Book excerpt: Model-making: Materials and Methods focuses primarily on the wide variety of materials that can be employed to make models; those which have been favoured for a while and those which are relatively new. The book looks at how these materials behave and how to get the best out of them, then illustrates a range of relatively simple methods of building, shaping, modelling, surfacing and painting with them. Useful features of the book include: the different uses of models in various disciplines; the sequence of making; planning and construction, creating surfaces, painting and finishing; methods of casting, modelling and working with metals; step-by-step accounts of the making of specially selected examples; simple techniques without the need for expensive tools or workshop facilities; a 'Directory' of a full range of materials, together with an extensive list of suppliers. This book is intended for students of theatre production, art & architecture, animation and theatre/television set designers where accurate scale models are necessary, and is also of interest to anyone involved with the process of making forms in 3D and the challenge of making small-scale forms in general. Superbly illustrated with 185 colour photographs.