A weekend in Mons – Resicast an Open Day

Resicast – 21 Years of Modeling Excellence

Some time back I asked Graham Sellar from Resicast if he would mind if I did a short article on Resicast. I’d met Graham at Duxford Military Vehicle Show on a couple of occasions and in some respects he’s responsible for me drifting into reviewing as he’d see a couple of my builds, knew of my interest in all thing British and asked me if I would review some of his kits.

Last year was their 20th anniversary and I had hoped to get over to Belgium to visit their Open Day which is held each year at the end of August. It normally married in well with the Tanks in Town event held in Mons each year around the same time. Despite having laid some plans for the event, life in the form of work commitments took over and I was unable to make the trip. This year was more successful and I managed to make the trip across. Open House usually coincides with Tanks in Town and this is usually the last weekend of August. However, last year Tanks in Town did not take place for various reasons and this year the date was announced much too late by the new organisers and Graham had already made commitments for his event on the 24th.

Resicast started trading in 1992 and at an early stage Graham has made the decision to model mainly in the British genre. For a time he ran a Model Shop in Mons but as business declined across the modelling world in the late 1980s he decided to go his own route and entered the world of after market resin kits. The company range is extensive and if you’re looking for something British and/or Commonwealth it is a good place to start.

As the company website says “Probably the best scale resin kits of military vehicles -- since 1992” and there are many who would agree with that statement. Over the years Graham has developed relationships with a number of excellent modelers, sculptors and engineers. These folks contribute to the business in a variety of ways.

Gerard De Troeye has been the main stay for figure sculpting for the company for many years. I once read a statement by Bret Green who said Gerard’s British figures were the most detailed he had ever seen and I pretty much agree with that. Gerard was present at the Open Day this year and gave a small demonstration on sculpting techniques. I have fairly regular contact with Gerard as I’m always interested in what’s coming along and it was excellent to meet him after so many cyber communications and to watch him at work.

Another player in the Resicast framework is George Moore. George will already be know to many of you. He has been around the modeling world for a long time and has mastered many kits. He is most noticeable with Resicast for his work on their Carriers and more recently a very nice range of British Artillery in the form of the 18pdr, 4.5 inch Howitzer, 6 inch Howitzer both the WW1, BEF and WW2 versions. I travelled over from England with George as he was going over to discuss some ongoing projects with Graham around the Holt Tractor and Retriever Gantry Truck. The rail journey over by Eurostar was one of the quickest I have ever undertaken as the two of us never stopped talking throughout the journey which flew by. George is a mine of information and a real gent.

Also on my visit I had the pleasure of meeting Christophe Nachtergael, who does the art work on the figures and accessories for the Resicast visual display used at model shows and seen on the company products. Christophe described himself as a modeler who paints figures too and he gave a very informative demonstration of figure painting with oils during the Open Day event. A modest and very talented painter I picked up some useful information to experiment with in the coming months and years. Again it was terrific to put a face to a name.

Also in attendance were Alex Van de Wetering who is working on a CMP C60X Workshop Truck for the Resicast range, Philippe Prost who is working on an M31 with Treadway and Gilles Sabatier who made the masters of the Rolls Royce and Ford T's. All these excellent master modelers contribute to ensure there will be lots of exciting products in the pipeline for the future.