Randy Cooper
Seymour, Tennessee
Randy produced the resin kit of the Ghost, Hera Syndulla’s ship as seen in the live-action Star Wars Ahsoka TV series, which he built for the contest. He painted it with Tamiya lacquers and weathered with washes and pastels. Randy spent six months on the project that he describes as one of the most detailed models he’s ever built.
Frank Bencomo
Louisville, Kentucky
As the New Republic continues to root out Imperial remnants, a pair of Y-wing pilots trade places to begin another scouting mission from Nevarro in Frank’s scene. He added photo-etched metal and 3D-printed parts to a Bandai 1/72 scale kit and painted with Tamiya acrylic and Alclad II lacquers for metal areas. The groundwork is wargaming textured acrylic paste spread over the face of a leftover drawer.
Brad Growden
Mandeville, Louisiana
That Brad tackled an MPC 1/8 scale C-3PO, a kit that was new in 1978, is amazing enough, but he added lights to the eyes and detailed the droid with scratchbuilt parts, including a restraining bolt. 3PO’s shiny finish is AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Chrome topped with Tamiya Clear Yellow, and Brad weathered with artist oils and Tamiya Weathering Powder and Panel Line Accent Color.
Philip Segal
Calabasas, California
Ever wondered what lurked inside a Dalek’s armor? Philip’s cutaway model exposes all the mechanicals as well as the mutated Kaled creature from Doctor Who’s greatest nemesis. He scratchbuilt some details for the Jeff Funk Design 3D-printed resin model using watch parts, wire, and metal tubes and painted with Mr. Color lacquers using Aztek Dummy masks.
Doug Corp
Charles Town, West Virginia
After printing a Big Bang Collectables 1/16 scale E-wing, Doug added lighting and a custom R7 astromech droid. He painted the New Republic fighter with Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics to match the ships seen in the Disney+ Star Wars series, Ahsoka.
Ian Schwartz
Atlanta, Georgia
After building a box-stock Xinshi Hobby kit of an SV-001 tank from the video game series Metal Slug, Ian painted it with Tamiya acrylics. He dry-brushed Ammo acrylics to highlight details and flowed on Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color to emphasize recesses.
Kaliste Saloom
Lafayette, Louisiana
“This was my first Warhammer kit,” says Kaliste, who used his son’s G.I. Joe figure to establish an action pose he could mimic to place the Contemptor Dreadnought in an aggressive shooting stance. He painted the combat walker with Vallejo acrylics and dressed the base with spares-box debris and real rocks and gravel for battlefield groundwork.
Michael J. Kohta
Green Bay, Wisconsin
To model a lone sentry in space under attack from an unknown foe, Michael posed a Nitto 1/20 scale S.F.3.D. Original Krachenvogel with an explosion of cotton balls wrapped around chicken wire and airbrushed with Tamiya Clear Orange. He replaced the kit’s single bulb with 11 LEDs and painted the model with Tamiya and Vallejo colors.
Brandy Small
Vine Grove, Kentucky
After replacing the resin knife blades with photo-etched metal, Brandy hand-painted White Werewolf Tavern’s 75mm Medusa with artist oils for flesh and chameleon and metallic colors for the fins over airbrushed primers.
James Saj
Blacklick, Ohio
Marvel villain MODOK dares you to look him in the eye! James finished the Wicked 3D-printed kit with Vallejo and The Army Painter acrylics using lots of washes and glazes for shading.
Brett Avants
Holts Summit, Missouri
Brett painted a Medieval Forge Miniatures 1/9 scale English Archer at the Battle of Agincourt with AK Interactive 3Gen and P3 acrylics, airbrushing the initial highlights and shadows before hand-painting details and refining the shading. “The base is putty with the spikes that protected archers,” Brett says. “I like to put scenery on my bust bases to give additional interest.”
Matt Cook
Holland, Michigan
To show the transition of the variable fighters in the Macross saga, Matt built three different Hasegawa 1/72 scale VF-1A Valkyrie’s as if it is coming into land and transforming from fighter to Gerwalk to Battroid. The three are painted with Tamiya spray can lacquers and acrylics with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color enamels used for pre-shading.
James Lewis
Blanchester, Ohio
James painted five Ignis Art Miniatures 1/10 scale bust figures from Slavic legends (from left), Wilkołak, Bies, Borowy, Lesza, and Mokosz, with Vallejo Model Color acrylics, including colors from the Fantasy-Pro Fairy Flesh Set. He replaced the wings of the dragonfly on Lesza’s hand with clear plastic and scratchbuilt a butterfly on Bies’ hand.
Yancy Mailes
Bellbrook, Ohio
To upgrade Weta Workshop’s 1/8 scale Moose from the movie CHAPPiE, Yancy plumbed and wired it with USB cords and guitar strings. He painted the mech with Vallejo and Com-Art acrylics and Testors enamels and weathered it with artist oil washes and powdered pastels.
Ross Waddell
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Ross ground off the waist power pods from a Tony Cipriano 1/6 scale Silver Age Iron Man and replaced them with 3D-printed parts he designed. He also extended the superhero’s trunks with laminated styrene and painted with Alclad II Candy Red over Bright Silver for the red and Createx Gold for the yellow.
Dakota Leker
North Little Rock, Arkansas
Dakota always delights with his scratchbuilt creations, including this kitbash, The Collector. He hand-painted the 75mm figure with acrylics.
Jenna Dakon
St. Joseph, Missouri
Jenna isn’t sure who designed the 3D-printed figure of Wednesday Addams, but she hand-painted it with acrylics and layered washes, highlighted with dry-brushing, and used pastels for shading. For effect, she added the book base, gothic window, and easel. It is worth mentioning that this is the first model of any kind Jenna has built!
Douglas Scott
Fountain Inn, South Carolina
To model the Moldy Crow, Kyle Katarn’s ship in the Star Wars: Dark Forces video game, Douglas painted a JPG Productions resin 1/144 scale kit with Vallejo acrylics over a black base coat. Most of the finish was airbrushed, but he picked out a few panels by hand. Weathering with artist oils and Pan Pastel pigments gave the ship the proper used-universe aesthetic.
Jasmine Lim
Valencia, California
This dramatically posed figure is Bort, a character from the anime Land of the Lustrous, brought to life by Jasmine from a model produced by Papo Digital. To achieve the lustrous hair, she primed the dark parts dark gray, painted with Gaia Notes Ultimate Black, and followed with dark red and brown candy colors over silver. Layers of various Mr. Color Crystal lacquers added more sheen.
Lou Dalmaso
Raleigh, North Carolina
“This was the original Matt Jeffries design for the original series Star Trek shuttle, but it would have been too expensive to build full size,” Lou said. He built the Cozmic Scale Models 3D-printed kit and finished it with various Tamiya grays.
Paul Helfrich
Raleigh, North Carolina
Going old-school, Paul built this pterodactyl from the 1972 Aurora Flying Reptile kit, replacing the head with a resin part he picked up at WonderFest years ago. He painted the prehistoric "pterror" with generic airbrush paint over enamel primer and blended everything with Citadel washes and dry-brushed craft paint.
Bill McFarland
Harrison, Ohio
“This guy lived on my shelf of shame for years,” Bill said. The 1/24 scale styracosaurus started life as an action figure that required a lot of seam filling before he repainted it with Citadel and Vallejo acrylics, using a stencil to airbrush the spot pattern.
Jason Jennings
Lynchburg, Virginia
Looking for a fitting base to display his out-of-the-box build of a Takara 1/20 scale Crusher Joe Skate Boy, Jason cracked a sheet of clear plastic by hitting it a couple of times with a hammer. He covered the sheet with Woodland Scenics Water Effects after placing masking tape over the ski tracks. The entire model and base were painted with Tamiya acrylics.
Brian McGinnis
Huntsville, Alabama
To honor his dog Chloe, who recently died, Brian modified a Hasegawa 1/20 scale Ma.K Großer Hund with 3D-printed leg brackets to mimic tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) brackets used for dogs. He painted it to look like Chloe with Vallejo and Reaper acrylics, dabbing some on with a sponge to make the finish appear hammered. He dubbed the modified robot the “Chlover Hund” and placed Chloe’s ID chip in its right hand, which it picked up for examination.
Joe Schmidt
Holland, Ohio
Mashing Pokémon and Star Wars, Joe converted a Bandai 1/12 scale figure into the Pokémonlorian, painting Din Djarin’s armor to resemble Ash Ketchum’s clothes and the floating pram like a Pokéball. He replaced Grogu with Pikachu and mounted it all on a fictitious Gameboy box made with the help of AI and Photoshop.
Aaron Kuck
Dublin, Ohio
To give a Hasegawa 1/20 scale Ma.K 44 Type Ammoknight a unique appearance, Aaron airbrushed the base color and then hand-painted the tiger-stripe camo using Mission Models acrylics. Modifications to the kit include fitting metal hoses and styrene details.
Dimitri Papadimitriou
Conway, Arkansas
“This is the first steampunk-ish model I’ve done,” says Dimitri about finishing The Kiss by El Greco Miniatures. He painted the girl and the cat with Splash lacquers and the base with Scale 75 acrylics.
Paul Rathbun
Bothell, Washington
Taking the fun and art of Pearl, a 1/5 scale bust from Filmy’s Girls to another level, Paul hand-painted the rocket design on the swimsuit and logos on the scuba tank. Most of the painting was done with Golden artist acrylics, but he used Citadel colors for the metallic shades.
Greg Domian
Chicago, Illinois
Greg mostly painted the warrior robot Necron 99 from the 1977 animated movie, Wizards, with acrylics, although the legs of his mount were finished with artist oils. He layered airbrushed color onto the creature to achieve the pattern. He added Peace to the saddle to indicate this is the robot after being reprogrammed by the Wizard.
John Aiello
Cottrellville, Michigan
Ewoks have never looked as cute as they do in the E2046 cartoon-style Battle of Endor The Little Rebels kit. John built it for his 30-something daughter, painting the AT-ST with Tamiya acrylics and the Ewoks and groundwork with Vallejo acrylics.
Bob Vailliencourt
Wauseon, Ohio
Looking all shiny and chrome, Immortan Joe’s Gigahorse looks ready to roar across the wasteland. Bob built the Mad Max: Fury Road vehicle from a 3D-printed kit on Gambody and accurized it with his own 3D-printed parts, including batteries, distributor caps, spark plugs, nitrous oxide system, ignition coils, shock absorbers, drive shaft, tow hooks, and Immortan Joe’s respirator. The finish is a Tamiya spray-can color with Bare-Metal Foil for the trim.
William Fowler
Chester, Virginia
William dispatched War Rocket Ajax to the contest tables with a 3D-printed kit that he customized with parts he designed and printed for accuracy and lighting. The main finish on the ship from Flash Gordon, the 1980 film, is Alclad II Pale Gold over Tamiya Gloss Black lacquer. For variation, he accented some panels with Vallejo Red Gold and panel lines emphasized with Alclad II Black Primer & Microfiller.
Steve Schaffer
Hastings, Minnesota
Goodbye Kitty is the all-too-appropriate title for Steve’s diorama. Both of the Gundam Kitties are Bandai kits painted with MRP lacquers over black primer.
Rob Schmitt
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Grogu learns about the balance in the Force thanks to Rob. He filled gaps in the Bandai 1/4 scale Star Wars figure with Aves Apoxie Sculpt, painted with Medea Nu World acrylics using multiple glaze layers on the head. The aftermarket butterfly is glass.
Joe Hudson
St. Charles, Missouri
The Riddler may be an enigmatic Batman villain, but it’s no mystery that FineScale Modeler author Joe knows his way around painting figures. He airbrushed the 250mm bust from Rise 3D Printing with Monument Hobbies Pro Acryl acrylics, including base coats, highlights, and shadows.
Ted Oktabetz
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Taking a post-apocalyptic tack, Ted kitbashed parts from a couple of AMT 1/25 scale Chevy pickups and added a scratchbuilt suspension and engine powering a rear axle fitted with wheels and tracks from a 1/35 scale Sherman. He also scratchbuilt the weapons and interior before painting everything with Tamiya acrylics and weathering with pigments and pastels. “I just had a lot of fun building it,” he said. “I do mostly armor.”
Jay Andry
New Orleans, Louisiana
Having fun with a Wave 1/20 scale S.A.F.S Snowman from the Maschinen Krieger universe, Jay posed it trudging through Woodland Scenics Snow over lightweight spackle. The winter camo is Tamiya White acrylic airbrushed over base colors and hairspray and chipped with a little water and a stiff-bristled brush.
Greg McKellar
Flowery Branch, Georgia
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the workbench … da-dun, da-dun … . After fitting StannArts’ cutaway kit of Bruce, the mechanical shark used in filming Jaws, with more hoses and fittings, and modifying the body to match photos, Greg painted it with Vallejo acrylics and Silly Putty masks. Pastels and AK Interactive pencils added shading and weathering.
Frank LaMarca
Grand Island, New York
Frank fitted a Polar Lights 1/1000 scale USS Enterprise Refit with a 3D-printed secondary hull and pylons to create USS Valley Forge, what he refers to as an Indomitable-class battleship. He painted the Star Trek ship with Tamiya acrylics.
Scott W. Bell-Fleitas
Arthur City, Texas
Scott designed and printed this 1/350 scale S.S. Sydney Harbor, an interplanetary freighter in the Star Trek universe, and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. “It’s my first self-designed 3D-print,” he said. “I’m quite proud of how it turned out.”
David Forbes
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
Looking sharp in the metallic panels produced with a combination of Aztek Dummy masks and tape, David’s 1/350 scale Enterprise NX-01 also shines with a Tena Controls lighting set bolstered by forward and side floodlights on the saucer, cargo-hold lights, and a registry number spotlight he added. The base color is AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Steel with Xtreme Metal Aluminum.
Robert Hallack
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Performing extensive surgery, including cutting vents, grafting on armor and spikes, and scratchbuilding a massive and offensive bull bar, Robert converted a Revell 1/24 scale Ford F-350 into the Death Dually. He armed the post-apocalyptic war machine with a crossbow turret on the roof and a flamethrower in the bed with items from Doozy by AK Interactive, painted with Tamiya and AK 3Gen acrylics, and applied heavy weathering to represent years of wasteland wear and tear.
Vincent Simonelli
Streamwood, Illinois
Vincent’s only addition to Pestilence Labs’ 1/6 scale Bride of Frankenstein as played by Elsa Lanchester was gluing some lichen into the cracks between the stones of the base. He painted the creation with Freak Flex acrylics and shaded with artist oil washes and Pan Pastels.
Tom Clark
Toney, Alabama
The camouflage pattern Tom applied to a Hasegawa 1/35 scale Ma.K PkH 103 Nutcracker gives it its nickname, Krieg Frosch or "War Frog." He airbrushed the hover-tank with Ammo acrylics, used washes for fluid leaks and streaks, and applied wear and dust with pastels.
Curt Haskell
Huntsville, Alabama
Working with a 3D-printed gaming miniature from Cast and Play, Curt painted the Thulugar Demon Prince with Monument Pro Acryl and Vallejo acrylics.
B.P. Taylor
Cincinnati, Ohio
Don’t look for the CRUX-9 fighter on hobby store shelves. B.P. designed and scratchbuilt the spaceship with a retro feel. The fuselage is vacuum-formed, and the wings and weapon pods are cast resin.
Robert Seitz
Tolland, Connecticut
Magnets help the Ma.K PAK Ausf H0 stay on its feet, and Robert detailed the Wave 1/20 scale fighting suit with fine springs for hoses. He airbrushed the futuristic warrior with Tamiya acrylics.
Eric Gonzalez
Miami, Florida
Noting that he put in several long nights to get it ready for the show, Eric built MPC’s 1/72 scale Eagle transport to resemble the second 44-inch filming miniature used on Space: 1999. That required modifications throughout with greeblies and rebuilt panels. He painted it with Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics over white automotive lacquer, using pre- and post-shading and masking; white filters toned down and blended strong colors.
Brian C. Mowery
Goldsboro, North Carolina
One of the great things about WonderFest is you get to see models you may have only seen in boxes or that may be completely new to you. Brian brought a good example with a Gunze Sangyo 1/24 scale PAM-74 AM “Tinkle Sam” powered armor as seen in the anime Special Armored Battalion Dorvack. He improved the 1980s-vintage kit by turning new missiles from styrene rod and rebuilding the arm cannon with styrene tube.
Andy Gilliam
Santa Monica, California
What happens when the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail replaces Gandalf to face off with the Balrog from Lord of the Rings? We’re not completely sure but expect the ever-optimistic warrior will come off worse. Andy placed a Games Workshop 28mm Balrog and a Black Knight from Etsy on a scratchbuilt base. He bulked up the flames on the Balrog by brushing and dabbing on Liquitex Gel Medium colored with yellow paint. Both the creature and the knight were painted with acrylics.
Will Utton
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Painting with acrylics, Will painted an MPC 1/63 scale X-wing as one of the Partisan fighters seen in Rogue One — A Star Wars Story. He weathered with oil pastels and enamels blended and streaked with a fading brush dragged in the direction of airflow.
Doug Black
Clarksville, Tennessee
Doug built this steampunk-inspired airship from Dungeons & Lasers by Archon Studios for a friend who plays Dungeons & Dragons. Most of the craft was airbrushed with Vallejo acrylics and details were picked out by hand.
Abby Black
Clarksville, Tennessee
To represent Jinx closer to the end of the animated Netflix TV series Arcane: League of Legends, Abby painted the DaRax 1/4 scale bust with red irises and plenty of graffiti added to the base. “I painted her eyes first,” Abby said. “Then I masked off her clothing, some parts of her hair, and her eyes, and painted her skin with an airbrush. I hand-painted everything else.”
Richard Lucca
St. Augustine, Florida
Gillman Productions' 1/4 scale monster from the 1942 movie, The Ghost of Frankenstein, looks terrifyingly good thanks to Richard. He base-coated the creature as played by Lon Chaney Jr. with acrylics, shaded with transparent layers of acrylics and pastels, and flowed on artist oil washes and applied pastels for weathering.
Tyler Robinette
Anderson, Indiana
For his first model and the first time using an airbrush, Tyler built a Warhammer 40K T’au TX4 Piranha out of the box. The vehicle was painted with Creatix acrylics and weathered with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color enamels.
Carter Sandel
Okemos, Michigan
Eschewing most of the kit decals, Carter, 17, masked and painted the panels on a Bandai 1/48 scale Star Wars Snowspeeder using Tamiya acrylics, including a custom mix for the orange areas. Washes and pigments give it the appearance of Rebel craft that has been on many patrols over Hoth, represented on the base using model-railroad snow colored with a blue wash to add depth.
Jim James
Winter Garden, Florida
Using a vehicle and figures from the miniatures game, Star Wars Legion, Jim depicted a scene from the Disney+ series Ahsoka with Admiral Thrawn’s Night Troopers unloading from an Imperial LAAT/le patrol transport. He added landing gear, modified the doors, applied custom decals to the gunship, and painted it and the troopers with acrylics.
Paul Wood
Anderson, Indiana
When Paul built AMT’s new 1/32 scale Star Trek shuttlecraft, he chose the alternative name Columbus because he used to live in the Ohio capital and his wife Joanna is an alum of The Ohio State University there. He painted the out-of-the-box build with Vallejo acrylics over Dupli-Color primer and weathered the landing pads with Vallejo mud wash.
Kip Rudge
Lynchburg, Virginia
This delightful vehicle is a 1/35 scale Hornethopter from Fitchen Foo that Kip detailed, rigged, and painted with Vallejo and Citadel acrylics over Mr. Surfacer Mahogany primer. To illustrate the steampunk aircraft’s role as the scourge of the dirigible and woe of the mighty airships, he added the Zeppelin base with styrene and aluminum foil.
Matt Kay
Greer, South Carolina
Matt released the Gillman from its box, but it remains anchored to the base in X-O Facto’s 1/6 scale Revenge of the Creature. After building the model out of the box, he base-coated the Gillman, sponged on Scale 75 tube acrylics, and shaded with transparent colors from Garage Kits US and homemade acrylic glazes.
Butch Bryan
Owasso, Oklahoma
As a tribute to pioneering astronaut Sally Ride, Butch used custom decals by G-Cals on a 3D-printed 1/1000 scale Aldrin-class starship. He painted the Star Trek vessel with Tamiya lacquers and Vallejo acrylics over Stynylrez primer.
Annya Shetinina
Fridley, Minnesota
The red rose accents the grayscale finish Annya applied to a GKUS Creative 1/4 scale bust of Marlene Dietrich. She painted the Hollywood icon with acrylics and used pastels for shading.
Ed Fugate
Independence, Kentucky
Sheens of black and dark gray mark the Caped Crusader’s costume on Ed’s 1/6 scale 3D-printed bust of Batman. He airbrushed Vallejo acrylics and used post-shading to add depth to the finish.
Pat Dakon
St. Joseph, Missouri
Pat added a base and blood container to an Artomic 1/6 scale Nosferatu sculpted by Thomas Kuntz. Using acrylics, he airbrushed the vampiric skin and hand-brushed everything else. Washes, dry-brushing, and pastels shaded the creature of the night.
Kirk Ballash
Eastlake, Ohio
Thinking it interesting, Kirk took on a Warhammer Marauder Destroyer finishing it with Model Master enamels in a process that involved hours and hours of masking and post-shading at each step. To pop details, he flowed in watercolor washes before posing it in flight on an acrylic rod over rocks of Durham’s Water Putty cast in latex molds used for model-railroad scenery.
Dan Moore
North Bergen, New Jersey
Giant Robo, the titular character from a manga and anime series, looks impressive in the weathered finish applied by Dan to the kit from Moderoid, but it took a lot of prep work to get there. “I had to remove more than 40 seam lines and re-scribe all the detail,” Dan said. He also added a cast texture to the red sections using Mr. Surfacer 500.
Dana Smith
Weaverville, North Carolina
Dana built Scale 75’s steampunk-inspired 1/12 scale bust of mechanic Joe Cassidy out of the box and painted it with Tru-Earth acrylics. “Since the model had a head-scratching, bewilder[ed] look, I decided to add a mess of parts to the base,” Dana said. The gears, all plastic, were painted to look like rusty metal.
Neil Prentice
Woodstock, Illinois
After building a Wave 1/72 scale VF-171 Nightmare Plus fighter from Macross Frontier straight from the box, Neil painted the two-tone camo with Tamiya acrylics over pre-shading and weathered with artist oils.
Bob Waltman
Navarre, Florida
Bigfoot looks vengeful and unfriendly in this 1/6 scale bust by Gillman Productions. Bob painted the antagonist from the 2014 found-footage horror movie, Exists, with Scale75 Smoothcolor acrylics.
Tim Utton
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Long out of business, Halcyon produced a bunch of kits from the Alien movie franchise, including a 1/60 scale Space Jockey from the first film. Tim painted the vinyl model with Model Master and Tamiya, starting with black primer with various layers of gray added to establish shading for the dry-brushed browns, tans, greens, and rust tones applied over the top.
Denis Lange
Ashland, Ohio
Denis added water effects to the base of a Shiflett Brothers 1/6 scale Gillman from The Creature from the Black Lagoon and painted it with Tamiya acrylics. Washes and chalk pastels colored details.
Dina Arzapalo
Largo, Florida
Employing a conversion set from Ugh! Models with a Polar Lights 1/1000 scale USS Reliant, Dina produced a unique Federation ship, USS Peregrine, that mimics the sensor profile of a Romulan warbird. She painted the ship with Mr. Color lacquers for the Aztec pattern and Tamiya acrylics for details.
Carter Cooksey
Longwood, Florida
Using files from modeler and artist David Goldberg, Carter scratchbuilt a studio scale Y-wing with styrene and cast resin greeblies. He painted the Star Wars starfighter with Archive X colors and chipped the markings with masking fluid for an accurate replica of Gold 5 from A New Hope.
Jim Green
Louisville, Kentucky
Jim’s striking replica of Kronos One, the flagship of Klingon High Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, is a Polar Lights 1/350 scale kit that he fitted with an aftermarket control board to run LEDs. He masked and airbrushed the complicated scheme with craft paints.
Kip Pelton
Crestwood, Kentucky
Kip added lights to a Border 1/35 scale Grizzly battle tank from the game Red Alert 2 and painted it with Mr. Color lacquers, airbrushing three shades of blue with salt used as a mask to chip the layers. The road is cork on top of insulation foam carved to show damage.
Marcus Fakler
Norton Shores, Michigan
Marcus’ modifications to a Bandai 1/144 scale ASW-G-11 Gundam Gusion include a Bandai aftermarket Gatling gun and spares-box decals in place of the kit’s stickers. He painted the mech with Tamiya acrylics for the base coat and grays, Tamiya lacquer for the orange, and Alclad II lacquer for metal areas.
Scott Owen
Morgantown, West Virginia
You may not be able to tell from the finished model, but Scott completed Polar Lights’ 1/25 scale Speed Racer Mach V for a 24-hour build challenge. But that didn’t mean taking shortcuts, including cutting the front clip from the chassis so it could be glued to and blended with the body. He painted with Tamiya spray-can lacquers — Pure White for the body and Dull Red inside — and flat-coated the chrome-plated rims for a realistic sheen before applying HDA Modelworx decals.
Kirk Cullimore
Clay, Michigan
“Finish him!” is exactly what Kirk did with a 3D-printed bust of Scorpion from the classic video game Mortal Kombat 11. The 1/4 scale figure was base-coated with black and white automotive primers before the topcoats were applied using Tamiya and Model Master acrylics.
James King
Las Vegas, Nevada
Mashing up Star Wars and the U.S. Air Force, James applied decals for an F-15C from the 2021 IPMS/USA National Convention sheet to assign a Bandai 1/72 scale A-wing fighter to the Tactical Fighter Weapon School at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The camouflage on the starfighter was airbrushed with Model Master enamels and Metalizer finished the engines.
Mike Wallace
Madison, Wisconsin
To model Godzilla’s victory over alien kaiju Ghidorah, Mike built an X-Plus 1/350 scale Godzilla 1991 and placed it on an insulation-foam base covered with Vallejo earth texture, Green Stuff World grass, and hand-made trees. The severed Ghidorah head is from Resin Chef. He painted the titans and the scenery with Vallejo acrylics and used dry-brushing and washes to highlight texture.
Jeannine Lewis
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
You can pretty much hear the terror bird thinking “Lunch!” as it chases down an eohippus in Jeannine’s prehistoric scene. She finished the Cretaceous Creations critters with airbrushed acrylics and hand-brushed artist-oil glazes.
Bill Webb
London, Ontario, Canada
Muscular describes the Batmobile as it appeared in 2022’s The Batman, and the nine different sheens and textures of black Bill applied to the Bandai 1/35 scale kit reinforce that aesthetic. As if that wasn’t enough, he painted the engine on the out-of-the-box build with six different shades of silver.
Clif Dopson
Shreveport, Louisiana
Clif doesn’t know who produced this model of Minas Tirith or exactly what scale the Lord of the Rings city is, but he says it was a PLA 3D-print that needed lots of work. He scratchbuilt the base and the mountain behind the city and painted it with acrylics, inks, and oils to look as if bright light is hitting one side and it is twilight on the other.
Jeff Goldsack
Arlington, Texas
In Star Wars, it is not uncommon to see TIE fighters explode, but it’s not often you see on crashed on a planet. Jeff cut up and twisted the parts of a Bandai 1/72 scale TIE, gave it a weathered finish, and distributed the debris in a swamp of clear epoxy colored with pigments and poured over Apoxie Sculpt groundwork. The unfortunate pilot was able to crawl from the wreck but succumbed to his injuries leaning against his ship.
Justin Biefeld
Sellersburg, Indiana
A fan of Gundam Endless Waltz, Justin built a Bandai 1/100 scale Wing Gundam Zero adding parts from a Wing Gundam Snow White Prelude kit to enhance the wings, made a custom base, and applied 196 custom decals. He painted the Mobile Suit with Citadel and Vallejo acrylics and Gundam markers and said it represents the final scene where the pilot uses full power to complete the mission and end the war even though it will kill him.
Eric Cremeans
Lebanon, Ohio
To model Lust from the Full Metal Alchemist anime, Eric painted a 1/6 scale figure from CA 3D Studio with Vallejo and The Army Painter acrylics and Citadel inks. The base was printed in two parts including a red-clear and red mica to make it shimmer.
Duncan Scott
Monroeville, Pennsylvania
“Uncle Martin and his spaceship from My Favorite Martian,” Duncan said, who built the Pegasus 1/20 scale kit out of the box. “In the series, the ship was compared to a Corvette, so I tried to give it a sports car finish.” He painted it with Tamiya lacquers and Pactra metallics, layering on five shades wet to make it look like galvanized steel before finishing with a thin coat of clear blue. Martin was painted with Vallejo and Tamiya acrylics.
Randy VanDyke
Ada, Michigan
Randy’s modifications to a Filmy’s Girls Aurora 2.0 kit include replacing the molded parquet floor with black and white linoleum, a scratchbuilt workbench and wall with posters, Aves Apoxie Sculpt packing peanuts in the kit box on the table and spilling out of the box that Stella the dog is pawing at, and copies of Amazing Figure Modeler and The Garage Kit that Ate My Wallet in her stash. He painted the model modeler with Garage Kit US acrylics.
Roy A. Baril
Martinez, California
A human soldier and a robot warrior bond during a break in fighting in Roy’s Maschinen Krieger scene. He hand-painted a Hasegawa 1/20 scale Großer Hund, the figure, and scratchbuilt base with Polly Scale, Tamiya, Vallejo, and Scale75 acrylics. Heavy weathering with Vallejo rust paint and pigments lends the robot a war-weary appearance.
David “Blappy” Guertin
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
Blappy is known for dressing interesting models in classic Gulf Racing colors. Using a Bandai 1/48 scale kit, he imagined an Imperial AT-ST abandoned after the fall of the Galactic Empire converted into a snow racer. It is powered by a big radial engine — sourced here, along with the cowl and prop, from a Trumpeter 1/32 scale Dauntless — and features 3D-printed skis and lights. He painted with Zero Paints for the Gulf livery and Tamiya lacquers for everything else.