and organization. They must all be brought together into a cohesive whole.

Most industries (other than IT) have known for many years that meeting their "time to market" goals requires this kind of cohesive approach, which Hubert calls "Architectural Style", and fully describes at the start of the book. Thus designing an building a range of products that are similar (such as a range of cars, or a range of houses, or a range of hairpins) can benefit from having the same architectural style, which is understood across the industry, is taught in schools, which evolves over time, and which implies a given set of structural concepts, processes and organization, tools, and technology outlook. Hubert explains how these are the four major elements of an architectural style.

The particular architectural style presented in the body of the book is the "Convergent Architecture" of the title, and addresses distributed applications such as web services. This style has as its metaphor not the mass-production of Chaplin's "Modern Times", but rather a machine shop with highly skilled engineers, each doing what they're best at. Hubert presents the Convergent Architecture in terms of its major elements - base enabling concepts (which he calls the metamodel), component architecture, the IT organization model, development process, and tools. Along the way, project design and management is covered. Also, the process of taking components from the business model straight through to implementation shows how one of the major promises of OO can be delivered. And the way it's done-this is what MDA really means!

It might be thought that Hubert's approach requires a revolution, but this is not so. Like other practitioners in the field, he proposes an evolution, and includes process support for its management. For example, he shows in some detail how RUP is tailored for the Convergent Architecture, so building on currently-available products.He also touches on some of the low-down and difficult challenges, such as how much technical glue to write to make life simpler for application developers - the more you write, the further from standards you get.

Last, but not least, there is a worked example, using Hubert's company's Convergent Architecture IDE, "ArcStyler", from business model right through to EJBs. Now it might be thought that spending over 40 pages on a proprietary product is mere publicity-seeking. But it's not. It's proof that the tool market is now starting to address one of the great challenges facing our industry: how to move away from the cottage industries of stovepipe development into seriously productive development. And if it also advertises the product, well, if it does the job, what's wrong with that?

Finally, this book is well-written, well-structured, and at 250 pages, a comfortable read. If you've read any of the few other books in this field (such as Peter Herzum and my "Business Component Factory", or "Software Product Lines" from the SEI), then this book is an essential companion, bringing valuable new insights. If you haven't, then this book is not only a first-rate introduction to the field, but also a major contributor to it.

Disappointing
When I started this book, I was looking forward to an explanation of how to use the Convergent Architecture to create a J2EE application. What I found was a vague, confusing, and repetitive discussion that often reads as if it was in a tragic accident with a thesaurus. The idea behind the Convergent Architecture is not that complicated. We need to create a model driven architecture above UML that can link design and actual code development. Too often in this book the Convergent Architecture is not explained in terms of what it is but rather how it is like designing cathedrals, diesel engines, or jet planes. The author tells us that using the Convergent Architecture can reduce time up to 70% and that these numbers are endorsed by neutral parties but he gives us no information about these neutral parties. And he doesn't tell us what the 70% is actually compared to making these numbers useless for doing any evaluation.The book promises to be a "step-by-step" guide but instead reads like a corporate white paper designed to sell a product. And there is a product in here that the author is selling. He is the founding director of the company that makes a product that takes up the last two chapters of the book. The only part of the book that is "step-by-step" is the tutorial on how to use the author's product. Overall, I was very disappointed in a book that I looked forward to reading. ... Read more

Product Description
Fundamental concepts of mathematical modeling

Modeling is one of the most effective, commonly used tools in engineering and the applied sciences. In this book, the authors deal with mathematical programming models both linear and nonlinear and across a wide range of practical applications.

Whereas other books concentrate on standard methods of analysis, the authors focus on the power of modeling methods for solving practical problems–clearly showing the connection between physical and mathematical realities–while also describing and exploring the main concepts and tools at work. This highly computational coverage includes:

• Discussion and implementation of the GAMS programming system
• Unique coverage of compatibility
• Illustrative examples that showcase the connection between model and reality
• Practical problems covering a wide range of scientific disciplines, as well as hundreds of examples and end-of-chapter exercises
• Real-world applications to probability and statistics, electrical engineering, transportation systems, and more

Building and Solving Mathematical Programming Models in Engineering and Science is practically suited for use as a professional reference for mathematicians, engineers, and applied or industrial scientists, while also tutorial and illustrative enough for advanced students in mathematics or engineering. ... Read more

Product Description
Provides model railroaders with an overview of North American mining, refining, and agricultural operations served by the railroads, and the specific techniques used to model them on a realistic layout of any scale. Jeff Wilson's clear, concise style makes these complex industries easy to understand and model. Numerous photos and illustrations show key structures; the sequence of operations, and the details modelers can incorporate to accurately represent the industries. Perfect for intermediate and skilled beginning model railroaders, and those interested in prototype railroading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Review of Model Railroader's Guide to Industries Along the Tracks
This book is an excellent reference for anyone planning to add trackside industries to his or her model railroad.The book presents information about typical industries that can found near railroads.Details of the operations, procedures, buildings and other structures used by these industries are included.Even though this book is a very good source of information about trackside industries, it does not contain information on how models of these industries can actually be constructed.So, if you intend to add industries to your model railroad, you may find that a book on constructing models of industrial type buildings will also be very helpful.

Useful, but overrated
This is a useful book as it provides some good information about several industries around railroads.Specifically, it covers grain, petroleum, coal mining, automotive, produce and livestock.

However, I feel it's a bit overrated and am actually a bit disappointed with the book.Specifically, I was surprised that it does not cover container shipping, mining for iron and other metals, smelting and casting, quarries, or lumber business.These are pretty essential and won't do without a railroad.

Furthermore, the coverage of industries is more a coverage of historical development than specific ideas and ins and outs from modeler's point of view.The pictures are nice, but where are the typical dimensions and proportions (or at least suggested ranges) of various industrial structures?I realize that silos come in various sizes and shapes, but I expected at least some discussion of dimensions of typical structures.

I would have like a more thorough analysis of each of the facilities with functional descriptions and designs than the history.This isn't a thorough guide, but if you've never been around railroads and the industries covered in this book than it may be useful to you.Otherwise, it's probably not detailed enough.

I LOVE THIS BOOK
Originally purchased to build a grainary, I have read and reread many sections on fuel, etc. and am thinking of a whole new layout to add much more.This is a priceless reference to have on you bench when not only designing and planning a layout, but to detail what you've got.I recommend highly.

An Essential Guide
Railroad modelers get involved in because they like trains. They try to make their layouts as realistic as possible in terms of appearance and operation. They generally do a fair job on the "train" end of things but the scheme can often fall apart when it comes to the industries served by the trains. Many of us don't have a clue as to how these industries operate or how those operations are dependent upon rail service. This book addresses that big problem and does so very well.

The book consists of several chapters, each devoted to a particular industry. Within those chapters, the industry is explained in terms of getting the raw materials and shipping the finished products. This helps to design realistic layouts. Each chapter has a bit of space devoted to the types of rolling stock used by each industry and further explains the changes that occurred over historical time.

The Chapter are organized thus:

Grain: Grain elevators, flour and feed mills, rail operations.
Petroleum: Modeling oil refineries and fuel dealers
Coal Mining: shaft mines, open pit mines and railroad coal operations
Automotive: Manufacturing plants, transloading centers and auto parts traffic
Produce: Packing houses, produce markets and refrigerator car traffic
Livestock: Modeling stockyards, packing companies and branch houses

Each of these chapters is well written and organized. I am very happy to learn that another volume is on its way.

Great book chock full of ideas and photographs!
I work in the video game industry and am working on a game that has a railroad level in it. These model railroad books are the perfect reference! The whole book is filled with great ideas and each idea is supported with real photographs. A+ One of the best
"reference" books I've ever purchased! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Garden Train Construction
This is a good book to consult when building a garden railway system. The text is an easy read and the pictures are very helpful.

Not applicable to most of today's Garden Railroaders
As the first book I have purchased covering garden railroads, I have to say I'm very disappointed. Although it's a 2002 reprint of a book published in 1995, I found the information to be out of date, and really not that applicable to my chosen scale: G scale.

The book is written by and for Brits, and spends much of the pages discussing the history of British garden railroading from Z to N, HO and mostly O guages. All the "scales" discussed are in Metric, so we Yanks need to constantly convert (or have a conversion chart available).

There are no Web site addresses listed in the "For More Information" appendix, another indication of the age of this publication, and all of the snail mail addresses and phone numbers are in the U.K.

In addition, the pictures are all black and white, so it's not even very visually appealing.

All in all, I'd avoid this book unless you are: 1) from the U.K. and/or 2) interested in an historical discussion of British garden railroads from 1900-1995. Even then, there seem to be many other titles that would be more useful.

I've several other books on their way from Amazon, and hopefully these will be more helpful in getting me started in what appears to be a great hobby.

The Garden Railway Manual : A Step-By-Step Guide to Building
The book i have, the 1998 reprint, is very good in detail and text. I realy dit help me setting up my own gardenrailroad ... Read more

Product Description

This is the first book on automated model building, a discipline of automated deduction that is of growing importance. Although models and their construction are important per se, automated model building has appeared as a natural enrichment of automated deduction, especially in the attempt to capture the human way of reasoning. The book provides an historical overview of the field of automated deduction, and presents the foundations of different existing approaches to model construction, in particular those developed by the authors. Finite and infinite model building techniques are presented. The main emphasis is on calculi-based methods, and relevant practical results are provided.

The book is of interest to researchers and graduate students in computer science, computational logic and artificial intelligence. It can also be used as a textbook in advanced undergraduate courses.

Customer Reviews (1)

The original and best how-to book in the hobby
Long before resin casting or photo etch parts, before the internet or CA glue, modelers built with little more than emery boards, brush paints and tube glue.Someone had to be the first, and in the plastic modeling hobby, that was Bill Neumann.

Along with writer/builder Don Emmons, they defined the early years of the hobby, first in Rod & Custom Models, then later in Car Model and Model Car Science magazine.Assembling their knowledge and codifying this into in one book did as much or more for the hobby as spray paint or the Auto World catalog.

Even today, the read is simple, clear, well-written without talking down and right to the point. The photos are clear and sharp black and white with excellent instruction value and vintage era interest. Most surprising (or not) many of the examples are executed with c. 1960's Revell hot rod and dragster kits, components and parts (the most diabolically complicated ever produced, and still all but impossible to complete save for the expert modeler.)

Several of the techniques were light years ahead of the '60s, including spraying automotive lacquer finishes and using the airbrush instead of the typical rattle can, selecting white glues for cleaner detail assembly, adding high detail to exposed surfaces, and replicating 1:1 subject exactly.

But this book makes it all look and seem easy.And even if most modelers never advanced beyond tube glue and cherry bombs, reading "Model Car Building" made the reader feel as if they could.

The book is an archetype of the how-to genre, the "Joy of Cooking" for the model car hobby.It's a must-have, no matter what your skill level.While out of print, and thus pricey, the sheer enjoyment of reading from the text of hour #1 of modeling is well worth it.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A good book about an excellent model
Being involved in a simular project, I looked for, and found much useful information here, There were some things that were less detailed than I would have liked, otherwise, the book will inspire anyone contemplatingsuch a project.The author's craftmanship is fantastic.$10 less and I'dhave given it 5 stars.

Not what the title leads you to expect
When this book came out, I bought it right away. I was very disappointed- this book is not what the title lead me to expect. Chapters 1 -11 are about building a very precise scale model of Warrior.Chapter 12 is aboutballasting the model, and a short epilogue covers launching and sailing. The author's craftmansship and technique is superb, but if you already havea book or two on shipmodelling skills, you'll probably find this materialredundant. There is nothing about using a sail control unit to control thesquare sails.I know how to build static ship models, I wanted info aboutbuilding a working model.This book does not deliver on the promise of thetitle!As a display model building book, I'd give it 5 stars, but as asailing model book, it gets 1 star-- that averages out to 3! ... Read more

Product Description
This volume contains a variety of prototype photos and suggestions for how to model and place industries on your layouts for realistic operation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Awesome Series of Books !!!

Just to be clear, the only reason I rated this book "five stars" is because there weren't any more stars to give. This book, and its companions (1 & 2) are absolutely terrific. I have all three volumes (hoping there will be more, hint hint!) and my copies are happily worn and dog-eared. If I have any complaint whatsoever, and it is trivial-- the "worst" thing I can think of to say about 'em, is that I wish he'd done a little more "variations" on the same industries to illustrate better how alternate arrangements might look or common differences in similar industries. On the other hand, if he had, the books would have covered less ground so its a petty complaint at "worst" in my opinion.

BUY THESE BOOKS, they're really great!

Great How to Book
I am an arm chair railroad modeler. I bought this book to help me get some track side industry that would give my model railroad some purpose for existence - I have ever built my layout but it gave me some ideas - I had books 1 and 2 so I wanted to round out the collection.I found the chapter on Ethanol to be timely for a modern pike.

A guide for model railroad enthusiasts who want to make their models as authentic as possible
Part of the appeal to model railroading is creating model towns, villages and industries. "The Model Railroader's Guide to Industries Along the Tracks 3" is a guide for model railroad enthusiasts who want to make their models as authentic as possible by adding replicas of industries that railroads deliver their shipments to. With well over one hundred photographs and diagrams to help modelers make the best possible replicas, "The Model Railroader's Guide to Industries Along the Tracks 3" is highly recommended for community library railroading collections. ... Read more

Product Description
Build extraordinary Star Trek® spacecraft models with this comprehensive book.This unique book provides instruction on how to build Star Trek® spacecraft models, including Cardassian, Federation, and Klingon ships. Also teaches modeling techniques such as lighting, masking and painting, detailing, decaling, and displaying. Each chapter of this project book focuses on an individual model kit and teaches modeling techniques through build-up of that kit. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Only for a complete novice
The book details building of a few Star Trek models.Most of the advice is pretty basic, and feels more like author's modeling journal than manual designed to learn from.Choice of Star Trek models also seems a bit coincidental - I think this book would have been just as good or bad if other Sci-Fi models were shown.

Several topics are beyond what I'd consider beginner's subjects: one model is build from a vacuum-formed kit, another with lighting.At the end Borg cube is made from scratch, with pieces being replicated in resin.Despite this, it really doesn't feel like there is a lot of useful advice given.

Overall I think it's a good book for a beginner, but not much more.

Not quite what I had hoped for...
As you can see from the title, this book was not quite what I had hoped for.As someone who is reentering the arena of model building, it was quite a disappointment.

The overall cover is nice, and there are a few color pictures. However, most of the pictures are in black and white. This obscures any detail that may be gained from them.Even the color pictures are of less quality than can be found on the internet sites.

The text is fairly simplistic and lacks any real detail.It does not provide any real pivotal insight in how to construct, paint and accurize a Star Trek model.Worse yet, it stays away from the most common, main stream models, sticking to mostly obscure and less common models.

Overall this book was really a disappointment.I would only recommend it, if the model you are building is contained within it, and only then to a true beginner.

spaceships at the final frontier review
I was a little dissapointed with this book.My expectations were more in-depth coverage of paint schemes and advanced techniques such as correcting major flaws in the kits to creating lighting systems.The author seemed to build most of his kits "straight from-the-box" with only minor modifications.In many cases, kit recommendations were used for painting, whereas a little research shows the kit recommendations are usually far from accurate.

I did appreciate the section on vacuum formed models as this is an area most people are not experienced in.

I would recommend this book to beginners for learning basic techniques in assembly and finish.Advanced modellers should already be familiar with the techniques presented in this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent introduction to the construction of models
This book is an excellent introduction to modeling.It is an older book, so relies on simpler software (spreadsheets, etc.)However, for this very reason, it works better for teaching students concepts of agent-based and dynamic systems modeling.

I have taken the models from environmental conservation and adopted them in teaching psychology and social policy.Every exercise it a gem. ... Read more

Product Description
Although model building has become the backbone of modern economics, few theorists have analyzed the methodological requirements and problems of assuring testbility in economic models. Lawrence A. Boland, a leading authority in the field, presents a wide-ranging analysis of this issue and relates it to wider debates in the sciences and social sciences about empiricism and the truth status of models. ... Read more

Product Description
The purpose of this book is to help would-be kit-builders to get the best results from the kits they might use. The production of a model railway involves many tasks, from the basic carpentry of baseboard construction to the construction and painting of trains, carriages, buildings, scenery, cars, bridges and tunnels. This book gives advice on methods of constructing and painting these components and also includes tips on the overall layout of a model railway. ... Read more