AK Interactive
Aces High Magazine
Issue 1

Reviewed by Mick Drover

HyperScale is proudly supported by Squadron

AK Interactive have become synonymous over the last few years thanks to the weathering products they’ve released onto the market. In parallel with their weathering products they have also released How-to DVD’s, books and magazine. Their latest magazine, “Aces High” specifically covers the building, painting and weathering of aircraft concentrating on a specific topic each issue. In this first issue, the subject material are the night fighters of the Luftwaffe. Additional content in the magazine also includes two articles not necessarily specific to aircraft. These additional subjects are the step-by-step painting guide of a 1/32 Luftwaffe pilot figure and the painting and weathering of a 1/35 Kfz-385 Tankwagen.

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The most noticeable feature of the magazine is it’s striking glossy front page. Detailed step-by-step builds articles are provided for each. The layout continues on glossy medium weight paper throughout the magazine. Photography for each of the builds is high quality though if the images were any smaller, detail would certainly be lost. Descriptive commentary is provided for each of the images explaining issues encountered with construction right through the painting and weathering process. Several of the authors have provided excellent descriptive text for their build. The descriptions for techniques and products used to achieve the next step in the build process are succinct but appropriate. However, other authors have not quite provided the descriptive link for how a particular result was achieved. This could be attributed to the fact that english is not the native language of the writer.

Contents

1. 1/32 Zoukai Mourai Heinkel 219 A-0 ‘Uhu’ built by Aitor Azkue.
2. 1/32 Hasegawa Fw 190 A-6/R-11 built by Daniel Zamarbide
3. 1/48 MP He 177 A-5 built by André Montiel
4. 1/48 Dragon Me 262 B-1a/U1 built buy Hosé L. Echaide
5. 1/72 Eduard Bf 110 G-4/R3 built by Manuel Gil
6. 1/48 Eduard Bf 109 E-4 built by Tomás de la Fuente
7. 1/32 Ultracast Luftwaffe officer painted by Roberto Ramirez
8. 1/32 Italeri Kfz-385 Tankwagen painted and weathered by Francisco Javier Martinez Rodríguez

Conclusion

AK Interactive’s outstanding new publication is the first aircraft specific magazine that I’ve seen that provides such high quality and descriptive format. Another noticeable item is the number of images that are provided for each article. The He 219 build has 90 images alone.

It’s great to see a magazine that isn’t slathered from front to back with advertisements and kit reviews which can be found on the web. AK products feature predominantly but that is to be expected. Scale modelling is a visual hobby and this magazine provides exactly what is needed for those trying to emulate a style or develop new skills. The production is high quality and so is my recommendation.

Thanks to AK Interactive for the sample.

Review Copyright © 2014 by Mick Drover
This Page Created on 1 October, 2014
Last updated 2 October, 2014

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