Elements In Combat 2 - Frozen Hell

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Elements In Combat 2 - Frozen Hell
Author: Jonas Dahlberg, et.al.
Softcover - 96 pages
Publisher: Xtreme Modelling
Price: £22.99

Introduction

Xtreme Modelling is a Spanish company that publish a periodical magazine called...oddly enough...Xtreme Modelling. They have however, begun to produce a series of special titles and presentations covering different aspects of the military modelling sphere.

The book

This is the second in the series 'Elements in Combat' from Xtreme modelling, the first being 'Water under Modelling'. The English language version of that one has now sold out I believe, and it's just a guess....but I think it may have lost something in translation and was more centred around 'Under water Modelling', but contained pieces on including any water in dioramas.

This title is based around snow and ice and is subtitled 'Frozen Hell', although a couple of the works featured only contain the merest touch of either!

The book is softcover, A4 portrait, full colour of course, and perfect bound on high quality paper. It's beautifully presented, and features nine works, each covered by extensive photography from all angles and in close up. The builder of each piece explains briefly where the idea for the scene came from and then explains in more detail how the various effects were achieved.

The nine articles contained within the covers are broken down unevenly into three sections, 'White On Olive Drab', 'White On 04B' and 'White On Panzer Grey'. In the first section there are two dioramas, the first...'Shooter Down'...a rather unpleasing scene containing a Sherman, wishing well and a number of figures. This one really doesn't fit in well with the subject of the book, containing as it does only the merest hint of snow. I have to say that I didn't like this one. It's not that well executed, the snow for example being contrived and used to define the base, and even used around the edges of the base. For some reason I even found the figures unpleasant, and they have that 'bug-eyed' look about them.

The second feature also contains very little in the way of snow, although it does feature a white-washed M24 Chaffee. I don't know if 'Frozen Hell' could be applied to it though? Although much simpler than the first scene, it's far better executed, and the explanation of how the effects were achieved I found far better too.

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The third article, which is the first of the second section, is in my opinion the best in the book, featuring a T-26 breaking through the ice on a frozen ice or lake and the crew jumping for their lives. Now this is more like the sub title 'Frozen Hell'! The ice in this scene is made from Paraffin wax, a technique so ably used by Charles Reading in his award winning diorama a few years ago. The second article in this section shows an SU-76 crossing a log-filled snow encrusted trench.

In the last section there are five features:
Lost in the Steppe - A Panzer I towing a sled piled high with gear through a snow field,
White Hell - As the name suggests, plenty of snow in this one! It features a 38(t) stopped by a large rock where the crew have found a half-dead, wounded colleague.
Time For A Break - A 234/1 on a muddy, partially snow-covered track with a crew member standing in front.
Ground Threat - A 10.5cm FlaK 39, pointing to the sky in a snow-covered emplacement, with a crew member standing off to the side, hands in pockets.
Captured T-70 - A white-washed vehicle, abandoned half in a ditch behind a brick wall, with a German infantryman crouching in front of the wall.

Conclusion

Eight out of nine isn't bad! Seriously...there is some outstanding work featured here, and well worth a look out of interest. Also, if you're desperate to make snow and ice convincingly, then you can't go wrong. Recommended!

Thanks to Justin at Bookworld for the review sample. To see other titles from Xtreme Modelling, as well as those from other publishers, please see their website: BOOKWORLD