Transportation Books

I bought this book as a gift for my husband to match his purchase of a 1953 1 ton Chevy pickup. Moose as we have named him is in totally original condition (including the paint). My husband has rodded vehicles several times over the years, but we want to keep as much of Moose original as feasible. This book has already been read cover to cover (twice) and several pages have been dog earred. It is especially complete on the era which includes 1953, and that of course is what we are working with. I would have to say later years may be disappointed, but it is still quite good at offering more than one option for "how-to" restore the major components. This is not really a book for hot rodders, but if you want to learn the history or restore this is a good purchase. I'd love to see a more recent edition.

It has good tips for all aspects of the restore/rebuild job. Not the only book you will need though. you will also need a shop manual, because this book doesnt go that in depth.

I have had this book for several years and go back to it often to motivate and inform me on the restoration of my '52. They tend to favor the Advance Design series trucks, but there are commonalities for all year trucks. I really found useful the chapters on how to disasemble and clean. The book was full of helpful tips and ideas. Home brew degreaser, metal cleaning and rust memoval/repair tips, etc. The book was fairly well written and easy to understand without being simple or condesending. There are good pictures that help illustrate what you are reading about. I highly reccomend this book.

A Great starting point if you want to see whether or not you're cut out to do a full restoration or a rebuild of an older Chevy pickup. Things I liked about this book: It gives you a pretty thorough picture of what you're in for. Spells out what you'll need (shop tools) and the steps and time you'll need to do a good job. It also provides a list of where you can go for shop manuals and other technical references. Things I didn't like about this book: Black and white photography...

I purchased this book as a present for my two year old and he loves it. The illustrations and brief story make it one of his favorites. We embellish it with extra little details here and there. I like it beacause it has survived the love and attention of my very destructive little man.

A wonderful child's book from the yesteryears--My mom read it to me as a child and it's just as great!

Much in the form of Thomas the Tank Engine, Little Toot presents the joy and foibles of life in a simple, easy to follow story line for children. The style is minimalistic but has plenty of emotion and guile.
Highly recommended. Read Little Toot to your little tot!!

This is a beautiful book with a great story. I always favor giving books as gifts to young children and seek out "the classics." This one fits the bill!

What a joy to see the beautifully re-published restored edition of the classic book available again. I recently heard a glowing review of the restored edition on National Public Radio, and decided to purchase it for my five-year-old for Christmas. The story is timeless, and reminds children (and all of us) that we can make mistakes, but still go on to change our behaviors and do great good. It is as vividly-written as I had recalled from my own childhood -- not "dumbed-down" for children -- and the vibrant restored illustrations are glorious. The reviewer who who lamented an older edition will be delighted with this restored version. A wonderful gift to myself and my little boy this year.

The Batmobile: Owners Manual

Some books just need to be looked at from a distance and admired. Have you ever seen any like that? The art shimmers. The layout sparkles. The art speaks...you don't need to read to appreciate.

The "Batmobile Owners Manual" is like that, except to fully experience this book, you must open the lenticular cover of the new Batmobile with the flames shooting out the back. All this cover needs is a voice chip...Vroom...atomic batteries to power....

If any book has testosterone, this is it! Really. The cover rocks, but the interior design and text by Mike Avennie is oustanding. Not many people have really got to stand beside the Batmobile and read the spec, or touch the dash, but now you can. Mike discusses the dashboard, weapons and defense, the test chamber, the forensic lab, the wheels, and a really cool Batcave page reminiscent of the Neal Adams design from the 70's. They haven't forgotten the classic Batmobiles either, so don't get your cape in a knot. George Barris is accounted for.

DK has taken a page out of Insight Editions' design crew and made many of the pages fold out and fold up with pockets and touch me panels. Ever want to match the Bat car, check the color swatches out.

Probably the best thing in this book is the trouble shooting manual. If your voice command doesn't work, what do you do? Onstar won't help with this one, but resetting the computer might.

Can't say why I love this book so much. Perhaps it brings out the kid in me. Will they ever do one like this for the Classic 60's version?

Www.dk.com

Batsignal on.

Tim Lasiuta

For years I've been hoping for a book on the many Batmobiles in print and film. I have long collected articles and models of/on Batmobiles. I took a chance on this one, not knowing what it was about. I guess I should have waited until I saw it first. I have no clue as to what Batmobile is in this book. It's not one that I recognize. It appears the author dreamt up his own version, and wrote a book on it. Not there's anything wrong with that, per se, but I think potential buyers should know up front that they won't recognize this particular Batmobile. If you, like me, are waiting for a book that covers the many TV, film, and comic book Batmobiles, you'll have to wait a little longer.

i only brought this book after getting it out of the libruary and finding it so usefull in teaching my subject

Yes, the title does include the word 'Workbook'. However, NO WHERE in the description is the potential purchaser told this is a workbook only and REQUIRES the additional purchase of the HARDBACK INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL. It's a cheap shot and poor advertising by Yahoo. I'm REALLY disappointed.

I read the reviews, which is the biggest reason I purchased the book. I ordered the book, and when it arrived I found it was just the workbook. Ok, my fault I thought there was a hardcover and softcover edition. I didn't realized the reviews were referring to the text book that goes with this work book. Again, my fault. I ordered the book the same day from motolit.com. Anyway, just be aware that you need another book to go with this.

This is a lousy book! For starters, the electrical portion of the book is so superficial and watered down. I have several years experience so I know what the authors are trying to get across but, I just don't see how somebody unfamiliar with electrical systems could possibly read the subject matter and understand it completely. The first step in troubleshooting is to thoroughtly understand the system you are trying to troubleshoot. I recommend people buy the Haynes "Motorcycle Basics Techbook" instead. It does a much better job!

I, too, did not read the fine print and bought the paperback edition of this book, although both are titled "(Workbook)". I'm not sure where it states that the paperback was the workbook and the harcover was the manual, but the workbook is worthless without the manual. My advice? Buy the hardcover and hope that it includes the material rather than the questions.

Excellent overview of the Holley carbs and the inner workings as well as tuning of the Holley. Would liked to have read more on the performance side.

Morgan

While this book is very good and should be in every Holley tuners library, I would like to see more theory or perhaps something such as "if you make the idle air bleeds smaller then the power curve ...." Would be nice

This book includes information on how to select a carb, how each metering system works, mileage, street, race, off-road, marine and forced induction modifications and copious part numbers. The correct process is described to fix any problem, but most final numbers(70 or 72 main jet? 35 or 37 pump squirter? Etc) are determined by road or strip testing. Also includes exploded diagrams and a 54 picture teardown and reassembly of the 4150/4160.

I had no idea how many tuning possibilities there were on a Holley. I've learned that it is likely to take a fair amount of work to get a double pumper to run smoothly, get decent gas mileage, and produce power on the street. However it is possible and this book tells you how. Expect to invest in a jet kit, accelerator pump kit, and some drilling if you put a double pumper on your street car.

Look elsewere for a guide to help you rebuild. I guess this book would be useful if you are a racer or something, but not for the DIY engine tinker-er.

Book is great for the history of holley carbs. But not so great for rebuilding your average holley carb. To much info on "high-tech" holley carbs. I bought this book thinking it would help me rebuild and tune my 600 cfm holley carb. But all I did was waste my money.

I think this is potentialy a very interesting topic -- Boeing vs. Airbus that is. But this author was off the mark with this book -- it was disorganized and lacked direction. It seemed like a first-draft. Also it was far too technical loaded with names and #'s that I would venture are meaningless to 90% of the book's readers. Try another book on this subject.

This is obviously a story worth telling, with interesting characters and an international backdrop. Instead we get an unenlightening narrative that relies almost completely on silly generalizations and anecdotal quotes that are meant to pass as meaningful analysis. Boeing is "arrogant", but then Airbus is "resting on its laurels", then it reverses and the reader is left with nothing. The book is also aggravating for its lack of organization. Business books such as this require some ordering, whether it's chronological or parallel narrative threads, etc. This book is all over the place-- at one point you're reading about the rollout of the A380, then Boeing's tanker lease arrangement, then the 747 development program, then back to earlier Airbus rollouts. Frustrating.

The aviation industry is a fascinating one, and the Airbus/Boeing rivalry is certainly a unique one. The author does provide an interesting history of the topic and includes a lot of interesting facts and anecdotes. The problem with the book is the stream-of-consciousness style that is unstructured and poorly organized. Several stories were repeated multiple times, and the constant jumping back and forth in time made it frustrating to follow. Granted with so many themes and issues, it would have been hard, but not impossible, to make it chronological. Thomas Petzinger's "Hard Landing" was a fantastic treatment of the American Commercial Airline industry and if he could organize that chronologically, this topic could be as well.

I've read many aviation books and this is by far the worst. Not one shred of technical information or concepts that the aviation enthusiast might expect. This book is solely the politics of the governments and the corporations involved. A real snoozer.

Others have made the points well. This book takes an excellent, interesting subject and makes a hash of it. It is erratically written and poorly edited. There are some interesting passages, but they are interspersed with long segments of the authors undocumented assertions and broad generalizations. The analysis is superficial and unsystematic. I had hoped for something along the lines of the excellent "747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation" by Joe Sutter, but was sorely disappointed. There is rich material here, but sadly it is poorly edited and executed.

This is a modern reprint of a celebrated classic. Frederik Henrik Chapman was the first analytical ship designer, in that he took a skill that was previously the domain of master shipwrights and formalised it in a rational scientific way that formed the basis of all Naval Architecture ever since.

While the text may be a bit heavy going for anyone but the dedicated enthusiast, the book is overwhelmingly worth it for the wonderful illustrations that make up 75% of the book: the lines plans and the virtuoso perspective drawings that have not been surpassed since.

It is a fascinating insight into the state of the art of ship design in the 17th century, and a beautiful book as well.

I didn't realize that this is just a collection of ships schematics. There are no detail drawings. There is no other information in this book. The preview of this book shows the only page with an actual drawing of a ship. Unless you have a fascination for waterline drawings of ships find another book.

The description needs to be rewritten to clarify that this is simply a compilation of schematics with little other information.

Fredric Henric af Chapman (September 9, 1721 in Gothenburg - August 19, 1808) was a Swedish naval ship architect, promoted to vice admiral in 1791, manager of the shipyard at Karlskrona between 1782-1793. Fredric Henric af Chapman might be the greatest naval architect of the eighteenth century.

At the age of 10, he already designed his first ship. At the age of 15, Chapman moved to Stockholm to learn the art of shipbuilding, during a visit to England in 1741 he was arrested when visiting a shipyard. Upon release, he was offered English service, which he declined. In 1744 he and another person established a shipyard in Gothenburg. Between 1752-56 he studied abroad. In 1757 he was commissioned as a junior shipwright by the Royal Swedish Navy and tasked with designing a couple of shallow draft vessels for the Finnish archipelago or coastal fleet. 1764 he was promoted to senior shipwright.

Chapman's great interest in the theoretical aspects of naval architecture and his desire to transform shipbuilding from a trade into a science led him to produce a large number of treatises and other publications, of which the best known internationally is Architectura Navalis Mercatoria. First published in 1768, Architectura Navalis Mercatoria eye-opening collection of sophisticated line drawings is a fascinating look at the maritime world of the 18th century, documenting merchant and naval ships from various countries. When first published, this work only included the line drawings. Later, Chapman added the additional sections related to the scientific design of ships.

Dover's edition of this work presents sophisticated lines drawings of over 70 ships. Other drawings and the companion text discusses tank testing of submerged bodies of various shapes, and the accompanying mathematics the author is using to explain some of his studies reach into calculus. The 70 different illustrations chart vessel dimensions, crew size, storage capabilities, and rigging. Additional drawing include line drawings of ships boats, three different methods for launching ships, and sail plans for various ship types.

As someone who has spent a lot of time lately studying Age of Sail ships, the Architectura Navalis Mercatoria contains the finest set of line drawings of ships of the 18th Century. You will find line drawings of galleys, merchant ships, privateers, and warships. Some of the drawings simply lay out a basic design for a type of ship (Katt, Hekboat, Frigate, etc...). Some of the plans are draughts of actual ships like the privateer Neptunas.

Although these plans can be found on the internet, this book will be an indispensable treatise for model builders, naval historians, and maritime enthusiasts. Anyone with a strong interest in shipbuilding in the 18th Century will love this book. I've often found myself spending hours looking over the various plans. I was worried about the size of this book when I orginally heard that Dover planned to publish.

Dover Books was kind enough to respond to my question with the following:

"Thank you for your patience. I have confirmed with our reprint editor that our edition of "Architectura Navalis Mercatoria: The Classic of Eighteenth-Century Naval Architecture" will be sized 9 3/8" x 12 1/4". He also indicated that the page size we're using is the largest size we can do with the printing equipment we normally use--beyond that size it not only gets much more expensive but becomes a problem as most bookstores don't have shelves bigger than that (some don't have shelves that size) and they won't order it if they can't store it. Also, we have a good source for the plates and they will be readable."

A great companion book to go with this book would be:

F.H. Chapman: The First Naval Architect and His Work

This book is great at giving general knowledge that you can use on any diesel engine. I have done quite a bit of tinkering with gasoline engines and needed to learn specifics about diesels so that I could work on my own tractor and bull dozer. I'd already bought the manual on the dozer. It had lots of specific information about my dozer but overall was very difficult to understand. I couldn't even orient myself to the drawings.

When I got done with this book I felt like I could look at any diesel engine, large or small, and understand almost everything about it. It is very well written with great pictures and drawings.

This is one of the best book investments I have ever made.

I am new to scratch boat building and this is a basic book about it. It has many helpful hints that are very usefull. It is a beginners book. Easy to read and understand.

There are a lot of forums on the NET that describe in detail on how to scratch-build, but I was looking for something basic.

An excellent book.

I find the book a good introduction to the concepts, but a bit lite in detail.

Ship Modeling from Scratch: Tips and Techniques for Building Without Kits
A very good supplemental book for building a model ship from scratch. It has detailed suggestions that aren't found in many other books or articles. Edw. Leaf knows his stuff and covers all major topics in modeling w/o a kit. He does provide "tips and techniques" as the subtitle says, just not quite enough to start scratch building w/o several other sources that go into more depth in important topics/skills.

I purchased this book several years past. This Amazon.com reviewer is an avid ship modeler. I use this book nearly constantly. I give this book five stars.

Now, this book was written in 1993. So, there are no web sites for reference nor is there a more recent write up. If a person is interested in making a scratch built ship they should surf onto the steelnavy.com web site. Steel Navy is known as one of the best web references for ship building. Museum quality ships from the world have pictures on that page. If you want American warship plans then surf to "Maryland Silver". They have nearly all of the ship plans of the modern Navy. Furthermore, they have plans for most of the pre-1880 (modern Navy) ships. Last, a fair source of ship plans is Ebay. One vendor on Ebay sells quite warships and Great Lakes vessels. If you are making a modern ship and need fittings the web sites to check out are H&R Products, Blue Jacket Ship Models, and The Scale Shipyard. All three web locations have lots of fittings for ships.

Now, back to this book.

This book covers all necessary steps for a ship modeler. The first chapter is on getting correct plans. If your plans are off then what is the point? The second chapter covers making the keel, ribs (frames), and then planking the ship. The rest of the chapters follow in logical progression. The chapters vary from rigging your model if you have a sailing ship to building a superstructure for a modern ship. Note, there are two complete sets of plans in the back of the book. One for a sailing ship and another for a simple cargo steamer. I didn't build either because this modeler makes battleships.

Speaking of battleships, the book gives quite a bit of information on constructing a South Carolina class battleship. The South Carolina class is semi-famous in model circles. The first ship of the class, BB-27, the USS Michigan, has extensive model construction articles written about it in this book. Now, the chapter on Cage Mast Construction is about the only major book that has been published that covers this topic. Cage Masts were found on every battleship made in the USA from about 1910 to 1920. Cage Masts are seen on many of the battleships, like the USS Tennessee, at Pearl Harbor. So, it's very good that a major book tells how to make a cage mast. Note, the chapter on Cage Mast construction will advise a builder to make a jig for the mast. Furthermore, it's advisable that no cage mast be made that is smaller than 1/144th scale.

The book also gives advise on the cutting of wood, plastics, and metal. Furthermore, there is suggestions by the author on what type of wood cutting machines to buy, such as a table saw, and what sort of finishing tool to purchase. The hobby of ship modelling is a lot easier if you have a Demel tool.

The book had lots of little helpful items. It give basic instructions for making a deadeye. Port holes, very necessary for a making a convincing ship, are covered in this book. If you don't want to follow the advise you can get fair portholes from either H & R Products or Blue Jacket.

The only thing that isn't really covered in this book is making a boat radio controlled. You'll have to get another book if you wish to RC your beloved museum quality ship.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have. This book should be studies by any body who wishes to make their first scratch built model. Note, there are no large scale commercial models of Great Lakes steamers or Pre-WWII battleships. So, if you want to build a nice model battleship of the USS Florida you'll have to get the plans from Maryland Silver, the fitting from H & R Products, and read this book to learn the knowledge necessary for making that model.

Best wishes, fellow ship builder, on reading this book. You'll enjoy your purchase. I look forward to hearing about your question on steelnavy.com .

This book is worth all five stars.