Hi Guys ,

After far too much work its time to enjoy myself and what better way than getteing my thoughts down on PF...so its not so much an open Box review more an Open book.............

No mater how experienced we are in this hobby , I am sure you all agree we can all learn something both from talking/watching and ofcourse reading and that is exactly what has happened when thanks to the postman I received :

Title: Scale Model Handbook 1

Published by: Mr Black Publications

Editor : Stelios Demiras

Translated by: Thanos Mentzelopoulos

Proof Reading by : Charles Davis

Artwork by: Maria Dimou

ISBN: 2241-1054

Price: 14.95 euro's plus shipping


I ordered my copy direct from Mr Black though the website , this was easily done , with no problems (I even received an e mail from Stelios confirming my details) .

Shipping was quick , I received mine in under a week , and with the packaging being 1st class in a cardboard box with the book carefully wrapped and sealed inside ...I "attacked" the packaging like a child on Xmas morning and like a child found myself smiling with delight over the contents .

The book itself is A4 size, with a matt laminated soft covered consisting of a total of 50 pages (52 with covers) , printed on top quality paper with it being highly recommended on the cover by Pegaso.

Contents:

The articles inside (a total of 9) use Pegaso figures together with Latorre, Alexandros,Metal modeles, Mantis Miniatures , together with a horse conversion and a scratchbuilt article ..a very good variety of subjects and periods . Painting with all mediums is covered ..Oils, Acrylics and enamels ..great stuff .



Seleucid General 200mm -Painting a Large Scale Bust

Roma Victor 75mm -Figure Conversion

Hero Saxon Warrior 54mm
- Painting Leather & Metal Parts

“The Old Servant Tells His Tale” - Building a Vignette from Scratch

Comandant des Mousquetaires du Roi - Simulating Different Kinds of Fabrics & Materials

Converting a Horse - Making a Unique Horse

Oberleutnant of the 1st Fallschirmjager - Painting a World War II Figure

Maya Warrior Middle Ages, XV century - Painting realistic Flesh with Oils


Highland Warrior - Combining Acrylics with Oils

Presention:

Translated from the Greek into English (proof read by Charles) it is an easy read ,each article has a full breakdown on the figure , really well written with excellent painting details in every single article.

Typeset is clean and again easy on the eye , making me stay up far too late reading the whole book !!!

Pictures:

From cover to cover the book is covered with superb artwork , great step by step pictures , all are finely defined and true to the colours , reproduction is nothing short of wonderful .....all showing the models off so well .

Contributors:

This reads like a who's who in the modelling world and I for one thank all that gave their time and talent in helping produce the book

These include:

Pietro Balloni, Alexandre Bonastre,Christos Katselos, Grigoris Marmatakis, Artur ,iniszewski, Radek Pituch, Ernesto Reyes Stalhuth and last but not least Chris Tasker

Final Thoughts:

As I said we all can learn something and this is a great book to learn from , really well produced , full of quality pictures , interesting articles , reasonably priced as well.

I found the book easy to read and inspirational , so if you buy no other for your bookshelf buy this one ..you won't regret it .

I hope that this will also be available in different languages as well for our
friends throughout this wonderful miniature world of ours.

This is book 1 covering Figure Modelling and I will be getting No 2 .......3.4, 5 etc...........

I for one HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book and congratulate Mr Black on producing such a quality item .

Available from :

Historex Agents (www.historexagents.com)
Bookworld Wholesale (www.bookworldws.co.uk)

In Germany via
Berliner Zinnfiguren (www.zinnfigur.com)

In Australia via
Firestorm Models (www.firestormmodels.com)

or contact Stelios direct via his website:

www.mrblackpublications.com

Do it today ..you will not regret it

Nap

Hi John ,

Thank you , believe me its worth the wait ....wherever it comes from !!!

Nap

Hi combatartist ,

Thanks for the comments , I presume you mean the backgrounds on some of the pictures , a personal choice I think , for me these seem to bring out the painting more .

But like you say overall a good reference book.

Nap