Terry VanParys
Granger, Indiana
To model a modern Pro Touring car, Terry scratchbuilt front frame for a Revell 1/25 scale ’62 Chevy Impala and used 3D-printed parts for the independent front suspension, supercharged 572 motor, and 19- and 20-inch wheels. He painted it with MCW Midnight Blue Metallic under ACME 2K clear.
Gary Polgar
Bolingbrook, Illinois
Gary modified a Revell 1/25 scale 1929 Ford pickup by chopping the windshield, bobbing the rear fenders, adding a roll pan, shortening the bed, opening the doors, upholstering the interior, and installing custom taillights and a recessed firewall. Mechanical upgrades include the carb linkage and fuel and brake lines. The sparkling finish is nail polish, pearl blue topped with blue metal flake.
Irene Rogal
Madison, Wisconsin
Tackling Hawk’s Daddy — The Way-Out Suburbanite Weird-Oh, Irene built up the inside of the mouth and tongue with putty. After painting the commuter with acrylics over Stynylrez primer, she placed it on a scratchbuilt base of putty, sand, static grass, and flowers.
Scott Bischoff
Wheaton, Illinois
To build an old-school junior fueler slingshot dragster, Scott scratchbuilt many of the interior parts for an MPC 1/25 scale Ramchargers kit. He finished it with Tamiya Purple and Black for the body and frame and Alclad II Chrome on the wheels and steering.
Brian Conneranweig
Oswego, Illinois
Brian cut open the vents in front and on the engine cover of a Revell 1/24 scale LaFerrari and fitted them with aftermarket mesh. To finish the hybrid sportscar, he airbrushed MCW enamels over Alclad II primer and topped it all with ProScale 2K clear.
Kevin Koch
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
“Stock built with love and skill,” said Kevin about Revell’s 1/25 scale Tommy Ivo Showboat. He painted it with enamels.
Marek Rogal
Madison, Wisconsin
Thanks to Marek’s modeling prowess, it would be easy to believe this M12 Gun Motor Carriage is 1/35 scale, but it’s actually an Italeri 1/72 scale kit. He built it essentially out of the box except for some stowage, painted with Mission Models acrylics, and weathered with Vallejo pigments and acrylic mud.
Manny Ang
Bartlett, Illinois
Taking a different tack from the normal, all-dark gray Lightning II, Manny painted a Meng 1/48 scale F-35A in the splinter camouflage worn by the fighters from the 65th Aggressors Squadron. He used Mr. Hobby acrylics throughout.
Phil Kirchmeier
West Allis, Wisconsin
After painting a Jeff Shiu Miniatures 120mm figure with Vallejo Model Color and Jo Sonja acrylics, Phil placed it on a scratchbuilt base of insulation foam covered with model railroad snow to model a weary German soldier during the Russian winter of 1942.
Thomas Reinke
Aurora, Illinois
Thomas finished his out-of-the-box build of a Pegasus 1/144 scale The Luna from the 1950 film Destination Moon with Tamiya spray-can lacquers and Vallejo acrylics. Vallejo acrylic washes, Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color, and chalk pastels weather the ship and lunar surface it stands on.
Joe Salzburg
Richmond, Illinois
Working with an Airfix 1/32 scale kit, Joe built one of the three Ford P68 cars raced by the Alan Mann team in 1968. He painted the Gulf livery with Tamiya spray cans.
Mario “Shadow” Mendiola
Chicago, Illinois
The only change Shadow made to a Revell 1/25 scale 1970 Corvette was to tuck Pegasus wheels and tires under the fenders in place of the kit parts. The model shines under his trademark candy finishes with lace and multicolor flakes from House of Kolor.
Mike Ferguson
West Chicago, Illinois
Mike wired and plumbed the engine on a Revell 1/25 scale 1966 Chevelle wagon before painting it with Tamiya bronze and silver lacquers.
Charlie Scardon
Elmhurst, Illinois
A fan of the 1960s animated series Johnny Quest, Charlie scratchbuilt the spider-like robot spy that appeared in an episode using a bead for the body and bamboo skewers for the legs. He painted the villainous machine with Testors and Floquil enamels.
Ken Beckler
Peoria, Illinois
Ken scratchbuilt the cockpits and exhausts for a Trumpeter 1/72 scale Tu-22M3. He airbrushed the camouflage freehand with Tamiya colors over Mr. Color primer using pre- and post-shading and weathered with artist oils.
Dan Cummings
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Imagining that Sienar Fleet Systems sold the Mining Guild TIE Strikers, Dan painted a Bandai 1/72 scale kit yellow and added homemade decals. The solar panels were airbrushed with opalescent colors from Alclad II.
Bill Wedeward
Waterloo, Wisconsin
Bill used spare parts on a Hasegawa 1/20 scale LUM-168 Camel to add a fuel tank cover, antennas, gauges, a chain, a nuclear reactor, and handholds. Post-shading, Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color Black, pigments, and graphite weathered the Maschinen Kreiger walker.
John Kauck
Grayslake, Illinois
To make a Revell 1/720 scale USS Enterprise look like the carrier did in 1968, John added three starboard hanger deck rooms, scratchbuilt a BPDMS platform and director, and corrected the missile boxes and fantail. He detailed it with numerous photo-etched metal sets, including rails, ladders, catwalks, and floatation baskets, and added Trumpeter, Shapeways, White Ensign, and Dragon aircraft.
Bryan Gill
Lowell, Indiana
Showing some love for the Tom Cruise NASCAR racing film Days of Thunder, Bryan built a Monogram 1/24 scale Goody’s Lumina. After detailing it with a scratchbuilt window net and aluminum driveshaft, fuel vent, and heatshields for the floorboard and chassis, he painted it with Createx Pearl Magenta.
Mark Danko
Valparaiso, Indiana
Before airbrushing a sharp mottled camouflage with Mr. Hobby acrylics, Mark detailed an Italeri 1/48 scale Macchi C.200 with Eduard Space interior fixtures and Aires resin wheels. He weathered the Italian fighter with artist oil washes, pigments, pastels, and inks.
George Lococo
Algonquin, Illinois
A Revell 1/125 scale U-boat U-99 moves through a sea of painted tin foil covered with Mod Podge with cotton for the foam. George built the model out of the box, only adding weld seams to the hull before running rigging, and painted it with Vallejo acrylics with artist oils for weathering.
Tim Shelton
Plano, Illinois
Known for his dioramas built on appropriately titled books, Tim turned an AMT truck into a newspaper delivery van bringing news of the German invasion of Poland to an American grocery store. The driver, store owner, and bystander are a combination of Preiser and Hasegawa figures, hand-painted everything, including the lettering, with Ceramcoat acrylics, and paved the street with cork.
Bill Vinikour
Woodridge, Illinois
To add, um, atmosphere to the Corpse Collector — a muddy creature that collects dead people from graveyards — Bill added plants, mud, bones, foam, and other scenic debris to a 1/35 scale Corpse Collector figure and its base. He painted everything with acrylics and shaded with pigments and washes.
Tom Choy
Champaign, Illinois
“This is an Mi-24P from Ukraine that was deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of the U.N. Peacekeeping force,” Tom said. He modified a Hasegawa 1/72 scale Hind with blade antennas in place of the Odd-Rod antennas and fitted drop tanks from a Zvezda Mi-35. The base coat for the U.N scheme is white Tamiya Fine Surface Primer with other whites for color variation added on top.
Mike Knowski
Joliet, Illinois
Mike added photo-etched metal details to the cockpit of a Dragon 1/48 scale Fokker D.VII, painted it with Tamiya colors, and applied aftermarket decals, including Aviatic lozenge camouflage, for a fighter flown by Wilhelm Hippert.
Glen Johnson
Bolingbrook, Illinois
After building Tamiya’s 1/35 scale Char B1 bis out of the box, Glen airbrushed the French tank’s camo with Tamiya acrylics and weathered with artist oil washes and blending.
Winston Vermilyea
Northfield, Minnesota
Using a conversion set from Halbard, Winston turned a Tamiya 1/48 scale Thunderbolt into the XP-47H. Painting with AK Interactive Real Colors lacquers, he imagined what the experimental fighter had become operational in the Pacific Theater.
Christopher Schutt
Bettendorf, Iowa
Christopher’s customized 1978 Ford 4x4 pickup sports a scratchbuilt radiator grille, double roll bar, and added turn signal arms and shifters inside. He coated the body in Tamiya gloss black lacquer before dressing it with homemade decals to give it that early 1980s vibe.
Edward St. Denis
Rochester, Minnesota
An IBG 1/72 scale CMP C15A truck rolls on CMK resin wheels and carries Black Dog stowage thanks to Edward. He painted it with acrylics and marked it for a Canadian 2nd Infantry Division truck in Normandy in the summer of 1944.
Kenneth Kellner
McHenry, Illinois
Kenneth slipped a JoHan 1/25 scale 1972 AMC Hornet body over a cutup AMT chassis, but that’s not all. He also cut open the hood to expose the scratchbuilt wiper motor, heater motor, hoses, shock towers, fuel lines, and solenoid, and painted it canary yellow. “I own the full-size [car] with just 39,000 original miles,” he said.
Russ Price
Divernon, Illinois
Despite describing the Tamiya 1/48 scale F-35A as probably the best-engineered kit he’s ever built, Russ had to add a little more to it in the form of Quinta Studios 3D decals for the consoles, instrument panel MFDs, and seat harness. He used Eduard masks to paint the early RAM sealing pattern.
Mat Mathis
South Beloit, Illinois
Mat’s mods to Academy’s 1/48 scale A-10C include Quinta Studios 3D decals for the cockpit panels, a resin ejection seat, and 3D-printed engine fans and exhaust. He airbrushed Hataka lacquers for the finish, layered inks for shading, and applied artist oils and pigments for dust.
Donald B. Klein
Palos Hills, Illinois
While the tank itself was built straight from the box, Donald equipped the Tamiya 1/35 scale A34 Comet with VLS and Value Gear stowage. He airbrushed the British vehicle with Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics and weathered it with Vallejo products and artist oils before placing it on a scratchbuilt base.
Scott Graupuer
St. Charles, Illinois
To model a U.S. Army dump truck in Vietnam around 1970, Scott built an AFV Club M-51 5-ton dump truck out of the box. The camouflage dark green pre-shading topped with olive green. Three layers of post-shading followed, two of olive green lightened with dark yellow, and finally chromate green.
Robert Raver
Crystal Lake, Illinois
Robert finished a 1/3 scale 3D-printed Grogu with Scale 75 Scalecolor tube acrylics and inks and applied fur from a cat toy for the hair.
Oliver James
Ashton, Illinois
Junior modeler Oliver painted a Tamiya Marder 1A3 with Tamiya acrylics using Andy’s Hobby Headquarters masking putty for the NATO camo. He weathered the infantry fighting vehicle with Tamiya Panel Line Accent enamels and Ammo of Mig Jimenez pigments.
Gus Augstin
Arlington Heights, Illinois
Gus’ scratchbuilt sloop sails on a sea he carved from basswood
Jeremy Olsen
Milton, Wisconsin
“This is a Gundam EMS-10 Zudah prototype mobile suit modified to represent a production model by reinforcing the joints, adding armor plates, and replacing the gun,” Jeremy said. He painted the Bandai 1/144 scale mobile suit with Tamiya acrylics over pre-shading and kept weathering to a minimum.
Austin Paxton
East Moline, Illinois
Austin removed panels from a Bandai 1/60 scale MS-06 Zaku to reveal internal details and painted it with Ammo of Mig Jimenez Atom, Vallejo, and AK Interactive acrylics, adding rust and battle damage along the way. “It is a battle-weary Zaku of the Zeon remnants, left to rust on Earth, but ready to strike back at the Federation,” he said.
William Horn
Lowell, Indiana
Building a Tamiya 1/35 scale Panther Ausf G as a tank built by MAN in September 1944 and in service with the 116th Panzer Division, William added Zimmerit and a lot of small details. He painted the German camouflage with Tamiya acrylics and placed it on a base of styrene foam covered with acrylic paste and tufts of scenic grass.
Mike Kellner
Marengo, Illinois
Looking to try something different, Mike tackled a Midwest Models 1/24 scale wooden lobster boat, adding a stone weight and trap netting for good measure. He painted the little vessel with Testors enamels.
John Anton
Midlothian, Illinois
Making an AMT 1/25 scale Chevy monster truck his own, John painted it a two-tone scheme with gold and green metallic pearls both mixed with multiflake, along with hand-painted stripes and homemade decals.
James Palicka
Aurora, Illinois
Inspired by a similar vehicle he saw in online photos, James converted an AMT 1/25 scale Sand Shark into the “Beerbulance” by adding emergency lights. He painted it with Mission Models gold and Tamiya pearl white before applying the decals he designed and printed.
Keith Benes
Orland Park, Illinois
Fascinated by modified vintage trucks, Keith stretched the frame of a Monogram 1/24 scale Mack AC Bulldog and made the deck from wood to support a model railroad boom crane. Using Tamiya spray-can lacquers, he painted the cab dark yellow, the frame olive drab, and the boom dull red. Sponge-applied acrylic colors added rusty paint chips and dust to the working vehicle.
Karl Williams Jr.
Crown Point, Indiana
Karl hand-painted a 1/8 scale 3D-print of She-Ra from L.A. Figures with artist oils.
James J. Pinc
Downers Grove, Illinois
To give an AMT 1/16 scale ’57 Chevy Bel Air convertible a period-correct pastel blue finish, James painted it with enamels over primer.