How to Build Model Ships

Got 'em

Awhile back Vince was testing my knowledge of slot car books published in the '60s and '70s. He mentioned How to Build Model Cars by William Nordner and sent along a photo.

The title didn't ring any bells, but as soon as I saw the photo I instantly remembered taking it out many, many times from the local public library when I was a kid. I even remembered exactly where it was shelved. Actually, the layout of the entire library and its contents flooded back in photorealistic detail. It was a strange experience. 

I immediately went online to see if I could find a copy. No dice, but I did find a copy of Nordner's How to Build Model Ships for a couple of bucks and bought it. I don't remember seeing this at the library, but it's never too late to experience what I might have overlooked :-)

Need 'em

And, strangely enough, I wondered if there was an E. L. Moore connection - being I'm a man with a hammer and all that. Mr. Moore wrote 2 articles, one published and one not, about projects where boat models were prominent. The unpublished one, submitted to MR in March '69, was called A Pair of Canal Boats, and the published one, add a Harbor to your Pike, was published in January and February '68 in RMC. In the introduction to the RMC article he mentions that a chance buy of a marked down copy of a book on ship models was partial inspiration to get going on the project. Was Nordner's the book? No, it was published in 1969. Maybe Mr. Moore eventually saw it at his local library, but we'll likely never know. The search continues for that inspirational marked down book.