I've started working on Italeri's 1/9 US Army Harley WLA. It was supposed to be a relatively quick, more-or-less box stock build but like most other projects is getting more involved.
After looking at and collecting reference material on the web I went to a local bokstore and found a rather thick hardcover book on the history of Harley Davidson. In it were some colour photos of the WLA, including a great pic that would be an outstanding reference for my build. Thing is the book is $40.
I'm thinking of picking it up mainly for this pic (plus the few others). Does this sound crazy? I'm not really asking for advice on whether or not I should, but I'm sure there are some of you who do this. Guess I'm just curious to see how common this is.

Hi there

Very common,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,have got loads of reference books,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,loads of down loads,,,,,,,,,,,loads of shed insulation (kits). Subjects many and varied and like you said about the book cost, have paid low prices for large books and high prices for one reference pic,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,crazy ain't it!!!!!

Nige

"Shed insulation"...love it!

hello Barry,
the book has what you want for this build,right.but is also might have in the background of the photo's have other details for projects.i buy books for my research for my builds,and then i find other things to use for other builds.my library holds 2000+books,so if you can afford it i would buy it.you might need it down the road.you also might want to see if you can find it used.
hope this helps,
Bruce

Good advice Bruce, thanks. When I thought about it, it also has pics of civilian bikes converted from the WLA, which I was contemplating building at some point. I also have a (1/24?) scale Harley, early 1900's, which I bought a few years ago. Should come in handy for that too.

PS: 2000+ books? You're an animal. Bet there's not too much now you can't find if you need it!

Crazy? Not at all...

I just bought Danilla Carcilla's (actually have no diea how to spell the name) Painting Miniatures from an Italian online store, with out knowing what the different order fields meant but pretty much guessing my way through the order form, just so that I could read about his metal technique - which was only 2 pages. Book cost 22 odd EUR... postage to SA cost 14 EUR... worth it? Hell yeah!

hello barry, one thing for sure. you'll never throw out a referance book or tool. no matter the cost, you'll find other pic's that will come in handy down the road. if it's to pricy, see if anyone out here has a copy that'll e-mail you a pic.

Well, I am crazy too, but not nearly as bad as Bruce. I’ve bought books just because of a single point they make that I want to keep track of.

I feel that a person can never have enough reference material. Save as much as you can from the internet and if you need to buy a book, buy it. Or if you are lucky and your library has it copy what you need.

Invest in a decent all-in-one copier/scanner/printer and a couple of flash memory cards. You can save a good deal of info on a 1gig flash memory card. It is portable and easy to keep in a safe location.

I spend part of my summer selling at my local flea market. I also spend that time looking for those bargains. Most of what I buy is old books. Also used book stores are great places to find treasures.