Episode 63: A Chat with Dave Browne

Toronto-area modeler Dave Browne has been a big inspiration to your hosts for quite some time, and not only because he shares their passion for box dioramas and is a master of the form. Dave is also a very talented armor modeler, and for 16 years, until it closed in January 2019, he ran Hornet Hobbies, the best kind of hobby shop. which, as he says, was about “building friendships, an active modelling community, and a few models.”

Since Barry missed the MMSI’s 50th Chicago Show because of illness, and Jim was crazed working in the judge’s room, we also took the opportunity to get Dave’s show report.

Finally, Dave is a bona fide Small Subjects Great Guy. We’re sure you’ll enjoy our chat with him as much as we did.

Below: Dave’s latest box diorama, “Fleeting Salvation: Liberation Day, August 12, 1944, Florence, Italy,” a gold-medal winner at the MMSI show, and two of his other famous boxes, “The Lincoln Memorial” and “Rusted Tomb.” (Photos by Bob Sarnowski and Andy Gulden. More of Dave’s boxes can be seen on his Artist’s Gallery page on this site here.)

Dave also won gold medals in Chicago for his Panther G and USMC Sherman. And he’s finally working on a piece of Canadian armor!

Dave was named a World Master at the World Expo in Versailles last July, but he was unable to attend. Bill Horan presented his award at the Chicago Show in October. (Photo by Felix Gonzales)

Finally, we want to plug Joan Biediger’s podcast “Her Shrink Ray Eye,” which goes deeper and gets more fascinating with each new episode. (She’s already done six!) Be sure to listen here!