Show Gallery — MMSI 2015

John Jefferies, Freeport, New York

John sculpted this 120mm Saxon housecarl climbing Senlac Hill before the Battle of Hastings. The warrior is painted with artist's oils and detailed with washes.

John Espey, Bay Shore, New York

John painted Metal Models' 54mm Chasseur à Cheval de la Garde — French light infantry from the early 19th century — with artist's oils. Pigments weathered the boots and trousers.

Jim Robinson, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

This is Andrea Miniatures' 54mm Varthar, Dark Guardian. Jim painted the elf and his mount with acrylics, and decorated the base with Games Workshop water effects and some foliage he found.

Chris Mrosko, O'Fallon, Missouri

Chris updated Asuka's 1/35 scale M4A3E8 Sherman with parts of TMD to build an Easy Eight of the 714th Tank Battalion, 12th Armored Division in Speyer, Germany in March 1945. He painted the model with Tamiya acrylics and weathered with artist's oils.

David Bainbridge, Hobart, Wisconsin

David finished Stormtroopers' 1/9 scale bust of a color sergeant from the 10th Tennessee Infantry — a mostly Irish unit of the Confederate army known as the Sons of Erin — with artist's oils.

Kevin Dunne, Dunkirk, New York

Australian soldiers earned a reputation for toughness and tenacity during the Allied landings at Gallipoli in World War I. Kevin takes a tongue-in-cheek look at that with his uniformed red kangaroo, a bust sculpted by Gary Higgins, that he painted with artist's oils over acrylics. Kevin anchored the figure, titled "Fancy a Waltz Matilda," with a base topped with a map of the battlefield.

Greg Cihlar, Downers Grove, Illinois

German paratroopers wait in ambush in Greg's dramatic 1/35 scale diorama. Centered on a foundered JS-2 atop Jagdpanzer IV — both Dragon kits — the scene features figures from Jaguar and Warriors and groundwork of styrene foam topped with Celluclay.

Mike Blank, Stockholm, Sweden

After leading the French army to victories throughout the mid-17th century, Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, was felled by a cannonball at the Battle of Salzbach on July 27, 1675. Mike scratchbuilt a 54mm vignette of that episode and painted it with acrylics.

Glenn Hamilton, St. Albert, Alberta, Canada

The show featured some unexpected subjects, such as Glenn's beautifully painted Hudson Bay Co. fur trader. He painted the 1/24 scale Best Soldiers figure with acrylic base coats and oil shading.

Warren Judge, Oregon, Illinois

Warren painted his scratchbuilt vignette of a Commonwealth soldier in Europe after D-Day with acrylics from Vallejo and DecoArt.

Tom Kondziolka, Chicago, Illinois

Yugoslavian troops converted some M3A3 Stuarts with captured German guns, including the 2cm Flakvierling 38. Tom built one of those vehicles from a Ding Hao 1/35 scale kit and painted it with Vallejo acrylics over Tamiya primer. Silly Putty masked the camouflage.

Dan Morton, Omaha, Nebraska

Drawing on their North African colonies, the French army created light cavalry regiments known as spahis. Dan scratchbuilt a spahi in 1/16 scale and finished it with acrylic paint for service in World War I.

Jose A. Martinez, Vernon Hills, Illinois

Jose's 1/10 scale bust of President Abraham Lincoln started as a decorative statue. He sculpted shoulders and added details to the shirt and coat. Vallejo acrylic primer and base coats were airbrushed before Jose applied highlights and shadows with Winsor & Newton artist's oils to depict Lincoln in his final years. "I tried to show his emotions in difficult times," he says.