Rick Cooper takes a look at a title from AK Interactive titled ''Real Colors of WWII''>

Read the Review

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thanks Rick, very interesting review.

From my point of view, a pity the sections are not available separately. The book is quite expensive and I have no interest in a half or even 3/4 of it...

How expensive is it ?

It seems to run from $70-$90 U.S. depending on your source.

Ouch, though it does seem authoritative as a reference piece. Going to have to keep my eyes open for a copy. Autographing optional.

Carlos, I don't disagree. It might have been better marketed as a series or at least and Axis/Allies thing.

Ive always found them to be expensive !!

Hi Rick ,i'll direct you to so comments about the British section made by the man himself .Its part of a dicussion on the Ak colors and book http://www.network54.com/Forum/433829/thread/1511295457/last-1514020481/AK+real+Briish+colors . I have the book and to fair i agree with your comments about the production values totally its very well put together. How ever i personally found the Britsh and soviet sections very brief and the american section was also very brief and covered stuff like how to hide tanks in trees and other of topic subjects and it did not go into a lot of info on application ,patterns ect .I found the book to be a good buy and worth while but it is certainly not going to any where near the final answer to camouflage of the major powers of WW2. Its one of subjects that could have been done in 4 seperate books and with fair more detail. Have fun Wayne

Mike’s comments are interesting. It rather begs the question of why hire subject matter experts if you are going to edit out half of what they contribute, presumably without prior consultation. Is his experience mirrored across the other contributors?

Of course it’s worth bearing in mind that the purpose of the company is to sell paint rather than publish the best research so maybe we should not be too surprised when something like this happens. It is obviously fine to be in the business of selling paint or indeed anything else that is legal but it is perhaps wise to consider such motivations when assessing the work of such companies when it is other than in the actual field of paint manufacturing.

Wayne and Robert,

Thank you for your replies, I enjoy when these types of conversations can develop.
Wayne, thanks for adding the link, I don't follow the 1/48th world, something that I am clearly remiss about. That is some VERY interesting information. It does explain why Mike's section seem so truncated. I would be curious to hear some of the rational on the changes that ensued. I'm also curious which two of the illustrations are the egregious ones (the 3-D illustrations?).




Robert,
I understand what you are saying but I would disagree with your general premise (only in the spirit of discussion!). In fact it was the one thing what I found most odd about the book. It never, and I mean NEVER, tried to sell any of the new (or the old for that matter) Real Color line throughout the entire book. Other than Mike, I don't recall any of the other writers mentioning models or modelling at all. The book never references the new line at all, not even on the separate card of color chips. I know if it where my paint line I would have always added in the reference numbers for my new line, seems to only make sense.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season and a Merry Christmas!!

Cheers,
Rick

P.S. Wayne, I hope this isn't the final word, what would be the fun in that? Don't know any historical question that has ever reached any final answer

Hi Rick, Robert does in deeded have a a good point about marketing and this book just like Mig's Panzer DNA is a tool to get more paints sales. The thing that gets me is they have sample cards for the paint so they have the correct info yet in the case of the British stuff according to Mike in the above link only one out of seven is close. So how do they manage to get it not right?? . And as for using these knowable people to give their invaluable knowledge and then to just cherry pick bits of it and give us the impression that this is the best info going is some what misleading or a cynical but very deliberate stratgey to keeps us holding out for the next installment that will answer the missing sections . There may be publishing reasons/ cost considerations for each section to be taken into account but again i'm sure we would all be happier to pay a bit more for the whole story. Again thought it comes back to the whole thing of doing it right first time. How many paint sets are there out there that have claims to well researched and yet the end product is no where near the real thing, AK's original DAK set is a classic example that set is miles away from even being in the ball park. And then there seems to be a trend towards artistic impression of the color rather than accurate interpretation. What we really need and these guy's tried to do but came up short IMHO is a book done like the old monogram Luftwaffe painting guide that was a better way of doing it. Have fun Wayne.