WonderFest 2021
Check out these incredible scale models seen at the annual sci-fi show
June 16, 2021
After the COVID-19 pandemic twice forced the cancellation of WonderFest in 2020, the show was back at the Crowne Plaza in Louisville, Kentucky June 5-6. Hundreds of people attended and the contest tables were packed with 780 scale creations.
FineScale Modeler editor Aaron Skinner attended and shot these photos.
Michael Anderson
Livonia, Michigan
Can you improve a derelict? Michael proved you can when he detailed the interior of the arms and sphere of Moebius’ 1/350 scale kit of
The Derelict from
Lost in Space using parts from Revell’s 1/350 scale USS Missouri, Revell’s 1/72 scale F-4 Phantom, and AMT’s 1/200 scale Saturn 1B. To match the appearance of the ship in he show, he sprayed the body with Rust-Oleum texture paint followed by Rust-Oleum hammered paint. “I airbrushed Model Master Metalizers for the finish colors,” Michael says. “To tone down the clear parts for a more realistic appearance, I used Tamiya Smoke.”
James Rice
Raceland, Louisiana
After painting FeR Miniatures 1/12 scale bust of Athena with Scale 75 Scalecolor Artist acrylics and acrylic inks, James scratchbuilt a shadow bow inside a picture frame to display the Greek goddess.
Frank LaMarca
Grand Island, New York
The only thing Frank did to dress up Hasegawa’s Creator Works 1/400 scale Minerva was to pop the surface details with black Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color. The ship is from the Japanese anime series
Crusher Joe.
Steven J. Carricato
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Steven built Spacecraft Creation 1/72 scale Dark Star out of the box and Tamiya flat white over Krylon primer. The weathering was done with Vallejo gray wash.
John Ross
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
For a realistic paneled finish on Polar Lights 1/100 scale USS Enterprise NX-01, John painted it with Testors Model Master Metalizer Steel and applied Acreation decals for the Aztec pattern.
Tony Lamb
Edwards, Colorado
Tony’s not sure who manufactured this 1/6 scale Hit Girl from the movie
Kick Ass, but he had fun finishing it with craft acrylics from Folk Art and Apple Barrel.
Chuck Homolka
Parma Heights, Ohio
To depict a mech in a showroom for buyers to look at, Chuck added aluminum upgrades and a scratchbuilt gun and ammo crates to Bandai’s 1/100 scale MS-18E Kampfer Gundam. He finished the as-new shine with Tamiya and automotive paints and painted the shield design with his own masks.
Steve Shaffer
Hastings, Minnesota
Using three different shades of red lacquer from MRP with pre-shading and pastel weathering, Steve turned Bandai’s 1/100 scale MSN-04 Sazabi Verika into a combat veteran.
John Everett
Parker, Colorado
A fan of The Expanse, John scratchbuilt a 1/72 scale
Rocinante using styrene sheet, resin castings and brass. He primed the 2-foot replica with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black before painting the individual tiles on the body five shades of gray mixed from Tamiya acrylics and masks cut on a CNC cutter.
Steve Shaffer
Hastings, Minnesota
After building Fantastic Plastic’s 1/144 scale
Milano from
Guardians of the Galaxy out of the box, Steve painted it with Alclad II Aluminum topped with Translucent Blue and Translucent Orange. For flavor, the wooden plaque base with an actual cassette copy of the movie’s soundtrack.
B.P. Taylor
Cincinnati, Ohio
B.P.’s insectoid Sektiss fighter is entirely scratchbuilt from his own design and painted it with Tamiya acrylics over a lacquer basecoat. Acrylic washes and pastels weathered the ship.
John Everett
Parker, Colorado
“This was mostly just an experiment in masking techniques,” says John about his mecha diorama. The fighting suits started life as 1/24 scale kits from Aoshima, but John converted them to 1/35 scale with minor modifications. After priming with Mr. Surfacer, he airbrushed the darker colors in random patterns on both. After placing vinyl masks, he added the light gray. Pigments and artist oil rust matched them to the groundwork of Colorado quartz and dirt.
Rusty Creamer
Cartersville, Georgia
Rusty modified Monogram’s 1/48 scale
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Starfighter by repositioning the seat, adding a 3D-printed resin dash, and lighting the engines and instrument panel. To paint the classic starfighter, he used Vallejo Model Air acrylics; weathering was done with pastels, Tamiya pigments, and Vallejo washes.
Oggie Gonzalez
Del Mar, California
Oggie designed and 3D-printed this 1/87 scale launch tube from
Battlestar Galactica then painted it with Vallejo acrylics. Salt and hairspray masking, acrylic washes, dry-brushing, and Tamiya weathering pastels finished the model that depicts a scene from the first episode as Commander Adama prepares to head down to Carprica after the Cylon attack.
Rob Willis
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Deciding to model an alternative timeline for the anime series
Last Exile, Rob dressed up Hasegawa’s 1/72 scale Vanship and Vespa with photo-etched metal details from his spares box. He painted he vehicles with custom reds mixed from Tamiya acrylics with salt used to create chipping and oil washes. The brass radiators and steel parts were painted with AK Interactive Xtreme Metal paints. He assembled the themed base with found items held together with epoxy.
Steve Shaffer
Hastings, Minnesota
Steve filled and sanded all of the joints on Bandai’s 1/12 scale
Star Wars Sandtrooper to eliminate the toy-like appearance. He painted the Imperial soldier with MRP and Alclad II lacquers and weathered with AK Interactive Weathering Pencils and Tamiya pigments. The desert base is the kit part covered with Tamiya Diorama Texture Paint mixed with tan and brown.
Jim Kiker
Charlotte, North Carolina
Imagining an improved A-wing, Jim modified AMT/Ertl’s 1/48 scale kit of the Rebel starfighter with a longer nose, new cockpit, and improved blasters. While he was at it, he removed the raised panel lines and scribed replacements, and wired the engines and instrument panel for lighting. The model was painted with acrylics and enamels, and weathered with oil washes, pastels, and dry-brushing.
Jim James
Winter Garden, Florida
Inspired by
The Madalorian, Jim built a 3D-printed kit of the Outland TIE Fighter with folded wings and landing gear. He detailed it with ParaGrafix photo-etched metal and painted it with enamels. The Moff Gideon figure is included in the kit.
Ken Spriggs
Muncie, Indiana
To depict the scene when Ahsoka Tano and Din Djarin meet in Season 2 of
The Mandalorian, Ken combined 3D-printed figures in a scratchbuilt scene built from floral foam, scenic material, and trees and logs made from oven-bake polymer clay. He painted the figures with Tamiya acrylics and Alclad II lacquers and made masks on a silhouette vinyl cutter to create Ahsoka’s face markings. The lightsabers were printed in clear and are lit with filament LEDs from an Edison bulb.
Scott Scariot
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Scott added 3D-printed F-35s and Quinjets to Fantastic Plastic’s 1/1400 scale SHIELD Helicarrier as seen in
The Avengers. He painted the vessel with Testors Model Master enamels, Alcald II lacquers, and Tamiya spray cans.
Andrew Boush
Green Bay, Wisconsin
“She’s a real person, focused on a videogame,” says Andrew. He painted the 1/8 scale figure sculpted by Mosato Ohata of Ohata Works with Tamiya, Testors, and Citadel acrylics, airbrushing the gamer’s skin, spray-painting the chair, and hand-painting the rest.
Lou Dalmaso
Raleigh, North Carolina
Lou replaced the gun barrel, but otherwise he built Modelworx 1/6 scale model of Jack Burton from
Big Trouble in Little China out of the box. He painted the hapless hero with Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics.
Scott Scariot
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
More terrifying the Arnold Schwarzenegger is Scott’s Terminator REX that he 3D-printed from a file at Thingiverse.com. He painted the endoskeleton skull with Alclad II lacquers and Humbrol Metalcote enamels; Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color popped details.
Alex Tabor
Louisville, Kentucky
Combining parts from Enterprise-C and Refit kits, Alex built a custom
Star Trek ship named
USS Independence. Painting with acrylics, he added damage to depict a Starfleet ship just after a battle.
Charles Haines
Indianapolis, Indiana
Charles dramatically posed NY3DCreations 1/8 scale Black Panther on a scratchbuilt base that includes parts from a metal lamp and a chunk of cut PVC decorated with vinyl lettering and paper. He painted the Marvel hero with Tamiya acrylics and iridescent craft paint. A Molotow chrome pen finished the claw necklace.
Steven Hilby
Issaquah, Washington
Steve’s Scuttle Bug transport started life as a pressed wood kit from Miniature Scenery. He hand-painted it with Reaper acrylics mixed with iridescent medium.
Charles Haines
Indianapolis, Indiana
Charles doesn’t know who made this 1/6 scale figure of Alice from the
Resident Evil franchise, but he was happy to finish it with acrylics, add detail to the guns, and replace the blades of the katanas with metal. His scratchbuilt base show the evolution of Alice’s look.
Marc Fraley
Phoenix, Arizona
Going for the classic TV show look, Marc painted Blackheart Enterprises’ 1/7 scale bust of Lily Munster in grayscale using Scale 75 acrylics. He airbrushed the base colors and hand-painted details.
Paul Rathbun
Bothell, Washington
Paul finished this 1/6 scale Hellgirl with acrylics from Golden, GarageKits.US, and Citadel. His only addition to the kit was a matchstick for the signature cigar.
Ron Leker
North Little Rock, Arkansas
Imagining a B-wing stolen by a Mandalorian bounty hunter, Ron added a custom paint job to Bandai’s 1/72 scale kit of the Star Wars fighter. In addition to cutting stencils for the logos, he modulated the base color with lighter and darker shades; washes and pigments finished the ship.
Charles Haines
Indianapolis, Indiana
“Sole Survivors” is the title of Charles’
Alien diorama. He combined a NY3DCreations figure of Ellen Ripley and the Nostromo’s cat, Jonesy, with a base scratchbuilt using PVC and plastic with a flashing red warning light. To enhance the figure, he detailed the flame unit and added a microphone. The model was painted with Tamiya acrylics and weathered with pastels.
Chuck Homolka
Parma Heights, Ohio
Hailing from the videogame
God Eater 2: Rage Burst, Livie Collete wields a massive Variant Scythe. Chuck finished subassemblies of E2046’s 1/7 scale resin kit of the heroine with Tamiya and automotive paints before putting everything together.
Changhuei Yang
South Pasadena, California
Changhuei spent 18 months scratchbuilding this 1/144 scale Hammerhead Corvette as it looked in
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story using styrene sheet and greeblies from Bandai kits. He painted and weathered the nearly 3-foot long spaceship with Tamiya acrylics, 502 Abteilung artist oils, and AK Interactive weathering pencils.
Brian McGinnis
Huntsville, Alabama
Meet the Boomdakka Snazz Wagon, and ork war machine from Warhammer 40K. Brian detailed the Games Workshop miniature with other Games Workshop parts and equipped the rear gunner with a boom stick. He painted with Reaper acrylics.
Dan Gordon
Charlotte, North Carolina
“Robots are cool!” says Dan. That’s definitely true of his 1/20 scale Krote that he painted with acrylics using hairspray to distress the winter camouflage over multiple shades of gray. Plenty of oil washes and streaking, chipping, and more followed. “So much fun,” he says. To display the Hasegawa Maschinen Krieger model, he sculpted the terrain with mud and snow.
Cynthia Hays
O’Fallon, Missouri
Cynthia painted GarageKits.US bust Carnival with acrylics and artist oils for shading and blending. Vallejo Shifters made the masks iridescent and added fine feathers to a couple. “This was a joy to paint!” she says.
Christopher Hays
O’Fallon, Missouri
To enhance Cretaceous Creations’ 1/6 scale troodons with cactus on the base and grass in the nest. He painted the dinosaurs with airbrushed acrylic, washes, and artist-oil blending.
David Cook
Otsego, Michigan
Working with T’s Facto 1/300 scale Godzilla as seen on the 2014 film, David painted acrylics over primer followed by oil washes and dry-brushing. He repeated the process over several layers using juvenile alligators for inspiration. “I always aim to bring out the biological aspects of a creature,” he says. “So, I borrow color patterns from nature or existing animals. I prefer Vallejo paints and although large areas were airbrushed, most of the detailing was done by hand.” David spent about 100 hours finishing the monster.
Chris W. Allman
Cincinnati, Ohio
Chris finished Moebius’ 1/1000 scale USS Kelvin from the 2009 film,
Star Trek, with Testors lacquers and washes made from 5% paint and 95% clear flat lacquer.
Charles Haines
Indianapolis Indiana
To build the scene titled Gotham City Kitties Night Out, Charles dressed a naked Pam Anderson figure kit with a Catwoman suit, gloves, and boots. A new head and scratchbuilt base finished he transformation. He painted the scene with Tamiya acrylics.
Rich Dula
Spring Arbor, Michigan
Rich built Fine Molds’ 1/72 scale X-wing as Red 2, piloted by Wedge Antilles at the Battle of Yavin in the original
Star Wars. Using Vallejo Model Air and Tamiya acrylics, he airbrushed base coats and hand-painted additional markings. Light airbrushing, pastels, and Tamiya weathering powders finished the fighter.
Brian Duddy
Dayton, Ohio
We can abide Brian’s model of The Dude’s car from
The Big Lebowski. He modified Revell’s 1/25 scale Ford Torino with damage, bullet holes, suitcase, bowling bag, and “The Rug” license plates, the painted it using Tamiya acrylics. Hairspray helped finish it as “green with brown rust coloration.” A scratchbuilt base ad sign puts the car at the In-N-Out Burger on Camrose.
Travis Collard
Louisville, Kentucky
Travis refinished Fantasy Flight Games 1/48 scale Imperial Combat Assault Tank with Mission Models acrylics over gray Rust-Oleum primer and NATO black pre-shading. Vallejo silver chipping gave the ground vehicle a worn look as seen in
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Richard Gaskill
Louisville, Kentucky
Richard isn’t sure of the origin of this 1/6 scale figure of Arya Stark from
Game of Thrones, but he finished it with acrylics.
Steve Hilby
Issaquah, Washington
Poor Miss Blomstel has met with a terrible accident in Steve’s 1/87 scale diorama of a floating island centered on a house from Bar Mills; the rest is scratchbuilt and populated by HO scale railroad figures. He painted the base with artist oils and the house with acrylics.
Steve Smith
Kingsport, Tennessee
“I love building interactive models which do something when buttons are pressed of levers are moved,” says Steve. In addition to lighting Moebius’ 1/32 scale
Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper with LEDs and fiber optics, he plumbed it with brass tubing from the base to portray the turbo effect. Details from ParaGrafix enhanced the fighter and he painted it with Tamiya spray cans and Mr. Color lacquers. Post-shading, acrylic washes, pastels, and Tamiya Smoke (No. X-19) added a weathered finish.
Christopher Woodson
Alexander, Arkansas
You may be forgiven for not knowing what this is off the bat. Meet Nagash, a necromancer and supreme lord of undead. Christopher painted the Games Workshop miniature with acrylics after adding extra skulls to the base.
Robert Raver
Crystal Lake, Illinois
Starting with a 3D-printed kit of Baby Groot, Robert placed the tiny hero from
Guardians of the Galaxy on a scratchbuilt base with a butterfly and mushroom. Groot is grooving out to music from a pair of obsolete stereo headphones. “It’s just cute!” Robert says.
Wunji Lau
Carmel, Indiana
Wunji modified a Rocket Models’ 1/72 scale kit to build his Sand Scorpion. The conversion includes reshaping the hull and incorporation parts from Wave Dougram kits and various other mecha models. He primed the futuristic war machine using a Tamiya spray can, the painted the camo with Vallejo acrylics, Mig Productions oils, Citadel shades, and Mr. Hobby clear flat. “This is an homage to the Blizzard Gunner mech from Dougrami,” Wunji says. “I wanted to make a grittier take on the iconic design.”
Greg Maiocco
Ebensburg, Pennsylvania
To make his version of Gillman Productions’ 1/4 scale bust of Michael Myers unique, Greg hollowed out the jackolantern base and lit it with a flickering light housed in a child’s jewelry box he added to the base. He painted the
Halloween villain with craft acrylics and Testors Model Master enamels, and drilled bullet holes in the torso.
Dimitri Papadimitriou
Conway, Arkansas
Dimitri hand-painted Pegaso figures of
Asterix with acrylics and oils for Obelix, characters from the popular Asterix comic books. The Gauls are discussing where the boar is hiding in the scratchbuilt base, which was finished with things Dimitri found in his backyard.
Frank Kahsar
Lexington, Kentucky
Frank’s 1/4 scale figure of Kratos, the protagonist from the video game
God of War, is 3D-printed from a sculpt by Apex 3D Models. He painted the heavy hitter with acrylics from Scale 75, Vallejo, Citadel, and Army Painter over black primer. Glazes and washes added realism to the leather sections. The only modification he made to the kit was to improve the base with snow, grass, and textured sand scenic items.
Niki Robinson
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
“I really enjoyed building this beautiful little kit!”, says Niki of Lil’Haven’s Roaming in Paris Box Theater. She painted the vignette that fits into a metal box and is lit with acrylics.
John Aiello
Cottrellville, Michigan
John combined Bandai’s 1/48 scale AT-ST, AMT/Ertl’s 1/15 scale Rancor, and Stormtroopers from Fantasy Flight Games to show the worst nightmare for an Imperial patrol that has encounter a full-grown Rancor. He ground off the shackles and chains molded on the monster and repositioned one of its arms. He painted both the Rancor and AT-ST with Tamiya acrylics; Citadel washes emphasized the monster’s skin texture, and artist-oil dot filters and AK Interactive washes detailed the walker.
Frank Kahsar
Lexington, Kentucky
A mainstay of the
Street Fighter franchise, Chun-Li is not to be trifled with. Frank painted E2046’s 1/10 scale figure with Vallejo, Citadel, and Scale acrylics, airbrushing subassemblies and hand-painting details including her eyes and the gold trim on her modified qipao.
Chris Franklin
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Chris sculpted his 1/6 scale ogre using Super Sculpey oven-bake clay. He painted the fantasy beast with artist oils and acrylics.
Lou Rebrovic
New Bremen, Ohio
After painting Moebius’ 1/8 scale kit of Frankenstein’s monster with GarageKits.US acrylics, Lou placed it on a scratchbuilt base with a gravestone.
Greg Domian
Chicago, Illinois
Working with Jeff Yager’s 1/6 scale gillman from
Revenge of the Creature, Greg re-sculpted some details lost in molding and airbrushed it with acrylics. Washes popped the skin texture and he dry-brushed the anchor and chain.
Clif Dopson
Shreveport, Louisiana
“She needed to look cold,” says Cliff of GarageKits.US 1/8 scale Winter, one of four figures based on Alphonse Mucha’s Four Seasons. Clif used a white primer followed by a light gray green on her flesh. Then he applied thin layers of a light flesh color for the pale complexion and added a touch of vermillion to her lips, sides of the nose, and eyes. He scratchbuilt the trees, plants, and birds on the base.
Annya Shetinina
Fridley, Minnesota
Annya painted this dark mermaid with acrylics and Alclad II prismatic colors for the tail. She 3D-printed the kit from a design by Michel Ballares, outputting some of the parts in clear to give them a translucent appearance. Finishing it involved a lot of hand-painting and a bunch of layers.
Randy Van Dyke
Ada, Michigan
This 1/4 scale “beast mode” Wolverine was designed and molded by Thiago Provin. Randy finished the figure with GarageKits.US acrylics and weathered the base to look like stone.
Randy Van Dyke
Ada, Michigan
To give Filmy’s Girls’ 1/5 scale Allura a metal-look spacesuit, Randy applied Alclad II lacquers and used SMS flip-flop for the colored panels, masking with Silly Putty when needed. The model originally came with a solid base. “I removed it and replaced it with 1/4 -inch thick translucent blue Plexiglas to light the base,” Randy says.
Clif Dopson
Shreveport, Louisiana
To show Nosferatu in the moonlight, Clif painted Blackheart Enterprises’ Nosferatu and base with dark shades and highlights in the violet and light green spectrum. He hand-brushed the model with acrylics, artist oils, and alcohol inks.
Brad Guy
Wheat Ridge, Colorado
“It’s just an old Viper that has been shot up and repaired numerous times,” says Brad. He built Moebius’ 1/32 scale
Battlestar Galactica kit out of the box and posed it on scratchbuilt stand. The model, including the custom markings, was painted with Testors Model Master enamels and Alclad II lacquers over Mr. Surfacer primer. Brad weathered it with airbrushed streaks, artist oil washes, and sponge chipping.
Joe Bohannon
Fairfax, Virginia
Joe base-coated Saul Alvarez’s 1/4 scale bust of Lon Chaney from London After Midnight with black primer, then mixed and airbrushed craft acrylics for the major colors and basic shading. Prismacolor pastels refined the shading and Joe sealed between layers. He painted the flesh using sponges.
Douglas Scott
Greenville, South Carolina
Interpreting what Hera Syndulla’s A-wing would have looked like after
Star Wars Rebels, Douglas painted Bandai’s 1/72 scale model with Vallejo acrylics and used decals from Cosmos Models. Salt masking adding chipping to the paint. “I used Aves Apoxie Sculpt to create the appendages on Hera’s head,” he says.
Lou Dalmaso
Raleigh, North Carolina
Lou improved this 1/6 scale 3D-printed model of Rosie, the robot maid from The Jetsons, with a scratchbuilt mouth and side antennas. He painted her with Vallejo Mecha Color acrylics.
David Guzman
Greenfield, Indiana
To finish Dark Horse’s 1/8 scale kit of Frankenstein’s monster chained, David airbrushed AK Interactive lacquers and Vallejo acrylics.