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Hi all. Has anyone encountered an issue with Mig Ammo Lucky Varnish - Matt where, when you spray, its hitting the surface with small beads of fluid instead of nice, transparent coverage? When I looked at the spray pattern against the back of the booth, is was almost whisping out of the airbrush instead of projecting as normal. This stuff had worked perfect every single time until now. I only marginally managed to get it to perform by putting in a few drops of ultimate airbrush thinner, but it usually works straight out of the bottle. I shook it thoroughly before use so I'm kinda confused as to what the problem is with it. Its not freezing in the house at the moment, but is temperature a factor? Tamiya paint sprayed perfectly fine earlier and in a subsequent test. I'm pretty confused at the moment and its pain for the reason that Lucky Varnish is the only one I've used without any frosting, bar a rattle can of Vallejo matt (but that's a pain to use on the fly). Any suggestions or help would be appreciated, thanks. Gaz

Hi everyone, back with another conundrum. I recently picked up some Mig Ammo Crystal Colours, with intent to use the light blue to create a tint hinting at armoured glass for my truck (I know Alclad makes a colour specifically for this, but I don't want to mess with nasty cleaners). Problem is, when I tested the colour on a bit of clear acetate, it first delivered no colour, almost a clear hazing, and then when it did come out blue, the plastic was frosted. You could only see anything through that was directly behind it, which in the cab wouldn't happen, everything would be out of range and blurry. I suffered the same problem with my Tamiya Clear Blue, which I stripped from some windows recently. Painting either type onto something seems to retain clarity, but spraying doesn't. This is particularly odd because Tamiya Clear Red, which I sprayed onto my M1s vision blocks, retained clarity. Does anyone know how to spray these colours without them 'fogging' the glass and kind of defeating the purpose of a window? I also have Periscope Green, which I got for my Typhoon, but haven't yet tried spraying it. The whole thing puts me in a dilemma because hand painting the colours inevitably results in streaks in too strong a colour for something that's tinted. I emailed Mig, but like AKI recently, I got no reply to my query so any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks, Gaz

Acrylic Diorama Textures Mig AMMO This pair of weathering textures arrived at BM London offices a couple of months ago, but rather than just telling you how they looked I thought it best to hold on to them until I could actually use them. As it is I have only had the opportunity to use the Turned Mud pot as I’ve been building mostly armour lately, when I use the Wild River Water I will update this review. The materials come in quite large pots and are to be used as is, straight onto your dioramas. The mud is textured by water feels like sand so may require some stirring to get the mix right. On the vignette of the Takom 305mm Howitzer I made the base up using tile grout, then covered this with the mud using a spatula and wide brushes. The material goes on very easily and can be spread about for some time before it sets. Coverage is good and it’s easy to apply without leaving brush marks. If you’re using a plain base the layers can be built up to give it that deep glutinous look or you can spread it thinly on models so that the paintwork can look dirty yet still show through. You can use an old toothbrush to make splatter on vehicles, buildings and even personnel, although I have yet to actually try that. Once set it is tough, durable and able to be handled without distorting or leaving fingerprints. I loved using it so much I made another, larger vignette with Takom’s 420 Howitzer, Big Bertha with plenty still in the pot for another diorama/vignette. I wasn’t sure about the Wild River Water material at first, and I think I need to experiment more with it. First impressions is that it’s a weird pinky colour that seems to take longer to set than the mud and still stayed with a pinky hue on the brief try with it. It looks like you can do the same as the mud, in that you can build up the layers to give the river/stream that wild, rough look. You can even use is to represent the sea, or even waterfalls. According to AMMO, you paint the base first, then pour the material on and sculpt, using palette knives old brushes to get the desired effect. This way it gives the water a feeling of depth, alternatively, you can also add small amounts of acrylic paint to colour the gel. Conclusion These sets are a very welcome addition to the Mig AMMO product line and can be used by all genres of modellers. They are so easy to use and the best bit is that all the tools, including brushes can be washed and cleaned using water. For the price, which I think is quite reasonable, you get a lot of material to play with. Review sample courtesy of

Encyclopaedia of Aircraft Modelling Techniques Mig Ammo There have been many books on the subject of modelling techniques over the years, and it's very easy to dismiss new ones as old-hat or just for novices. I think you know what I'm going to say, but I'll say it anyway. This series of five books, of which we currently have only the first two published are very different in that respect. Here's why. They take you through the process of building a model that will eventually look superb, and right up there with the best. It doesn't hold back on techniques, and guides you helpfully through the process stage by stage, which I found very refreshing. I hesitate to call myself an experienced modeller, but I've been back to the hobby now for around eight or more years, so I've seen a fair bit of the press on the subject, and this left me enthusiastic and eager to read some more. As already mentioned, we have the first four instalments, and I'll update the review with the last one as and when it's published. It's a difficult line to tread when doing a review to intrigue the reader without giving too much of the content away, so I'll include some photos and a chapter listing to do that, and sum up my overall feelings to the end. All books are printed in the same style both physically and in terms of layout, print style and format, with a stiff softback cover that has half-width fold-out sections on the inside. After a chapter listing it's straight on with the task at hand, which is education and entertainment. The tutorials are pictorially rich, with step numbers and captions on just about every page, going into extraordinary detail on how the techniques are achieved, even down to the best masking techniques and tools used. Volume 1 - Cockpits You can guess the focus of this volume, but it also covers much more in the way of tooling up for the rest of the build. The Chapter listing is as follows: 1.0. Tools and Preparation of Parts 1.1. Materials, tools & paints 1.2. Separating parts from the sprue and cleaning mould lines 1.3. Removing ejection marks 2.0. Cockpits 2.1. Simple cockpits 2.1.1. Cockpit interiors 2.1.2. Simple seats 1. Seat padding 2. Seat belts 2.1.4. Painting upgrades 2.1.5. Closed cockpits & simple canopies 1. Closed cockpits 2. How to solve fit problems 3. Open canopies 2.2. Advanced cockpits 2.2.1. Resin cockpits 2.2.2. Scratch built detailed cockpits 2.2.3. Advanced cockpit painting 1. WWII cockpits 2. Pencil chipping 3. Jet cockpits 2.2.4. Advanced control panels 1. Photo-etched control panel 2. Resin control panel 3. Control panel with scratch built details 2.2.5 Advanced seats 1. Non-ejector seats 2. Ejector seats 3. Scratch-built seat details 4. Making masking tape seatbelts 5. Making seatbelts with tin sheet and wire 2.2.6. HUD 2.2.7. Advanced canopies 1. How to simulate weather strips 2.2.8. Pilot 2.3. Wooden cockpits 2.3.1 Simulating wood with enamels 2.3.2 Simulating wood with decals 2.3.3 Simulating wood with acrylics 2.3.4 Simulating wood with pencils A few pages of the 123 are adorned with shots of some finished models for good measure. Volume 2 Interiors and Assembly Another descriptive title, but which covers so much more than it suggests. 3.0 Interiors 3.1. Landing gear 3.1.1. Wheel wells and doors 1. Painting process 2. Resin wells 3. Doors 4. Scratch-built details 3.1.2. Landing gear struts 1. Scratch-built details 2. Stretched sprue wiring 3. Resin and metal struts 3.1.3. Wheels and tyres 1. Wheel assembly 2. Wheel and tyre painting 3. Simple weathering 4. Advanced weathering 3.2. Scratch built interior details 3.3. Piston engines 3.3.1. Radial and rotary engines 1. Radial engines 2. Rotary engines 3.3.2. V-engines 1. Building and painting of a fuel tank 3.4. Jet engines 3.4.1. Air intakes and nozzles 1. Air intakes 2. Basic nozzle painting 3. Advanced nozzle painting 4. Using metallic pigments 3.4.2 Jet engines 1. Painting a jet engine 2. Detailing a jet engine 3. Scratch-building a jet engine 4.0 Exterior assembly 4.1. Fuselage assembly 4.1.1. Gluing parts 4.1.2. Filling gaps with putty 4.1.3. Sanding and polishing 1. Filing and sanding 2. Smoothing 3. Polishing 4.1.4 Refining and correcting parts 1. Correcting parts 2. Thinning down parts 4.1.5. Scribing panel lines 1. Scribing lines 2. Scribing panels and access covers 4.1.6. Riveting 1. Hole shaped rivets 2. Round rivets 4.1.7. Stressed skin effect 4.1.8. Navigation lights 1. Painting navigation lights 2. Building navigation lights 4.2. Wings assembly 4.2.1. How to assemble wings 1. Basic assembly 2. Wing root and dihedral 4.2.2. How to move flight control surfaces 4.3. Detailing 4.3.1. Photo-etched, resin and metal parts 1. Photo-etched, resin and metal parts 2. Resin parts 4.3.2. Detailing scratch-built parts 1. Resin copies 4.4. Masking The last double-spread of the 159 are adorned with shots of a finished P-40 to inspire you. Painting - Volume 3 If you haven't guessed the thrust of this one, you might need to seek professional help! This edition covers many different techniques of painting your model after assembly, with the emphasis on showing you the extremes of weather, which you can either follow by rote, or use in moderation depending on the use and abuse of the subject in hand. 5.0 Exterior Painting 5.1. Preparation & priming 5.2. Pre-shading 5.2.1. Pre-shading panel lines 5.2.2. Colour pre-shading 5.2.3. Overhead light pre-shading 5.2.4. Raking light pre-shading 5.2.5. Modulated pre-shading 5.2.6. Other pre-shading effects 5.3. Base coat and monotone camouflage patterns 5.3.1. Applying the base coat 1. Overhead light effects in the base coat 5.3.2. Glossy finishes 5.3.3. Metal finishes 5.4. Multi-tone camouflage schemes 5.4.1. Soft edge camouflage 5.4.2. Semi-hard edges 1. Paper soft masks 2. Soft masks with blue tack 3. Overhead light effect in multi-colour patterns 5.4.3. Hard edges 5.4.4. mottled camouflage 5.4.5. Snake lines 5.5. Chipped camouflages 5.5.1. Chipping fluids 5.5.2. Metallic chipping 1. Overall chipping effects 2. Wing root chipping 3. Heavy chipping effects 5.5.3. Chipped winter camouflages 1. Sandpaper weathering 2. Sponge chipping 3. Chipping with chipping fluids 4. Other examples 5.6. Airbrush highlights and fading 5.6.1. Lightening and darkening of panels 1. Lightening panels 2. Lightening and darkening the base colour 5.6.2. Modulation 5.6.3. Patched paint 5.7. Wood 5.7.1. Painting wood 1. Propellers and wooden parts 2. Plywood strip skin 5.7.2. Imitating wood with decals 5.8. Insignia, numerals and stencils 5.8.1. Decals 1. Large decals 2. Small decals 3. Most common problems & solutions 5.8.2. Dry transfers 5.8.3. Masking and other methods 1. Aftermarket masks 2. Homemade masks 3. Other techniques 5.9. Shading with inks 5.9.1. Outlining surface details with inks 5.9.2. Panel line shading 5.9.3. Reproducing dirt and stains with shading 5.9.4. Modulated shading The final few of the 199 pages show some finished models with descriptions of the techniques used. Weathering Volume 4 After the paint comes the weathering, and again this shows the technique that are available, but it's up to you to decide which techniques suit your subject, and gauge the appropriate level of wear and tear for your model. 6.0. Weathering 6.1. Preparation 6.2. Chipping 6.2.1. Chipping products 6.2.2. Brush painted chipping 6.2.3. Sponge chipping Pencil chipping Pitting and scuff marks 6.3. Filters 6.4. Dirt, grimes and worn paint 6.4.1. Splashes 1. Splashes to represent general dirt and wear 2. Splashes to represent actual splatter marks 6.4.2. Mottled spots effect 1. Mottled spots to represent worn and weathered paint 2. Mottled spots to imitate dirt and stains 6.4.3. Enamel fading 1. Oil dot fading 2. Fading using enamel weathering products 6.4.4. highlights and shadows 1. Access hatches and panels 2. Rivets and structural lines 3. Angles and corners 6.5. Panel line and surface detail washes 6.5.1. Panel and rivet line washes 1. How to apply a panel line wash 2. Panel line washes over dark camouflage colours 3. Panel line washes in different colours 6.5.2. Outlining other surface details 6.6. General washes 6.7. Streaking effects 6.7.1. Streaking grime 6.7.2. Rain marks 6.8. Spill stains 6.8.1. Basic spills 6.8.2. Complex spill marks 6.9. Exhaust stains 6.9.1. Exhaust pipes 6.9.2. Exhaust stains 1. Exhaust stains with airbrush 2. Exhaust stains with pigments 3. Oil streaks 6.10. Graphite effects 6.11. Weathering effects with pigments 6.12. Effects with colour pencils 6.13. Extreme weathering and fading The last few pages of the 159 are given over to a few examples of the finished models, in keeping with the other volumes in this series. Final Steps – Volume 5 This last volume in the series (ignore volume 6 for now) takes the modeller through to the completion of the model, bringing all the stages detailed in the previous books together and doing what many of us (self included at times) seem to have lost the art of. Finishing a model. The book is broken down as follows: 7.0. Weapons and external load 7.1. Hardpoints and pylons 7.2. Drop tanks 7.2.1. Assembly and detailing 7.2.2. Weathering 7.2.3 Weathering effects with watercolour pencils 7.3. Missiles 7.3.1. Styrene missiles 7.3.2. Resin missiles 7.3.3. Painting missiles 7.3.4. Weathering missiles 7.3.5. Other weapons and equipment 7.4. Bombs 7.4.1. Painting and weathering bombs 7.4.2. Weathering with watercolour pencils 7.5. Automatic cannons and machine guns 7.5.1. Painting automatic cannons and machine guns 7.5.2. Detailing machine guns 7.5.3. Replacing styrene gun barrels 7.5.4. Covered gun muzzles 8.0. Final Steps 8.1. Final painting steps 8.1.1. Paint touch-ups 8.1.2. Final varnish coat and sheen contrast 8.1.3. Painting final details 8.2. Painting propellers 8.2.1. Painting and weathering process 8.2.2. Other examples 8.3. Navigation lights 8.3.1. Molded on navigation lights 8.3.2. Navigation lights with coloured covers 8.3.3. Navigation lights with clear covers and coloured bulbs 8.3.4. Scratch building navigation lights 8.4. Attaching parts painted separately 8.4.1. Attaching landing gear parts 8.4.2. Attaching other parts 8.5. Canopies 8.5.1. Common problems with masking 8.5.2. Outlining clear parts 8.5.3. Attaching clear parts 8.5.4. Final weathering effects 8.6. Probes, antennas, and other small parts 8.6.1. How to handle and paint very small parts 8.6.2. Improving pitot probes and other small parts 8.7. Antenna wires and rigging 8.7.1 Antenna wires 8.7.2. Rigging 8.8. Oil, grease, and fuel stains 8.8.1. Fresh stains 8.8.2. Old stains 8.9. Dust, earth, and mud stains 8.9.1. Mud stains and splashes 8.9.2. Dust The final 29 pages are given over to a gallery of the various aircraft that have been seen in progress during this series, which is a fitting conclusion to this immense and enlightening series. Conclusion When you have all five on your shelves, you will have access to a huge library of information that you can dip into at any time in order to refresh your memory and up your game with new techniques. You'd be crazy to try to implement all of the useful techniques at once, but if you add them one by one to your arsenal of skills, you will gain in confidence as time goes by. If you're like me and sometimes forget techniques that you once knew, these books on-hand would be a life-saver! Sometimes you see comments about how "over-weathered" these examples are, but when you are showing off a technique it is best shown at its most extreme and most obvious, so that the modeller can then choose to repeat it at whatever level of intensity that they see fit, from a totally neglected aircraft to one just off the factory floor. Of course a lot of the products you will see in shot are from the Mig AMMO stable, and who can blame them. We're all bright enough to know that if you have existing products that do the same job, you can use them instead at least until they run out. Extremely highly recommended. Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Volume 4 Volume 5 Review sample courtesy of

Stopped off in SnM Stuff's shop in Farnborough today to pick up some cheap Vallejo. The very nice man in the shop made me a cup of coffee and helped me relieve myself of some earnings. He asked what I was building and suggested weathering as 'fun', pointing me to these two as a good start: http://www.snmstuff.co.uk/mig-ammo-weathering-set-early-raf-fighters-and-bombers/ http://www.snmstuff.co.uk/mig-ammo-weathering-set-airplane-engines-and-exhausts/ When I got home I searched BM and YouTube but I have no idea how to use the pigments or washes. I know they can make a big difference (like this) http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234965824-avro-lancaster-revell-172/?p=1711075 Is there a step by step for pigments and washes somewhere that's more explicit than 'put it on and wipe it off with a cotton bud' please? Pretty please? P.s. Great build gregax!