Models Books

The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor's Guide

David J. Perdue

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: No Starch Press Amazon Marketplace: 33 new & used starting at $18.31

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Artificial Intelligence -> Computer Mathematics
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Artificial Intelligence -> Robotics
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Artificial Intelligence -> Theory of Computing

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Fantastic manual to the Mindstorms NXT 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I'm a coach of a FIRST LEGO League team and I bought this book to help my son "get to the next level." I am making this book mandatory for every team member next season! It is informative, yet easy to read. It covers all the bases from good robot design to programming explanations. I can't recommend it enough!

Fun, helpful, informative for beginner and intermediate 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I've had NXT for about 10 months and have three other books. I wish I had know about this first. My strong point is programming, my weak point is gearing and this is the only book that really shows how to build gear trains. I love rover bots and have designed many but he has several fresh takes on the genre. His ball caster is much more elegant than mine and his bumper is quite sturdy. (My method of picking a random angle for a turn is better than his though: random block set for 0 to 6 wired to a switch block with 7 conditions, the equivalent of 45,90,135 degrees left and right and 180. save the whole thing as a myblock to use with all your rovers.)
I highly recommend this book if you are starting out or if you want to get some new ideas for rovers.

Forbidden LEGO: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against!

Ulrik Pilegaard, Mike Dooley

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: No Starch Press Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $14.95

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Software -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Software -> General AAS
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

It just may be impossible to exhaust the creative potential of LEGO bricks. With an active imagination as your guide, there are endless possibilities--provided you follow the LEGO Company's official (and sensible) rules. This means no cutting or tampering with bricks, creating models that shoot unapproved projectiles, or using non-standard parts with any LEGO product. After all, those little precision-molded ABS bricks can be dangerous in the wrong hands! Well, toss those rules out the window.

Forbidden LEGO introduces you to the type of free-style building that LEGO's master builders do for fun in the back room. Using LEGO bricks in combination with common household materials (from rubber bands and glue to plastic spoons and ping-pong balls) along with some very unorthodox building techniques, you'll learn to create working models that LEGO would never endorse. Try your hand at a toy gun that shoots LEGO plates, a candy catapult, a high voltage LEGO vehicle, a continuous-fire ping-pong ball launcher, and other useless but incredibly fun inventions.

Once you get into the spirit, you'll want to try inventing your own rule-breaking models. Forbidden LEGO's authors, share tips and tricks that will inspire you and help you turn your visions into reality. Nothing's against the rules in this book!

The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide

Allan Bedford

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: No Starch Press Amazon Marketplace: 52 new & used starting at $11.48

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General AAS
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> Crafts for Children

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What exactly is a slope? What's the difference between a tile and a plate? Why is it bad to simply stack bricks in columns to make a wall? The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide is here to answer your questions.

Focusing on building actual models with real bricks, The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide comes with complete instructions to build several cool models but also encourages you to use your imagination to create your own fantastic creations.

Inside, you'll learn:

• The best ways to connect bricks and creative uses for those patterns
• Tricks for calculating and using scale (it's not as hard as you think)
• The step-by-step plans to create a train station on the scale of LEGO people (a.k.a. "minifigs")
• How to build spheres, jumbo-sized LEGO bricks, micro-scaled models, and a mini space shuttle
• Tips for sorting and storing all of your LEGO pieces

The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide also includes the Brickopedia, a visual guide to nearly 300 of the most useful and reusable elements of the LEGO system, with historical notes, common uses, part numbers, and the year each piece first appeared in a LEGO set.

The firm foundation for your LEGO hobby starts here!

The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book: Design, Invent, and Build

Martijn Boogaarts, Jonathan A. Daudelin, Brian L. Davis, Jim Kelly, Lou Morris, Fay and Rick Rhodes, Matthias Paul Scholz, Christopher R. Smith, Rob Torok

Amazon Price: $19.77 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: No Starch Press Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $18.30

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Software -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Software -> General AAS
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

If you're serious about having fun with LEGO robotics, you've come to the right place. The team behind The NXT STEP blog--the authoritative online source for MINDSTORMS NXT information and advice--has packaged its considerable skills and experience in this book. Inside, you'll find some of the team's best ideas for creating cool and sophisticated models, including instructions for eight robots you can build yourself.

Follow along with the MINDSTORMS NXT experts as they explain the fundamentals of programming and design, accompanied by CAD-style drawings and an abundance of screenshots that make it easy for you to master the MINDSTORMS NXT system. You'll get an overview of the NXT parts (beams, sensors, axles, gears, and so on) and clear instructions for combining them to build and program working robots. The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book delves into the complexities of the NXT programming language (NXT-G) and offers tips for designing and programming robots, using Bluetooth, creating an NXT remote control, troubleshooting, and much more.

Here are just a few of the robots you'll learn to build in The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book:

RaSPy, a robot that plays Rock, Scissors, Paper

3D PhotoBot, a robot that will help you take photographs that can be converted into 3D images

Slot Machine, complete with flashing lights and a lever

ScanBot, a robot that scans black-and-white pictures and displays the images on the NXT's LCD

Beach Buggy Chair, a roving, rambling robot

CraneBot, a crane-like grabbing robot

LEGO fans of all ages will find this book to be an ideal jumping-off point for doing more with MINDSTORMS NXT. The only ingredient you need to add is your imagination!

Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual

Nigel Calder

Amazon Price: $32.97 List Price: $49.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $28.87

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> Models
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Transportation -> Ships -> Repair & Maintenance
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Transportation -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The boatowner's foremost troubleshooting guide, now better than ever

If it's on a boat and it has screws, wires, or moving parts, it's covered in Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual. When you leave the dock with this book aboard, you have at your fingertips the best and most comprehensive advice on:

• Battery technologies
• 12- and 24-volt DC systems
• Corrosion, bonding, and lightning protection
• Generators, inverters, and battery chargers
• Electric motors and electric lights
• Marine electronics, antennas, and RFI
• Diesel engines
• Transmissions, shaft brakes, and propellers
• Refrigeration and air-conditioning
• Tanks, plumbing, and through-hulls
• Pumps and watermakers
• Steering, autopilots, and wind vanes
• Stoves and heaters
• Winches, windlasses, and bow thrusters
• Spars, rigging, and roller reefing

"If you had to choose a single book to help you assess and maintain your boat gear, this would be it."—Practical Sailor

"A truly remarkable bible. . . . This book is the best of its kind."—WoodenBoat

"A major achievement. . . . It would be hard to imagine anything going wrong on a boat that couldn't be figured out with this book."—Sailing World

"The world's best technical reference and troubleshooting book."—Sailing Inland and Offshore

"This manual will be of lasting interest to anyone who wants to know how their boat works, what has gone wrong when it doesn't, and how it could be fixed."—Classic Boat

"Without becoming too complex, the book covers almost every imaginable mechanical or electrical matter in the marine environment."—Work Boat World

"Calder lives what he writes, . . . [and] what he offers . . . is practical solutions to problems associated with increasingly complex marine systems. . . . [A] bargain for anyone in the construction and repair side of the boat business."—Professional Boatbuilder

The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Zoo!: A Kid-Friendly Guide to Building Animals with the NXT Robotics System

Fay Rhodes

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: No Starch Press Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $11.92

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Obsessions -> Teddy Bears
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Science, Nature & How It Works -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Science, Nature & How It Works -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Whether you're just beginning with your LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT set or are already an expert, you'll have hours of fun with these animal-like models that walk, crawl, hop, and roll!

The first part of the book introduces you to the NXT kit and reviews the parts you'll need in order to begin building. Next, you'll learn how to program with the NXT-G programming language, including how to make miniprograms called My Blocks that you can use to build larger programs. Finally, you'll learn how to build each robot and program it to act like its real animal cousins.

Learn to build and program the following robots:

• Ribbit, a jumping frog
• Bunny, a hopping rabbit
• Sandy, a walking camel
• Spiderbot, an eight-legged spider that avoids objects and walks forward and backward
• Snout, a walking alligator that opens and closes its jaws
• LEGOsaurus, a four-legged, plodding dinosaur
• Pygmy, a walking elephant that raises and lowers its head
• Polecat, a skunk on wheels that lifts its tail and shoots "darts"
• Strutter, a peacock on wheels that turns and flutters its tail feathers

Troubleshooting tips help you avoid problems like misarranged gears and incorrect programming, while a list of Internet resources is included to help guide you in further exploration with the NXT. Teachers and home educators will appreciate an appendix with helpful suggestions for using the models in the classroom.

The models in this book have been tested repeatedly — and built successfully — by novice builders, so all you have to do is follow the directions and watch them go. Now, let the building begin!

1-100 Dot-to-Dots

Steve Harpster

Amazon Price: $4.95 List Price: $4.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Sterling Amazon Marketplace: 33 new & used starting at $1.83

Buy at Amazon.com

Features:

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Sports & Activities -> Activity Books -> Dot to Dot

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great for young children who are learning to count to 100 5 out of 5 stars.
23 of 23 people found this review helpful.

This book uses good quality white paper and has 62 dot-to-dot puzzles in which all go from the numbers 1-100. With each going to 100, it is a great way to learn or reinforce counting up to 100 skills. The pages have only black print on them, so the resulting image may be colored in. The images are cartoon-like silly pictures such as a smiling monkey, a rabbit licking a big lollipop, and goofy animals wearing clothing and making silly faces. There are a few that try to be scary, a mean-faced cobra, a frowning monster and a mean looking sheriff-bulldog.

These are perfect for young children who are learning to count to 100. Older children may find the puzzles too easy or the images too juvenile.

I also recommend for older children, the educational dot-to-dot books by Monica Russo and others by Evan and Lyle Kimble. Fun books for older kids to adult level are the "Greatest Dot to Dot book in the world" of which there are 4 different books in the series.

Editorial Review:

Learning to count, refining fine motor skills, and having a blast: that's what children will be doing when they complete these fun dot-to-dots. Each cute picture has 100 dots to connect, and youngsters will surely count along as they move the pencil from one number to the next. Nothing's tricky, because the dots follow one another in a nice, smooth, logical progression, not zig-zagging too much to throw kids off course. With delightful images such as a smiling seal, wild-haired boy, and beanie-clad dog, this will become a favorite with pre-schoolers and kindergarteners.

How to Build Realistic Model Railroad Scenery

Dave Frary

List Price: $9.95 By: Kalmbach Pub Co Amazon Marketplace: 17 new & used starting at $2.95

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> Model Trains
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> Models
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

great for building rocks and mountains. 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Very good advice. excellent Step by step approach. The book tries hard to keep up with the latest technology and trends. I have the first edition, which I believe to hold a better overall perspective of scenery construction and color theory, which seems to be missing from the current edition. The two editions do complement each other quite well however. This edition goes into a great deal of detail of realistic rock outcropping construction. it would be nice if other aspects of scenery creation were treated with as much detail and finesse, such as trees, water, ground cover and prairie grass.

-BK

Excellent scenery tips 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Dave Frary presents this topic in a logical, progressive manner. Even if you have experience in building scenery, I'm sure you will still find some useful tips.

Editorial Review:

A cookbook approach to creating scenery like an expert that delivers predictable results every time. Teaches how to design, build, model, and finish backgrounds, mountains, hills, trees, bushes, water, dirt, and much more. Features detailed photos, techniques, and product information.

The Gliding Flight: 20 Excellent Fold and fly Paper Airplanes

John M. Collins

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks By: Ten Speed Press Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $2.22

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> General
Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> General AAS
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> Models

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Best paper airplanes ever! 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

I had been searching for a good paper airplane book for a long time looking for plans that involved only paper and folding - no scissors, tape, glue, paper clips, or anything extra. While travelling for work in Arizona several years ago I found this book at a Barnes & Noble - it's the best paper airplane book I have ever run across. Some of the folds can be challenging but the author's use of flip-through animation in the corners of the book help tremendously. I've built and flown every plane in the book and they all perform incredibly - especially "The Plane". Buy this book and you'll be amazed by the looks and performance of your paper airplanes.

Editorial Review:

THE GLIDING FLIGHT is a return to paper airplane basics: one person, one piece of paper, and a few folds later, one airplane. Using a refreshingly inventive approach to designs and flying characteristics, you can make 20 original paper planes, such as the Stealth, the Wind Devil, the Glart, and the Skid Kid. The book ’s flip-book animation demonstrates the basic origami folds, with clear step-by-step assembly for each design. A crease here and there is all you need to create high-performance aircraft — no scissors, no glue. In the current age of electronic toys, THE GLIDING LIGHT proves you can still have fun with a simple sheet of paper and a little imagination.

Gonzo Gizmos: Projects & Devices to Channel Your Inner Geek

Simon Field

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chicago Review Press Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $7.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Crafts & Hobbies -> Models
Subjects -> Science -> Experiments, Instruments & Measurement -> Experiments & Projects
Subjects -> Science -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

How kids can have fun with parents and get educated too! 5 out of 5 stars.
82 of 83 people found this review helpful.

I have looked at a number of similar books that provide interesting science activities that are cool enough to hold a childs interest. However, most of them have moderately good things to create that take a lot of hands on time from parents. By the time the fun science project is done, the kids have lost interest. Not so with Simon Field's "Gonzo Gizmos".

The first project I attempted was a simple candle powered steamboat with my 6 y.o. daughter. After purchasing a bit of flexible 1/8 inch copper tubing at the hardware store (the hard part) we created a great working steamboat in about 15 minutes, and my daughter did most of the work. She took several baths with it putting around the tub, brought it to school for her "Show and Tell", and can even tell you how it works. I then went onto the "Gauss Rifle" with my 9 y.o. son. Wow!!!

Most of the projects take only a little time, and if you can't find the materials, he gives you a nice website to purchase them. This is a really fun book that you can dive into and get kids engaged in a few minutes with a project that will teach them real science, and will be cool enough to brag about with their friends. Moreover the layout is great. A description of the project and what it does, including great titles; then a cookbook list of materials, and where to get them; a recipe; and then a darn good description of the science behind the project. Believe me, with project titles like "The Hydrogen Bomb" (A battery powered H2O dialysis machine that after separating the Oxygen and Hydrogen is ignited with a piezo electric sparker, causes a small explosion that squirts water several feet into the air!), how could any kid resist! Moreover, how could a parent resist. Buy this and try it. It is really great.

Editorial Review:

Step-by-step instructions to building more than 30 fascinating devices are included in this book for workbench warriors and grown-up geeks. Detailed illustrations and diagrams explain how to construct a simple radio with a soldering iron, a few basic circuits, and three shiny pennies. Instructions are included for a rotary steam engine that requires a candle, a soda can, a length of copper tubing, and just 15 minutes. To use optics to roast a hot dog, no electricity or stove is required, just a flexible plastic mirror, a wooden box, a little algebra, and a sunny day. Also included are experiments most science teachers probably never demonstrated, such as magnets that levitate in midair, metals that melt in hot water, a Van de Graaff generator made from a pair of empty soda cans, and lasers that transmit radio signals. Every experiment is followed by an explanation of the applicable physics or chemistry.