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.

This edition has a great mix of articles. Some are relatively long and extremely detailed while others are just a few pages long. All of them provide a look at some outstanding figure work and provide some great tips on building and painting the figures or scenes provided.

The first article is the book's longest and involves the cover vignette that involves a scene involving Native Americans. This work is called 'Ambush' and involves scratch built figures in 54mm. Surprisingly, many artists take their cue from extant works of art, in this case an oil painting by American artist Robert Griffing. Much of the article is concerning the set up of the base and there is plenty to learn.

Next is 200mm figure of a WWII German MG 34 Machine Gunner. This is more of a painting and weathering guide and some useful techniques are described.

The first of the shorter articles is a 54mm figure and base on the Coronation of Bonaparte. This is followed by a shorter article on a Greek Hoplite in 180mm and an interesting 150mm bust of a 93rd Highlanders private during the Crimean War.

In 90mm is a fantasy presentation of a Siege Giant. This combines some rather unusual colors to provide a striking if not disturbing presentation. For the final figure is a medieval Hospitalier in 90mm.

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.

May 2015

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