Monday, January 6

Read n' Reviewed: "Solution Book. How To Paint WWII German Late" from AMMO

Ammo's new series of "Solutions" kits offer an easy to assemble and in this case of their latest book - easy to follow a method of getting the materials and going about painting and weathering your latest creation. A big seller, of course, is German armour of the Late WWII period - and that is just what is on offer with their latest volume No#4 "Solution Book. How To Paint WWII German Late". See what we thought about it in our review...
Read n' Reviewed: Solution Book. How To Paint WWII German Late
Reference: AMIG6503
Book, softcover, 71 pages in full colour.
This book is Multilingual: English, Spanish, French & German.
9,95 €
Product Link on the AMMO website
Ammo's new German Late Solution Book is part of the "WWII German Late Solution Box Solution Box" (A.MIG-7701) set, and it is a complete guide with seventy-one pages in a softcover magazine binding, written in four languages (all in the same book) This book is Multilingual: English, Spanish, French & German, and luckily for us the pictures in the book are all in a good quality and these also are multilingual...😁
The book is meant to describe to the modeller how AMMO's paint specifically (because that is all that is shown here) is to be best used to get a top-quality effect on any WWII German late vehicle. 
The story of the magazine unfurls in a step by step method - the best way I think of telling a modelling narrative, and the words and photos combine in the first part of the book to show you the materials (all AMMO) that you will be using in the book and hopefully, for the publishers in your build. 
The first fifteen pages of the book are just a product catalogue really but not just describing the materials, but the process to make the effects of mud, pigments, scratches etc. With helpful points about each of the materials that go into the  "WWII German Late Solution Box Solution Box" (A.MIG-7701) set. This set is available separately or with this book - I think for around 75€ Euro, again it is up to you if you use their paints or not, or even if you already have them and only need the book to assist you, this is what the book was written in mind for.
If you can not look at this part of the book without saying to yourself "this is just a tool to sell more paint" you will appreciate the rest of the book. If not, and that is up to you - no preaching here, you could still read on to see how some good modellers paint & finish their kits...
Step by Step we progress through illustrations and text in English, Spanish, French & German languages on each page. From Priming, Basic Camouflage (three-tone German, of course, is the only offering here), Chipping, Scratches, Filters & Washes are explained and shown. 
These are not shown with close-ups of the techniques but little graphics like those you would find in instructions in a model kit next to the photos showing the time, application method and tips that are intuitive and easy to follow in this pictograph form...
Streaking (no not that kind) is explained using oilbrushers and odourless thinner before we start to look from the whole vehicle to the smaller parts of the kit. Exhaust pipes,  tools and OVM, to  a great, natural look before they are placed on the vehicle.

Dusting and dirtying the vehicle is shown and described, as is the heavier applications of wet and dry mud in layers using splashes and heavy mud materials combined with thinner and how to create different textures of the wet and clumped earth on the tank. The authors also show us how to replicate the wear and preventative fluids of the machine with rust and oil stains on the Tiger II hull.

The wheels and tracks of the tank are always important - with these getting special attention also in the book on just how to replicate natural wear, earth and mud on the working examples and the differences between these and the spare links not in use on the side of the tank which is always important to consider.

Coming to the end of the book and the build, we see how the placement of rubble and debris sits int he recesses of the tank, and the authors show us not only the finished Tiger II, but which products were used where in a quick double spread, and some examples at the very end of the book of several late war German vehicles in profile.
I found this book informative, and if you use AMMO's products then it would be a great help for you and your new creation, and even if you do not use their paints this is a helpful guide. If you do not like their products this book might not suit so much, but the techniques shown inside are all valid for any model build, and in this case, the end result using them cannot be denied as a great one.

Adam Norenberg

Thanks to AMMO for sending this book to me to read and review - it is now available on the AMMO Website...