Painting and Finishing Techniques (Osprey Modelling)

Once an avid model builder, I drifted away from it two decades or so ago. Now my grandson has reached the age where he is interested (and ready for) model building. So time to refresh my knowledge and learn all the things that have ben developed in my absence. Painting and finishing the model is of vital importance, so I purchased "Painting and Finishing Techniques" by Gary Edmundson. What a find! This guy is a professional in every sense of the word. The book is short (80 pages) and profusely illustrated. The organization is loosely structured into six sections: an introduction to the fundamentals, paints and finishes, set-up and tools, painting and finishing model aircraft and another chapter on armored vehicles and one more on figures. The book is more akin to a seminar than anything else. Edmundson describes one technique after another. The photos printed in the book could have benefited from a bit more contrast, but they do get the point across. For all the years and countless hours I spent building models, something as simple as spraying a black undercoat on parts that were subsequently to painted silver never occurred to me. Likewise, Edmundson's weathering techniques are a real eye-opener. Overall - in just eighty pages - this is a veritable encyclopedia on painting and finishing plastic models. Truly excellent.Jerry

As a returning modeler I've picked up several instructional books over the last year or so. Although compiled by skilled modelers and have always having something useful, many are harmed to one degree or another by the inability of the authors to empathize with those who don't know what they do. The result is a book that could be titled "Watch Me Build Six Kits and Maybe You'll Learn Something." To make it worse, in many photos carry much of the data but are thrown in where they fit and not planned to coordinate with the text.Edmundson's book has none of these defects. It is organized by topic, instead of individual builds; it stays on subject; photos are very well coordinated with the text. Above all the author assumes that the reader doesn't know a whole lot and explains things clearly and in sequence. Because it deals with painting and finishing, rather than building, no space is given to working with resin, after-market parts or scratch building. That's actually much to the good because folks that use these advanced techniques probably don't need a book anyway.Anyway this is a model of its kind - no pun intended. Edmundson has collaborated on other books but none approaches the clarity of this solo effort. If you don't make "show class" models I'd bet my pink slip there's much to learn here for you. Highest recommendation.

These small books for Osprey and Fine Scale modeler seem to be nothing more than picture books. there is not much "How To" to them

This book promises and delivers what the title says. The techniques are useful for intermediate modelers as myself as well as beginners and pros. The book is written in very plain language to allow even those unfamiliar with some terms to grasp the methods by use of copious photos in step-by-step progress. Several different types of aircraft and armor are used as subjects but the techniques transfer well to whatever you may be building. You can go into as much depth as you want to get the outcome you're looking for. Many color photos allow you to see the results of various weathering and painting applications so you're bound to find something you can incorporate into your build. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their models. It's very reasonably priced and well worth the price.

A well conceived and illustrated book that offers more than the typical help (prime/paint/weather), in the sense that it often shows when to assemble and paint what, a really important yet often glossed-over topic for people who, like me, are still sometimes stomped by this tricky part of modelling.Almost entirely focused on airplanes, but the advice can be generalized.

This book has a wealth of information for painting your scale models. The author covers airbrushing, brushing, pastel weathering, washes and oil color modulation. Its worth having in your reference library.Unfortunately the kindle edition suffers from poor picture quality. As any modeler knows, the pictures tell most of the story. When a picture is selected it grows to fill the screen. The images are badly pixelated and show compression artifacts.If you buy it (it is worth buying), buy the print edition and skip the kindle edition.

The pics helps you a lot

This is not the first book I've read dealing with Finishing etc on models, but this book provides great detail and is worth the cost. I recommend getting more than just this book if you are looking to improve your modeling skills. After reading several other books on finishing etc, I found several tips/tricks in this book that I did not find anywhere else.

The author takes as his starting point the painting of 3 model aircraft and 3 model armoured vehicles and works through each one detailing the techniques used at every stage to produce brilliantly decorated kits. There's also a brief section on figure painting and a useful kit list at the end. There are excellent photos and the text is clear, conversational and well laid out, with good details of equipment used and several different methods of acheiving the required effect shown across the various examples.The attention to detail applied to each example is staggering and the time devoted to each one must be immense, so my only reservation is that the commitment required to produce results as good as those shown in the book might be beyond the resources of the casual modeller.

A very good book for experienced and novice modellers alike. I have been a modeller for more years than I care to remember, but had the usual break for job, wife, kids etc before returning. It was good to see the various techniques etc simply explained, and I found that I learned a lot, including some stuff that I had forgotten about. The only thing I would have liked to see more of was the paint/thinner ration and air pressure settings for airbrushes as I have always used a hairy stick and am a novice with airbrushes, but the finishes on the models within the book have encouraged me to continue to experiment. Well recommended indeed.

An excellent, well illustrated book full of useful tips on how to paint and finish various models. I bought this primarily to learn how to realistically paint and weather model aircraft which this book covers admirably. It explains clearly how to achieve various effects with step by step photographs. It also covers the painting of military vehicles and figures.I now need to put these tips to practice!

Not a bad book really, if you are into Planes and Tanks I'm sure you find it very good reading, there are lots of techniques shown in the book.

I bought this as a gift for my brother, I had a bit of a flick through it before I wrapped it (as you do) and thought it could have had a bit more information, but he loved it. Not sure if this says more about him than the book, but he is an experienced modeller, so it must be OK.