Model Builder International Pilot Issue Model Builder International Pilot Issue | Page 26

the way clothes drape from a person’s body. I see
wrinkles on a pair of trousers and want to repeat it
on my figure!
Why did you choose to create miniature figures instead
of choosing a different genre of modeling?
In 1989, I saw the Verlinden catalogue for the
first time. It turned my world upside down and
simply blew my mind! Since that time, I had no
doubt in my mind that dioramas were what I
wanted to build. Personally, I’m not great fan of
the military miniature as a single figure. Figures
can be nice and perfect, but a figure starts to live
only in vignettes and dioramas, when they have
“relationships” amongst other figures and are
placed in an environment. For me, “dioramas”
are the most bright, dramatic, fascinating genre of
modeling.
What are the pros and cons of just producing figures
rather than all types of military models?
For me the process of figure creation is a little
miracle. I am still amazed when I take a piece of
wire and shapeless putty and make an absolutely
new figure from concept to realization. In other
words, when I’m making “something from
nothing”. Each time I start a figure it is a fresh and
new process, because every new figure is another
person, another story, another life. Tanks, cars,
and planes are beautiful, but they are all “dead”
without figures. Figures are “alive”! Those are the
pros in my opinion.
The only con…I’d like the process of figure
sculpting to be faster!
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Why did you decide that the Vietnam War would be
your genre of choice?
The root of my interest came in my teenage years,
when I saw the movie “Platoon”. It shocked and
piqued my interest in the Vietnam War.
I tried to find all the available information about
that war and that era that I could. War is a part
of our society and history. It has an influence on
all the aspects of our daily life: politics, music, art,
architecture, haircuts, cars and clothing design.
That’s why every war has its own aesthetic
quality.
To me, the Vietnam War was a transition
between two periods of the twentieth century.
It has a great and very interesting fusion of oldfashion and modern aspects, including equipment,
tactics, philosophy, politics, and attitudes.
Our members at Hobby Link International are always
impressed with your figures. One of the main questions
is would you ever sculpt 1/16th scale limited edition
figures or will you only sculpt 1/35 scale figures? Do
you think you would ever produce more modern figures
such as The Gulf War or OIF?
Nice questions! For now, I am tr Z[