Aces High Magazine (Issue 6) Battle of Britain

[JeroenPeters]

ACES HIGH Magazine ‘Battle of Britain’

(AK 2908 Issue 6)

 

Publisher: AK Interactive

Chief editor: Daniel Zamarbide

 

Available from AK Interactive for € 9,00

 

 

Here we go! Anther action packed Aces High mag from the hands of AK Interactive. This theme based quality magazine is, as I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, not the kind of magazine you buy, read and throw out. Since this range includes step-by-step how to’s and revolve around a certain theme, they’re easy to store in a certain section of your library. Ready to pull out when the need appears.

 

Previous titles I have reviewed are:

 

Aces High 4: The Mediterranean

 

And:

 

Aces High 5: Vietnam

 

The magazine is available from the AK Interactive website for € 9,00 euro’s, which is pretty reasonable for the quality you get. Quality in terms of featured models, contributing modellers, printing quality, paper and… layout design. The last being the sort of thing I can be turned off by, since I happen to be a Creative Director.

 

So what do we get with this issue?

A sturdy glossy cover, binding 82 quality glossy pages. A poster in the middle (as always). Restrained advertorial space, many tutorials and techniques, and well designed lay-outs.

Let me walk you through it:

 

Index (which is beautifully designed by the way):

 

 

• Der Adler Tag

(1/72 Revell Heinkel He-111 by Fernando del Pino)

At first glimpse when thumbing through the mag I thought this was the Revell 1/32 offering, judging by the detail and sharpness of this build. But it turned out to be the braille scale Heinkel! Completely riveted, scribed and detailed up. Of course painted with the new AK Air series paint line, which looks pretty effective. Especially the always tricky RLM65 on the lower surfaces.

 

This must be the best 72^nd He111 I’ve ever seen…

 

 

 

• Death & Glory

(1/48 Hasegawa Hurricane Mk.1 by Anis El Bied)

With the coming Fly Hurricane in 32^nd scale, this build could be a nice inspiration. Interesting detail is that the camo pattern is done free hand and the author describes how he achieved the fine demarcation lines, accentuated with pencil. Pretty interesting.

 

 

• Devils in Yellow

(1/32 Eduard Bf109E-1 by Juan Villegas)

It’s a shame to this day that Eduard discontinued their large scale ventures. Their Bf109 is a great kit, but with some challenging areas. In this build Juan shows some interesting pre shading effects, which is interesting, since the whole pre shading technique is being challenged at the moment! Juan appears to pre shade the inner panels, with a depth simulation technique, instead of tracing every panel line. Worth a try by the looks of it! He then goes to town with a whole range of pigments, oils and washes, weathering the hell out of the little plane. Especially digging the detail highlights with pencil in the final stages.

 

 

 

Just love this:

 

 

The poster is a cool addition, and since the only thing you’ll lose when taking it out are advertisements, you’re not messing up a perfectly good magazine when sticking it to your wall. It’s drawn by master cartoonist and aviation hobbyist Romain Hugault. Need I say more?

 

 

• The Trumpets of Jericho

(1/48 Hasegawa Ju87B-2 ‘Stuka’ by Mario Gabás)

Another model that makes you second guess the scale. A great detailed up splinter camo Stuka with opened gunbay. Weathered with streaking grime, hydraulic fluid and fuel.

 

A small proud moment for our own brand: ‘Large Scale Modeller’ when I spotted the HK Models advert during this build, adorned by our logo. Nice…

 

 

• Live to Fly, Fly to Live.

(1/48 Tamiya Spitfire Mk.I by Miguel Morales)

Some nice scratchbuilding going on here to improve the venerable Tamiya Spitfire that still seems to hold it’s own after all these years. Scratch built seat frame, Barracuda seat, Eduard details, scratched rudder pedals,wiring… The following page highlights a certain area of the build: Painting the seat. The author takes us through his painting stages step by step. Not exactly the order I would follow, but that’s what I love about these tutorials: They show you a different perspective.

 

 

 

• No. 29 SQN. RAF ‘75^th Anniversary’

(1/48 Revell Typhoon FGR4 by Istvan Michalko)

With the 75^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain this Typhoon of No. 29 Squadron was painted in ww2 BoB colours. The colours feature the plane of the only pilot that won the Victoria Cross during the battle. Hurricane pilot Lieutenant Nicholson. No building article, but just great pics of a great subject.  

 

 

• Mind the Gap, The Ground Section

(54mm Andrea Miniatures Spitfire pilot by Roberto Ramirez)

A whole new modelling league of it’s own: painting figures. I can watch as many how-to tutorials as I like, but don’t think I’ll ever really master the skills. Again, here, all the steps are shown and I see how it’s done. A superb little scene with barrack wall, dog begging for a biscuit. Like me, begging for the skills…

 

 

 

• RAF 10HP Tilly

(1/35 Tamiya Tilly by Francisco J. Martinez)

Building 35^th scale airfield vehicles is always a bit of a gamble. The difference between 32^nd scale and 35^th scale is not very large, but can become apparent when mating the two subjects. If you can live with the scale differences, this little truck can look great in a diorama with any RAF ww2 subject. Francisco uses some real Spanish school techniques to highlight the details in high contrast.

 

 

Verdict

Another hit by Daniel Zamarbide Suárez and his crew (including proper English editing by our very own James Hatch!). An appealing theme, great lay-out and superb models. For the price of € 9,00 this is a no-brainer.

 

Another very highly recommended!

 

A special thanks to AK Interactive for the review sample.

Available here.

 

Jeroen Peters

 

 

 

 

[James H]

It is a beautiful mag with some great tips.

 

Got my copy here, and another that Ben was supposed to pick up for his father! (hint hint)

[RalphSarc]

Cool review!!

[Fran]

Great review of a great mag!! 

[polsen]

Juan Villegas's 109 looks amazing ! He does the best aircraft finishes in the whole world, hands down !

I'm getting a copy.