It was nice to open the day's mail and find another delightful edition of Mr. Black Publications' Scale Model Handbook. As you know by now, this series is mostly figures and is not only superbly presented, but has a bunch of well written articles by award winning modelers. There is always something interesting in each edition so let us see what is in this one.

There are nine different articles in this edition that cover the range of ancient times up to WWII. Each of the authors brings to us different methods of painting and figure presentation. You will find some that concentrate on painting faces while others work on metal figures, or show us how to paint complex camouflage, and there is one article that combines parts from kits with scratchbuilding to get what the modeler wishes. I have learned something new with pretty much every edition I have read. Best of all, these are built by some of the best figure builders/painters that Europe has to offer.

To run down a list, we have an SS Squad Leader in Russia during 1941 in 200mm as the feature article, a 10th Tennessee flag bearer from the US Civil War, also in 200mm, a 120mm WWII SAS Paratrooper, three 54mm figure articles featuring a  trio of 42nd Regiment Soliders at Quatre Bras in 1815, a mounted Crusader, and a WWI RFC pilot. Then in 90mm is a very flashy Bonaparte crossing the Alps, a US Paratrooper in WWII in 120mm and finishing up with a Spartan officer from 480BC in 180mm

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.

January 2015

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