This year is, of course, the centenary of the start of the Great War. A lot of model and model accessory companies have already begun to acknowledge this gruesome hundredth-year anniversary with complementary kits and paints specific to the colors of what would later become known as World War I (or the First World War for our British friends, and IWW for most of Europe (I’m pretty sure…)).
Right now I am going to pay attention to two of the paint sets available from MIG Productions in order to help you get started on your Male and Female tanks, if you so choose to take up another great conflict. I guess what I mean by that is—by facts and figures, and sheer number of kits available—the bulk of the hobby of modeling is dedicated to World War II. Just run through one of Dragon Model Ltd.’s catalogues and you’ll see that, comparatively, they don’t even scratch the surface of before and after WWII. And, I have to admit that, my model-building interests are probably around 90% WWII (the rest is kooky monster kits… I wonder what a shrink would have to say about that?).
Anyway, let’s get to the MIG kits:
1) Set # A.MIG 7111 – British & German Camouflage tanks colors from 1914 to 1918
a) # A.MIG-074 Green Moss
b) # A.MIG-075 Stone Grey
c) # A.MIG-076 Brown Soil
d) # A.MIG-077 Dull Green
e) # A.MIG-078 Ochre Earth
f) # A.MIG-079 Brown Clay
2) Set # A.MIG 7110 French Tanks Colors Camouflage colors from 1914 to 1940 (IWW and IIWW)
a) # A.MIG-060 Pale Green
b) # A.MIG-061 Warm Sand-Yellow
c) # A.MIG-062 French Blue
d) # A.MIG-063 Pale Grey
e) # A.MIG-064 Brown Earth
f) # A.MIG-065 Forest Green
I received these kits, and honestly I was wondering when I was going to use them and what I was going to use them on? Like above where I told you my main modeling interests, where WWII falls first and foremost. And that’s not to mention that I already have every Pz.Kpfw. waiting to be built in every Ausf., being the complete completist that I am (that’s Panzerkampfwagen and Ausführung for yous and yours. I highly suggest that if you do not know either how to pronounce these words or what they mean, that you look up the definition and then you plug it into Google Translate and learn how to pronounce it. I see so many guys on youTube just making, like, disgusting sputtering sounds with their mouths when they’re doing product reviews, “I just got this really great PzzzaCrmpfawaz II Ohsuff B.—” or something, and it’s like, Isn’t this YOUR hobby? How come you don’t know what Pz.Kpfw. stands for? Or how to pronounce it? Or what the translation literally means? Get it together, People! Not only do we already look like dorks, but dorks are at least supposed to be overtly intelligent in regards to their specific arena of Dorkitude! “This is the end of Rant #1, please flip the tape over to continue…”)
So, like I was saying, I wasn’t exactly champing at the bit to go splurge on a new WWI model when I have—one sec, lemme count…
…
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—around 16 unbuilt German WWII models just lying around all, “When you gonna get over here and give me some of that good stuff, Baby? (I don’t know why when I anthropomorphized my German tanks they became comely lasses, but they just did, okay? Oh, and whatever I have going on with the Gundam models is strictly so they can get their U.S. visas sorted out… ahem.)
But let’s just lay it out right now, MIG has really just “bumrushed the show” (if you don’t mind my early hip-hop reference) in terms of breaking onto the scene and conquering the modeling world. They have set new standards, they have made once seemingly completely outré techniques the new norm, and they have consolidated and stream-lined all the means of weathering into practices that are completely their own. And out of fear of being called out for quoting encouraging refrigerator magnets, I will go ahead and say that, yes, I stole this from a refrigerator magnet: MIG’s only true competition is themselves. That is how far ahead of the game they are. So I knew once I got these sets, they would be useful no matter whether I decided to scrap all my WWII Pz.Kpfw.s (dear Lord NEVER!) and start exclusively building WWI models, or if I just saw where they fit in with my current interests and style.
And lo and behold, I have been using these paints more than anything else on my shelf lately. And not because I became an exclusive WWI modeler. Heck, I still don’t own one WWI model.
But let me just tell you that, well, one: I am a TOTAL sucker for box sets. I LOVE them! I love the packaging, I love getting more than one thing in a box, and I like the unexpected uses I find for all of the items included. And therein lies the reason why I give these such a high grade: these seem to be all the between colors that you have such a hard time finding—or Heaven forbid, MIXING! Blecch! What is this, 1852?
The reason these sets have gotten SO much use from me is that they are the perfect highlight-shadow-dirt-weathering-dust-uniform enhancement colors that I have been trying to pinpoint for years now! And both of these sets together fill every in between color void I have ever had to come across! So, in concluding this little remark, I recommend these even MORE for strictly WWII enthusiasts because they fill in the gaps in your basic paint collections where you thought there might potentially be NO ready-made colors to be found for your most common, yet least basic needs…
And one last thing, talk about being your only competition, the addition of steel bearings inside EACH paint bottle ensures the smoothest, easiest flowing, and best mixed paints direct out of the bottle I’ve EVER had the privilege of using. With some paints you feel that after using them a few times maybe too much pigment stayed at the bottom of the bottle the first few shakes and then the next time you used it you thought it might even be a totally different color than you remembered just because you couldn’t obtain the same mix from the bottle (maybe your shaking hand is a little off, or maybe you had a martini too many the night before and your natural shake is offsetting your “paint” shake…) well, whatever the problem is, it isn’t a problem anymore with MIG’s addition of the steel bearings. Painting has never been more consistent than it is now.
Highly recommended!
