A Clash of Arms by Robert Caruso "All in all, figure painting is a most relaxing, enjoyable way to recreate worlds in miniature. The masters of this hobby can relive a piece of history in their works."
Vlad the Impaler by Augie Rodriguez "As to the hair, there is no texturing here whatsoever--any texture is in the sculpture. As a matter of fact, the hair was pretty much applied as a glaze--a warm reddish brown was the acrylic undercoat for black hair! The black was glazed on in 2 coats using a mix of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna."
The Grand Illusion by Jeff Junker: ""The toughest part of planning a diorama is to decide what to put in it. It helps to think of a dioramic scene as you would a photograph: both depict a snapshot in time. The starting point is to decide what story you want to tell. But the question always remains the same: What did you want to take a picture of?"
Cat Scratch Fever by Phil Novak: " What I like to do is take a fairly common subject, like one of the German cats, a Tiger or Panther, and cram it with every last after market set that is available, and scratch build every little thing that is not there that's supposed to be. Now before one begins such a project it is important to know that you need two things: time, as it will take a long while to complete and most of all, reference."
It's Only Clay by Mike Wohl: "At first you will probably spend most of your energies just trying to get everything in the right place. This is going to take awhile and is an important step. Eventually you find yourself moving towards a more integrated whole that tells a story and is not just anatomically correct."
Knight Life by John Alberts and Jeff Junker: "Centuries ago, members of the warrior class used to dress in colorful garb: feathers indicating valor in past battles, fancy embroidery showing allegiance to one's faith, the cut of the cloth expressing ones political alignment. This fashion marked the Middle Ages. It was a time of harsh conditions; it was a time of hand-to-hand combat; it was a Knight's Life. This polychromatic panorama of the "ancients" is shown in the work of John Alberts. With some fancy brush work, he performs his own brand of alchemy breathing life into pieces of resin and metal. Knight Life is a look at how six figures were transformed into works of art."
Panzerknacker! by David Clarke (an article on building a 1/9 scale figure): "Every 1/9 scale Warriors figure I have purchased is literally crammed with details that are impossible to mold in smaller scales."
Red Steel by Phil Novak (A look at how three modelers build Russian Armor) "So as we can see, there are many ways of constructing Russian tanks without seeing the same thing over and over again. The methods of these modelers show us that a 'plain' paint scheme can be very interesting."
Catch a Falling Flag by Patrick Harris (a photo-essay on rail photography.) "The primary philosophy behind what I choose to shoot comes down to two prongs of the fork: I shoot what interests me, and I shoot what is rare or unusual. I would suggest to any rail photographer that the first trick to successfully recording rail history, is to shoot as much as you can reasonably afford, and shoot as often as possible."
Bugs, Mr. Rico! By Jeff Junker (A look at how 3 modelers approached building the Fort Dusquense Space Marine) "Eerily reminiscent of the Bug Hunters of Robert Heinlen's Starship Troopers - as well as evoking images of Ripley's deadly minuet with the Alien - the Fort Dusquense Space Marine appears ready for action after making a 'jump' onto hostile terrain."
Running of the Bulls by Jeff Junker and Phil Novak (A look at how 2 modelers built Tamiya's FAMO.) "Having more models than time to build them, it takes something special for John Daniel to push a project to the front of the queue. The Tamiya Famo was such a model; it begged to be built."