ISSUE 14 : Jan/Feb - 1979 - Australian Defence Force Journal

60 DEFENCE FORCE JOURNAL No. 14, JAN/FEB 79the history of the model soldier from AncientEgyptian times, sources available to the privatecollector, painting, and methods of makingone's own figures, from simple conversion to'scratch building' an original, then mouldingand casting it. There is a guide to dioramas,and a few words on war gaming.The book is illustrated profusely, with qualitycoloured photographs showing the work ofskilled professional modellers, Tradition appearingregularly but unobtrusively amongthem. Many snippets of interesting informationare scattered through the text such as the factthat, here in "London's model soldier Mecca",enthusiasts for the World Wars period buy20 German figures for every Brit, the authorattributing this to a sort of preference for thelosing side. A similar sentiment could explainthe absorption with the armies of Napoleon,though here at least there is the saving graceof colour and spectacle.The real aim of the book is to draw thebeginner to the serious business of modelsoldiering, and it claims to be a simple introduction;for example, included is a glossary,defining such terms as "sword knot", "aigulette"and "bandolier". The reader with acasual interest in the subject will find it attractive,though perhaps rather expensive at $10.95.For those who might be hooked by this bait,there is available for further reading a widerange of instructive books, many inexpensiveby comparison with Military Miniatures.In illustrating the various modelling techniques,there is a tendency to oversimplify.The 'raw material' metal models used asexamples are most expensive (a fact notstressed in the book), and the beginner shouldnot lightly set to work with hacksaw and paint.I for one have watched with horror somedollars' worth of metal model dissolve undermy soldering iron, unskilfully wielded. As inmany other areas, plastics have come to stayin the model soldier world, anil in fact arepushing the metal variety hard, the French firmof Historex in the van. On the whole, fairtreatment is given in this work to plastics, thefinest illustration of the modellers art in thebook, from Gericault's painting of a Chasseurof the French Imperial Guard, being an adaptionfrom a plastic kit. However, Tradition isa 'metal' firm, and one could dispute theauthor's inference that the metal ficure issuperior, and something to which the noviceshould aspire after an apprenticeship in plastics.Another point that might have been stressedis that plastic models on the whole are cheaperthan metal, a strong factor in their favour forthe beginner's experiments.For anyone with experience as a collectorcum-modeller,this book is a handsome thoughnot essential addition to his bookshelf. For thenewcomer, it is a good if expensive starter,provided he is wary of the pitfalls that thesimple line drawings and text tend to conceal.QTHE FUTURE GLOBAL CHALLENGE, byNeville Brown, Royal United Services Institutefor Defence Studies, London, 1977, 402 pp.,£9.95.INSECURITY!, edited by Robert O'Neill,A.N.U. Press, 1978, 280 pp., S9.50.Reviewed by Dr Hugh Smith, Department ofGovernment, University of New South Wales,RMC, Duntroon.NEVILLE BROWN'S book is subtitled'A Predictive Study of World Security,1977-1990'. In 400 pages it provides anaccount, as exhausting as it is exhaustive, ofall the factors which might influence worldsecurity in the next decade and a half. Itembraces such disparate topics as urban terrorism,inflation, pre-natal sex selection, changesin global temperature, food shortages, nuclearenergy, the fast patrol boat and satellite surveillance.It examines nuclear and conventionalstrategies. It diagnoses the problems faced byRussia and America, not forgetting the countriesof Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America,and the Middle East. The raw material intrends and events of the last ten or twentyyears mixed in with predictions, extrapolations,guesses and speculations.In vain one waits for some attempt to tieeverything together, to lift the book above thelevel of good journalism. There are someinteresting points if you can find them: militarystrategy cannot as in the past ignore social andeconomic factors; democracies with internalproblems find it difficult to concentrate onproblems of international order; the philosophyof education will become increasingly importantin debates on public policy. But there isno indication of which factors are more signifi-