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.

Episode 16: Talking painting in acrylics and the benefits of modeling clubs with Pat Vess and Joe Berton

As you might have heard in an earlier episode when we played a “Help! I must be doing this wet palette thing wrong!” voice mail from our pal Pat Vess, after decades painting figures in oils (“the Chicago school,” a term that always cracks us up), he is shifting to acrylics, and since he had questions, we figured many of you might, too. Neither Barry nor (Lord knows) Jim claims to be an expert acrylic painter—we’ve talked to some artists who are, and plan to feature others on the podcast soon—we at least have gleaned some tips to share, while another pal, Joe Berton, talks about why he sticks with oils in favor of what he calls “eye-dropper-bottle paints” (another term that cracks us up). Joe, the president of the Military Miniature Society of Illinois, and Pat, the chair of the annual Chicago show in October (and we’ve just added the link to book your room for 2022!), also talked about the benefits of being a member of the club, and how they joined, which prompted Jim to ask Barry about his local club, IPMS Salt Lake City. (And yeah, we know we said the podcast was going monthly, but Barry had time to edit this one on President’s Day weekend, and we have another great show in store for Episode 17, so consider this one a special/bonus treat!)

Joe Berton (left) and Pat Vess at an MMSI gathering.

Battle of Britain poster by Mike Sanches, the talented Utah modeler and artist who’s always an inspiration to Barry (and, second-hand through Barry, to Jim). Contact him at spikeprod@gmail.com. And we’re saving the photos of Joe Berton’s legendary work for the full interview we plan to do with him about his modeling career, while Pat told Barry that he has already stripped the bust he was working on in acrylics, ready to start over, so that picture will have to come in the future, too. Hang in there, Pat; you’ll get the knack of these eyedropper paints yet!

Episode 15: Dennis Levy

Given your hosts’ special passion for box dioramas, like Nick Infield (Episode 11), Philadelphia-area modeler Dennis Levy has been a huge inspiration to the two of us for years, and he was high atop our list for interview subjects from the day we started this podcast. We had a blast talking with Dennis about boxes and more, and we barely even scratched the surface of his long-standing work with the annual Miniature Figure Collectors of America show, which is scheduled to happen in person once again on May 13 and 14, 2022. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed doing the interview. As always, we end the show by talking about some of our favorite Dennis boxes—and all of them are shown in his artist’s gallery on this site, and then we chat about a few other things, including circle cutters (Barry can always suggest the right tool for the job!) and aborted projects. Thanks for listening!

Photo by Penny Meyer

Barry pick #1: Napoleon in Egypt

Jim pick: Faithful Unto Death

Barry pick #2: Raus!

Circle cutters from DSPIAE and Shadow Hobby; now that Barry hepped Jim to ‘em, he can’t believe he ever lived with one! Same with photo-etch Prop Blurs, an excellent idea and a great mom-and-pop business with fair pricing and fantastic service.

Jim’s latest 75mm original sculpted figures, a vignette built around that scratchbuilt piano, salvaged from an aborted box diorama (and, hopefully, put to good use here). It’s vaguely Bogie and Bacall, but not specifically meant to be—just that vibe.

Episode 14: Bill Horan

It’s a cliche, but sometimes, cliches can be true: California modeler Bill Horan needs no introduction, at least in our small world, having given us two essential books, (Bill Horan’s Military Modeling Masterclass and The Complete Bill Horan), and for four decades been a welcome exhibitor (and judge, and seminar-presenter, and gold-medal-winner, and often a key organizer) at miniatures shows around the world. In this episode, Barry and Jim talk to the master painter and sculptor, and, as always, discuss some of their favorite pieces from his extensive and impressive canon. Pictures of those follow below. Enjoy!

The “Duro” putty that Bill talks about in the interview is now known as Kneadatite Green Stuff .
This is the A and B putty he mentions.

Oh, and a public service announcement: The Atlanta Military Figure Society is on track to host its annual show from Feb. 18 to 20) at the Atlanta Hilton/Marietta Conference Center. Visit one of the friendliest clubs (and consider attending one of the best shows) in the U.S.; more info on their Website soon, no doubt, but the club Facebook page tends to be more up to date, so click here first. And Happy New Year, everyone—let’s hope it’s a much better one!

Barry Pick 1

Barry Pick 2

Jim Pick 1

Jim Pick 2

Jim Pick 3

Episode 13: Bill Merklein

In this episode, Barry and Jim talk with veteran East Coast painter, sculptor, educator, and miniatures enthusiast Bill Merklein, a thoughtful artist and great raconteur. A towering figure in the world of G.I. Joe collectors, he brings a truly unique perspective to the world we cover in Small Subjects.

You can visit Bill on the Web here, find a thorough examination of his G.I. Joe work here, and watch him tell some more fine stories in the video here.

Below, you’ll find a few pictures of Bill’s work. Thanks as always for listening, and we’ll “see” you next year!

An example of Bill’s military painting. Barry traded him one of his box dioramas for this canvas.

An ad from Campaigns magazine, featuring a figure Bill sculpted as a subscriber bonus.

One of Bill’s G.I. Joe sculpts, “Thrasher” from 1986.

Some examples of Bill’s sculpts from our world of miniatures.

Bill Merklein, self-portrait.

Episode 12: Game-Changers

On this episode, Barry and Jim discuss some of their personal “Game-Changers,” pieces they saw that blew their minds, inspired them, and got them thinking in different ways about the possibilities for miniatures. As always, images of some of the pieces they discuss follow below, and they also answer a question from their pal Pat Vess about wet palettes and give a shout-out to some of their colleagues in the burgeoning model podcast world. Thanks for listening!

Barry Game-Changers #1: Two of Shep Paine’s Sherman dioramas and their accompanying Monogram Diorama Tip Sheets.

Jim Game-Changers #1: Shep’s Devastator diorama and “A Whiff of Grapeshot,” an example of extreme Historex conversion and animation.

Barry Game-Changers #2: Ray Lamb’s Historex Chasseur after the famous painting by Géricault.

Jim Game-Changers #2: Figures Bill Hearnes sculpted for the 1/9th scale ESCI motorcycle kits.

Barry Game-Changer #3: “Pride of the Warwickshires” by Bill Horan.

Jim Game-Changer #3: “Last Stand at Gandamak” by Bill Horan.

Barry Game-Changer #4: Raul Garcia Latorre’s article on painting bust with acrylics from Military Modelling, 1996.

Jim Game-Changer #4: “Construction” by Marijn Van Gils.

One more Barry Game-Changer: Greg DiFranco’s Napoleon in Egypt flat.

Episode 11: Nick Infield

Chatting with California-based modeler Nick Infield represented a couple of firsts for the podcast: Two of the three of us were in person (Nick was in Chicago working on a TV set, thanks to his day job as a focus puller or second assistant cameraman), and we got to dive deep for the first time into an aspect of the hobby your hosts love most: box dioramas! Nick has earned an international reputation for his boxes—many of which touch on his other passion for film—and his was one of the first artists galleries we added to boxdioramas.com. You can see all of his boxes here, but as always, several photos follow of specific pieces we discussed in this episode. (Since we also mentioned Shep’s box dioramas, all of them can be found on this site in his gallery here.) Finally, we offer some useful tips when sculpting or converting for scaling your work. Thanks as always for listening!

Nick (at right) and Jim in the Chicago “studio”; photo by Carmel Carrillo, who also designed our logo.

Jim pick #1: “Elvis Has Left the Building.” As befits someone from the film world, where collaboration is key, Nick occasionally works with other artists, and Elvis was sculpted by Mike Good.

Barry pick #1: “Robin Hood”

Jim pick #2: “Five Minutes, Mr. Karloff.”

Barry pick #2: “Casablanca.”

Scaling your work: Alas, these helpful cards and rulers are no longer in production, but you can find images on the Web and create your own, as well as resizing photographs to the scale of the figures you’re working with to match the anatomy and poses, easily done in Word, as Barry and Jim discuss at the end of the episode.

A fantastic product, these see-through scale cards are, sadly, no longer manufactured. Posted below is an image of several Jim has, scanned at full-size so you can print them out on your own. (We would not do this if they were still available; respect creators’ copyrights!)

As we discussed, it is also very useful to find images of the poses you want to sculpt or convert, save them, paste them into Microsoft Word, and scale them to the size of the figure you want to create. We both do this a lot. Some very useful (and not always safe for work) sites that host images of models in many poses can be found here, here, and here.

Episode 10: Michael Kontraros

Michael Kontraros is one of the top sculptors in the world in the fantasy realm. For years, he won gold medals and wide renown for his one-off sculpts, which are painted by some of the top artists in Greece, and which are greatly sought-after by collectors. He now runs his own company, Michael Kontraros Collectibles, from a 1,200-square-foot space in his native Athens, where he also teaches. Visit him on the Web here. (Michael also will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for his Cthulu busts, going live the day this podcast becomes available; click the link from his site.)

We talked with Michael about his art, sculpting, manufacturing, and much more, and, as always, we discussed some of our favorite Kontraros pieces after the interview. Those photos follow below.

We wrap up this episode by talking about wet palettes, offering tips from our experiences, and recapping the 2021 MMSI Chicago Show. Membership in the MMSI is free and includes an electronic subscription to the club’s quarterly journal, The Scabbard, including the forthcoming year-end double-issue 2021 Show Special. Email jimdero@jimdero.com, and visit the MMSI online here, where Bob Sarnowski has fantastic photo galleries of recent shows, including the latest.

Thanks for listening and reading!

Barry Pick: Oz

Jim Pick: Jules Verne

Barry Pick: Thanatos

Jim Pick: Quasimodo

A Masterson wet palette, available at most art and hobby stores.

The makings of Barry’s D.I.Y. wet palette.

Episode 9: And Interview with Joel Glass and Thoughts on Collecting and Selling Your Work

An attorney in Manhattan, now retired, Joel Glass has had a passion for miniatures since he was young, and while he turned away from sculpting and painting himself, he has never stopped supporting the hobby, as a collector, and as an organizer of the Military Figure Collectors of American show in the Philadelphia are, in addition to World Expos around the globe. We thought Joel would be the perfect person to start a conversation about collecting miniatures, and to prompt our own chat about the idea of selling your work.

Here are some links to some of the artists Joel mentioned: Dennis Levy; Greg DiFranco; Doug Cohen, and Raul Latorre. The MFCA can be found on the Web here: https://www.mfcaclub.com/. And some additional images follow below.

Joel Glass in his element 1: At an MFCA Show.

Above: Chris Hall

The Michael Kontraros “cards” Joel considers the prize of his collection.

An extraordinary piece by Kostas Kariotelis, Best of Show winner at World Expo 2014

A John Rosengrant “Terminator”

Joel Glass in his Element 2: At dinner with friends during a show. That’s Barry and Joan Biediger and Greg DiFranco at left; half of Steve Malia, Dennis Levy, Joel and (if you start squinting) John Rosengrant and Lou Masses at right.

Episode 8: An Interview with Greg DiFranco

A master painter unmatched in his use of shadows, light, and color, as well as a damn fine sculptor and a champion of flats who has raised that aspect of our hobby to new heights, Greg is also, as Barry says, “a great guy,” and your hosts could not have enjoyed spending time with him more. We talked with Greg from his home in Long Island, where he is a driving force of the Long Island Miniature Collectors Society. Join them on Facebook here as they gear up for the return of their annual show, Nov. 19 and 20 (more info here). As always, photos of the pieces we discussed in this episode follow.

7th Bis Hussars in Egypt

Caesar in Egypt

Carthaginian war elephant

One of Greg’s caricatures used as awards by the Long Island Miniature Collectors Society at their annual show.

Barry and Jim’s tips and tricks: Barry favors tattoo ink caps for superglue (above; buy ‘em here); Jim saves the white plastic cap from half-pints of cream (below)..

Episode 7: An Interview with Mike Blank

It’s no exaggeration to call Mike Blank one of the leading talents in the world of military miniatures today. A consistent gold-medal-winner at every show he enters, he is also an author of several books of modelling tips (click here for his latest), and a tireless and passionate educator who shares his talents at seminars around the world. Despite the leather pants he dons when he rocks out behind the drums, he is also self-effacing. The simple bio he offers: “I was born in Stockholm in 1965 into an artistic family. My father was a photographer and my mother worked at the Royal Opera. I attended art school and later worked as a teacher in Arts and English in high school. In 1996 I formed my Company doing sculpting, painting and designing figures.”

We talked with Mike via Zoom from his home in Sweden, covering all of that and more. (Following below are the pieces your hosts Barry and Jim discuss after that chat.) We also talk about the recent MFCA “Virtual Show,” photos of which can be found here. Barry claimed a gold medal for his flat shown below, while Jim was awarded a silver for his latest box diorama. And we chat a bit about our current works in progress!

Barry Pick #1: Danish Infantryman, 1704.

Barry Pick #2: “The Emperor’s New Clothes (Louis XIV at Versailles).

Jim Pick: Coup d’etat

Jim Pick: The Pirates

Barry’s mannequin from Mike Blank’s sculpting class, fleshed out.

Barry’s Gold-Medal Flat from the virtual MFCA 2021 Show.

Jim’s box diorama “Samhain,” a silver-medal-winner at MFCA 2021.

Jim work in progress: 75mm Victorian upright piano.

Barry work in progress: Sherman Firefly for the Plastic Posse Podcast M3/M4 group build.