The fine folks at Mr. Black Publications, out of Athens, Greece, seem to have upped their production schedule a bit as I got two volumes in the mails this time article, which is good news for those who like superbly done figures. I have to assume that they are getting in a lot of fine articles and this edition is very much up to the standards of the earlier ones. This particular edition contains eight articles.

All of the articles are superbly done and provide material from award winning modelers. Though it is from Greece, the book is written in English. Though my own figure skills are amateurish by comparison, I like to read articles on how the masters are able to do their work. They make it all seem so easy!

I particularly enjoyed that each one of the writing styles of the various authors was different. It is quite refreshing to read a book done in this manner as often times, the 'how I did it' books get to be rote and dull. Not at all in this particular case.

Each of the articles is loaded with full color photos and each one goes through the steps taken by the builder to reach the results shown. It is pretty obvious why these folks won awards for their work as it is truly superlative. Each of the articles highlights a different aspect of the hobby and as you can imagine, many of them are on the painting of the subject more than any actual construction, but that is not entirely the case.

I have included a photo from the back of the book showing all of the included subjects. You may notice that there is a considerable variety of subjects with this one, which always adds to the interest. 

This edition starts with the cover figure, a 75 mm figure of Primus Pilus, a 1st Centrury Roman Centurion. This figure is done by Christos Katselos and as you'd expect, much of the article is in the painting of the figure and the preparation and painting of the base.

Next up is Ejecutor 'Blood and Silver', a 70mm figure by Pepe Gallardo. This article's main focus is the combination of airbrush and hand painting to reach the effects one wants.

Sergey Popovichenko has the third article and this one is on blood. It shows the various methods one can use to portray blood on weapons and on wounds. A very well done presentation.

A 120mm B.A.R. gunner from WWII by Ernesto Stalhuth is the next article. This 120mm figure contains not only information on the figure, but also on the groundwork.

A 210mm bust of an 82nd Airborne WWII soldier is next. Christos Stamotapoulos provides this short article with all of the color information used in painting the figure.

Another short article is a 200mm  Laconian Hoplite by Grigoris Marmatakis. This also covers the painting of this interesting bust.

Next is a 180mm Cleopatra bust by Adrian Hopwood. This article covers the difficult task of painting large areas of flesh and is quite useful for those who like this type of figure.

Finally, a bit of fantasy with a scratch-built 65mm Jules Verne figure on a very interesting looking tricycle. This article is probably the most visually interesting in this edition.

Overall, another great issue for the figure modeler and those of us who want to learn some techniques. The end result is an excellent reference book on these various techniques as well inspiration to see what can be accomplished with practice. Highly recommended if you enjoy figures.

Thanks to Mr Black Publications for the review book. Visit them at www.mrblackpublications.com.

July 2014

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