From the very beginning, the folks at Mr. Black Publications have stated that their purpose was to present a variety of quality modeling books. For the first nine editions, they have concentrated on doing figures, probably due to their association with Pegaso, and that is quite understandable. Now, they have come out with their first book of a new series on Dioramas. It is still quite figure intensive, but there are other types of models in some of these. Just like their earlier volumes on figures, many of the articles go into quite a bit of detail on how the subject was painted, how the bases were done and other techniques. Unlike their earlier figure works, this book is a full 100 pages, nearly twice the size of the earlier works.

A few things that I noticed in these works. First of all, it seems that there is some sort of need to photograph many of these against a fairly dark background. I am not sure why that is the case, but frequently it seems to my eyes to make the entire photo dark. For sure you want a neutral background that does not take away from the subject, but I still noticed how many of the photographs seemed dark. Secondly, this one seems to have quite a few dead bodies in it. Nothing gory, and I realize that war is about death and destruction, but they are there and thought I should mention it. Finally, I was always told that the best diorama is the simplest one, yet several of these are crammed full of figures and equipment. I realize this is just a matter of taste as some like a busy scene, while others prefer something a bit more on the simple side. Regardless of your feelings on these issues, all of the dioramas included are of the highest quality and you are sure to take something away from each one.

The first article is the cover diorama in 54mm covering the battle of Bailen, which is apparently an early battle in the Peninsular war of 1808. In this article the builder, Jesus Gammera provides information on what was done in terms of scratchbuilding parts and modifying figures to meet his requirements.

Next we go to WWI and a very nicely done trench scene in 1/16 scale by David Youngquist. This nice article spends most of the space telling how the trench base was made and the end result is a very realistic, rather large scale (for military figures) scene.

Noel Petroni has the next article that includes a 1/35 Academy Stuart tank. Named 'US M3 Stuart 'Honey'', this one is a desert scene with four crew members. The article spends a goodly amount of time on the tank itself, and provides some very good modification and weathering tips.

"die Ostfront" by Kazufumi Tomori is another 1/16 scene with three figures amongst the rubble of buildings. This diorama is one where the author has basically built up figures on a wire frame with epoxy putty and uses model kits solely for bits and pieces like helmets, weapons and shoes. It makes for a very informative article as he goes into detail on constructing each of the figures.

Sergey Popovichenko presents 'The Conquistadors' in 1/24 scale. This one includes a rather large Aztec background piece along with two Spanish and two Aztec warriors. This piece is inspired by a period drawing.

A charming piece in 1/35 scale called 'The Canon' by Javier Gonzalez depicts two children playing on a wrecked field gun somewhere on the Eastern Front in WWII.

'Kings of the Road' is a bit of whimsy in 1/32 scale depicting a rather outlandish hot rod racing through livestock on a dirt road. It is quite well done and includes information on both making the base and painting the various figures.

Costos Rodopoulis has a most useful piece on making pine trees from scratch. He is working in 1/32 and 1/35 scale but his clear instructions will allow you to make some very realistic trees in just about any other scale.

The final piece is 'Near Moscow, Decemeber 1941' and depicts soldiers in an open trench during the winter. Theodoros Kelesidis offers this scene as one that would be appropriate for scratchbuilding one's first vignette (including figures) in 54mm. He offers full instructions on how to build and modify the figures and the base.

In all, this is an excellent volume that provides some outstanding work and many very helpful building and painting ideas that you will surely find useful.

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

March 2014

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