Read n' Reviewed: How to Paint WWII RAF Early Aircraft from AMMO by Mig Jimenez

The 10th in the "Solutions" series from AMMO by Mig Jimenez is a new book "How to Paint WWII RAF Early Aircraft" - guess what's inside?! We got to read the book today & thought we would share the contents & what we thought in our review...

Read n' Reviewed: How to Paint WWII RAF Early Aircraft
From AMMO by Mig Jimenez

67 colour pages, 

Paperback, Format A4, 

Text either English / French / Spanish &r German.
Prize: 10.90€

Product Link on the AMMO Website

AMMO's latest in the "Solutions" series (number 10 now) focusses on painting, weathering and finishing early (We are thinking 1939 -1942) British aircraft from World War Two. The book promises the reader to teach them the many steps involved and which materials that AMMO has to recreate these historical aircraft. 

We will look at the book in its physical form, the contents and the execution in our review...

The book in its physical form:

An glossy soft back cover in A4 portrait format comes in at a slim sixty-seven pages, and you have text in multiple languages (English / French / Spanish & German). Packed with good colour photos and text to describe what you are seeing, the book walks us through the  making of a single Supermarine Spitfire in 1/48th scale from Tamiya which is the sole aircraft on display in here.

Page by page:

The book starts off with several pages (15) explain which AMMO branded products, paints, glues and materials are use din this book, and how to apply them. There is a lot to take in, and you are in luck if AMMO products are the ones you want to use. YOu migh thave guessed by the title this book does not display the use of any other company's products, which is pretty standard for paint companies who produce "how-to" books nowdays.

We start with  the SBS (Step by Step) build of this Spitfire from the Battle of Britain period. Cockpit painting and weathering, the base colour and effects of lighting on the cockpit and how you should show this with your painting and weathering processes are discussed, so there is a fair bit of theory in these steps as we will see.

In these steps we are given not only text in the four languages, English, German, French and Spanish as well as little logos of clocks showing how long to apply a process, distance to spray your airbrush from and PSI for the brush for that type of paint. The one thing they DON'T included is what size nozzle in the air brush, but that is not such a major concern. the graphics and text will help those wanting to uset hese specific paints if nothing else.

We literally "chip" our way through finishing the cockpit wear and tear, then prime the kit, then we are shown the undercarriage in shiny metal and dirty, dull rubber tyres before we turn attention to the undersides of the aircraft with that duck egg greenshade that is synonymous with early RAF aircraft. 

Camouflage paint is applied to the top of the aircraft in that step by step, text, picture and graphical style we discussed earlier, we see masking tapes, masking flexible putty and the green and tan shade we recognized from BoB aircraft. Decals are prepper and prepared then sealed and we are show this and every step, every pressure and application along the way.

Washes, wear, oils, filters and panel fading are combined with dirt, oil and grease with the dirty and war-worn aircraft with exhaust and fuel stains and how to apply them. dirt and chipping is applied to all of the areas the pilot walks on the aircraft and the propellers are worn before we get to the last steps of this process.

The wheels, the connection to the ground are the last thing to weather and wear before we look at three profile of BoB aircraft, then the walk around of th efinsihed and very lovely spitfire at the end of the book.

The book is more than anything a painting guide for those wanting to use AMMO products or those wanting to start modelling from the ground up and buy everything here and model "by the book". 

There is some theory in here, and a fair bit of knowledge passed over, but the use of only one brand of paints and materials will narrow the focus of this book a fair bit. Some who would otherwise want to look at this book might not even bother because of the single brand strategy behind the release.

A great book for those wanting to use AMMO gear with some learnings and theory if you dig deep enough and take your time to learn the lessons within these pages.

Adam Norenberg

This book is now available on the AMMO Website...

We could not see it for sale by itself but it is available inside the WWII RAF Early Aircraft Solution Box