November 26, 2025

Read n' reviewed: SCALE IT! #03 by Plastic Invasion

The third issue of the new series by Plastic Invasion, "SCALE-IT!", featuring the best in reference, history, recreation & figure painting for the modeller & enthusiast. Volume #3 in our review today...

Read n' reviewed: SCALE IT! #03
Conceived & published by Plastic Invasion
124 Pages
Paperback, A4 portrait format
Colour & B/W photos
Available in English, German & Czech languages.
Figure painting by Jaume Ortiz Forns
Price: € 21.90
Plastic Invasion SI003 Scale It! Magazine #03 - Black Panzer Uniform, Sd.Kfz 222 Walkaround Included
A lot of you may know I was lucky enough to have made the trip to the Netherlands this year to take a look and immerse myself in everything that is good about this hobby and attend the now world-famous Scale Model Challenge show. This show ran over a Saturday and Sunday in October and is part of the annual modelling calendar for most European modellers and a few crazy Australians willing to make the 24-hour trip.
I preface this review with this information because while at the show I had the pleasure of meeting with Pavel Beránek, the mastermind behind Plastic Invasion and the signature publication they produce, Scale It. Pavel is a passionate man and completely dedicated to this amazing hobby of ours and he took great pleasure in showing me through his latest publication. Scale It! - Volume 3
This volume takes a deep dive into the Sd.Kfz 222 as well as investigates the uniform of the German tank crews of World War 2. Not only that, however, as the book then shifts into the modeller's mindset and provides an in-depth tutorial on painting the figures and modelling the little German recon vehicle, the Sd.Kfz 222.
I’ve reviewed volume 1 here on The Modelling News around 12 months ago from memory, and this book follows a similar style. The book starts with a brief history of early war German reconnaissance vehicles and is supplemented with a number of historic images.
The book then moves into a visual deep dive into the Sd.Kfz 222 with detailed walkaround images of a restored vehicle. The pictures are large and clear and should provide a handy reference for the scale modeller working on this model.
One of the unique angles of the publication is a fictional narrative based around a couple of soldiers, essentially building a backstory. These are recreators, dressed in the uniforms and acting out the motions of the backstory… all captured in high-resolution photography.

The quality of the photography allows us as painters and modellers to get a sense of how the light might naturally fall and the way in which that may influence the colours. From what I understand, the actors are scanned and recreated as a 3D-printed figure. Plastic Invasion already have a range of 3D-printed figures and these books are designed to work in unison with those sets.
And that is where the modelling side of these books takes centre stage. World-renowned figure painter Jaume Ortiz Forns takes us through the steps he took to bring the figure to life, firstly covering the fleshtones and then moving through the uniform and the detail around it.
With the figures sorted, it was then a matter of working through a step-by-step tutorial of building, painting and weathering a 1/35th scale Sd.Kfz 222. The steps are simple to follow and touch on the decaling process as well as using oil paints to enhance the model.
The conclusion of the book sees a small vignette created to match the reference photo and compares the two side by side.
Conclusion
I like this magazine simply for its willingness to take a different approach to this style of publication rather than following a cut-and-paste template that some of the others can tend to do.
The fictional story and the evolution of the small 35th-scale scene are great, but the best thing about it is you get the roadmap to create something similar for yourself.

Pavel told me that he is planning on ramping up the figure side of the business in the near future, so be sure to keep an eye out for the brand – Plastic Invasion – and the goodies they are producing.

Clayton Ockerby.

You can order this magazine and the figures from the product link on the Plastic Invasion website

See more of Clayton's amazing works on his YouTube Channel, his modelling portal "Workbench Hobbies,"or his Facebook page