David Bainbridge
Hobart, Wisconsin
Using pigments and artist oils, David made the Civil War ironclad ram USS Choctaw look appropriately weathered for service on the Mississippi River. He detailed the Flagship Models 1/196 scale kit with turned-brass masts, styrene rod spars, model railroad chains and eyebolts, and EZ Line rigging.
Jim Robinson
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
After painting a Games Workshop 28mm Stormcast Eternals Lord-Relictor with acrylics, Jim placed it on a base decorated with advancing Stormcast figures.
Gary Baker
Indio, California
Gary painted an Alkelarre 75mm Dracula with acrylics for a properly sinister look.
Robert Huettner
Thompson’s Station, Tennessee
“Like most soldiers, he is a young but experienced man who has seen combat,” Robert said. He finished the FeR Miniatures 1/12 scale Continental Army color bearer with acrylics and artist-oil pinwashes.
Ralph Moschler
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Modeling a Viking landing at Holy Island on the British coast, Ralph painted a Poste Militaire 70mm Viking chieftain with AK Interactive acrylics supplemented by washes and filters.
Karl Williams
Crown Paint, Indiana
Over airbrushed primer, Karl painted a 3D-print of Selene from the Underworld movie franchise sculpted by Michael Ballares with Williamsburg artist oils.
Josh Buck
Eagle Mountain, Utah
Working with 3D-printed parts and scratchbuilt details, Josh built a power suit from the Fallout video game series. He painted it with MRP lacquers, artist oils, and acrylics and placed it on a base made from a plastic beer cap coaster painted and modified to look like a Nuka Cola bottle cap.
Tom Borreli
Erie, Pennsylvania
You can hear the opening riff of Iron Maiden’s The Trooper looking at Tom’s beautifully finished model of Eddie, the band’s mascot. He painted the 75mm Michael Kontrakos figure and base with acrylics and some artist oils for the wood on the flagstaff. “You’ll take my life, but I’ll take yours too...”
Chip Rembert
Brighton, Michigan
Taking a break after the German surrender, GIs play baseball in Chip’s scene titled Diamonds in the Rough which features a Tamiya 1/35 scale jeep and VLS, Alpine, and New World figures. He painted them and the scratchbuilt base with acrylics.
John Schuster
Blanchardville, Wisconsin
John detailed a Tamiya 1/35 scale M26 Pershing with Verlinden stowage before airbrushing Tamiya NATO Green over black primer. Weathering was done with artist oil washes and dry-brushed Vallejo acrylics.
Elliot Jailal
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
For his 1/35 scale vignette titled Morning in the Po Valley, Elliot replaced the heads of Alpine Miniatures GIs with Hornet resin heads. He painted the scene with Vallejo and AK Interactive 3G acrylics.
Jack Muldoon
Medford, New York
Jack hand-painted the tartan and everything else on a Red Hackle Miniatures 120mm Black Watch Officer in review order using artist oils over acrylic base coats with Series 7 Winsor & Newton brushes.
Grant Mayberry
Glendale, California
Combining AK Interactive’s English Hotel façade with a Royal Models figure, Grant modeled the day after the zombies attacked in a scene appropriately called A Bad Day. He painted everything with AK 3G acrylics, weathered with washes, filters, and pastels, and placed the scene in a picture frame.
Rich Erickson
Milan, Indiana
Master figure sculptor Rich showed off his skills with this 1/12 scale bust of Wednesday Addams from the Netflix series. He painted Wednesday and her faithful companion Thing with acrylics.
Scott Primeau
Harris, Minnesota
Scott says Ascension depicts a worn warrior ascending to the afterlife. He scratchbuilt the body using model railroad and plastic kit parts for the mechanical “guts” and casting the head in resin. He painted the warrior with acrylics, shaded it with inks to produce object source lighting, and hand-painted the backdrop.
Scott Lofye
Plano, Texas
A German paratrooper stands over the grave of a comrade on Crete in Scott’s 1/16 scale vignette. He added a canteen to an H3 figure and painted with Holbein artist oils. The groundwork is AK Interactive acrylic terrain paste and static grass, all painted with acrylics and shaded with enamel and oil washes.
Kyle Harris
Hobart, Indiana
A Zaku Warrior’s day just turned ugly as it rides flaming debris back into Earth’s atmosphere in Kyle’s exciting diorama. After removing some of the armor from a Bandai 1/100 scale Gundam mobile fighting suit and building up the exposed frame underneath, he painted it with lacquers. The base is entirely scratchbuilt.
Henry Nunez
San Antonio, Texas
American troops realize the Germans have surrounded them in the Belgian town of Bastogne in Henry’s diorama. He recruited the GIs from Alpine and MJ Miniatures and painted them with Vallejo and AK Interactive acrylics. The base features an Armand Bayardi wall on groundwork comprised of Liquitex ceramic stucco, Vallejo Environment dirt and mud, and a tree from Scenic Factory.
Brian Mikulencak
Hurst, Texas
After building a Young Miniatures 1/10 scale bust of Lt. Winters from Band of Brothers straight from the box, Brian painted it with AK Interactive acrylics over Tamiya base coats. Pigments add shading to the face.
Robert Prokop
Chaska, Minnesota
Floating in his “pram,” Grogu uses the Force to assist Din Djarin. Robert epoxied a magnet inside the 3D-printed kit from NY3D Creations so it sits suspended over the electromagnetic base. He hand-painted the figure with Scale 75 Scalecolor tube acrylics. After priming the egg with automotive primer, he applied AK Interactive Worn Effects fluid, sprayed it gray, and used a wet brush to chip and wear the topcoat to reveal the primer.
Matt Deck
Fort Wayne, Indiana
“I took the ancient Eastern Express T-28 and cut a section out to make a ‘wedgie,’” Matt said. After detailing it with a HobbyBoss machine gun and a scratchbuilt cable and painting it with Mr. Hobby acrylics, he placed it on groundwork made of Celluclay, sand, cat litter, and white glue. Stalingrad figures painted with Vallejo and Scale 75 acrylics and artist oils show a shared moment in the heat of World War II as a father spends a moment away from battle with his admiring son.
Matt Schaefer
North Mankato, Minnesota
Matt built a Tamiya 1/48 scale T-55 out of the box and airbrushed Tamiya lacquers over Mr. Surfacer 1000 Mahogany for a tank from the Egyptian 25th Armored Brigade during the Yom Kippur War.
Stephen Mallia
Pieta, Malta
On September 25, 1066, an English army under King Harold Godwinson defeated an invading Norwegian force at the village of Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire. Stephen scratchbuilt the bridge and sculpted figures, hand-painting everything with acrylics, to re-create the battle.
John Jeffries
Freeport, New York
Modeling an English archer in the service of Sir John Hawkwood in 14th-century Italy, John painted a 100mm Dolman figure with Scale 75 Scalecolor tube acrylics.
John Long
Springfield, Missouri
The Andrea Miniatures 54mm Captain William Kidd kit included the ship base, but John added sheet styrene as a canvas for the sunset. He painted the Caribbean pirate with acrylics and used inks to give the leather a realistic sheen.
Riccardo Ruberti
Viareggio, Lucca, Italy
Only some parts of the horses in Riccardo’s 54mm Pony Express diorama came from kits. He scratchbuilt everything else, including figures, structures, and groundwork, and painted with acrylics. Riccardo used pigments for weathering.
Kyle Maitland
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
After modifying the clothing on Adrift, a 75mm figure from Nordly’s Miniatures, with Tamiya putty, Kyle painted it with acrylics. He scratchbuilt and painted the scene around it for the image he calls Aflame.
Greg Liebert
Cedar Lake, Indiana
Greg added the alien tail to the base and modified the soldier’s gear for Fort Duquesne Miniatures 150mm Space Force kit to show a space trooper not getting the drop on his foe. He painted the uniform and base with airbrushed acrylics and used oils for the face. “The idea was to have both the space soldier and alien match in color schemes,” Greg said.
Mike Pierce
Earlysville, Virginia
Mike’s 1/35 scale vignette features a hand-sculpted Harriet Tubman leading a pair of soldiers during the Raid on Combahee Ferry in South Carolina in June 1963. The abolitionist has a Historex head and Hornet hands, and the soldiers are from Knox with new heads and scratchbuilt kepis. Everything was painted with Vallejo acrylics.
Tom Reese
Algonquin, Illinois
To model a Wildcat flown by U.S. Navy ace and Medal of Honor recipient Edward “Butch” O’Hare, Tom built an Eduard 1/48 scale F4F-3 and painted it with MRP and Hataka lacquers. His only mod to the kit was wiring the engine.
Chris Chapman
Northbrook, Illinois
Using a Blast upper hull and turret, Chris converted a Tamiya 1/35 scale M4 into an M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo. He designed and 3D-printed the tracks and .50-caliber machine gun, crewed it with Alpine figures, and painted with LifeColor acrylics and artist oils before weathering with layers of pigments and oil paint for mud.
Josh Tucker
Pingree Grove, Illinois
“I wanted to show that even in the heat of battle, kindness can still be shown,” Josh said. He added battle damage to a Bandai 1/100 scale RX-79(G) before painting. The “injured” MS-06 Zaku II was an old kit with missing parts, so it made sense for it to be on the ground. He painted the mobile suits with Mr. Color lacquers, AK Interactive and Tamiya lacquers, and artist oils.
Joshua Harris
Chicago, Illinois
For a scene entitled Goblin Go Boom, Joshua positioned a Games Workshop goblin inside a Bad Squiddo Games mining cart being blasted into the air by a Deadly Print Studios explosion from a scratchbuilt mine entrance. He painted everything with acrylics.
Irina Vasilyeva
Paris, France
Irina finished a Tsarsoldiers 54mm sculpt of King Philippe II of Spain with acrylics.
Tatiana Gapachenko
London, England
Tatiana hand-painted the designs on a Tsarsoldiers 54mm Joan of Arc banner and horse tackle. The entire figure was finished with acrylics.
Penny Meyer
Las Vegas, Nevada
Penny’s not sure of the scale or the manufacturer, but one thing’s for sure: she did a first-rate job finishing the elf bust she calls Blue. It is finished with artist oils over acrylic base coats.
Kyle M. Dalton
Lindenhurst, Illinois
A classic Pokémon playing card springs to life thanks to Kyle, who built an ABC3D Models 1/12 scale Blastoise. He airbrushed the base tones, stippled the background, and layered on highlights and shadows.
Derek Clark
Chicago, Illinois
This 1/10 scale bust of Wolverine comes from Alexculptor. Derek painted the X-Men hero with Monument and Kimura acrylics using layering and glazes for object source lighting.
Heather O’Neal
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Heather finished a Reaper 54mm figure with Reaper Master Series acrylics to model a vampire prepared to meet the dawn. She 3D-printed the plinth and added 3D-printed details from Goon Mater Games.
Victoria C. Geis
San Pedro, California
To finish a 50mm figure of Susan Pevensie from The Chronicles of Narnia, Victoria painted Vallejo acrylics over clear primer, applying layers of shading from dark to light, and finally added highlights. Dark washes and mud on her shoes finished the arrow-slinging heroine who sits upon a base of two-part epoxy putty, real dirt, and a tree made from a plant root.
Noel Meyer
Wauconda, Illinois
In the 1982 movie The Dark Crystal, Gelflings Jen and Kira rode towering Landstriders. Noel finished Broken Toad figures of the creatures with acrylics.