Search results for ""Author Robert K. Liu""

The origins of 1/1250 and 1/200 scale models can be traced back to the first years of the twentieth century and their use as identification aids by the military during the First World War. When peace came the manufacturers aimed their increasingly sophisticated products at collectors, and ever since then acquiring, enhancing, modifying or scratch-building miniature ship models has been an avidly pursued hobby around the world. This new book focusses on models of the ships of the Second World War, probably the most popular subject for miniature model collectors, and the author, a well-known modeller himself, addresses all the practical issues that might confront those many collectors who like to enhance, convert, and modify their models, or even scratch-build models of ships not commercially available. The book covers both Allied and Axis warships, naval airplanes, merchant conversions and even an Italian armed schooner, and provides historic and technical information on the ships represented as well as practical advice on modelling them. The latter is extensive with twenty-five chapters covering everything from initial production techniques such as spin casting, silicon mould casting, resin casting, die-casting, plastic mould injection, and 3D printing through techniques for enhancing and modifying models to eventually researching and scratch-building an uncommon ship or type. The focus is always on particular vessels and the vast array covered by the author builds into a fascinating panorama of the vessels that fought across the world's oceans in that era. The combination of intriguing background and historical information, combined with detailed practical information and more than 300 stunning photographs will make this book irresistible to any collector or modeller and, indeed, to anyone with an interest in the navies of the Second World War.

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The first illustrated study of ethnic silver jewelry in Yemen, by an expert researcher and collector, new in paperbackSilver Treasures from the Land of Sheba documents a disappearing artistic and cultural tradition with over three hundred photographs showing individual pieces, rare images of women wearing their jewelry with traditional dress, and the various regions in Yemen where the author did her field research. Ransom’s descriptions of the people she met and befriended, and her exploration of the significance of a woman’s handmade jewelry with its attributes of power, protection, beauty, and personal identity, will appeal to ethnic jewelry fans, ethnographers, jewelry designers, and art historians.Amulet cases, hair ornaments, bridal headdresses, earrings, necklaces, ankle and wrist bracelets are all beautifully photographed in intricate detail, interspersed with the author’s own photographs of the women who shared their stories and their hospitality with her. A chapter on the history of silversmithing in Yemen tells the surprising story of the famed Jewish Yemeni silversmiths, many of whom left Yemen in the late 1940s. This is the first in-depth study of Yemeni silver, uniquely illustrated with photographs of a world that is transforming before our eyes, and animated with the portraits of a precious legacy.

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