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Model Art |
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Panzer Graph! Magazine for Military Modelers Issue #3. Winter 2006 |
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Reviewed By Andrew Birkbeck, #27087 |
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MSRP: ¥2,190 JPY This “magazine” is produced on a quarterly basis by Model Art, one of the leading model magazine publications in Japan. On the front cover it is written “Magazine for Military Modelers: Alternative AFV Modeling”. In other words, it is a quarterly magazine for AFV modelers. Issue 3 under review consists of a card cover and 164 pages, measuring 8 ½’’ by 12”. Inside the cover there are the following articles, lavishly illustrated with excellent color photos: “Daredevil”, pages 1-13, which covers the construction of a very large diorama involving a scratch built 1/48th railway locomotive and tender, a number of 1/48th German WW2 military vehicles and aircraft, all centering on a mountain pass and a railway bridge! Following this, pages 28-35, is another 1/48th diorama covering a WW2 French building and public square with large numbers of French civilians cheering on a US Army Jeep and M10 tank destroyer as it passes through the square. Next comes a multi-page article on the history of Bandai 1/48th armor kits, followed by a diorama construction article covering a German Panzer IV and captured Russian armored car “somewhere in Russia”. Additional articles include major build reviews of various 1/48th Skybow, Tamiya and Trumpeter AFV kits, each with lots of color pictures of the kit sprues and built up models, a number incorporating the built up review kit into small dioramas with additional aftermarket figures. Then there are further multi-page articles on various techniques for “creating the story line” of a diorama, and intelligently laying it out. Plus a couple of “how to” articles, again loaded with excellent color photos, covering the use of photo etched brass and brass stock for super-detailing stock kits. There are also a couple of articles on photographing dioramas. Finally, there is an excellent article covering WW2 German bicycles and how they were employed by the troops. This includes a color period photo of “bicycles in action” as well as black and white period photos, and color photos showing a number of period bicycles from a recent military vehicle collectors’ event. Most fascinating for your reviewer was a step by step article on how to produce a scratch built 1/48th 1942 “Packard Clipper One Twenty Custom Staff Car”. The author first used his reference material to produce computer “models” of the vehicle. Using these he produced a rough wooden model form by using an automated milling machine. This form was then refined using epoxy putty, and in turn an epoxy mold was produced which was then used to pour resin into and produce the finished body of the car. Various sub components were then produced using resin casting techniques and vacu-forming. Thirty color photos accompany the article to show this amazing tour-de-force to good effect. On top of the articles, there are the usual advertisements from all the major kit and after market producers, along with many pages of new kit, figure and other aftermarket product announcements put together by the magazine’s editorial staff. Standard fare with any well produced modeling magazine from anywhere in the world today. With a price tag of 2300 yen, or approximately US$19.50, this is a very well produced magazine offering good value to the reader. The articles are lengthy in wording, and offer excellent photographic coverage of the subject matter under discussion. If I was a Japanese AFV modeler, I would jump at the opportunity to buy this magazine. HOWEVER, if you aren’t Japanese or fluent in the Japanese language, then this magazine is much less useful. There are two pages (out of 164) that offer an “English” translation of 4 of the articles contained in the magazine. “English”, as it is that quaint form that used to exist in late 1960’s Japanese instruction sheets that made me at best chuckle as a youth, and at worst was very confusing. However, this leaves by my count at least 25 articles that have no English in them whatsoever! And while a picture is said to replace a thousand words, and while the photographic coverage in this magazine IS impressive, I feel anyone not understanding Japanese is at a massive loss when “reading” this magazine. Recommended to those who get a lot out of glossy photographs of models and who have the cash to spend $20 on a magazine they probably can’t read. |
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