The Weathering Magazine and Steel Masters

I picked up 2 useful magazines at Crisis, one at a shop, one at the Bring and Buy.

First, the one from the shop whose name I forgot.

The Weathering Magazine. Made by Ammo of MiG Jiminez. Kursk and Vegetation are the themes.
8 euros at the shop. 86 pages.

What is it? A nice glossy showing medium to advanced weathering techniques. Which also makes it very useful for a novice like me cause they show the many stages a model goes through and the materials used like airbrush, weathering powders and paints.

Is it useful for us wargamers? I think it is. More and more people are seeing the results from wargaming painters like Piers Brand and aim to get somewhere near that level. The excellent how-to's in the Battlegroup series of rule/campaignbooks have already shown the steps needed for various levels of modelling, and this magazine takes it to another level. It not only shows 1:35 scale models but a section in the back shows wargames kits, Battlefront and PSC 15mm ones painted to a very high standard.

The main reason for me picking up the magazine was the bits about vegetation. I like doing scenic pieces and these are marvellous.

Would this magazine be useful for every wargamer? Probably not. But it is useful for every painter that wants to improve himself. Sofar they have released several themed issues which I'm sure to pick up as well. Yes, things like this you can find online, but when the PC is turned off (which is standard for me when I'm painting) this magazine is very handy to keep on my workdesk. Reccomended!

My next buy was a second hand Steel Masters Special. I had never heard of the magazine till I saw it in a shop in Normandy back in 2011, and as my French is a very rusty high school level I can actually make out parts of it. Fortunately most pictures have short English descriptions. Anyway, I saw this one amongst the White Dwarfs and Wargames Illustrated and picked it up for 4 euros, a acceptable price for a magazine in this condition from 1999.

I picked this one up because it is a special about Befehlspanzer, and I had just picked up a old Panzer 38T Befehlspanzer kit for 4 euros at another part of the Bring and Buy. I bought it purely for the frame antenna and to use as a parts donor for my future Early War Germans Attempt nr 2 (I sold the previous ones to Piers, they now feature in the Battlegroup Barbarossa book.) The magazine describes the various models of Befehlspanzer from the Panzer I to the Tiger, with plenty of photographs as well as built models.  And it includes my 38(t)

Then there is a build report on 2 Shermans, some Euromilitaire 1999 bits (interesting to see that painting has progressed a lot since then) and a diorama.


This magazine is a nice addition to the ones I picked up in Normandy, and this one has made me trawling Ebay as there are quite a few second hand ones on there at very reasonable prices. Some even have reasonable shipping :D