Letterman Publications continue to expand their catalogue of books aimed at the modeller. It is also reassuring that more and more titles are being produced with the 'beginner' in mind.

Amongst the modellers who are writing for Letterman is the well known armor/figure modeller - Chris 'Panzer' Mrosko, the author of the subject of this review.

Introduction...

Panzer's Tactics - Painting and Weathering Military Vehicles, Volume One - World War Two is one of these books which are all too rare - a practical guide to painting and the complex subject of weathering. Any Armorama 'regular' will know that the forums are frequently filled with appeals for help with that final touch in finishing their vehicle kits. While this book does not pretend to be the definitive answer, it does go a long way in clearly presenting some practical 'strategies' to help all levels of modeller...

The Book...

Chris Mrosko's book consists of four chapters. Only four? Well yes, but we are talking about real substantial chapters here, this is not the 'nouvelle cuisine' of modelling..

Chapter 1 - Painting and Weathering WWII German Vehicles This chapter begins with a discussion of the paint used (mixing and dilution), a very helpful section on using an airbrush, the color 'palette' used in the chapter's project various 'washes' are also well explained both their function and the 'how-to' part...

After this introduction, the project for this chapter is started - a Tamiya Stug III G. The whole project is presented with a series of high-quality, step-by-step photographs with much emphasis on the 'before and after' pictures which are genuinely invaluable.... The application of the vehicles decals is also explained and illustrated along with paint-chipping and rust-weathering. One of the most interesting sections deals with the (always) problematic subject of track-painting...

Chapter 2 - Painting Allied Vehicles. Once again, Chris Mrosko presents a single vehicle project, in this case, Tamiya's Willys Jeep. The techniques are broadly similar although using a different color palette (obviously!) Again, the key to this chapter is the profusion of photographs and the constant insertion of hints and tips which will give (again) the beginner and the experienced modeller much food for thought....

Chapter 3 - Painting and Weathering a Winter Whitewash Yet again, another of these 'nasty' painting subjects is covered in detail. The subject is a Tiger II although this technique would work as well for a T-34 as for a Sherman or any other vehicle in WWII. The final result is nothing short of spectacular and as I mentioned earlier the same, high-quality step-by-step photographs accompany the chapter.

Chapter 4 - Gallery A generous selection of Chris' vehicles are presented in the last section. Many different vehicles are shown, Softskins, Armour and SPGs are all included from a variety of nationalities.

Conclusions..

The title says it all really, Volume I.... This I hope means that we are going to get a series of books along this theme. The first is an invaluable guide to a very complex subject, the presentation is superb, the featured models belong to the (often misused) category of real 'Show-stoppers' . Chris Mrosko and his editors, have a real communicative ability. The enthusiasm for the subject shines through all of the book. This is definitely NOT a book for the bookshelf, but rather one for the workbench. This is practical modelling 150%.... Roll on book 2! While we're at it, how about a similar book on assembly/superdetailing as well?

In conclusion, I would like to thank VLS Corporation for providing the review copy and Letterman and its authors/editors for providing such practical material