Model Art Modeling Magazine is one of the finest periodicals on the market. Each issue covers subjects across the modeling spectrum. Regardless of your area of interest you will, sooner rather than later, find something of significance to you. The quality of the images within each issue is stunning, and that is important since the magazine is published in Japanese. There are always “work in progress” images and the tools and materials being used by the builder are always featured prominently in the images. It is not difficult, therefore, for the reader to use these “work in progress” articles as guides. While some details are certainly lost in translation, or the lack thereof, the general process followed in the “work in progress” is easy enough to follow.

Forward

There is a trend developing with me relevant to Osprey Books. As with the last Osprey book, once I started reading it I could not put it down. The book arrived on a Friday and I started it Saturday afternoon. On Sunday afternoon I was finished.

Description

This is a 7 3/4 by 10 inch hard-cover book with 384 pages. Befitting the number of pages, the paper quality is good. This book contains many illustrations, diagrams and the photos come from public, private, commercial and museum sources. The font is not large but is very readable. Each weapon described is accompanied by several illustrations, photos and in some cases personal anecdotes about the weapon. Information “boxes” further describe the weapon’s characteristics and specifications. With all the photos, illustrations and drawings the book was a faster read than anticipated.

When this package arrived I pulled it out of its mailing pouch, and if I didn’t recognize the Eduard Logo and packaging, I would have thought that someone had sent me real tiny leaves. That’s how realistic these fern leaves looked. They are already colored green and the color is perfect. It is colored on both sides, which makes assembly easy due to not having to worry about the wrong side showing because of it not being painted. They are very thin which also make them very fragile but can be easily bent to conform to any angle or shape you may need. Even though Eduard has decided that these ferns are 1/35 scale, they can be used for just about any scale within reason. The only drawback is that there is no picture of any kind, which shows how they should be “planted” or anchored to a “branch”. I guess we’ll have to figure it out on our own; which really isn’t that difficult.

When I saw the review list and “Mr Paint Station” and “Gunze” I was thinking this could be cool. In reality it’s not exactly what the name implies. What Mr Paint Station is actually is a holding device for painting. What you get in cellophane bag are four 3” x 5” “boxes” that are built so that the corrugation is facing out. These open corrugations then allow you to place toothpicks or other thin holding clamps you may have, into them to hold parts while they dry or perhaps when you paint them.

The cellophane bag shows that Gunze may produce a set of holding sticks that are meant to insert into the corrugation, none are supplied in the Mr Paint Station package. Unfortunately I can’t read Japanese, so I don’t know what their actual product name is or how much they cost.

The March publication of Model Art Modeling Magazine focuses on Formula 1 racing with several articles filling the first sixty-three pages of this issue. The magazine also includes new kit reviews, modeling tips, and new kit and item releases. As is typical for Model Art, the magazine measures 182mm by 258mm (about 71/8 by 101/8 inches), and is printed on thick, glossy paper. The production quality is high with these magazines, and just over half of it is printed in color with black and white pages interspersed throughout of the issue. Just in case this is the first review of a Model Art magazine that you are reading, understand that the entire magazine is printed in Japanese with only an occasional English subtitle for those of us who are monolingual, or are just unable to read Japanese text.