Take a look at Mario Matijasic''s review of a very sought out and one of the finest modeling books on the market today - Mike Rinaldi''s "TankArt Vol.1 - WWII German Armor". To every modeler interested in perfecting his own techniques this is a must have and the best thing is that this is only the first volume with many yet to come:

Link to Item



If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thanks for publishing this one, Mario. I know it is the second review of the same book on Armorama, but I hope it gives an additional perspective on the book.

Mario

An excellent review! I was drafting one of my own but now I'm off the hook, because pretty much everything I wanted to say has now been said. I will say that when it comes to weathering, I would have to say that this is now my "If you can only buy one book" recommendation for weathering.

Matt

This review is spot on. One of the best modeling how to books I have ever purchased. I will be getting all three of them.

Thanks for the positive comments, guys. It was really fun writing about this one, but when I looked back it was almost 4 pages of text... I hope it was not an exhausting read.




Scott, AFAIK there will be 8 books all together and Mike has some additional plans after that...

Mario

Great publication,got mine a month ago,plan on getting future volumes.

Yes, good review. I haven't read the book in full yet, nor sat at the "modelling station" trying to reproduce any of the techniques as they are described yet, but a few observations:

Agree very much that the photos are excellent in terms of the way they are reproduced at a decent usable size; inevitably this book will draw comparisons with FAQ2, and it was certainly my view that many of the photos in FAQ2 were reproduced at too small a size. I did also like very much the method of re-capping the individual build at the end of each chapter so that there is a true step by step that summarises what has been written about in more depth previously. Again, this was something that was a weakness in FAQ2 where the step by step photos were a) too small and b) the cross-referencing seemed to have gone wrong so that individual steps in the text weren't properly tied up to specific photos. Interestingly, I think that is an editorial issue, as are the typos in the Rinaldi book, and both are almost certainly the result of not being published via an established professional publishing house (compare say, the Osprey Modelling Masterclass books where there are no errors in the presentation that I have noticed).

I'd have to say that this book and those by Mig Jimenez are indeed both well written, being engagingly readable. I suppose some may have the reservation that several of the techniques in this book are now pretty well-known, though of course there are new opinions and variations described here, and the descriptions and step by steps may well make things clearer than they have been before. Of course, there's nothing like trying them out yourself and practising to make things really clear!

I do like the fact that the chapters take you through a complete model, while some straight method books tend to jump around from technique to technique leaving one slightly confused as to which techniques are good to combine and in what order. I suppose that this might result in modellers almost cloning what he has done, but then again, from the point of view of learning and practising, that's no bad thing. It's nice that he points out that variations and conditions vary, and therefore don't always expect to be able reproduce anything exactly in any case - it's part of what makes it an art.

With several more books planned, it will be interesting to see if Michael is able to sustain the level of quality, and indeed has enough techniques to keep the audience of each previous book engaged by the next; has he managed to keep some of his pigment powder dry, as it were? (sorry...)

I'm almost done reading mine and have really enjoyed it !
It's not a dry, technical read as some "How To" books can be.
I will get the rest of the series as they come out. As a printing press operator I really appreciate the quality of the press work. Mike didn't make it easy on those guys and they came through. I liked cracking the book open and smelling the ink & varnish.
Keep up the good work Mike and don't compromise !
Tom

Just went through the process of ordering this. It appears that once you've added inthe compulsory airmail to the uk £10.73, and the exchange fee, the price of the book has almost doubled.

Has anyone got a cheaper uk source?

Thanks

Here you go mate

http://www.historexagents.com/shop/hxproductdetail.php?ProductCode=TA01

I think the postage was £3.65
got mine from them
HTH
Andy

£1.95 in fact. Historex Agents are very good; when I ordered it was out of stock, but they made that clear then notified me when they despatched it the following week.

Thanks guys - order confirmed

This of course avoids the most pressing question; when does volume 2 come out?

Matt

Excellent review Mario of an excellent book

Here you go Matt

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/204924&page=1

HTH
Andy

Just pre-ordered Vol. II today !

Thank you guys! The pre-order on Vol. 2 is off to a great start and is so critical to help us get further established as a company. So my deepest thanks!

I have also added a new TANKART Combo Pack of Vol. 1 & 2 for $54.95 that knocks $5USD off the combined price. Just a little more incentive for those that have not ordered yet.

I won't be waiting around on Vol. 3 either, I start those layouts next week. Time to get you Modern Armor guys in the party too...

Best,

Mike
http://www.facebook.com/RinaldiStudio

I got mine a few weeks ago, the photography is beautiful, such a great book. A must have for the pictures alone. I would like to see in the future axis armor how to model a Tiger or King Tiger fresh off the assembly line

I echoed that and when I brought up the idea of doing a fresh and clean model to show how to add life to it without being able to rely on chips and rust and watermarks the esteemed author was receptive. . .

Matt

Hi guys,

Thanks! Yes, I do maintain a list of ideas and that one is definitely on it, alongside a few others.

To emphasis this is an ongoing series, I am only just getting started and hope to cover the majority of finishes available over time. There is certainly no shortage of kits to use...for the TANKART series, 1/35 will be the main scale, but I will incorporate 1/48 and 1/72 models on occasion as well.

Best,

Mike
http://www.facebook.com/RinaldiStudio

Just ordered the combo pack and I am really looking forward to both! I've been a long-time follower of Mike's work and have visited his photo site a million times it seems looking for inspiration. Now that these books are finally out, no better thing for me than to order both.

Thanks for bringing these out, Mike!

Rob

My Vol 2 arrived yesterday ,brilliant just brilliant
Roll on vol 3
Andy