"Painting Book Review: Painting Wargame Tanks" Topic

Hi,

Just received my copy today and wanted to do a quick review.

Painting Wargame Tanks by AMMO Mig Jimenez (9788494319822)

The book is written by Ruben Torregrosa and Mig Jimenez. 92 color pages of eye candy and I believe all 15mm models from various manufacturers. There are 9 tanks and 1 SDKFZ 251, done in a step by step process; 3 tanks done in the "Easy Way" and the rest in the "Advanced Way".

The front matter spends sometime explaining the materials but this is mainly glossed over and not much detail. There are other books out there that go into much more depth regarding materials and tools of the trade. There is a nice dig at Vallejo paints in this section. Might not be a dig but a fact.

Then the 2 sections of real interest begin with the actual steps needed to paint a tank or better yet, tank weathering. These are done well but my two of three complaints about the book reside in these sections. Better closeups would have been nice. The other, it would have been nice to have a section that went into more detail on the basics of the techniques used. Even though the techniques have some description in the step by step, they do seem to be more glossed over.

My one true complaint about the book is a copy editor would have helped. The translation is broken in spots and detracts from what is being described. But this a complaint I have about gaming and modelling hobby publications in general. I'm a FOW fan-boy but Battlefront publications could use better copy editing. Nuf on that.

Still I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Most of the products used in the steps are by AMMO Mig and show how to use them and how to abuse them, and this is really nice. I can't wait to apply some of these techniques to my Jagdpanzer IVs.

I'm glad I purchased this book and believe it will be indispensable for the foreseeable future.

SurfingMoose

Didn't know this had been released, thanks for the write up.

And here be a link
link

Thanks for the info/link!

Surfingmoose, are some of the techniques that you felt could be covered better to be found in Mig's FAQ books?

McWong73,

The techniques are in his FAQ books. But there is also the Tank Art books by Michael Rinaldi. These books are excellent and do go into quite a bit of detail. The rust technique using LifeColors 4 shades of rust is excellent. Use it myself to great effect.

List of techniques I believe either needed more details or close ups:

- modulation (the section on the panther shows it but I feel the description is lacking)
- chipping
- oil rendering (stumping) the color names used would have been nice. I can figure them out from the inset used to show the colors. I've watched enough Bob Ross to spot Van Dyck brown anywhere. But not tempted enough to paint a little happy shack on the side of a King Tiger.
- mud creation on flicking
- there is a gun barrel with primered rotbraun parts and grey barrel, but no colors mentioned and how it was highlighted. The gun barrel looks great. I've tried doing parts in rotbraun primer but mine simply look plastic and crap.
- rust. says use different shades of orange followed by washes using the same tones. a bit lacking
- the name of the company that created the photo-etch turret numbers used on the Tiger would have been nice. Will send off an email to get the info. Have wanted for a long time to try this out instead of decals.

I guess I am not that creative and do prefer more details to practice by and become confident in using these techniques. Then I'd start experimenting and coming up with my own style or at least how I'd use and apply these techniques.

Don't get me wrong the book imo is worth it. I am now clearer in the sequence of weathering, have a better idea of how to use the products, and what can be achieved with a little effort. My AFVs will look much better now.

SurfingMoose

Thanks mate. I have both FAQ books and found them excellent, and I've put this on my xmas wishlist. The Rinaldi book also worth getting?

The Rinaldi books a must also. I lucked out and got both for the price of one from Rinaldi himself. I believe there is a third in the series. What is really nice about them is it tells you which paints were used in a particular step. At the end of each chapter (model painting/weathering) is a photo list of each step in order. That was really nice to see. It helped me to create my painting step list for AFV.

Also volume 6 and 7 of the "Static Model Manual" are indispensable. The amount of info just on paints alone was great. Check them out.