Review : AK's ''The Weathering Magazine'' Issue 5 - Mud

Right. So this is the big issue from AK that we all have been waiting for. Issue number 5: MUD. I was so excited to see this coming out and I bought it straight away and again, as usual, I was not disappointed.

I word of apology for I have skipped the review of the Issue 4: Engine and Oil and I am not a builder that show heavy oil spillage nor engines and I didn't want to review about a subject/topic that I am not familiar with. I do have the book but I rather not review it as I do not think it would fair to review something I am not used to.

Anyway, In this issue, AK showed us how to put on various states of mud on our models as well as on the base/diorama. They covered from dry mud to dripping wet mud, from small semi-dry landscape to puddles of mud in the landscape.

The magazine is printed on a very high quality glossy and thick paper as usual but it only has 71 pages, kinda low compared with the previous issues.

Obviously, we are greeted with the cover -

And once you turn the page, you are greeted with a wall of text from the chief editor, with a new model ( even though I am against it, the first one was way hotter. )

and then after that, you will come to the contents

Turn the page and you will be greeted by the first chapter, '' Spanish Mudderland'' by Chris Jerrett -

'' Spanish Mudderland'' will show you how to put on accumulated mud on a rather large vehicle which is also in a wet condition. When reading this, the first thing that came into my mind is the heavy rains of Russia and the eastern front. Such a tutorial will be much suited for those who want to weather their models in that aforementioned weather.

The second chapter, by Alexabdre Duchamp, is named '' Muddy Ameise Robot '' -

The second chapter, even though it features a robot and sci-fi settings, is about how to make rather moist and soft ground and how mud from such ground can stick to vehicles. In this case, some slow moving vehicles ( the robot models featured obviously are not capable of high speed travel ).

The third chapter is named '' WWI storm trooper '' -

Done by Rick Lawler, the editor, '' WWI storm trooper'' will show how much mud a foot soldier can get on their uniforms ( in various kind of weather and mud conditions )

Following chapter 3 is the first article ( a rather short one to be termed a chapter ) named '' Wet & Dry Mud on my Leopard 2A5 by Fabrizio Pincelli -

The article will show how to put dry and wet mud onto a vehicle. Judging by the same shade of dry and wet mud that was applied on the Leopard, this article is most suited to use a reference if you want to show a vehicle in one specific time or area.

Following that is the 4th chapter, titled '' Mercury Cougar '', by Clay Kemp -

Needless to say this is about how to put mud on a automobile as you can clearly see it on the picture. This is a really nice tutorial to look at regarding wheel vehicles and how to deal with them. I cannot really comment how effective this tutorial is as I have only built a car ONCE but it's nice to see they try their best to cover almost everything.

Following that is the second article with the name '' Splashes & Splatter '' -

John Murphy brings us an article about a Challey 2 undergoing trail in the Southern Part of England. This article is great if you want to show a very dry mud but still moist enough to leave splashes and splatter on the vehicles.

Another article that follow this ( to be honest, it is quite long to be an article. They should have put this in a chapter) is title '' A Tiger with two tales '' by Przemo Mrozek -

Przemo Mrozek showed a rather creative piece, a two-in-one tiger with two different mud type. The right side is shown in very dark, very glossy and very wet mud you might expect to see from summer/spring showers. The other side shows urban winter scenario, with what seems like mud mixed together with dusts and rubble from urban fighting.

After this 2-in-1 Tiger, comes chapter 5 with the title '' Mud Over My S.A.F.S -

Presented by Lincoln Wright, ( who makes pretty awesome MA.K kits ) is a lovely Maschinen Krueger suit dirty and muddy. I build gundam models, which are pretty much bipedal as much as these guys, and its pretty nice to see this tutorial as I know for a fact that gundam modellers need some pointers when it comes to weathering. Lincoln treated this kit as an infantry as much as a war-machine and he combined aspects of how a human marching in the mud can get mud splatters as well as how a walking war machine can attract as much mud as any other AFVs.

After this is an article with a very suited title '' Autumn Road '' -

Written by Ruben Gonzalez, the article shows exclusively how to make a landscape with trails filled with muddy water and quagmires ( not the one from Family guy ) and very very wet soil, complete with foliage. He also went so far to mention splashes and splatter on the foliage.

Chapter 6 '' Flames of Weathering '' follows after the article -

Presented by Ruben Torregrosa, this chapter is more like a add-on for the previous article, focusing on a similar kind of terrain but with vehicles and infantry on it. What's really interesting is that the scale is only 1:144, the table top games scale. Its actually nice to see them include a tutorial on how to successfully work with table-top game scale.

Following this is an article titled '' Muddy Industrial Locotmotive '' (I know I used locomotive with wrong but that was how it was used in the book ) -

Maric Reusser brings us a nice tutorial on how to put clumps of mud on a moving object. Perfect for those who have difficulty trying to make clumps like me.

Then finally, we have the final chapter '' Soviet Spirit'' by Wu Bayin -

Wu Bayin's piece looks a combination of all the previous scenario. He showed us how to put on heavy mud ( really heavy) with various shades of mud to depict  various stages of the mud as well as a very wet vehicle.  If you would like to make a vehicle that has been so busy fighting for weeks, facing different kind of weather, this is the tutorial for such.

As usual from AK, you are greeted with 3 pages of reference photos. Those looks like the photos Mig took when he visited that Spanish Military Base some times ago ( I saw it on Facebook ) and other various ones-

and what comes afterward is '' Postcards from the world' where they put in photos from various model show around the world ( so many great stuffs there. Very inspiring)

Finally, you will come to the last page with the preview for Issue 6 -

The book had certainly helped me improve my knowledge on mud. Like Rust before this, I only have a small amount of knowledge on how to put on mud.
If you are somebody who just started to dwell into the world of weathering, OR somebody who is weak in this department, you definitely should get it without a second thought.

VERDICT - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ( A MUST HAVE )