Tony Stencel
Long Grove, Illinois
A combination of Reaper, Scale 75, and Jo Sonja acrylics, along with Humbrol metallic enamels helped Tony finish this Pegaso 54mm Berdan Sharpshooter. He modified the base with Green Stuff and added grass and texture with Vallejo terrain products.
Stephen Venters
Melrose Park, Illinois
Originally a Sideshow 1/6 scale vinyl kit of vampire hunter Manfred Gallows from Tim Bradstreet’s Red Sky Diary, Stephen made molds from the kit parts and cast them in resin. He sculpted the eye details and scratchbuilt the Royal Enfield rifle, Navy Colt, holsters, belts, and bangles. Stephen airbrushed and hand-painted acrylics over auto primer. He built the base from a wooden frame and styrene sheet and made the stones with two-part epoxy putty.
JC McDaniel
Little Rock, Arkansas
JC’s astounding Journeyman Miniatures Shinobi instantly drew our attention. He airbrushed zenithal pre-shading before going to work with Scale 75 paints and hand brushes. He says there are easily 40-50 extremely thin layers of paint on the face, and he illustrated, freehand, the tattoo on the right arm.
Kreston Peckham
Menasha, Wisconsin
A mechanic and his dog await the pilot of a Pfalz D.XII in Kreston’s scene. It features a Wingnut Wing’s 1/32 scale kit painted with Tamiya acrylics and weathered with artist oils. The lozenge decals came from Aviattic.
David Bainbridge
Hobart, Wisconsin
David entered this creative display called “How I Paint.” Using a Fredericus-Rex 54mm Zieten Hussar flat, he shows the progress of his painting style with artist oils from start to finish.
Chip Rembert
Brighton, Michigan
“Achtung Stalingrad!” features a scratchbuilt building and figures from Master Box, Warriors, and Stalingrad. Chip painted everything by hand with acrylics and modified all of the figures to some extent. He built the scene on a Styrofoam base and hand-laid the bricks for the building. When weathering, he pulled out all of the modeling tools, including washes, pigments, and pastels.
Felix Gonzales
Chicago, Illinois
Felix had the plan to model several X-wings in what-if schemes based on World War II fighters. Here, he has built his “Star Wars: Tora! Tora! Tora!” from a 1/72 scale Bandai kit, sprayed it with Tamiya paints, and applied markings for a WWII Japanese fighter. The base, which came with the kit, shows the famous scene when proton torpedoes hit the exhaust port on the Death Star.
Glen Hamilton
St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
“All markings were carefully researched through the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, to depict an accurate representation of a late-19th century warrior,” Glen says of his 1/9 scale Lakota Sioux bust. He primed with black and shot white from above to begin zenithal shading. Glen blocked in colors with acrylic paints and used artist oils for shading and highlights.
Jerry Allen
Madison, Alabama
This 1/9 scale cyborg warrior is a CASculpts 3D-printed file. Calling it “Fallen, but not Forgotten,” Jerry finished painting the miniature by hand with AK Interactive 3rd Generation acrylics. He illustrated the tattoos freehand and added a silencer to the rifle.
Wendy Rafalski
Dorr, Michigan
The figure of the girl watching the penguins once held a bouquet of flowers, but Wendy thought it didn’t look quite right. So, she sculpted the penguin plushy, then built a scene where the girl could watch penguins swim at a local aquarium. Wendy added Andrea and Vallejo acrylic paints to color the miniatures and made the penguins swim in poured resin.
Rick Keasey
Edwardsville, Illinois
Starting with a FeR Miniatures 1/12 scale bust, Rick brought this American Revolutionary War soldier to life with artist oils on the face and acrylic paints for the rest. Nothing was airbrushed here — everything was done by hand, with light weathering using dried oil paints. The base is quartersawn oak from Rick’s woodshop.
Robert Raver
Crystal Lake, Illinois
Inspired by a photo he saw online, Robert put four projects into the diorama he calls “The Scavenger,” including a destroyed Maultier halftrack, Fiat 500 Topolino, the horses, and the scavenger figure itself. Robert says the groundwork was an “interesting exercise in creating burn effects from the wreck versus the slushy, wintery mix.” The worn wood base is a coat of wood stain on a styrene sheet, followed by an immediate brushing of household latex paint. Voila! Weathered wood in minutes.
John Rosengrant
Nolensville, Tennessee
John sculpted the figure for his “U.S. Marine at Chosin Reservoir” scene from scratch with Magic-Sculpt epoxy clay. He airbrushed the base coat and hand-painted the rest with AK Interactive 3rd Generation and Scale75 Warfront acrylics.
Tom Karnas
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tom combined a Takom kit, figures from Hornet, and scratchbuilding to create his vignette, “Narrow Roads,” depicting an Israeli ABL-90. All the painting was completed with Tamiya acrylics and oil washes. For weathering, Tom went in with oils, pigments, and a “good, old-fashioned HB pencil.” He made the base out of Magic-Sculpt two-part epoxy putty.
Michael Hochsheidt
Robbinsdale, Minnesota
Sand and tufts from Gamers Grass and Woodland Scenics helped Michael base his 75mm “Savage Beauty” figure from Black Sun Miniatures. He airbrushed the skin tones and refined them with acrylic glazes and a paintbrush.
George Lococo
Algonquin, Illinois
German troops stop to rest in Normandy, in 1944. George captured the scene with kits and figures from ICM, Master Box, and Dragon, and completely scratchbuilt the house from modeling clay and balsa wood. He sculpted the cobblestone street from foam insulation. Washes, powdered pastels, and oil paints weathered the vehicles.
Gary Baker
Indio, California
Gary breathed life into the Robot Rocket Miniatures “Neriah” 90mm. He pre-shaded with Vallejo acrylics and finished with Winsor & Newton artist oils. A coat of semigloss clear gave the non-metal metal finish on the headdress an amazingly realistic shimmer.
Stephen Mallia
Pieta, Malta
Stephen’s “Lancaster Crew” was an AC Models set built straight from the box. Capturing the feel of airmen just returning home from a mission, he hand-painted the figures with acrylic colors after priming.
Scott Primeau
Harris, Minnesota
A popular bust among modelers this year, Scott presented his take on the Young Miniatures 1/10 scale “The Battle of Midway U.S. Navy Pilot, 1942” bust. He painted with AK Interactive acrylics and used inks to create the reflections in the pilot’s goggles. He built up the colors with glazes and didn’t use pastels or pigments for any effects.
Chris Chapman
Northbrook, Illinois
Oh, no! Is it the pilot? A hapless pedestrian in the desert? Whoever was stomped, the Gundam is having a bad day on the job. Chris calls his diorama “Oh, geez!” The Bandai 1/100 scale mech received some battle damage from a rotary tool, then Chris airbrushed Mr. Color for the base coat and weathered it with enamel washes and pigments. He carved the base from extruded foam, coated it with “various plaster products” to get the right texture, and painted it.
Dee Moore
Fayetteville, Georgia
“Ulf the Lumberjack” comes from Blacksmith Miniatures. Dee painted the 54mm figure with Scale 75 and Vallejo acrylics, first base-coating and then providing shadows and highlights. She crafted the base from Sculptamold and added real rocks, Bayardi tree stumps, an azalea branch, and static grass to bring it all together.
Robert Huettner
Thompson’s Station, Tennessee
Robert wanted to capture that all unknown soldiers were once known in his “Letter to an Unknown Soldier,” based on the World War I memorial in Paddington Station. He faded the bronze into the skin tones and clothing freehand to show the transition from soldier to monument.
Zeno Mladin
London, Ontario, Canada
Zeno painted this 75mm 15th-century Italian knight figure from Tim Berlin entirely with Vallejo acrylics. With no airbrush in sight, he primed, brushed multiple layers, and post-shaded.
Robert Norman
Painesville, Ohio
Finishing an IL Miniatures 1/10 scale bust of a dwarf with his owl companion, Robert named his Gliocas, because the manufacturer's name “didn’t make sense.” Acrylic paints adorn the resin miniature, which Robert mounted on a wooden base.
Bertram Floyd
Sheffield Village, Ohio
Bertram calls his model, “1776, Free.” He modified the original 120mm kit, providing it with a new head, hat, handkerchief around the neck, and a base. Bertram used craft-store paints to finish his miniature.
Lester Lantz
Hinckley, Illinois
The remnants of a World War II German armor unit fight desperately alongside railroad tracks. Lester concocted the scene, then went to work building it on a frame that he bought to hold the base. The 1/35 scale kits came from Tamiya and Dragon, and he made the telephone poles from scratch.
Mike Kohta
Green Bay, Wisconsin
A Russian BMP-2E is on the losing end of a confrontation with a Ukrainian T-64BM Bulat in Mike’s diorama. He lighted the muzzle flash with an LED, placed the scene on a picture frame, and made the base with matte board and papier-mâché.
Andy Gulden
Tinley Park, Illinois
German soldiers struggle to push their FlaK 37 up a hill in Andy’s vignette. He upgraded the Trumpeter kit with Lion Roar photo-etched metal details and swapped in Hornet heads and hands for the Tristar figures. AK Interactive Terrains products helped Andy model the unforgiving grade.
Richard Bruna
Plainfield, Illinois
Richard’s “Old Fisherman” stands staring out from the end of a scratchbuilt pier, frothy waves of poured resin threatening to sweep everything away. You can almost hear the lightning crackle and the wind howl. Richard finished the scene with acrylic paints and wet-blended layers to achieve this moody scene.
Doug Cohen
Roanoke, Texas
Starting with an Atlantis 1/48 scale HUP-2, Doug scratchbuilt the entire interior, scribed panel lines on the exterior, added figures and a base, and airbrushed everything with Tamiya paints. Such an incredible achievement!
Alexander DeLeon
Carrizo Springs, Texas
“Self Service, Italian Style” depicts a rider and her hypothetical motorcycle at a petrol pump in Italy. Hypothetical because Alexander says the engine is a combo of Moto Guzzi and Harley-Davidson parts. He scratchbuilt the petrol pump, sign, and base, and airbrushed Tamiya paints to create the array of Italian candy colors.
Mark Sprayberry
Panama City Beach, Florida
Mark’s 90mm Andrea figure depicts a German 5th Regiment Stormtrooper in 1917. He removed the gas mask from the head and added a mustache to the face. Completely hand-painted, Mark used Scale 75 artist acrylics and inks and made the base from AB Epoxy Sculpt clay.
Charles Schlom
Algonquin, Illinois
Charles completely rebuilt the rotor system on his A-Model 1/72 scale Kamov Ka-26 crop duster. Additionally, he built the spray bars, and the pesticide tank, ran high- and low-pressure lines, made an exhaust manifold from the sprue, and installed a pump shaft. Model Master enamels and Tamiya acrylics finished the heli in service of the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture.
Sergio Schwartz
Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
“Zerstorer … Alarm!” shows the bridge crew of U-503 cruising the North Atlantic in 1942, just as they spot a destroyer. Sergio completed the Andrea Miniatures kit with conversions to the figures. He sculpted the water and used both an airbrush and paintbrushes to add Scale 75 acrylics.