Episode 36: Mike Hilleary, some thoughts on that IPMS editorial, and an auction of some classic Shep Paine box dioramas

To get this episode rolling, Barry and Jim had a splendid chat with Mike Hilleary, the Connecticut-based modeler they consider one of the best painters in America today. Since they discussed his work on display at MFCA in their “mock-judging” session with Greg DiFranco in the last episode, they forgo picking some favorites as usual in this show, but they couldn’t resist sharing a few more examples of Mike’s excellent work.

The boys also used the opportunity of a question left on the show’s voice mail to discuss that recent editorial in the IPMS Journal by the group’s president David Lockhart, which effectively claimed that there would be no modeling shows in the U.S. without the group, and that people who come to and exhibit at its shows without being active members of the club are “freeloaders.” It prompted a lot of comments online, and both Lockhart and the group have since apologized for the, um, bad wording, but Jim argues that it was nonetheless indicative of a hubristic and narrow-minded attitude on the part of many (not all) of the club’s leaders.

Finally, on a much cheerier note, Jim tells the story of the recent auction in Beloit, WI, of some of the classic box dioramas by Shep Paine and others, as well as some of the “super-dioramas” by Bob Letterman and Lewis Pruneau, from the collection of the late Ralph Koebbeman. Your hosts, working with Joe Berton, Darryl Audette, Nick Infield, and Dennis Levy, endeavored to save as many of the boxes as possible for Shep’s estate, with the hope of displaying them at the MMSI Chicago Show in October, and a gallery show in the future. All of the lights had burned out, but thankfully, there was no other serious damage.

The following are shots from Beloit, and the boxes that Joe, Jim, and Darryl won back home at Jim’s place, where he’s been busy on the restoration work ever since. To read about Jim’s work replacing the old incandescent bulbs with modern LEDs to preserve these brilliant pieces for another half-century, visit the newly updated Shep Paine gallery on this site, and the associated sub-pages to chart the work on “In the Turret of the Monitor,” “The Swamp Ogre,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “The Nightwatch,” “A Stillness at Appomattox,” “Matthew Brady’s Photographic Gallery,” “In the Casemate of the Merrimac,” and “Stopping the Slave Trade.”

Episode 35: MFCA 2023 and some "judging" discussions with Barry, Jim, and Greg DiFranco

The scene in one of the display rooms at MFCA 2023 as artists and enthusiasts were just beginning to filter in. (Photo by Penny Meyer)

On May 5 and 6, your hosts once again traveled to the outskirts of Philadelphia for the 80th Annual Show sponsored by the Miniature Figure Collectors of America, one of the premier exhibitions of miniature arts in the U.S. In this episode, Barry and Jim offer some thoughts on the show recorded after the fact, as well as some live recordings amidst all of the fun on Saturday morning—an audio vérité first for Small Subjects!

Since the process of judging remains a mystery to many artists who’ve never availed themselves of the opportunity to shadow/apprentice judge at one of the shows under the Open System, the idea was to offer more insight into the sorts of conversations judges have while assessing some truly incredible displays. Together with master miniaturist Greg DiFranco (interviewed here way back on Episode 8), Barry and Jim formed a mock “judging team” (that is, they weren’t actually judging while recording, nor were they mocking anything) to assess the work on display by three stellar artists: fantasy painter Erik Swinson, Greek sculptor and painter Christos Panagiotopoulos, and Gold-Medal fantasy and historical painter Mike Hilleary.

As we explain in our introduction to this segment, the actual team of three judges assigned to any given area (Fantasy Painters and Open/Original, Historical Painters and Open/Original, and Ordnance Painters and Open/Original) look at the work on display by each artist, come to a consensus in discussion about the piece they think is the strongest and which will give the artist the highest award, then individually score those pieces for a Certificate of Merit (1 point), Bronze (2 points), Silver (3 points), or Gold (4 points) medal, ideally without comparing their scores. For our purposes, we each talked about our favorites by Erik, Christos, and Mike, then waxed rhapsodic—or at least tried to—about what we loved about them. As always, any group of three judges will see the work from three different and unique viewpoints, and it’s always rewarding to hear those thoughts.

The list of awards at MFCA can be found here, along with the slide show from the awards presentation, which includes some additional photos of the work we discussed, and all of the other Gold-Medal pieces. Unless otherwise noted, the photos here are by the great Penny Meyer (our guest on Episode 4). Thanks as always for listening, and whether you were at MFCA, or you’re just getting a sense of the show virtually by listening to this episode and reading this blog post, we hope it does for you what it did for us: giving us that great burst of renewed energy to get back to the workbench, putty, and paint!

“Blaine Bloodhoof” by painter Erik Swinson and sculptor Joaquin Palacios, a Gold-Medal winner in Fantasy Open and the Best of Show Fantasy winner.

The stunning display in Historical Open/Original by Christos Panagiotopoulos (photo by Jim DeRogatis).

The Christos piece Greg and Jim chose to “judge” at top, “L’ Amour” (photo by Jim DeRogatis), and the one Barry was first drawn to below, “Draconarius of Excubitores Guard” (photo by Paul Tomczak from the MFCA Awards presentation). The latter won the Gold Medal in the actual judging, but every piece Christos showed prompted an enthusiastic, “Wow!”

Christos with Penny Meyer and the Day of the Dead sculpt he did for her. We can’t wait to see her paint it!

Above: Mike Hilleary’s display. Once again, our mock judging team deviated from the piece that won Mike a Gold: “Erika.” (Photo at top by Jim DeRogatis; photo below by Paul Tomczak from the MFCA Awards Presentation.)

Here’s Mike’s Marilyn bust, which your “judges” would have awarded a Gold (crappy zoomed-in photo by Jim DeRogatis).

Just a few more favorites. Above: Gary Baker’s “Alas” (an Historical Painters Gold; look at that hair!) and…

Mindy Moore’s “Dragon Priestess,” which won a well-deserved Silver medal in Fantasy Painters, and...

“Hungary, 1945,” Greg Cihlar’s 1/16 vignette (photo by Paul Tomczak from the MFCA Awards Presentation). Greg, a guest on Episode 28, was honored as this year’s MFCA Grand Master.

Best of Show Historical, “Defending the Colors” by Bill Horan (photo by Paul Tomczak from the MFCA Awards presentation).

And here’s the Small Subjects Fantasy Bust Group Build! From left, work by Justin Ryan, Gary Baker, Jack Lynch, Jim DeRogatis, Joan Biediger, and Barry Biediger. Didn’t finish your bust in time to show it or didn’t make it to MFCA? No worries! The Group Build is still open and will be on display at the MMSI Chicago Show, Oct. 20-21, 2023.

Finally, as is often said, the biggest reason to go to any miniatures show is the camaraderie of good friends. Here are some photos by Penny of your hosts enjoying the company of Joe Berton and Jack Lynch (top) and Jim Rice, Joe, Joan Biediger, and Scott Baroody (middle), as well as a picture of Greg DiFranco and Jon Harbuck in the Hospitality Suite. (Joe was supposed to get a photo of Greg with your hosts doing their “mock judging,” but he got distracted, so this will have to do! Jon won a Silver Medal for his wonderful “flats box,” “Gassed,” a Gold at MMSI last year, and the subject of an article in the club’s journal The Scabbard, which you can download for free here.)

“Gassed” by Jon Harbuck (photo by Bob Sarnowski).

Episode 34: Joe Berton

Your hosts Barry and Jim first talked to their pal Joe Berton (along with fellow MMSI stalwart Pat Vess) back on Episode 16, chatting about painting in acrylics and the benefits of modeling clubs, but they’ve been wanting to do an entire episode focusing on his body of work and many insights into the hobby ever since. Now, here it is!

Based in Oak Park, IL, Joe has been an active modeler since his teens in the early 1970s, and he is one of the most acclaimed artists and well-loved friend-to-all in the miniatures hobby. A retired art teacher, he’s a man with a million stories (and a rather famous alter ego, at least among baseball fans). We enjoyed every minute of talking with him, and feel like we’ve only scratched the surface, so we may well have to consider a recurring segment. (We do love the idea he floated of “Travels with Shep.”) Meanwhile, as always, we picked some of our favorite pieces to discuss after this interview, and you can see more of Joe’s work here. Enjoy, and thanks to a recent grant from the Shep Paine Education Fund for keeping this podcast coming.

Barry & Jim joint pick: “Van Gogh’s Bedroom,” Joe’s first box diorama in 2021.

Barry Pick #1: “Van Gogh at Arles.”

Jim Pick #1: “Monet at Giverny.”

Barry Pick #2: “The Rug Sellers.”

Jim Pick #2: “Desert Laddie.”

And one more: “Revolt in the Desert” (Joe does love his camels, and Jim loves how this piece echoes Shep Paine’s famous Historex mounted trios).

Episode 33: Just a Little Left Field: Ingvild Eiring's Whimsical, Wonderful Box Dioramas

Our miniatures hobby world can sometimes seem a bit insular, excluding the work of other creators whose talents and sensibilities are very much aligned with our own, even if they don’t strictly fall into the categories of historical, fantasy, and ordnance that we regularly feature at our shows. Your hosts have been big fans of Ingvild Eiring’s box dioramas since she first made us aware of them by emailing this Web site and asking if we thought it would make sense to add a gallery for her. Heck yes!, we said, and what’s more, we thought we could learn a lot by chatting with this extraordinary artist, since she straddles the worlds of our pursuit, the dollhouse hobby, and fine art. (She has had several gallery exhibitions, and her work is much sought-after by collectors.)

Raised in Bodø, Norway, and currently based in Oslo, Ingvild studied fashion design and has worked with costumes and styling in film and advertising since the mid-nineties, as well as doing some modeling for artistic photographers in Europe and the U.S. She has been building her box dioramas since 2011, working in 1/12th scale, and sculpting and scratchbuilding everything in her elaborate, evocative scenes, which often have a macabre tone and dark sense of humor that we love.

As noted above, you can see more of Ingvild’s work in her gallery on this site as well as on her own web site. As usual, after the chat, Barry and Jim discuss some of their favorites of Ingvild’s boxes, and then talk about various and sundry other issues, including attempting to answer a question about judging from Australian listener and modeler Jamie Stokes, and Barry offering Jim some advice on soldering and stripping fine wires (he’s at the lighting stage of his own latest box). Thanks as always for listening!

Barry Pick #1: “Where We’re From the Birds Sing a Pretty Song and There’s Always Music in the Air”

Jim Pick #1: “Your Mother Sews Socks in Hell”

Barry Pick #2: “‘Tis the Wind and Nothing More”

Jim Pick #2: “Portrait Of The Artist As a Young Mouse”

Episode 32: Talking Modeling and Chemistry with Travis Haussener

On this episode, we talk with one of Barry’s fellow modelers from Utah, Travis Haussener, who, despite the shared passion for miniatures and modeling, differs from him and co-host Jim in two pretty significant ways: Athleticism (you won’t find either of us getting buried in an avalanche, mainly because you’d never find either of us on skis), and, um, he holds a PhD in organic chemistry. We thought we could glean some insights into a lot of stuff we use on the workbench all the time without having much of a clue about how it works—or what we may be doing to ourselves by inhaling or ingesting it. We were not disappointed, and in fact, we’ve already got a long list of questions for a second round with Travis in the future (and maybe his physician wife, too). Modeling may not be as dangerous as skiing off-trail in the mountains, but then again, stabbing yourself with the X-acto or spilling a bottle of plastic cement is no picnic, either. Enjoy!

Above: Travis pursuing his other favorite hobby, and a shot of the consequences of getting buried by an avalanche. Below: Some examples of his modeling, a somewhat safer pursuit (unless you don’t wear a mask while sanding or you drink your plastic cement!).

Episode 31: Tools (And Other Stuff) That We CAN Live Without

Last September, on Episode 27, Barry and Jim had a lot of fun talking about “Tools They Can’t Live Without,” and they got some great feedback from listeners (as well as some good-natured grumbling about all the money they cost their friends by stocking up on some of those goodies!). For the first podcast of 2023, they deliver the sequel they promised back then: Tools (And Other Stuff) They Hate (according to Jim), or Tools (And Other Stuff) That Just Haven’t Worked for Him (according to Barry, who is overall a kinder person). Here are some pix of the offending gear and products, with the proviso that, hey, maybe they HAVE worked for you, and if so, congrats! As always, the boys welcome your feedback—leave them a voice message here—and they appreciate you listening. Onward!

The Glue Looper.

The Dremel Flexi-Shaft attachment.

The Proxon Mini-Jigsaw, with the inconvenient (and possible dangerous) on/off switch circled.

The Proxon Rotary Tool, which Jim loves, except for that bit-swap-out button.

The Micro-Mark Mini Table Saw, which Jim also loves, except for that blade guard (since removed) which didn’t allow cutting longer pieces.

The Grab Handler.

The Etch Mate.

Mission Models Paint.

The Flexi-File.

A pin vise push drill (and yeah, they’ve tried several different brands, and no, none have worked for them).

The dreaded plastic sanding needles.

The useless steel blocks Barry cheaped out on.

The Infini Easycutting Matt.

Episode 30: Will Pattison

One of our favorite and most outspoken voices in the hobby, we thought it was long overdue for us to chat with Will Pattison, especially since Jim needed some advice on chipping, and Will is the master! Based in New Mexico, Will studied mechanical engineering and worked in that field for some time; he has also worked as a professional photographer, and his work can be seen here. On the modeling tip, Will frequently posts to the Scale Modelers Critique Group on Facebook, shares his knowledge on his YouTube Channel, and talks modeling and other things with co-hosts Tracy Hancock and Chris Meddings on the Sprue Cutters Union podcast, and he’s written for several hobby magazines. Pictured below is a sampling of his work, including the Mustang that brought him back to modeling as occupational therapy, and several figures that he is far too eager to deride (we think they’re pretty great!). Thanks as always for listening, and a quick note that you might want to take this one in on headphones, since we quickly abandoned any attempt to edit Will’s at-times “colorful” language.

Episode 29: Master Sculptor Mike Good

Given the extensive catalog of his work currently available to painters—as well as many sought-after pieces that have fallen (at least temporarily) out of production—the name of California-based miniature sculptor Mike Good should be familiar to many in our hobby. Despite being a major behind-the-scenes presence for five decades, and a master at capturing famous historic personalities, Mike is another brilliant but self-effacing artist not prone to a lot of self-promotion; he’s not even on social media! But we can think of few other sculptors who deserve your attention more, and in this episode, we talk with him about his work, his interests, and his methodology. We very much enjoyed the time we spent in his company, and we think you will, too. As always, after our chat, we talked about some of our favorite Mike Good pieces, and we also recommend you check out his many sculpts for Model Cellar here, and this step-by-step article on creating a WWII German motorcyclist on Planet Figure, which nicely illustrates his process. Thanks as always for listening!

Barry Pick #1: Highland Clansman at Culloden, 1746, for Kirin

Jim Pick #1: Spanish Guerrilla for ER Miniatures

Barry Pick #2: Cab Calloway for Kings Road Miniatures (and Barry recommends checking out this scene from Geechy Joe that inspired it)

Jim Pick #2: Attila the Hun for Fer Miniatures

And here are the classic Post Militaire 110mm white metal Battle of Britain aces that Jim scored at the MMSI Flea Market a while back. He put the painting on a hold for a bit, saddened by Vati’s head falling on the floor and smashing his nose in, but he’ll pick it up again—these beauties are too great not to finish!

Episode 28: Greg Cihlar

In this episode, Barry and Jim talk with Chicago-area modeler Greg Cihlar, a consistently gold-medal maker of striking dioramas and vignettes in the historical world (World War II a specialty) who’s also branched out to do some stunning work in the fantasy realm. The owner of a small home-remodeling company by day, Greg is amazingly prolific at his work bench by night, and as a member of Generation X, he brings some interesting perspectives to both the future of the hobby and its history. (Greg became close with Francois Verlinden as well as Shep Paine, contributing to the last armor modeling book that Jim edited after Shep’s death.) As always, after their chat, your hosts pick some of their favorite pieces by Greg and discuss what they love about them.

Jim Pick #1: Russian KVI (photo by Bob Sarnowski)

Barry Pick#1: SU-76 vignette

Jim Pick #2: Severax (photo by Bob Sarnowski)

Barry Pick #2: Ukraine, Fall 1944

Esisode 27: Tools (and Other Stuff) We Can't Live Without

In this episode, Barry and Jim wax rhapsodic about tools and other stuff they can’t live without on their workbenches—and they have A LOT of fun doing it!

Above: Knives out! Top: the many blades that fit the trusty X-Acto; middle: the X-Acto “gripster,” which tightens from the bottom, and the “Micro Knife Set” from Micro-Mark.

It’s worth buying the good toothpicks (top); below: some of Jim’s toothpick sculpting tools, one end pointed, one rounded, coated in several layers of Super Glue.

Putties: Aves Apoxie Sculpt (Barry likes the white, Jim likes the natural, but he also likes Magic-Sculpt); Kneadatite (or Duro or Green Stuff—buy it in these tubes, NOT the ribbons, because the center where the yellow touches the blue begins to harden in that form), and an example of fast-setting plumber’s putty, useful for quickly setting a pose on a wire mannequin.

Jim’s trusty putty-flattening metal rod (top) and an example of K&S Brass rods (made in Chicago!); buy lots of sizes every time you see ‘em in stock, because you can never have enough of the size you’re looking for (and the tubes are great, too). And, as Barry says: PIN EVERYTHING!

Jim’s got two regular Dremels, but he finds himself most often reaching for the Dremel Stylus with a lithium-ion battery (these don’t seem to be readily available anymore, although they’re still listed on Dremel’s web site, and they should have a universal chuck, but they don’t). Barry prefers the Proxon motor tool (and here’s a video showing it in use).

Carbide Scrapers; not cheap, but invaluable! (Rio Rondo is a web site for folks who sculpt scale horses, and it has a lot of tools of use for figure sculptors, too.) Barry also recommends the ceramic scraper from U-star.

When the toothpick ain’t doing it: rubber-tipped Colour Shapers, excellent for sculpting folds in clothing.

The JLC Razor Saw (top) and the “button/rivet-pressing set” Jim mentions. He got both from UMM-USA, a.k.a. “Johnny Czech,” who’s a great supporter of the hobby and a vendor at many shows with an endless array of useful tools for modelers.

Kim Wipes and medical swabs (both better than regular tissues or cotton swabs because they don’t shed) and microbrushes (for applying glue when a toothpick just won’t do).

Top: a dissection probe; below: Barry’s dental tools, homemade brass-rod sculpting tools, and trusty old pin vise.

Parafilm, Barry’s choice for many (though not all) masking jobs.

Jim loves his Chopper for cutting uniform pieces of bass wood or plastic, and he absolutely cannot live without Liquid Vaseline for sculpting, casting, and lubricating drills and saws. (It can be hard to find, but it’s worth the effort; there’s none on Amazon at the moment, but there is some here.)

Top: Barry is loving his 3-D Printer; below: some busts he’s recently printed out from files on the Web.

The boys left their tool talk there for now, although they could clearly go on and on (and may eventually revisit this topic). They end this episode, however, by talking about some emails, submissions, and questions they’ve recently gotten from listeners. They chat a bit in response to a voice mail left by Jamie Stokes questioning whether storytelling is possible with a bust. (They think so, and they’d love to see some submissions from other modelers who’ve tried!) And speaking of submissions, inspired by the episode encouraging plastic modelers to get over their fear of painting figures, Robbie Nauftts sent the photo below of his first attempt at a 1/48th mechanic to accompany one of his wonderful aircraft. Well-done!

Finally, inspired by the boys’ talk about box dioramas, the Plastic Crack Podcast Facebook Group, a community of dedicated wargamers, conducted a challenge for its members to try their hand at this form. Listener Warren Cann sent us the following photos (which we’ll soon add to a full gallery on this site) and wrote, “I can say with certainty that all these efforts were the first ever attempts at box dioramas (excepting primary school shoe-box creations! ). Five people entered; two of them submitted TWO boxes.” The artists are, from the top: Gazza Phillips (“Escher gangers of the Decaying Weapons Clan led by gang sister Reva Venomsong move through the depths of the hive city close to the territorial borders with the Goliath Meatnecks”); Roy Bottomley (“Decent into the Depths of the Earth”); two boxes by Steven Brewster (“Sir Bors the Younger loses his head and fails to kill the Beast of Caerbannog (Anyone seen the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch about recently?)” and “Ascension”; two by Tony Phillips (“The Hunted or the Hunter?” and “The Last of the Mohicans”), and Warren’s own effort (“The Witch's Cabin”). Fantastic first attempts, one and all!

Episode 26: Actor, playwright, and modeler Pat McGrath

Based in Dublin, armor modeler and orc sculptor Pat McGrath is a talented miniaturist, as well as a fine artist, an actor and a playwright; he performed a brilliant one-man show about our hobby, Small Plastic Wars (which we urge you to listen to here), that stands, as far as your hosts Barry and Jim know, as the only theatrical masterpiece exclusively about this odd pursuit of ours. We had a wonderful time talking with Pat, first at the IPMS Nationals in Omaha and then for the podcast, and we include some of his work as well as pictures of him performing his play below. After our chat, we talk about two of the themes in the play: modeling as therapy and (again) the idea of exhibiting vs. competition, and then we chat a bit about other appearances of our hobby in film and television. We throw this out to you, our listeners, since we’re sure we’ve missed many of them: What are YOUR favorites? Call our message line and let us know, and we’ll air your picks/comments on a future episode. Meanwhile, thanks as always for listening.

Above: Some fine examples of Pat’s armor modeling. And below…

A sampling of Pat’s orcs. Then there’s his “fine art,” some of examples of which follow.

Finally, the actor/playwright in action with Small Plastic Wars onstage. Note the photo of his (and our) “dad” at right in the bottom shot.

Finally, here are some notable scenes of miniatures and modeling from films and television that we mention at the end of this episode; top to bottom: The 40-Year-Old Virgin; Three Days of the Condor; Ronin; House of Cards, and Babylon Berlin . We’d love to hear from YOU about more, so leave us a message on our hotline and we’ll air it!

Episode 25: Talking about the IPMS Nationals with John Bonanni

Above: “The Most IPMS Photo Ever” (a spectator shines his flaw-finding flashlight into Jim’s box diorama).

In July, Barry and Jim attended the national convention and “contest” (oh, that word!) sponsored by the International Plastic Modelers’ Society in Omaha, Nebraska. Your hosts had a great time ogling the bounty of incredible work on the full-to-overflowing tables, spending money in the vendors’ rooms, attending and participating in some fascinating panels, and hanging with friends new and old. Barry won first place in Figure Vignettes (Category 740) for his box diorama “NYC, 1977”, while Jim took third place in Aircraft Dioramas (Category 714) for “Night Raid, 1945.” We mention this only by way of emphasizing that the criticisms we level in this episode about the IPMS approach to judging and the competitive mindset of “first, second, and third place” are not motivated by sour grapes, but by the sincere belief that the Open System used at MMSI, MFCA, World Expo, and most figures shows is fairer, friendlier, more accurate, and far more inspiring to the modelers (or dare we say “artists?”) who participate and show their work.

John Bonanni, above, is the second executive vice present of IPMS, and he agrees with many of our thoughts. He’s valiantly agitating for change that, surprisingly, he says most IPMS members support. We shared our thoughts about the IPMS Nats and its system in conversation with John, a talented modeler who primarily favors armor, and who’s written for Fine Scale Modeler, in addition to hosting the Plastic Posse Podcast with T.J. Haller, Doug Smith, Ivan Jensen Taylor, Grant Mayberry and Scott Gentry. (Their motto: "There is NO wrong way to enjoy Scale Modeling!") Below are some examples of John’s work. We chose pieces with figures, and while he’s insecure about his figure-painting, we think his little men look pretty good—as does the rooster!

Below: More snap shots from the IPMS Nats. Jim took the first two, the “group build” of Sherman variants by podcasters (Barry’s is in there, just in front of the whitewashed tank), and the fantasy table, which was already full by early Wednesday as the show was just getting started. As in the figure world, fantasy is the quickest-growing category at IPMS.

During our chat with John, we talked about the coins left at some models by “The Mystery Modelers Syndicate,” a sort of non-sanctioned auxiliary honor which only underscores how stingy the IPMS “first, second, third” prizes can be. These photos are from a Facebook post by Barry’s pal, Utah modeler Martin Drayton.

Finally, we got this great email from listener John Alberts. We didn’t want to read his kind comments about our endeavor in the show (though we greatly appreciate them!) but we did want to answer his questions. Here is what he wrote:

“Have been into collecting and painting miniature soldiers from 1975 until the present time. At age 10 my parents bought me the Tamiya 1/35 German Infantry which started me off on this pursuit of miniature soldier painting. In the 1980s I walked to my local hobby shop (Hub Hobby is still open) here in New Orleans every Saturday until college and grad school. Built and painted Monogram and Tamiya military miniatures. In my late 20s returned to the hobby but this time painting 54 to 120 mm figures. Last few years have been painting flats.

”I write this and the introduction to let you know I find your podcasts very familiar with all the well known guests, the discussion of the hobby literature, and your assessment of the hobby’s techniques, methods, and standards. Small Subjects has the feel and style of the long gone hobby magazines, particularly Military Modelling. From show coverage, to the “modelers and their models,” to covering show stopping pieces, it feels like the last century but with the modern conveyance of information. Wanted to share that the style of your podcast comes across as genuine and respectful of the subject matter and the people. It is entertaining. The run time flies by for the listener. The content has been well balanced and enlightening—how-to’s and personalities, fantasy and historical, past and present. Ya’ll come across as polished and professional, disciplined. The interaction is natural. The podcast seems well thought out, planned, and executed; it flows well. Well done and hope both of the hosts keep it up.

”Hope to hear more about flats! Penny Myers and Greg DiFranco did not seem enough. Also, want to hear more about the details of “boxed dioramas,” although Paine’s chapter in his first book is titled “Shadow Boxes.” The symbiosis with the Boxed Dioramas website is very helpful. The discussion about measurements, lining material, and lighting was inspiring. What about groundwork? Is forced perspective assumed— from size of rubble, to walls, details? What is a minimum depth of a box diorama? Something along the lines of the “reveal rule” was very helpful. Paine wrote to build a shadow box diorama the same as an open diorama; do you have an elaboration of that advice?

”In short, thank ya’ll for the Small Subjects podcast and the website. The work and effort is appreciated.”—John Alberts, New Orleans

Episode 24: Pat Stansell

In addition to being a fine armor modeler, Pat is a helluva funny guy, who wrote to your hosts saying he’d be eager to chat with us, after we mentioned our enduring fondness for the late, lamented magazine he edited, Military Miniatures in Review. Eager to get the story behind the sad demise of that fine mag, as well as to hear what Pat is currently up to in Delray Beach, Florida (his new publishing company can be found here), we had quite a few laughs, and thoroughly enjoyed our chat. We hope you will, too!

 A sampling of MMiR covers.

Coming soon: Pat’s new and (greatly) expanded Bible on the Sherman tank. (Photo above from the new Emfour Publishing Co. here.)

Above and below: a small sampling of Pat’s armor models, which, as he points out, almost always include a figure (or “mini-man,” in the old MMiR parlance).

After our chat with Pat, your hosts discuss the controversial term “rivet counter.” (From the Wik definition: “A person who has an obsession with the minutiae of their particular interest, especially in military and technology history. Anyone preoccupied with small distinguishing features between different items.”

Episode 23: Calvin Tan

Based in Singapore, Calvin Tan has been recognized as one of the most talented sculptors and figure painters in the world, especially among those working with WWII subjects. A graduate of RMIT University who is now the Department Chair at DigiPen Institute of Technology, he’s one of the most eloquent artists we’ve interviewed on this podcast in terms of drawing connections between what we do in miniature (his favored scales: 1/35 and 1/16) and what some of the grand masters did in the realm of fine art; as he pointed out, there is plenty to learn from them, even if the connections aren’t always obvious. Calvin has an excellent blog where you can follow his works in progress here, and, as always, after our chat, your hosts pick several of his pieces to discuss in depth.

Barry Pick #1: Landser, Stalingrad, 1942

Jim Pick # 1: CSA, 5th Texas Infantry, 1863

Barry Pick #2: US Tank Crew 5th Armored Div Hurtgen 1944

Jim Pick #2: Raucherspause 1941, in-progress, and the finished piece.

Calvin’s signature set of German uniform mixes, available from AK here.

Shep Paine’s diorama “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” with a German .88 hidden in a church, which we discussed with Calvin.

Episode 22: Barry and Jim Talk Box Dioramas

In this episode, Barry and Jim discuss a subject near and dear to their hearts: box dioramas. You probably know about their fondness for this specialized form of modelling already; in addition to hosting the Web site where the blog for this podcast resides, Barry has built 10 gold-medal-winning boxes, while Jim has done 19. (In comparison, one of their big inspirations, Shep Paine, did a total of 25—or 26, depending on how you count, as they say in their conversation.) Barry’s gallery is here, Jim’s is here, and Shep’s is here. (Also be sure to check out the boxes by Dennis Levy and Nick Infield, if you didn’t do so already after the boys’ chats with those artists on episodes 15 and 11.)

Among the box-building topics they tackle: what drew them to boxes; what makes a good box idea; the importance of planning and mock-ups, and the two subjects that seem to scare some of the most accomplished modellers off trying a box themselves: lighting/electricity and woodworking/building the box. We don’t want to duplicate too much of what is already on this site (be sure to click the links for the additional views/step-by-step articles for most of their boxes, which feature many of the details they discuss). But a few useful images follow, after Jim and Barry stay with the pattern they’ve set for every interview, choosing two favorite boxes to highlight by each other.

Barry pick #1: Jim’s “Night Raid, 1945.”

Jim pick #1: Barry’s “Recruitment of the Young Guard.”

Barry pick #2: Jim’s “Harsh Awakening (Moscow, 1812).”

Jim pick #2: Barry’s “NYC, 1977.”

Barry has always been a little skeptical about the need for a reveal in a box (perhaps because his are much smaller than Jim’s, with smaller viewing windows that let less room light in). Jim drew this diagram to illustrate how the reveal can kill all room light if the inner scene is set back 3 to 4 inches (that’s the magic number) from the viewing window in the frame/mat. The reveal, like the one below for Jim’s “Il Cenaclo,” is also useful as a truss for Jim’s LED mini-spotlights, and, as Barry admits, it also put some distance between the scene and the viewer, helping them focus.

The boys can’t overestimate the importance of mocking up the scene before doing anything else. This doesn’t have to be super-elaborate: Scrap figures can be used, along with a cardboard box, some styrofoam, and cardboard or rulers for framing the scene, but you have to think of the size of the scene and what will be visible through the viewing window right from the start. Jim illustrates below in a series of planning mock-ups from his current box-in-progress.

Below is one of Barry’s LED mounts made out of Evergreen tube, sheet, and strip plastic. As can be seen, pieces of lighting gels can be slid into the frame in front of the LED to color the light.

The lighting gel sample packs can be bought from any photography or theatrical lighting shop and many places online. Here is an example of one of the ones we use the most: Rosco Cinegel Swatchbook

Episode 21: Taesung Harmms

Alpine Miniatures is one of the highest-quality producers of resin figures in the hobby’s marketplace today, most of them WWII subjects (though it has begun branching out to Civil War) and most of them in 1/35th scale (though it also produces some beautiful 1/16h pieces). Taesung Harmms founded Alpine nearly two decades ago, taking the name from another town near his home in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and he is the company’s driving force, artistic director, and primary sculptor. A native of Seoul who came to the U.S. after high school and attended college at New York’s Cooper Union, his passion for the hobby and concern for quality is in evidence in every figure Alpine releases, as he explained during our chat. As always, after the interview, we chose some of our favorite pieces that he’s sculpted, all of which are available as part of the Alpine line, as well as talking about WWII figures in general. We also add a few more thoughts about medals in the wake of MFCA 2022. Thanks for listening!

Barry Pick #1: US Third Armored Division Staff Sergeant.

Jim Pick #1: U.S. Tanker, Bastogne.

Barry Pick #2: British Tank Commanders.

Jim Pick #2: U.S. Tanker in Viet Nam.

Jim’s minor conversion of the tanker as a Pibber crewman (he’s not thrilled with the painting), and his Pibber diorama with the water that went bad (it should have been more transparent, but he was lucky to salvage it at all after he screwed up the resin mix).

The General Lee figure Taesung mentioned in our interview.

Taesung’s go-to sculpting and carving tools (some of the former he made himself).

Episode 20: Marion and Alan Ball and MFCA 2022

Painter Marion and sculptor Alan, happily married since 2003, are one of the most dynamic duos in the world of military miniatures: both stellar, gold-medal-level talents, extraordinary storytellers in their consistently stunning pieces, and cheerful purveyors of knowledge and encouragement to any modeler lucky enough to meet and chat with them at shows around the world. We were lucky to chat with both of them from their home in Switzerland on Zoom, and we feature that interview in this episode, along with our recap of the 2022 MFCA Show outside Philadelphia in mid-May. Some pix of that follow—and we’ll no doubt be talking about and featuring more from the show in the months to come—but first, as always, a few of our favorite pieces by the Balls (with much more on their Web site here). Thanks for listening and looking!

Barry Pick #1: Duel after the Masquerade

Jim Pick #1: Happy Cossacks (and a rather unhappy monk, who I didn’t mention on the pod)

Barry Pick #2: Cat’s Cradle

Jim Pick #2: The Last of the Mohicans

MFCA 2022: Barry and Jim both won gold medals in the Historical Open division for their latest box dioramas, “Beyond the Seventh Moon” and “Night Raid, 1945.”

MFCA named three Grand Masters, including Christos Panagiotopoulos (left) and our own Mr. Biediger (right), together with Bernard Tardif—honors well-earned by all three (and prompting rare smiles by Barry. Christos, on the other hand, is never not smiling!).

Jim after repairing “The Gun Deck of the Victory” by MFCA Grand Master number one, Shep Paine. The historic box is now a centerpiece in the collection of Bill Neustadt, who gave the work his enthusiastic thumb’s up.

Episode 19: Marijn Van Gils

Based in Leuven, Belgium, Marijn Van Gils has been high atop our list of guests who we were most eager to talk to ever since we launched this podcast, some 18 episodes again now. We’re both big fans of the sculpting, painting, and composition of his dioramas and vignettes, which almost always offer unique views of their subjects and a sly sense of humor. You can see his box dioramas on this site, of course, and we’ve talked about some of his other pieces before, but this episode offered the opportunity to dig deep and discuss his inspirations and wide-ranging work, as well as to remind listeners that we consider his book Dioramas F.A.Q.: Storytelling, Composition and Planning the most insightful look into those key elements of modeling since Shep Paine first tackled them in his how-to-build dioramas Bible. As usual, after the interview, we each picked some favorite pieces to highlight from the artist’s catalog.

Barry pick #1: Frank Zappa in motion.

Jim pick #1: Hunter and hippo from the “big game” wedgie.

Barry pick #2: The highlander under construction.

Jim pick #2: the bailing balloonists.

Marijn’s book—and again, you really need it NOW! (Order direct from AK, which has great mail-order service.)

What’s Marijn been up to lately? Some extraordinary ship dioramas (with more to come, he promises).

Finally, we also mention the upcoming Artist Preservation Group exhibit at the Museum of the American Revolution, June 18 and 19. You can find more info here, and while you’re on the APG site, do click around and read up on the efforts of this worthy organization!

P.S. Barry suggested we include a few links to Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu, too, but that seems a bit too far afield for our hobby interests—though Jim is happy to expound on the genius of both any time, or you can listen to the episodes of Sound Opinions linked above. Meanwhile, thanks as always for listening to THIS podcast!

Episode 18: Previewing the 2022 MFCA Show and chatting with Jack Lynch

In this episode, as we gear up for the Miniature Figure Collectors of America Show just outside Philadelphia on May 13 and 14, 2022, we chat with one of the event’s organizers and a veteran member of the long-running club, Pennsylvania modeler Jack Lynch. We talked about the club and the upcoming exhibit, as well as about the many roles Jack has played in the hobby, as a dedicated sculptor and painter, a professional model-maker, and a retailer, working with toys, model railroads, and his own miniature creations—Jack has pretty much done it all, and he’s a Small Subjects-certified Great Guy. Barry and Jim also discuss transporting figures and models to shows. Pictured below are some examples of what they use to get their minis across the country or around the world safely, as well as examples of Jack’s work. Thanks for listening!

Above: A fine example of one of Jack’s figures.

Jack’s box diorama “The Homecoming,” as featured on his artist gallery page on this site.

Above: Two examples of Jack’s sculpts, pre-priming. You can see the small heating unit he uses when working with wax in the background of the top photo.

A crowd of passengers ready for the train to arrive!

Above: Examples of Jack’s professional model-making from blueprint to finished model.

Here we see just a few of the toy projects from Jack’s C.V.

Above: Barry’s John Jeffries-built figure-carrying case. John makes many different styles (in addition to beautiful bases), and you can contact him at birchtreejohn@aol.com. Below we see some figures blue-tacked in place in Barry’s box, and examples of the tacky putties Jim and Barry use to do secure figures in transit (or on the workbench).

Episode 17: Talking with Chris Meddings

In addition to being a Small Subjects-certified “great guy,” Bristol, England-based Chris Meddings is a master modelers whose scratchbuilding skills are especially stunning; the co-host (with Will Pattison and Tracy Hancock) of the Sprue Cutters’ Union podcast; the owner of Inside the Armour Publications, and a budding figure sculptor and painter who we’re eager to encourage. We talked with Chris about all of this and more, and followed up on a few questions you, our listeners, have posed. Useful links and images below, and thanks as always for listening!

A scratchbuilt tank by Chris. Look at all that white styrene!

Chris’s first sculpted figure was a flat based on the woodcut "Moon on Mount Yoshino" by Japanese artist Yoshitoshi. It is available for sale via Inside the Armour here.

Chris’s sculpt of the commander of the Churchill in the diorama we discussed. He’s currently sculpting a Sardinian Mamuthone.

Here are the figure proportion canons that Barry uses most often use, including the one that shows the difference between the heroic, idealized, and typical proportions he mentioned.

We’ve gotten a couple of questions about links to the Web sites that feature numerous poses from models of all shapes, sizes, and sexes that can be most helpful for figure sculptors. Here are Jim’s favorites, but be forewarned: They are not necessarily safe for work.

https://www.posespace.com/posetool/models.aspx

https://artmodels360.com/?slg=pose&mdf_cat=43&page_mdf=508

https://figurosity.com/figure-drawing-poses

Jim mentioned Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies cards as a useful way to break through creative dilemmas. (Originally intended for artists in the recording studio, they can help artists in any medium, if you approach them with an open mind!) This Web site automatically generates one of the cards, and you can refresh it to get other examples of the advice/challenges they offer.