Wenji Wang
Oakville, Ontario, Canada
After scratchbuilding a boarding ladder and more cockpit details and adding ResKit wheels and an exhaust nozzle to a Modelsvit 1/72 scale Dassault Mirage 2000D, Wenji painted it with Mr. Color lacquers. Weathered with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colors and AK Interactive and Ammo products, the French fighter sits on a homemade tarmac display base.
Michel Paquette
Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada
Michel dressed a Tamiya 1/32 scale F-4J with Eduard photo-etched metal details, ResKit wheels, Quickboost ejection seats, Aerocraft canopies, and scratchbuilt locking devices for the canopies and landing gear. He painted the Vietnam War Phantom with Humbrol, Alclad II, AK Interactive, and Vallejo colors, then used AOA decals to mark it as an aircraft from VF-143 “Pukin’ Dogs” aboard USS Enterprise in 1972-73.
Daniel Chaulk
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Daniel’s additions to a Takom 1/35 scale Apache include extra wiring for the avionics bays, brake lines, and “Remove Before Flight” tags. He mixed Tamiya acrylics to match the color, post-shaded panel lines, and marked it as a British Army AH1.
Ken Brent
Henrietta, New York
To replicate a fun, basic garage-built hot rod, Ken modified an AMT 1/25 scale 1925 Ford Model T with a scratchbuilt interior, wired and plumbed the engine with Detail Master tubing, and fitted aluminum headers, exhaust, and driveshaft. The windshield is a modified part from a ’32 Ford, and he painted the roadster with Testors enamels and acrylics.
Colin John
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Modeling the Porsche 917-20, known as The Pink Pig for its livery of pork cuts as the restored machine looks at the Porsche factory museum in Stuttgart, Germany, Colin finished a Model Factory Hiro 1/12 scale kit with lacquers.
Brad Belsheim
Avon, Ontario, Canada
Only three Skinks were built, designed as an antiaircraft platform for the Canadian army, with only one seeing any combat in the late winter of 1945, mostly against German ground troops. Brad converted an Asuka 1/35 scale Sherman with a Bold Division turret, upper hull, and AFV Club tracks. He painted it with Tamiya acrylics and weathered it with VMS pigments and artist oil washes.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Bob built a Gaspatch 1/48 scale Me 163B out of the box and used kit decals to mark it as Komet captured by French forces. He painted the Luftwaffe camouflage with Vallejo acrylics using Post-it notes to mask the splinter camouflage.
Steve Johnson
Fergus, Ontario, Canada
After opening the cowl and fitting an aftermarket engine, Steve painted Tamiya’s 1/48 scale A-1J Skyraider with Mr. Hobby acrylics over a black base coat and mottled pre-shading.
William John Lowery
Dundas, Ontario, Canada
This pretty 1961 Jaguar E-Type started as a Bburago 1/18 scale die-cast metal model. William disassembled it and repainted the interior and chassis. His improvements include a scratchbuilt fuel filter, carburetor linkages, sparkplugs, air box, windshield wiper arms and motor, hood hinges, brake bottles and lines, rearview mirror, wood-grain texture on the dashboard, steering wheel, and shifter.
Michael Chan
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Trumpeter’s 1/12 scale Ford GT40 offered plenty of room for Michael to wire the engine and add detail to the interior. He finished the endurance racer with Tamiya and Mr. Color paints under 2K clear, then marked it as the car driven by Ken Miles and Denny Hulme at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Victor Constantinescu
Pickering, Ontario, Canada
“It’s just a tired KV-2,” Victor says. He removed parts of the fenders and added an AK Interactive chain and MiniArt axe to a Tamiya 1/35 scale kit before finishing it with Tamiya spray-can colors and weathering with artist oils and AK products.
René Lehmann
Shelburne, Ontario, Canada
To improve Hasegawa’s 1/48 scale Saab J 35Ö Draken, René added an Aires resin cockpit, then painted the Austrian air force commemorative scheme with Tamiya lacquers. He says the shine comes from “Too many gloss coats to remember. Gloss, Sand. Repeat.”
Dave Mason
Standish, Michigan
Dave built a Revell 1/25 scale 1966 Chevy C-10 pickup and painted it with MCW lacquers and Tamiya acrylics over Mr. Hobby primer. “Trying to get models finished,” he says. “My detailed models take a long time, so I built this out of the box to get my flow back.”
Tim Wilson
London, Ontario, Canada
The flat black finish on Tim’s 1957 Ford is Mr. Color black primer. Other than fitting the car with some performance-oriented tires and wheels from his spares box, he built the Revell 1/25 scale kit out of the box and trimmed it with Bare-Metal Foil.
Wayne Hartley
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Parts from four AMT kits — Ford C600 stake truck, Ford LNT-8000, American LaFrance Pumper, and American LaFrance Ladder Chief —scratchbuilding, and an aftermarket resin cab combine in Wayne’s 1/25 scale 1970s quint firetruck. Highlights from the extensive project include a frame built from the front half of the C600 and the rear from the Ladder Chief, the engine and transmission from the LNT, most of the cab interior and exhaust from the C600, and the pumper front and the ladder truck rear mated and modified to fit the chassis and make the combined rear section.
James Brandt
Bay Coty, Michigan
After fitting Tamiya’s front-fork upgrade to a Tamiya 1/12 scale Ducati Desmosedici GP4, James airbrushed Zero Paints primer, red, and clear to finish it as a bike ridden by Troy Bayliss in the 2004 MotoGP season. He used Alclad II lacquers for metallics and Tamiya and Testors colors to pick out details.
Todd Drysdale
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
“What if Ferrari managed to persuade Michael Schumacher to go to Indy?” says Todd. He carried out the fantasy by adding Ferrari decals to a Tamiya Snap-Loc 1/20 scale Lola T93/00 Ford after painting it with Tamiya Italian red.
Greg Hanchuk
Berea, Ohio
To build a Ukrainian BRDM-2 abandoned during fighting in the Donbas region in 2014, Greg improved Trumpeter’s 1/35 scale kit by adding missing weld seams outside and missing details inside, installing Voyager photo-etched metal and an RB Models main gun barrel and fitted miniarm wheels, flattening the right rear one. The armored car was painted with Tamiya acrylics with hairspray weathering used to chip and wear the camouflage.
Su Xu
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Wanting to depict a scene in space and give a sense of weightlessness, Su kept the base compact and emphasized the vertical staging. He modified Hasegawa’s 1/35 scale Lunadiver Stingray to reduce the weight when mounted on the framework scratchbuilt using brass rod; the 1/35 scale Fireball is suspended from the Stingray with wire. The model was painted with Tamiya acrylics and weathered with Abteilung oil paint.
Sandy McRorie
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sandy painted the striking British Army Berlin camouflage on a Takom 1/35 scale FV432 armored personnel carrier with Tamiya acrylics sprayed through an Iwata airbrush.
Alex McKelvey
Lindsay, Ontario, Canada
“This model depicts Lucky the tugboat on its last trip before scrapping,” Alex says. He removed all the molded details on a Revell 1/108 scale Harbor Tugboat, replaced them with scratchbuilt items, and painted it with Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics. Extensive artist-oil washes and paint chipping applied with a sponge hint at the working vessel’s long career.
Ariel Obtinalla
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Taking parts from other Gundam kits, Ariel added armor and weapons to a Bandai 1/72 scale MAILeS Byakuchi and painted it with Mr. Color lacquers and Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics. Dry-brushing and sponge chipping make the mobile suit look like a combat veteran, and a pair of soldiers on the base give a sense of scale.
Craig Moody
Callander, Ontario, Canada
Craig dressed up Tamiya’s 1/350 scale Tirpitz with a wooden deck and brass gun barrels, railings, a crane, and a radar dish. He painted the splinter camo on the German battleship with Tamiya acrylics and weathered it with AK Interactive washes and artist oils.
Darren White
Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada
Thinking Flyhawk’s terrific 1/700 scale HMS Ajax needed more detail, Darren added 3D-printed parts from Micromaster. He hand-painted the Leander-class light cruiser with Tamiya acrylics.
Lance Darlow
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
Lance enhanced the groundwork that came with Attica Miniatures 54mm French Foreign Legion 1903 and hand-painted them with acrylics.
Steve Coykendall
Honeoye Falls, New York
Working with a 3D-printed kit designed by Carlose at Cults3D.com, Steve finished this 1/8 scale Catwoman with acrylics from Golden, Tamiya, and GarageKitsUS using Silly Putty for masking.
Randy Rosiak
Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada
While the wooden prop is hand-painted, Randy used decals to add woodgrain to the fuselage and floats of a Lukgraph 1/32 scale Friedrichshafen FF.33L. Other additions to the kit include brass turnbuckles and copper-wire eyelets for fishing line rigging. The finished floatplane sits on a deck of stained popsicle sticks on a box he bought at a dollar store.
Nole MacCallum
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
After building a Tamiya 1/35 scale Panther Ausf G out of the box, 12-year-old Nole airbrushed it with Tamiya dark yellow over black. Chipping was added with a sponge, and the vinyl tracks were soaked in baking powder before painting.
Keith Gorman
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Keith built Academy’s 1/35 scale British M3 Stuart straight from the box, airbrushed the North Africa camouflage with Vallejo acrylics over Tamiya gray primer, and pre-shaded around the bogies and sand skirts. Filters blended the colors, and AK Interactive Dust Effects enamel added road grime to the running gear and lower hull.
Vincent Johnson
Magnetawan, Ontario, Canada
Germany has surrendered, and the Canadian soldier of the Seaforth Highlanders Regiment in Vincent’s 1/35 scale scene is celebrating. “With the war over, the unit painted slogans all over the side of the Universal Carrier in anticipation of returning home,” Vincent says. He stacked a Tamiya carrier with Black Dog and scratchbuilt stowage, painted it with a mix of Tamiya acrylics to match British olive drab, and added decals for the Seaforth Highlanders. The soldier, an Ultracast figure, was painted with AK Interactive 3G acrylics.
Steve Hustad
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
A master of 1/72 scale, Steve extensively modified Preiser figures to match a photo of a camel trader passing a Tiger I and resting German soldiers on a Tunisian road in 1942. The tank is a 1/72 scale Vespid Models kit, and everything sits on Celluclay groundwork detailed with sand, rocks, and scratchbuilt cactus.
Frank Donati
St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
Frank’s only addition to Bronco’s 1/35 scale PzKpfw 39H 735(f) mit 28cm Wurfrahmen rocket tank was a resin jerry can secured with a dental tape strap. He painted the captured French Hotchkiss in German camouflage with Tamiya acrylics and picked out details with AK Interactive 3G and Vallejo acrylics.
Aiden Mann
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
To model “Z for Zombie,” a bomber that his grandfather was a crewmember of, Aiden detailed a Revell 1/72 scale Handley-Page Halifax with copper wiring and Eduard photo-etched metal and painted it with Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics. The aircraft flew with Royal Canadian Air Force No. 408 Squadron.
Grant Letford
Fonthill, Ontario, Canada
Grant built a dramatic stand with a knoll post and metal rod to pose an Airfix 1/72 scale MiG-17 aimed skyward. He painted the out-of-the-box model with Tamiya acrylics for the North Vietnam air force camouflage and lacquers for the natural metal underneath.
Tony Bell
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Using Tamiya acrylics and Alclad II metallic lacquers, Tony finished a Bandai 1/72 scale A-wing fighter as it appeared in the work of visionary Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie.
Gerald George
Lindsey, Ontario, Canada
Taking a Pegasus 1/144 scale Nautilus to new heights (or depths), Gerald illuminated the interior with LEDs and expanded the base in its battle with a Kraken. After priming the submarine, he pre-shaded panel lines with Tamiya black, then airbrushed a dark bronze base coat, followed by a misted layer of black iron.
Jim Anderson
Sundridge, Ontario, Canada
Here’s a subject you don’t often see on contest tables: a canoe, specifically a Havoc Model Design 1/24 scale 16-foot Tremblay Huron. Jim painted the 3D-printed boat’s exterior with AK Interactive blue-gray, and hand-painted Tamiya desert yellow, clear-orange, and flat earth for the wood inside. He appreciates the vintage beauty and grace of a cedar strip rib and plank canoe. “It evokes launching into a still lake in the morning mist with my daughter,” he says.
Tim Harrison
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
After building a Zvezda 1/144 scale Boeing 787-9 straight from the box, Tim painted it with Tamiya spray-can lacquers and applied 8A Decs decals for a special Aeroméxico livery celebrating Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent.
Declan Smith
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Junior modeler Declan flowed a wash of thin oil paint over a Revell 1/24 scale Porsche tractor to define detail and add some wear to the model.
Xingyu Zeng
Vaughan, Ontario, Canada
Bandai’s super-deformed Gundam are characterized by being cute, but Xingyu decided to finish an SD Barbatos in a realistic and weathered finish. He painted the model with Gaianotes, Jumpwind, AK Interactive, and Tamiya colors.
Allen Zhao
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Allen primed Bandai’s 1/100 scale MG Mobile Ginn with black and gray before airbrushing Mr. Color, Gaianotes, and Jumpwind lacquers. After applying aftermarket decals, he sealed the finish with semigloss clear.
Ron Therrien
Lindsay, Ontario, Canada
Ron built a Fujimi 1/24 scale 1985 Porsche 911 Turbo box-stock and painted it with Splash lacquers.
Simon Lam
Markham, Ontario, Canada
As a gift to Toru Furuya, the original voice actor for the Gundam character Amuro Ray, Simon Lam painted a Bandai 1/20 scale with AK Interactive, Scale 75, and Vallejo acrylics. He also hand-painted the backdrop to resemble the original box art from the 1980s.
Didier Hachem
Brossard, Québec, Canada
The armor on Didier’s 90mm Medieval Italian Knight looks like metal because it is metal. He burnished the Pegaso metal kit’s parts to produce the sheen. He painted everything else with acrylics.
Brandon Walters
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Using a laser-cut clear plastic stand and a motor to spin the prop, Brandon posed an Academy 1/48 scale SBD-1 Dauntless diving during a prewar dive-bombing practice. Using photo-etched metal, he detailed the interior and replaced the dive flaps. The plane is crewed with resin figures and painted with Tamiya acrylics for the yellow and green, and AK Interactive Xtreme Metal for the aluminum.
Glen Pleasance
Courtice, Ontario, Canada
To improve an Esci 1/24 scale Lancia Beta Monte Carlo, Glen rebuilt the rear frame and added ignition wire and coil, seat belt, and nylon screens. He painted the car with Tamiya spray-can lacquers over pink primer and applied DecalDoc decals to mark it as a car that placed 4th at the 1980 Mosport 1000km/6 hour.
Peter Schoclch
Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Drawn to Roden’s 1/72 scale World War I British Type B Omnibus Pigeon Loft because of its uniqueness, Peter says it was difficult at times but worth it. He built it out of the box, painted it with Tamiya acrylics, weathered it with pigments and enamels, and scratchbuilt a base in a dollar store frame with AK Interactive acrylic ground texture, twigs, and gravel.
Larry Osolkowski
North Tonawanda, New York
Larry fitted a Marsh Models 1/43 scale 1966 Sunoco Lola T70 Can-Am car with stainless-steel tube exhausts and scratchbuilt a rearview mirror to replace a missing kit part. He airbrushed the car with ScaleFinishes lacquers as a car driven by Mark Donohue, one of his racing heroes.
Sylvain Plante
Montreal, Québec, Canada
The only addition to Eduard’s 1/48 scale Fokker D.VII was the Uschi Van Der Rosten elastic line for control cables. He painted the German fighter with Vallejo acrylics.
Tim Howell
Howell, Michigan
Tim replaced the wheels and tires on a Revell 1/25 scale 1956 Porsche 356 with parts from Fujimi to model a track day racer. For the Gulf livery, he applied the orange first, then the black, and finished with the blue, all with Tamiya rattle-can lacquers.
John Trippe
Victor, New York
Replicating an executive touring aircraft used by Braniff Airlines, John painted an Esci 1/48 scale Stinson Reliant with Tamiya lacquers through handmade stencils.
René Joyal
Québec City, Québec, Canada
A fan of Hornets, René built an Academy 1/32 scale F-A-18C in the colors of VFA-25 Fist of the Fleet.
Gary Skelton
Collingwood, Ontario, Canada
For a unique Bugatti Royale, Gary combined parts from Franklin Mint and Italeri and replaced the body with double-planked mahogany sealed with Testors clear. Beyond that, he scratchbuilt the radiator and interior and made headlamps by covering Bic pen caps with Bare-Metal Foil.