ACES HIGH Magazine, HYDRO (Issue 12, AK2923), AK Interactive

The 12th issue of Aces High magazine, published by AK Interactive, is dedicated to the Seaplanes of WWII and WWI. For this special issue, there are articles of some of the best and well-known modelers and they explain a lot of their personal techniques, with a beautiful layout and great photos.

This issue, as Daniel Zamarbide, the chief editor explains, is focused also on developing the painting & weathering techniques to create water effects. “It is important to take away the fear of the modeler to recreate this type of scenes” says Daniel and we couldn’t agree more!

The first model in this issue is the Kittyhawk’s Vought OS2U Kingfisher in 1/32nd scale by Daniel Zamarbide (12 pages) painted in yellow and blue, early pre-WW2 era colors.

The second model is the Wingnut Wings Hansa Brandenburg W.12 (early) seaplane in 1/32 scale by Jeroen Veen, painted with an interesting mix of greys and finished with special hexagon decals (12 pages).

The third model (10 pages) is a popular theme in 1/72 scale: The PBY Catalina from the Academy kit by Vitor Costa. Vitor shows us some useful techniques for this scale with many step by step close-up photos, using MRP paints, traditional thinned oil colors, AK Interactive filters and special effects washes.

The fourth and final model (18 pages!) is the new tool Supermarine Walrus 1/48th scale Airfix kit, built and described by Juan Villegas. Using thin strips of masking tape and some useful techniques he obtained a very realistic weathered finish. Oddly, in 18 pages there is not a single word describing anything about the beautiful rigging! (We understand this is not a volume about biplanes -or rigging techniques- but nevertheless, we were left wondering…)

Next, we read about some very interesting and practical water effects techniques, by Bera Caroly (14 pages), using three models to show us depth effects, still or open water effect, shaping waves, tips, finishing products, resins, plaster, cotton, etc. Step by step and close-up photos help to explain what is in the mind of the author and the beautiful results, realistically transforming the base for each diorama.

All text is mainly placed in the explanatory captions and this makes this issue very easy to enjoy. A must read if you are interested in seaplanes model building. Highly recommended!

You can order Aces High magazine here.