AMMO by Mig Jimenez have been creating helpful products that can be used in any genre of modeling to recreate weathering and finishing effects that can take one’s model to the next level. In this case, you get a Solution Book that gives you guidance in how to paint 4BO schemes for your Soviet tanks or vehicles. A separately sold Solution Box contains this book as well as the featured products referenced within. The book text is in 4 languages making it accessible to just about anyone- English, Spanish, French, and German. It is easy to follow, no matter what your skill level and the products are quite easy to use.

The book opens with a section that features the description and instructions for use of all of the featured products- primers, acrylic colors, washes, streaking effects, oilbrushers, splashes, and products to recreate heavy mud and engine, fuel, and oil spills. Other accessories like their odorless thinner, thin cements, CA glues, decal solutions, and varnishes are also explained. Before getting into the specific theme, you get a page describing the icons used in the steps.

After a brief introduction on 4BO and the typical tanks that used it, we get to the main topic -- a step by step guide on creating a 4BO scheme. Each of the steps is accompanied by a brief description and excellent photos. They are:

• Step 1 - Primer Coat
• Step 2 - Base Color
• Step 3 - Decal Application
• Step 4 - Highlights and Shadows
• Step 5 - Washes
• Step 6 - Chipping
• Step 7 - Streaking
• Step 8 - Dust and Dirt Effects
• Step 9 - Mud Effects
• Step 10 - Lower Hull and Road Wheels
• Step 11 - Tracks
• Step 12 - Oil and Fuel Stains

Along with the description, each step features images of the AMMO products used (with their item numbers to ease in ordering) and the icons that relate information such as types of brushes used, drying times, airbrush information like air pressure values and application distances, and the like. The book concludes with profile artwork schemes of the T-34/85, KV-1, KV-2, SU-85, ISU-122, and IS-2.

Conclusion

The AMMO guides make it pretty easy to recreate excellent weathered models. Having used many of their products, they are easy to use and I have been pleased with how my pieces turned out after learning the techniques in applying them. The fact that these guides are multilingual and very easy to follow makes them all that more useful. I highly recommend them and thank AMMO by Mig and IPMS-USA for this review sample.