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Rating: 
Summary: Just a Mediocre Modelling Manual
Review: I have read Jerry Scutts' "Advanced Military Vehicle Modelling" in this Osprey series and that one only deserves 1 star. This book "WWII Dioramas" is an improvement but not quite up to standard yet.This book covers two dioramas and described in detail the making of each component. There are some good advices and some useful basic techniques. However, with over 30 years of military modelling experience, I considered these two dioramas are not yet in the league for publication. I am not sure if the dioramas are made by Jerry but they are of mediocre quality. The painting techniques mentioned in this book are very primitive and newer ones are not included. The painting of the 1/32 Matchbox "Citroen" in the first diorama ruins the whole thing. It just looks like a "Matchbox Car" inside a diorama. The painting of the figures are two dull and unlively. In the second part of the book, a number of pages were used to describe step by step painting of each figure in the second diorama. Poor quality figure painting is well displayed here. Shading is too rough, facial features too rigid and chaotic camouflage patterns. I have read modelling books from Francois Verlinden and Tony Greenland and their works are still at top ranks at this time. Bill Horan's figure painting techniques is of Masterclass calibre. There are a lot of books and magazines from Japan on military modelling and they are also of very high quality. I can only recommend this book to beginners in military modelling who would like to build his/her first diorama. More experienced modelling enthusiast don't need this one.
Rating:
Summary: Just a Mediocre Modelling Manual
Review: I have read Jerry Scutts' "Advanced Military Vehicle Modelling" in this Osprey series and that one only deserves 1 star. This book "WWII Dioramas" is an improvement but not quite up to standard yet. This book covers two dioramas and described in detail the making of each component. There are some good advices and some useful basic techniques. However, with over 30 years of military modelling experience, I considered these two dioramas are not yet in the league for publication. I am not sure if the dioramas are made by Jerry but they are of mediocre quality. The painting techniques mentioned in this book are very primitive and newer ones are not included. The painting of the 1/32 Matchbox "Citroen" in the first diorama ruins the whole thing. It just looks like a "Matchbox Car" inside a diorama. The painting of the figures are two dull and unlively. In the second part of the book, a number of pages were used to describe step by step painting of each figure in the second diorama. Poor quality figure painting is well displayed here. Shading is too rough, facial features too rigid and chaotic camouflage patterns. I have read modelling books from Francois Verlinden and Tony Greenland and their works are still at top ranks at this time. Bill Horan's figure painting techniques is of Masterclass calibre. There are a lot of books and magazines from Japan on military modelling and they are also of very high quality. I can only recommend this book to beginners in military modelling who would like to build his/her first diorama. More experienced modelling enthusiast don't need this one.
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