Mastering Oils – Oil Painting Techniques on AFVs

Author: Joaquín García Gázquez
Publisher: Abteilung 502
Review by Vitor Costa

Introduction

Oil paints, probably the most “powerful tool” to use when we want to weather a kit.

Due to its characteristics it is almost impossible to ignore oils when it’s time to weather our models and with the increase of its use it’s natural that some brands try to demystify its use showing us how to use it. This is a really good example of that.

The old story about the lack of skills or information is no longer valid.

Review

What an amazing time to be a modeller!
There is a huge number of publications out there showing us ‘how to’, and now there is one more!

Abteilung 502 just released an amazing book showing how to use oils paints:
Mastering Oils – Oil Painting Techniques on AFVs by Joaquín García Gázquez.
And what a book! Here we will learn A LOT about oils, since its composition and history and of course how to apply it in our models!

There are 128 pages filled with amazing pictures and very useful information. This is a high quality publication, it looks great, the paper and print are top quality as is the contents.

Well, to be honest it’s one of those books that we are going to want two… one to keep and the other to consult and use for modelling at the bench… or is just me?

Some concepts are explained here, like filters, lights etc
The book is divided in chapters and after a brief introduction we will find lots of very well explained techniques and tips. One thing I particularly like – it’s the tables showing us the oils to be used dependent on the base colour of the kit, so we have the colours to use with the German Grey, DAK yellow, greens, camouflaged paints etc! It will help to understand how and why to use those colours, make it easy for the less experimented modellers.

In a very comprehensive way we will find a “how to” for almost everything that can be done with these paints: lights, shadows, outlines, filters, rust, dust, mud… everything is explained with a short but easy to understand way, of course the pictures will help a lot to understand.

So… light to even heavy weathering is all explained to obtain a very realistic finish on our models.

It’s possible to see some kits being painted and weathered since the beginning of the paint job.

There is a huge number of pictures on the gallery chapter.

Conclusion

Being that oil paints is one of the most “powerful tools” on the weathering process this is a must-have book for all who are learning or want to evolve their techniques.

This is a top quality book, for the material used, the print quality and for all the useful information on it.

Congratulations to AB502 and the author Joaquín García Gaszquez.

Highs:

Many good pictures, easy to understand text, amazing pictures and print quality
Excellent price quality ratio.

Lows:

Well not much to point out here, it would be nice to see some how to use oils on the AFV’s interiors, but who knows if we can see it in a future book?

Verdict

This is a must-have book for all who are starting to use oils; I’m sure that even the most experimented modellers will find something useful too.
Highly recommended.
Vitor Costa