Space In Miniature - Reference Books for Space Model Builders

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SIM #1 - A Scale Spacecraft Primer is Now Available as a Digital Download

I have finished re-creating the first book in the SIM series, A Scale Spacecraft Primer. This book is now available with its original content in a clean pdf with color photos. I need to strongly advise readers that this book is rather dated and obsolete. This book originally came out in 1990. There are references to books and magazines no longer available and it is full of other out of date material. As I like to maintain certain standards of quality, I will no longer sell this book as a printed volume. What I am doing, however, is to make a digital-only version available in order to offer folks a complete set and to share some of the useful reference material and tips that are still valid. You can order this on the main order form page.

My long term plan is to create an updated version with a lot of new material. That would likely be the next SIM book to come out.

New Order Form

Many of my customers have been ordering books via PayPal but forget to enter a note ("Instructions to Merchant") to tell me which books they want. Well, I finally played around and figured out how to use PayPal's shopping cart service. I hope you find the new order form simple to use. Please let me know if you have any problems or suggestions.

IPMS 2012 National Convention - Orlando

I had a great time at the IPMS Nats, as usual. I should have some notes and contest entry counts updated soon. Meanwhile, you can see some photos from the usual gang of crazy, geeky space modelers here on Flickr.

SIM 8: Space Suits

Update: I have finally uploaded the color photos from the main part of the book. You can find them at this link. I am using a new (to me) web editing software for that page (RapidWeaver) and I hope you like the results (I hope everything works).

It's been over four years since I've put out a new book. With Karl Dodenhoff's help, the newest book in the SIM series is SIM #8 - Space Suits. Researched and written by Karl (an original member of the "gang of seven" that founded what became the Yahoo Space Modelers group over ten years ago), SIM #8 describes all of the space suits developed and used by NASA from Mercury to the Space Station. This 60-page book has over one hundred line drawings and photographs that provide the model builder a comprehensive technical reference on this subject. Covering everything from early manned space gear, the Apollo lunar surface exploration suits, to the free-ﬂying backpacks used by Gemini and Space Shuttle astronauts, this guidebook is a unique resource for the serious space modeler.

In addition to a pictorial review of space suit development, a thorough listing of scale ﬁgure kits is provided, along with ﬁve pages of kit reviews. Additionally, there is a feature article on building an accurate version of the old Aurora “American Astronaut” kit. In fact, Karl found so much material that over ﬁfty additional photos and diagrams were placed in a Photo Appendix, available to customers as a downloaded pdf ﬁle.

The book sells for $12 plus shipping, and started shipping March 1, 2012.

To order, just go to the order form and fill out your mailing info after making your selections. If you are using Paypal, just use the form to calculate postage and the total due, then click the Paypal icon on the form. If your are a dealer or retailer interested in quantity buys please send me an e-mail for a quote.

Space Modelers Pin is Sold Out

The pin featuring the logo of the Yahoo Group for real space modelers (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/space-modeler) is sold out. Thanks to all who bought them. You can still get one via Glenn Johnson at RealSpace Models. I have no plans to produce any more at this time.

Model Gallery

Photos of my recent builds can be found in the Model Gallery section of this site. You will also find the photo blog of my 1/144 Mir build. That has been on hold while I built the ISS and then finished the 1/48 Apollo LM for the SIM #7 book. Go to this link for the Mir build. The most recent space model I did was the Boeing X-37B from Fantastic Plastic. My next space project will either be to finish the Mir or possibly a Soyuz landing diorama.

Space Books for Sale

I am in the process of thinning my collection of space-related books. I am getting rid of anything that is not directly modeling related. I have a lot of stuff on space history, and I once thought I'd write something on a space enthusiast's view of all of the exploration programs that never got off the drawing board. But that'll never happen. And I need room on my shelves. See this page for details.

About SIM

I am an engineer in the aerospace industry, and my hobby interests are centered around building scale models of real spacecraft. This quickly gets into the history of space, as there are few space kits out there and much research is required to come up with the plans and data needed to scratchbuild accurate spacecraft models. This activity led me to publish the results of some of my research in the form of 40-page monographs (magazines or booklets, I guess) on how to build accurate models of real spacecraft. I also have this internet site to augment those paper publications.

The book series is called Space in Miniature (SIM). Click here for more info or use the links at left.

This web site was established in the summer of 1999 to solicit inputs on the Mercury volume. I used this web site to post preliminary findings and to get feedback from other researchers. This has worked out great, and I appreciate hearing from so many of you. To order books, check out the order form.

You can also keep up with me on Facebook.

Thanks for your interest,

Mike Mackowski

Credit Cards Accepted via PayPal

You can purchase books using your credit card via my PayPal account. While I prefer checks (PayPal gets 92 cents for every copy of SIM #6 I sell using their service) this should make ordering simpler for you, particularly international customers.