Shep Paine's "Red Sniper Hunt" from 1973.
- Thread starter Chazman
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Chris Oldfield
A Fixture
Shep Paine's work was always fantastic, he was a true pioneer. Although I've seen this diorama depicted in his books, I never realised there were actually two 251s in it.
Thanks for showing it here in all its glory, Chaz.
Thanks for showing it here in all its glory, Chaz.
Agree there Chris ....the book on Sheps work is great
Cheers Chaz for sharing
Nap
As a kid, I can still remember how blown away I was by Shep's diorama inserts in those Monogram kits, originally released in the 1950's. Later as an adult, it was an honor to meet him and get to know him a bit. These Tamiya figures were leading edge stuff when released in the early 1970's and Shep took them to the next level and made a quantum leap forward for our little hobby. AFAIK, this was both Shep's first urban scene and perhaps the first urban scene ever, in any diorama.
I remember seeing one of Shep's Monogram dioramas on display at a local hobby shop as a teenager. I thought, "OMG, is this some sort of sorcery?" I can't describe how well done it was, compared to anyone else's work. Shep inspired so many of us as kids, to get into this hobby.
RIP, Shep.
BTW, this diorama still exists and is in the hands of a collector.
I remember seeing one of Shep's Monogram dioramas on display at a local hobby shop as a teenager. I thought, "OMG, is this some sort of sorcery?" I can't describe how well done it was, compared to anyone else's work. Shep inspired so many of us as kids, to get into this hobby.
RIP, Shep.
BTW, this diorama still exists and is in the hands of a collector.
Chris Oldfield
A Fixture
Nice to know it’s being looked after Chaz, unlike some of Francois Verlinden’s stuff which was thrown into rubbish skips when he decided to retire.
When I was about 11, I was at a department store with my parents and saw this. It was the two small color photos below, on the side of the Monogram M-48 box which blew me away.
The tank looked dirty! How was that done? There was an M-60 machine gun team with painted on helmet covers. The tank commander has body armor and an M-60 with and M-113 ACAV shield was mounted in front of the loaders hatch. And all that cool gear hanging off it! Even an extra pair of boots! I stared at those two tiny pictures for half an hour! LOL!
The tank looked dirty! How was that done? There was an M-60 machine gun team with painted on helmet covers. The tank commander has body armor and an M-60 with and M-113 ACAV shield was mounted in front of the loaders hatch. And all that cool gear hanging off it! Even an extra pair of boots! I stared at those two tiny pictures for half an hour! LOL!
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I thought I had the answer.
I went out into the garden and carefully collected some soil in a pot, which I then took indoors and mixed it with tap water to make mud.
I then carefully applied said mud to my Tamiya German half-track with an old paint brush - and I thought it looked amazing.
Fast forward to next morning when I woke up to find that the mud had completely dried out and it looked ..... well ..... really crap
.You learn from your mistakes.
I was 12 years old.
- Steve
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The funny thing about that Monogram "Patton Tank" is that the kit dates from the late '50s and it bears only a passing resemblance to the actual M-48. The dimensions and shape are way off.
But at the time we neither knew nor cared, because the sheer awesomeness of these new-fangled "dioramas" was the only thing that mattered.
And I always wondered what was this mysterious, magical material "Celluclay" that was always being mentioned in these how-to articles. I remember asking about it in several model and craft shops, only to be greeted with blank looks. I never did get any.
- Steve
I thought I had the answer.
I went out into the garden and carefully collected some soil in a pot, which I then took indoors and mixed it with tap water to make mud.
I then carefully applied said mud to my Tamiya German half-track with an old paint brush - and I thought it looked amazing.
Fast forward to next morning when I woke up to find that the mud had completely dried out and it looked ..... well ..... really crap
You learn from your mistakes.
I was 12 years old.
- Steve
Sounds like a valiant effort!
In the '70's they had an aerosol deodorant which dried to a white powder. I thought, what an excellent way to give my Monogram Sturmgeschutz a white wash snow camouflage - and easy too! It required about a half a can and actually came out fairly decently, but it made my room smell for weeks!
theBaron
A Fixture
Exactly. I still don't, at least, not as much as rivet-counters at Hyperscale and in some other forums. I built and paint what I like, the way I like.
Prost!
Brad
theBaron
A Fixture
And what's great about "Red Sniper Hunt", and the Monogram dioramas, is that he used Tamiya's kit figures, and Monogram's, which are sneered at today by so many figure painters and modelers. I see comments about how bad they are, and I think of those dioramas. We need to remember that Shep wanted to encourage modelers, to show them what they could do with a kit, if they tried.
Prost!
Brad
Prost!
Brad
Exactly! These 1/35th figures, (below), were from a kit released in the 1950's. They were not multi-pose, they were single piece injected plastic figures. By cutting them apart and swapping arms, torsos and legs, Shep showed us how to "convert" . Even repositioning the hands for more realistic poses.
The early Tamiya figures were light years ahead of these.
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Yes you are right about that, Shep and Verlinden probably did more than anyone else in terms of encouraging a whole generation of young modellers.
I must admit that I do chuckle at those old Tamiya figures these days, and I would never buy them now for the simple reason that the hobby has moved on massively since and there are far better ones available. But I chuckle at them in a fond and nostalgic way as opposed to sneering at them, because in their day they were the very best you could get and we didn't have back then what we have today.
- Steve
I remember going to a local hobby shop with a friend back in the day, and looking at a Monogram piece Shep had on display there. As an aside, I didn't know it at the time, but Shep actually lived about 10 minutes away. Anyway, we were talking to the shop owner about it and he said, "You should see what he can do with Tamiya stuff! The yelling figure actually has teeth!"
