Read some of the responses

from the model building community:

Gordon Nielson:  Just got this book from Amazon yesterday. WOW! Don't pass this book up people, you will want this in your collection to learn and to reference from. Thanks Bjorn!

Jan Iversen:  An amazing book of top-class artwork in model construction, written by a fantastic model builder.  Everyone who builds models – go out and buy the book! Building dioramas do not get the same after reading this!

Claude Zeringue:  Received it yesterday. An amazing text that is easy to follow and has invaluable advice and ideas for anyone wanting to step up their modelbuilding. Highly Recommended!

Lyn Gorton:  Just got my copy delivered from Amazon, an excellent book full of useful tips and references. I will be using it a lot in the future. Thank you for sharing.

Rick Shanner:  Got my copy yesterday!!!! Outstanding Sir, thank you for helping us out. So many new ideas. Great book, destined to be one of my favourites.

Jorge Moreyra:  Got my copy from Amazon today! 👍👍 Everyone should go and order one!

John Lundgreen:  To anyone, who wants to build cool dioramas, this could quite possibly become a bible.

I know that I'll definitely try out some of the cool techniques explained in the book! Brilliant!!

Richard Nilsen:  Fantastic reading!

Robert T Walter:  Fantastic stories, pictures, and «how-to-do» explanations. Great book, great layout! Must be a great HIT!

Svein-Olaf Hvasshovd:  It is a very well-written book. I have read almost all of it with great interest.

Steve Parker:  Great book

‎Roger Franc‎:  Just received it, thank you very much good work

Jan Iversen:  I and my friend had a "Hobby-evening" yesterday. There was a lot of WOW’s when we went through the book! That the dioramas are based on historical facts are so fascinating.

Dingo Dave:  Book has arrived Bjorn. Looks great. Should have got you to sign my copy! Thanks again mate

Rick Shanner:  Love the book, it will really be used a lot. Thank you, great work.

Scott Standish:  I received the book and it's fantastic!

Eric G: This book presents in a simple and understandable way the tips and tricks to differentiate itself from the productions of the masses in our hobby.

Øivind Sletner Nilsen:  Your work is stunning! Thank you for the book! Just loooove it!

Mark Dewhurst:  Got the book - it’s fantastic!

Alan Stringer:  Was most impressed with your book on diorama building

Chandra Stewart:  Hi, got your book, amazing and thank you!!!! I have spread the word for you on a couple of groups I'm in you should see some more sales!

Oliver Hoch: This Book is incredible! Thank You!

John Lundgreen:   I highly recommend the book. Best step-by-step tutorials on specific diorama issues (like lighting, smoke, and water), I've seen on paper.

Sletner Nilsen:  Love the book! When flipping through the pages, I constantly have to remind myself that this is actually models and not "real".

Michael Allen:   This book is a must-have! I love it!

Martin Spill:   Thanks a lot!! great work!! 😊😊😊😊

Stephen Murphy:   Bought your book (in the U.K.) it is excellent, thank you.

Hans Fehrnström:  The book came today. A lot of "goodies" for a diorama builder. Thanks!

Steve Holsclaw:  Great book, thank you!

Paul Griffiths: Great book well worth it!

Marvin Reyes:  I just received your diorama book from Amazon; it is absolutely amazing. The things you can do with simple things like chicken wire and cotton...great book. Thanks for writing it (and letting us all in on your diorama secrets).

William Derek Updegraff:  Bjorn, it is an EPIC work, and I’ve already read it from cover to cover. Congratulations!!!!!

Scott Standish:  Fantastic book. 

Marvin Reyes:  I have this book, and it is excellent. You have seen the authors wonderfully, realistic dioramas. Now, in this book, you will find out step-by-step how he does it.

Nick Dransfield:  I got my copy. It’s excellent for what I need. Good price. Well done for getting it out.

Bruce's Scale Modeling:  After sharing numerous images of Bjorn Jacobsen's work here, I decided to grab his book when it was made available to see how he did it. And it definitely did not disappoint. The book has tons of colour images and steps on how he did his magnificent lighted dioramas. It also has in-depth explanations of why he did them that way. Lots of things you can learn from him. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially those who want their work to stand out.

Michael Snow:  I love your book!! Well worth the money.

Henry Jr Laurinat: The book of modelling masterpieces! Incredible builds!

John Howe;   I finally got mine off the net it’s fantastic you sir are a legend thank you for your hints and tips.

Marc Gerkinet;  I just received your book today from Amazon and it is absolutely stunning!!!!!

John Reunert:   Hi Bjorn, bought your book and have read it front to back. A great source of inspiration and know-how, thanks a lot.

Wee Kah Huat;:  I read the book you have written. Very good book

Chuck Rau:  Hi Bjorn. Finally ordered your book from Amazon. Just got it today. Just flipping through the pages, it's simply amazing. I'll start really reading it soon and I can't wait to dream up some ideas to try your technics on. I've been wanting to do some of these tricks for a while. Palm trees are at the top of the list right now for some Pacific dioramas. Thank you, sir, for getting this book out there for all of us!

William Derek Updegraff . . . BTW, Bjorn Jacobsen, I just got your new book (vol 2), and it's epic!!!

Gordon Nielson:   Your book (vol 2) came today from Amazon! This is a very impressive and informative book, it should be in every model enthusiast's library!

Sandro Lucio:  Received your book (vol 2) last week. What a great inspiration!

Graeme Bane:   This book should be on all modeller’s wishlists – yes, it’s that good

Steve Edwards:  Just bought your book 2, awesome work, love your stuff, just getting book 1

 

Dominic A Shepherd:  I have your book Bjorn Jacobsen a masterpiece sir!

 

Roger Hansen: All model and diorama builders: These books are a must! Fantastic tips!  The text and pictures are pure pleasure!

 

George Saltsman: I Bought & read both books - excellent job! I especially like the essay on photographing models, as I could not agree more! I enjoy both volumes and appreciate the effort you put in to create them.

 

Berend Veeningen: Thank you for your book, really love it! Amazing dio 's, and excellent tips and tricks! Especially interesting is how you made the crashed Messerschmitt, really helpful! I have many kits in stock and many ideas for dioramas, your books are very helpful to realise those ideas.

Thanks again, hopefully, there will be another book someday ;-)

 

Helena Snyman:  Bought your second book as a Christmas gift for my friend. He absolutely loves and admires your work and detail. Amazing job once again!

 

Βασιλειος Χρηστιδης:  I just today received your both books (vol 1 and 2)! They are very interesting and I think they'll keep me awake many nights! Highly recommended for diorama lovers! Thanks for everything! Greetings from Greece!...

 

Paul Antony Saltwell: I have your books -.superb 👍

 

Scott Vasey:  This man is in a class all by himself. If you want to know to do this get his book. I did, and it is worth it. I'm going to use those skills on my Sci-Fi models. Anyone who would like to do upper-level lighting skills should get them. I have Vol 2. and it was just what I needed.

Enrique García: I just bought your book (Spanish Edition) and it is just great. Thanks for all your advice. It's been like 30 years that I have not made a diorama and now I want to start again. You are a big inspiration to me.

 

Tim Berg: I had the opportunity to look through your book just outstanding. One day I will produce something this nice!

 

James Pernikoff:  Even though I have no plans to build dioramas, I have enjoyed Bjorn's first two books to admire the superb craftsmanship and photography, and many of the techniques can be used on simple models as well.

Svein-Olaf Hvasshovd:  I bought the first version of the book. I really love it. It was worth every dime (krone)!!

Frank Palmieri:  I received your book today. It is fantastic and I cannot put it down. It's full of good advice and easy to read. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Your book is outstanding.

Kevin Leadley:  I have book number 1 on my desk at work which I am reading at the moment during my limited lunch breaks. Love it; I am going to do an explosion for sure

Scott Vasey:  I have one of his books and they are great, and he gives really good details on how to do each step. Money well spent.

 

Don Ondersma: Your modelling moves to an art form. Thanks for sharing your work! You inspire me. I will be purchasing your new book as I have your other ones & love looking and re-looking at them

 

Paul Drummond:  I have just bought a copy of Bjorn's book and it is inspirational - recommended reading :-)

 

Dale Andrew Canning:  I love reading your books

Al Spence: I love your books Bjorn Jacobsen! Most incredible

Walter Siebert: I bought myself vol 2 of Dioramas and Models, great book, with beautiful pictures! It was worth the price!

Mike Szpakowski: Thanks for sharing your tricks and techniques Bjorn! My latest addition to the modelling library is great – Hoe to make Fire and Explosions

 

Al Spence: I love your books Bjorn Jacobsen! Most incredible. Lots of great ideas and I really learned a lot and he shows how to make those incredible explosions! Really upped my modeling.

 

Danny Orourke: For my Birthday I got from one of my friends the first vol of Bjorn Jacobsen's Book on Dioramas. It is a fantastic read and I would recommend it.

 

Mike 'Galen' Wheaton: Best modelling book made to date in my opinion

Harry Mason: These are a wonderful set of books Bjorn. I have volume 1 and hope to purchase the complete set at some point. Thank you for sharing your talent and techniques with the modelling fraternity.

 

Mike Caljouw:  I bought your book. It is Amazing. Anyone who does Dioramas needs to buy it.

 

David Clark: I just received your “Explosions and Fires” book and am very impressed and inspired! Thanks for sharing your secrets!

Nicolas M: I wanted to thank you for your book, it helps me enormously in the creation of my Dioramas.

I really like the way you write, it's super cool and fun!

I learned how to create explosions with your technique and I enjoy it!

 

Nathan Wheeler: I love your books. Thank you for sharing

Dave Boxall: I have all your books, everyone tells a story, and the tips and detail are great. I do mostly figure painting but still enjoy them.

Mathew Purchase:  I have finally received my book (The Complete Guide to Dioramas and Models) and I am amazed! What an amazing man and modeller you are. I feel privileged to have your book. I almost want more just because it’s so good. Thank you for your insights knowledge and skills. I can’t wait to try some of your methods.

John Fields: Got your book ..love it!

Stephane Thierry:  Amazing books. Very useful to me.

 

Jorge Moreyra:  Great book!! You showed me lots of tips and ideas.!👍 congratulations. I am in awe of the immense information

given. Many questions I had have been answered on it!  The best “How To” ever.

 

Rob Luo:  Awesome book !!!!

 

Ole A. Flattum:  The book came today. It looks very good and exciting. 👍 Can't wait to move into the hobby room and start building new dioramas with new techniques.

Andrew Allman: I bought one. Excellent book. Amazon was 68 or so dollars USD

 

Chris Davenport: I have now managed to read most of this book and found it very interesting. Articles on working with LEDs are especially helpful. I thought it could have done a little more on armour, but that is just me, sci-fi modellers, aircraft, and naval modellers will undoubtedly feel the same. 500+ pages of information, quite a price tag, but in my opinion well worth it. Thank you for writing this Bjorn, now off to rest the hernia lol.

Hersteller von Monstern: Got the Complete Edition for Christmas. It's beyond fantastic!

Pontus Carlweitz‎: A huge inspiration steamed down with the mail the other day! Many good practical construction tips (and photo tips). Really good stuff and lots of inspiration in there!

Кристијан Куновски: I got this book! (The Complete Guide to Dioramas and Models). Simply fabulous!!

Just arrived today, the Bible “Bjorn Jacobsen”, the genius of dioramas!  Thank you very much to share your plastic model experience, BIG RESPECT Bjorn !!!!!

 

Mostafa Ahmed: Thank you very much for your amazing super detailed book. I love it, just received it today after a long wait. and I have been glued to the book for the last hour. Thank you for sharing your passion to this hobby with us. Modeling will look more and more different from now on for me with more I read into your amazing book. Thank you again and wishing you and all your beloved ones and family are well and stay safe. Greetings from Ireland.

Daniel Sheppard: Just got the complete guide for dioramas and love it. So much detail and amazing models.

Torsten Schuchort:  Great Book! It arrived today, completely overwhelmed. A lot of inspiration and I can’t wait to start. Had thoughts about the price, but it’s absolutely worth and I do not regret the buy. Greetings from Germany.

John DuFlow: The big book arrived! what a beautiful book to read. I have a lot of models that I have to build. So this will definitely help.

 

Dale Andrew Canning:  I’ve got all of your modelling books & they’re brilliant, I’ll have to add this to my collection

 

Carmine T Biscardi: Great Books with tons of Bjorn Jacobsen knowledge step-by-step passed on thanks, you sir

Danny Spence: I have always wanted to make battle damages in a diorama, and this book gave me all the answers to my questions. Great book!

 

Frank Hilger: When you DON'T feel like modeling! Look into any book by Björn, and you 99.9% will start again !! Very inspiring 👍

Danny Orourke:  I have your first book Bjorn. It,s great 😉

Daniel Singleton: I have a couple of Bjorn's books, and they are good, especially the stuff on explosions.

Al Spence:  Bjorn's books are the best 👌 Shows how all of its done . Makes it easy

Danny Spence:  (The Complete Guide) The best Diorama book I have seen!. Great Book! I am completely overwhelmed. A lot of inspiration and I can’t wait to start building! 500+ pages of information, quite a price tag, but in my opinion well worth it. Thank you for writing this Bjorn. You showed me lots of tips and ideas. I am in awe of the immense information given. Many questions I had have been answered on it! If you are getting the idea that this is THE BOOK, you are correct! The best “How To” ever.

Had thoughts about the price, but it’s absolutely worth every cent!

Mark: (The Complete Guide) Fantastic book. Loads of great dioramas by Bjorn. Details how to make the fire and explosion effects

Expensive but well worth it.

Thomas; (The Complete Guide) This is an amazing book. There is so many pictures of fantastic dioramas and finished kits. Every Model or Diorama has a history in pictures of how to build it. So much great information in this book. A must have for all Modelers.

Timothy Ward:  Great ideas for diorama building. This book offered some great ideas and tips and techniques for dioramas. Thanks for the info--HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Danny Spence: (The Complete Guide) This book is beyond fantastic! It has tons of colour images and steps on how to do magnificent dioramas. It also has in-depth explanations on why he did them that way. Lots of things you can learn from this book. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially those who want their work to stand out.

Daro Jan Fenton: The Complete Guide has arrived and to be honest I am absolutely speechless! What an amazing book this tome is. I will learn an awful lot from your techniques but my chances of reaching your standards are slim in comparison, but I will certainly do my very best to emulate your amazing work.

 

Karel Pešek: Last year I bought 4 dioramas books from Mr. Jacobsen, and they are great, I recommend them to every model designer

 

David Hall: IMHO (In my humble opinion), “The Complete Guide to Military Dioramas and Models” is worth every cent!

It’s authored by Bjørn Jacobsen. Text pictures and layout by Bjørn Jacobsen. And last but not least, independently published by Bjørn Jacobsen.

If you are getting the idea that this is his book, you are correct and a wonderful text it is. I am going to try and give those of you who may not own it yet some idea of what I found.

We as modellers have seen Bjørn’s work before and it is beautiful. His dioramas are very realistic. This test explains how he does it.

Part 1: Dioramas with LED – explosions and fires, 187 pages. It all starts with an introduction to the materials and methods he uses in the creation of his very realistic explosions and fires. A nice synopsis of the various LEDs available on the market, pros and cons of each and the importance of LED light colour. Since each type of LED requires somewhat different wiring, perhaps heat sinks or resistors, Bjørn leaves that part to you. There are a ton of examples on the web so just Google for the information.

Bjørn then includes no less than 19 of his personal model/dioramas builds where he goes pretty much step by step through the process of the creation of the diorama, construction/preparation of the models and finally how each contributes to the diorama. He then covers the steps he took in preparing backgrounds, adding the models and how the photography was staged.

All in all, Part 1 will keep the average modeller busy for months I would guess. As I digest the following 9 parts I will add more. I also want to give a personal thank you to Bjørn for the tremendous amount of information he is sharing with the modelling world.

Parts 2, 3 and 4. I grouped these together as they share a common thread, aircraft. Part 2 is essentially Dog Fights, Part 3 is crashed aircraft which is often the result of a Dog Fight and Part 4 is a very detailed presentation of aircraft in dioramas. Once again Bjørn does a great job of taking the reader pretty much step by step through the process from concept to the final scene. Uniquely, in these chapters, he goes into some detail on how to make the damage to the aircraft look real and believable. If you think about it the scale thickness of the cowling on your Me 109 model is more akin to the armour on a tank than just sheet metal. Bjørn explains how to correct these issues of damage and scale thickness. By the time Part 4 rolls around the reader is ready for some incredible dioramas. The extent of the detail and the scope are almost intimidating but Bjørn breaks them all down to components and a logical process for building. Of course, once again in these parts, the reader is treated to Bjørn’s own outstanding works, some 26 dioramas in all comprising about 220 plus pages.

 Parts 5, 6, 7, and 8;. These are Rockets and missiles, Ships, Submarines and Water, Tanks and fighting vehicles and Sci-fi respectively.

The actual rockets discussed in Part 5 have been seen as components in four earlier dioramas in the text. This part deals in mores specifics as it pertains to adding rockets or missiles to a model or diorama and making them look convincing.

Part 6 adds water to the mix or rather what will look like water for your dioramas whether you have ships on the surface, submarines partially submerged, aircraft crashed in the ocean. One diorama even deals with a helicopter supporting a surface rescue boat.

In Part 7 we’re back to armoured vehicles. All three dioramas deal with WWII German tanks and armoured vehicles plus cars, motorcycles, soldiers and the occasional building or demolished bridge.

Now comes Part 8, which covers a single diorama is, in my humble opinion, absolutely AWESOME! Now I might be a little prejudice since the subject matter meshes together 2 of my favourite subjects; Luftwaffe ’46 and a Nazi outpost on the moon. There are some American astronauts and aliens as well. The idea for this diorama, though this is only my guess, came from the movie Iron Sky. Anyway, it is absolutely spectacular with incredible detail.

Only two parts left to review.

Part 9 of The Complete Guide to Military Dioramas and Models authored by Bjørn Jacobsen covers some Stand-alone models. There are four of them that cover the A-10, A-7, B-17G and the He-219 A-0. Now in these, Bjørn has covered the building of the model, figures to complement the scene and a few variations of scenes that have the aircraft in a very “natural” role. Unlike many of the previous discussions, there are not a lot of extras to construct and are not really dioramic in the truest sense but do result in some incredible photographic displays.

Last but not least is Part 10 entitled How to do it. This is a primer for the photography used in the creation of his scenes and the composition of the backgrounds. There is a section on the construction of buildings, sheds, ruins and the like. Bjørn covers his sequence for painting and coating models, some basic airbrushing and scale effect as it applies to modifying paints. Weathering of the models in a diorama, as well as the forced perspective often used in photography,  are introduced. He wraps it all up with the basic steps of construction of a diorama and the materials involved.

While I have seen several other “How To” books, this is the first I have found to be so complete that it may very well fit the bill as the only reference needed to produce incredibly realistic dioramas.

As a disclaimer, since I have been asked, I have no financial interest in this book. I purchased the book from Amazon and paid the same as anyone else who orders it. I did ask the authors permission to review it and post my thoughts about it and that was given without hesitation. I do not know Bjørn Jacobsen other than through his works posted on several of the FaceBook forums and in fact have never met the man. That I would like to remedy at some point.

There, that should help make some folks happy.