Derek Southerland
Roanoke, Virginia
“This 1955 Chevy Bel Air and its diorama were built to be like my dad’s real car as it looked around 1965 and was given to him as a Christmas present last year,” Derek says. “My grandfather originally purchased the car around 1957 and my dad later bought it from him. It will eventually become my daughter's.” The model is AMT’s 1/25 scale 2-door sedan kit and Derek scratchbuilt the diorama to match a photo of the real car in front of the house his father lived in around 1965 when he met Derek’s mother.
Tom Roylance
Tampa, Florida
Tom used Bandai’s 1/12 scale C-3PO to produce R-Y8N. “A protocol droid is a type of robot programmed mostly for etiquette and often used as translators within the Star Wars universe,” he says. “My unfortunate droid finds himself assigned to a minor outpost on a remote frozen planet. His sole responsibility is maintaining the only communication tower, located 1.6 kilometers from the base. The exposure to the extreme climate has taken its toll on the diligent droid.” Tom built the kit out of the box and added 3D-printed electrobinoculars from Shapeways fitted with a strap made from masking tape. The model was painted with Vallejo acrylic, decorated with custom decals, and weathered with dot filters, washes, sponge-applied scratches, and pigments. The simple resin base decorated with plaster, pigments, Tamiya's Snow Effects, and AK Interactive's microballoon snow put the droid in his frozen workplace.
Wilson Manson
Newbury, Berkshire, England
After dressing Revell’s 1/72 scale PT boat with a 40mm Bofors gun from Atlantic Models to model PT-579, Wilson put it to sea on a base of insulation foam, modeling paste, and clear gel with foam made from cushion poly fill.
Yannick Veillette
Longueuil, Quebec, Canada
Yannick detailed the engine and interior of Revell's Foose 1965 Chevy Impala before painting it with Tamiya Gunmetal lacquer.
Hagen Miller
Winsor, Colorado
Hagen spent 11 months lighting and detailing Polar Lights’ 1/350 scale Star Trek USS Enterprise refit and finished it as USS Endeavour. He says it “is by far the most involved and detailed kit” he’s built.
Hans Dewald
Springs, Gauteng, South Africa
Hans paired Italeri’s 1/24 scale Mercedes-Benz 2238S tractor with Italeri’s Topas heavy tank trailer to build a BP tanker rig. He hand-painted both with Humbrol enamels.
Nenad Zivkovic
Kragujevac, Serbia
Nenad didn’t say what detail he might have added to Italeri’s 1/9 scale Zundapp KS 750 with sidecar but both camouflage on the German motorcycle and the base look terrific.
Rob Schmitt
Colorado Springs, Colorado
To replicate a scene from the second season of The Mandalorian, Rob added 1.8mm flickering orange LEDs to the engines of Bandai Spirits’ Razor Crest and painted it with Tamiya Flat Aluminum. “The ice planet base was made with leftover resin rocks and stucco patch and painted various shades of dark grays and blues and then covered with Woodland Scenics snow,” he says. The 3D-printed ice spiders were painted light gray and given a blue-gray wash.
Davis Sampson
Bear Valley Springs, California
Astonished at the absence of a basic 1/48 scale kit of the Mustang 1, the aircraft ordered by the Royal Air Force that started the legendary Mustang line, David converted Accurate Miniatures’s Mustang 1A with help from an Ultracast set. The latter included a new lower cowl with machine gun ports and barrels, wing leading edges with openings for .30- and .50-caliber machine guns, and new prop blades. In addition to modifying shell ejection ports and ammunition access panels, he detailed the cockpit with Eduard photo-etched metal, added resin wheels, and added flaps from a Tamiya P-51 after cutting away the kit’s molded flaps. Using Model Master enamels, Montex Masks, decals from Arrow Graphics, and hand-painting, he finished it as an aircraft flown by American Hollis Hills with the Royal Canadian Air Force who has the distinction of scoring the first ever kill in a Mustang when he shot down an Fw 190 in August 1942.