Episode 45: Talking with Erik Swinson and previewing MFCA 2024

In this episode, your hosts talk with Virginia Beach-based professional miniatures painter Erik Swinson, one of the most stunning talents on the scene today. Erik is generous in sharing his talents in painting videos on YouTube, and we’ve got a small sampling of his work below (starting with Baine Bloodhoof, the piece with which we start our discussion). You can see much more of his work by following him on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitch.

And… Erik in miniature, sculpted by Joaquin Palacios!

The boys also catch up with friends of the show Jack Lynch (Episode 18) and Dennis Levy (Episode 15) for a preview of the annual Miniature Figure Collectors of America Show outside Philadelphia on May 3 & 4, including a class with Calvin Tan (Episode 23). Much more info about the show can be found on the MFCA’s web site, and we hope to see you there!

Finally, Barry has some news about the first Rocky Mountain Hobby Expo, which will take place on June 22 near Salt Lake City in Utah at 7602 Airport Rd, West Jordan. Visit the Expo’s Web site here, and it would be great to see you there, too!

Episode 44: Can We Bring More Abstraction to Miniatures, and Considering 3D Printing vs. Scratchbuilding

On this episode, your hosts tackle two big ideas they’ve been thinking and talking about a lot lately. First up: The notion of throwing away all the “rules” and thinking more abstractly. This has been on Barry’s mind a lot, and he was struggling to articulate what he meant when he saw the piece above by Rich Bruna and exclaimed, “That’s exactly what I was talking about!” As was the piece below by Gary Baker, which we’ve talked about and featured on this blog before. (Gary also appeared on Episode 37.)

As a box diorama maker, Barry’s been pondering the abstraction/surrealism/expressionism (choose one or all of those terms) seen in the work of some pioneering filmmakers—those who didn’t try to capture the world we see but one that only existed on their screens. He’s wondering about the possibilities of incorporating those sorts of visions into modeling, specifically citing the 1928 French film The Passion of Joan of Arc directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Jim adds Metropolis (directed by Fritz Lang, 1927), and F. W. Murnau’s 1922 Nosferatu as good examples of abandoning realism in favor of a style that was, either by design or the limitations of the medium at the time, much more impressionistic.

The boys cite some inspiring miniaturists who’ve been mined these sorts of ideas with great imagination, including Kostas Kariotelis (below is his piece “Mephisopheles,” photographed by Penny Meyer) and the late, great Fletcher Clement. (Download the issue of The Scabbard that paid tribute to Fletcher here.) The podcast also praises Ingvild Eiring for her unique vision, which was highlighted on Episode 33, and can be seen in the piece below, “Eminently Severe in the Work of Violence.”

Your hosts’ own tentative first steps toward some measure of abstraction are perhaps best seen in Barry’s 2022 box diorama “Beyond the Seventh Moon” and Jim’s recent attempt to offer his take on the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage.

The boys feel like they’ve only begun to scratch the surface on this topic, but as always, they’re eager to hear from listeners about what they think. Leave them a message to air on the show here.

While Barry’s been pondering abstraction, Jim’s been elbows-deep in white styrene, enjoying the joys of scratchbuilding as he attempts a WWI Zeppelin gondola in 1/32nd for his next box diorama. He’s convinced that, although things could be a lot easier if he could simply 3D print one, he wouldn’t have nearly as much fun as he’s having with his big box of Evergreen and Plastruct pieces (below, with his gondola in progress).

As Barry points out, there is no stopping the forward march of technology—it’s happening whether we like it or not—but Jim is no Luddite. He readily grants that there are some fantastic uses of 3D printing, like the toy garbage truck he used for another recent box. He’s just reluctant to spend the hundred or more hours it would take him to master computer design for 3D printing; he’s in front of the computer enough, and it’s too much like work! In the end, it’s partly about using the right tool for the job, and partly about using the tools you enjoy using.

A topic only briefly raised on this episode: How will AI, another of those technological developments that can’t be stopped, change modeling? Is the day coming when Jim can say, “AI, make a design for a WWI L Class Zeppelin gondola circa 1915 for me to 3D Print?” Some may find that notion unsettling, or at least a big step away from the kind of thinking outside the artistic box that was the topic of the first half of this episode. But Barry is optimistic about all of this (and unusually so): One thing he says about technological innovations is that they can remind us what we value about being human and about art.

Episode 43: Jon Harbuck

In this episode, your hosts chat with Alabama-based modeler Jon Harbuck, an attorney, a true Southern gentleman, and a favorite for the powerful storytelling in his work. Jon is an active member of the Atlanta Military Figures Society—which hosts its annual show this year at the Hilton Hotel Atlanta Northeast on February 9 to 11—and the Artists Preservation Group, and he’s a familiar and friendly face at many figures shows as an exhibitor and a judge. Below are some of Jon’s pieces discussed during their talk.

Above: One of Jon’s most celebrated pieces, the soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Memorial (further immortalized in the film Glory) come to life. Below: Several of Jon’s moving pieces on the tragedy of WWI: “The Dead Stretcher Bearer”; “My Boy Jack”; “The Sons of William”; the flats box “Gassed,” and Jon’s first box diorama, “The Dug-Out.”

While Jon was still on the line, the boys also talked about the piece seen below by modeler Tomas Upskas, which generated some controversy online (and, really, what doesn’t?).

Heading toward wrapping things up, Barry discussed his recent work trip to Las Vegas, which was extended so he and Joan could attend the painting class taught by Matteo Di Diomede at Verko’s Vault, the exciting new miniatures museum that your hosts will be talking about on the pod soon. Below: The crew at the museum’s inaugural class, with many more overseen by previous guest Penny Meyer planned for coming days.

Finally, following up on our chat about miniatures and the movies, the show got a great Telbee message from Raphael Shelton about the actor Peter Cushing’s pursuits in the hobby. (We love to hear from listeners and include their voices in the show, so drop us a line!) Raphael sent us several images, as well as this link to a fun video.

Episode 42: Barry & Jim Yakking About Current Projects, Various & Sundry

In this episode, your hosts talk about what’s been happening at their work benches, and (as usual) a few other things, including a movie they’d been eagerly anticipating but which, alas, let Jim down.

First up: Having succeeded in bringing home “A King of Shreds and Patches (Hamlet Sees the Ghost of His Father),” Shep Paine’s classic 1982 box diorama, after a rather harrowing train ride from Chicago to Salt Lake City, Barry brings us up to date on his restoration work, replacing the original automotive light bulbs with LEDs.

Above: After thoroughly cleaning them to remove the lead rot, Barry mounted new LEDs in Shep’s original bayonet sockets to handle the lighting.

Those old incandescent bulbs generated a lot of heat: Shep’s small theatrical gel on the bulb illuminating the ghost had melted. Note the two-way mirror at right, essential to pulling off what Dennis Levy would call “the gag.”

Gaining access to the fireplace to replace those bulbs was no easy task, but persistence, patience. and rubbing alcohol to soften Shep’s wood glue finally paid off.

Barry built a new panel at the back of the box to accommodate the protruding shafts for the new dimmers. Shep’s old rheostats had some serious rot, and were hard to access inside the box.

Above: While waiting for his framing guy to finish his work (Jim has been building his own frames for his last few boxes, but he wanted something a bit more elaborate for the piece he’s calling “dans les coulisses”), he started a fun project based on the 1966 sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage and Moebius Models’ 1/32nd scale Proteus submarine kit… and he had a bit of a decal and airbrush disaster. Barry talked him down and, as usual, offered a lot of helpful advice.

Above: Step one was, as always, mocking up the box and playing with sight lines and measurements. The sub was soon thereafter cut in half.

Round two of airbrushing, pre-gloss coat, and playing with some lighting for the interior of the sub. This one has been fun… when it hasn’t been frustrating! Meanwhile, Jim has been deep in the research for a more ambitious box depicting a WWI zeppelin raid on London, he extends many thanks for the help from folks in the Small Subjects/boxdioramas.com community, including Per Olav Lund, Scale Model Critique Group on Facebook, Rev. Bart Muller, Michael Scarborough, Jamie Stokes, Mark Matz, Matt Flegal, and Tony Bell.

Finally, although they keep swearing they’re done with this subject, your hosts had to revisit it one more time because of an especially eloquent and well-reasoned commentary by Stephen Lee entitled “IPMS/USA vs. The Golden Age of Scale Modeling.” Read it here; honest, it’s worth your time.

Thanks as always for listening, and we wish all of you a happy holiday! (Below: Storyboard for a sadly deleted scene from that movie. Maybe this would have made it better!)

Episode 41: Bob Sarnowski and the 2023 MMSI Chicago Show

Above: Bob Sarnowski (left) shooting photos at the MMSI 2023 Chicago Show, with frequent Small Subjects phone-in guest and Show Chair Pat Vess. (Photo by Felix Gonzales)

Veteran MMSI member Bob Sarnowski has been on your hosts’ list of folks they’ve wanted to interview for some time. Not only has he been an expert painter whose work has inspired us for years, he has long been the MMSI’s ace show photographer. And even with those accomplishments, he’s constantly expanding his skills—most recently, building ordnance (something he hasn’t done since he was a teen) and learning the new challenge of 3D printing. Plus, Bob is just one of the nicest guys in the hobby, as well one of the most self-effacing and quietest. We considered ourselves lucky to get him to open up and talk about himself!

Below: A sampling of Bob’s work. From the top: 101st Airborne, 54mm; Chinese boxer, 75mm; the confederate bust Bob talked about sculpting (we think it’s a heck of a piece and we’d love to see more Bob originals!); Freebooter; Guards Officer; the Poste-Militaire Samurai in 90mm; Sgt. Patrick Masterson of the 87th Regiment of Foot; a German Albatross; an Israeli Super-Sherman, and a Whippet.

Above: The exhibit space at the MMSI Chicago Show at the height of the action on Saturday (photo by Felix Gonzales). For many more photos by Bob, check out the MMSI Web site and download the special show issue of the club journal The Scabbard.

While chatting about the show, Barry was very kind in not giving his partner much guff about being awarded the Chicago Medal (along with fellow recipient Rusty Nail), especially after all of the jokes Jim has made about Barry’s MFCA Grand Master Wizard Award. Below: Jim accepts the medal from MMSI President Joe Berton and Pat Vess; his latest box diorama “Garbage Day,” which won a gold medal at the show, and Jim and Barry with Joe in front of the display of Shep’s box dioramas.

Finally: Food for thought (and fodder for another episode or ten!), the piece Gary Baker said was inspired by Barry (photo by Penny Meyer).

Episode 40: Barry and Jim on their Favorites (and their Failures)

Your hosts aren’t at all sure that anybody will be interested in this rather self-indulgent episode, but hey, we were just responding to a request from one of our loyal listeners, Jamie Stokes in Australia, who left a voice mail for us on Telbee (and everyone is welcome to do the same by clicking here!). Said Jamie:

“Realistically speaking, what we are doing as miniaturists is creating a tangible legacy of our hobby that will outlive us, no doubt. Knowing that—and Shep Paine being the most current example of a legacy outliving the creator—I’m curious if any of us could describe just two of our favorite models that would encapsulate our life as a miniaturist or our favorite one/most meaningful miniature, with the proviso being we get to choose our favorite as the miniaturist who made it and then our significant other—spouse, wife, husband, whatever—gets to choose the other one for their own reason. Love to hear the feedback on that from the fellow listeners as well.”

Well, Jamie, with our proviso being that we await the feedback from our listeners, your hosts chose not one but two of their own favorites, then asked their spouses. And, being the sort of chaps we are, we also chose some pieces of our own that we think failed, or that we liked the least. We’re perversely cynical and self-critical like that, don’t you know.

We had some fun having this chat—we always do!—and, hey, it seemed like a good one after 40 (forty!) episodes. Plus, we wanted to make Jamie happy. We hope you’ll enjoy listening, and we hope to see many of you at the MMSI Chicago Show on Oct. 20-21. Onward!

The first of Barry’s own favorites: “Box #3” (54mm, 2014).

One of Jim’s own favorites: “Il Cenacolo: Milano, 1798” (54mm, 2014).

Barry’s “NYC, 1977” (54mm, 2013)—also Jim’s favorite by his podcast partner/brother in box diorama-making.

“Initial Reconnaissance, 1787” (54mm, 2022), also Barry’s favorite by Jim.

Joan Biediger’s favorite by her husband: “Recruitment of the Young Guard” (100mm, 2012).

Carmél’s favorite by Jim: “The Whole World Is Watching: Chicago 1968” (75mm, 2017).

Barry’s not happy with his box “Thursday Evening” (70mm, 2015), but Jim likes it a lot.

Jim’s choices for his failures: “Retreat from Moscow”  (2010, 1/35th & 54mm), because the mirror for the French “ghosts” just isn’t positioned right. The mirrors worked much better in “The Cutting-Out Expedition”
(2013, 54mm), but Jim isn’t happy at all with the sculpting/Historex conversions. (Then again, what does he know? Marijn Van Gils included it in is his fantastic book Dioramas F.A.Q. Storytelling, Composition and Planning.)

Episode 39: Marijn Van Gils Has Some Thoughts About Judging

When your hosts last spoke to Belgian modeler (and sometimes bassist) Marijn Van Gils on Episode 19, we focused on his modeling career and his always-inspiring thoughts on creativity. One of our favorite people and artists in this pursuit, as well as one of the deepest thinkers, when Marijn reached out and said he had some thoughts about judging at figure and modeling shows after our recent comments about IPMS Nationals—and, well, every other time we’ve broached the subject—we said, “Sure, you know we wanna hear anything you’ve got to say!” Hence, another illuminating chat with Marijn.

We also share some thoughts about what first-time attendees might expect at the upcoming MMSI Chicago Show on Oct. 20-21 (click the link to register your exhibits or book your room!), prompted by a voice mail from one of our loyal listeners, Grant Mayberry. Hope we helped, Grant! (And you know we love hearing from you; leave us a message here about anything, any time.)

Above: An example of using fabric and small cardboard-box risers to create an attractive display with numerous miniatures. This is the work of Christos Panagiotopoulos at MFCA 2023 (photo by Jim DeRogatis).

Above: A guide for how judges may weight various elements when scoring models or figures—and it’s ONLY a guide!—originally developed by Shep Paine when he began championing the Open System. The language explaining this system is a constant work in progress, and it’s ever-evolving and improving, but you can get a sense of the basics of the system in use at MMSI, MFCA, Atlanta, World Expo, and other shows as it’s laid out on this page of the MMSI’s web site.

Marijn mentioned in our earlier chat that the next ship diorama he’s working on is the Battle of Trafalgar. Above: Some of what he’s been up to of late. And you thought you needed a new OptiVISOR!

Episode 38: Dave Youngquist and Barry's trip to Texas for IPMS Nats

Our odd little hobby/art form would be nowhere without trusted, reliable, and friendly retailers, and Dave Youngquist of the ace online hobby shop Last Cavalry tops your hosts’ lists of go-to sites on the Web. But Dave isn’t just a salesman—he’s a world-class figure painter (special interest: WWI) who’s also painted toy soldiers professionally for W. Britain. When it comes to techniques and the very best products for the jobs at hand, he’s a fount of information who’s always happy to share his knowledge, in person, or on his YouTube channel. We talked to him from his home in Royal Oak, Michigan, and Jim even got a chance to geek out a bit about another shared passion—garage-rock drumming!

Below: A small sample of Dave’s incredible work.

Rounding out this episode, Barry came back from this year’s IPMS Nationals in San Marcos, Texas, having once again shared good times with friends from across the country and around the world, as well as hauling home some awards—although as we cannot say enough: IT’S NOT ABOUT THAT! Below: Barry’s prize-winning scratch figure and French tank, and Joan Biediger’s first (prize-winning) Maschinen Krieger!

Above: Barry thought the IPMS Alamo Squadron did a great job of hosting the contest (although we prefer the word “show”), and he loved the regional flavor of the belt-buckle awards.

Jim loved this caricature of Small Subjects’ hosts, presented to Barry at the podcast panel, although like everyone who’s seen it and met Barry in person, he wonders why his co-host looks to be 12 years old.

Finally, what would IPMS be without a pointless, unnecessary, shoot-yourself-in-the-foot controversy? Coming on the heels of the national president’s recent editorial about “freeloaders,” the photo above went viral, portraying as it does a judge using his flashlight to examine the BOTTOM of a tank held high above his head in the never-ending search for flaws to narrow down dozens of entries to first, second, and third prizes. This prompted approximately a bazillion posts online discussing IMPS judging and whether it’s proper for a judge to ever man-handle models that way. In the end, even said IPMS president decided it was not, and announced, in the group’s typically bureaucratic and self-important language, that “the IPMS/USA Executive Board has reached an agreement that for all future IPMS/USA National Contests models will not be picked up or otherwise touched directly during the judging process for evaluation. The Board has directed the National Contest Committee to revise the rules and guidelines of the National Model Contest to ensure that this direction is clearly understood by both contestants and judges and strictly self-enforced by the judging corps.”

Duh! Common sense wins the day, better late than never. Or do all of you finish parts of pieces that will never normally be seen, and invite judges to inspect them?

The last time we talked about IPMS, Brad James, president of the MFCA, sent an email that can be paraphrased as, essentially, Why the hell do you care? Let IPMS be IPMS, and ignore them if you don’t like it.

Fair enough, except for the fact that your hosts believe the hobby is small enough, and boasts so many artists whose interests embrace both plastic modeling and the (to be a bit pompous) “art of connoisseur figures,” that the clubs that remain and try to forward this endeavor all have much more in common than divides them. We can all learn from one another, especially when there are better ways to do things—like, um, judging under the open system. We need to remember that the opportunity to gather with friends with shared passions is what this is all supposed to be about—and that will always be reason enough to care.

Episode 37: Gary Baker, hair, and Historex

In this episode, your hosts have a fascinating chat with British native, now San Diego-based painter and modeler Gary Baker. In addition to being big fans of his work, and agreeing that he’s one of the finest gents we’ve met in the hobby in recent years, we were eager to hear Gary’s thoughts about sculpting and painting hair—he’s a professional stylist and the creative director at UNITE Hair—and he made us think even more about how much character hair adds to a figure, as well as paying attention to the fine distinctions in hair styles in different eras. We’re used to focusing on uniforms and equipment and the way such change, even within the span of one conflict, but Gary got us going even deeper. To illustrate, here are some photos Barry found of radically different hair styles just within the Napoleonic period. (That’s a British surgeon in 1811, French General Lasalle, and some guy Joaquin Phoenix is playing in a new movie that Jim for one is eager to see, even though he doesn’t like Joaquin as the joker.)

Above: examples of Gary’s work in 1:1 scale (the second photo is one of his “hair sculptures” that he shared with Barry). Below: Some outstanding examples of Gary’s painting in much smaller scales.

Gary seems to have been born to teach! Below left, he’s educating hair stylists in Paris; at right, a recent meeting of the group of San Diego miniatures painters he’s been organizing and encouraging.

Changing subjects, how did your hosts get hooked on Historex? Barry’s eyes opened when he checked this book by Philip Stearns out from the library in Utah. Jim’s mind was blown when he first saw a picture of Shep Paine’s “A Whiff of Grapeshot” in a modeling magazine.

Below: An unfinished Shep Historex piece—the only one he left behind—based on a famous print of the death of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. Jim took Shep’s pieces, which were assembled and base-coated, and mounted them on a base to give a sense of where he was going with this aborted project. Look at the animation of that white plastic!

Clearly, Barry and Jim are excited about the Historex group build that sprung from the enthusiasm of their listeners. (Join the fun and follow along in the Facebook group here!) Below: Barry’s horse-in-progress (for going on 15 years now) and Jim’s vignette in the works. Hopefully, you’ll see both at the MMSI’s Chicago Show on Oct. 20-21.

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!