Anyone of you old timers like myself remember these..circa 1970.?? (I was about 9 years old..)

http://www.itzproductions.com/Misc_Pages/shep_paine.htm

I cut my teeth on these back in the 70's. These diorama sheets were included with the Monogram1/32 armor series models.

These were my inspiration.
..brings back fond memories..I still have everyone of these sheets on my bookshelf!

I remember getting the flyers in the 1/48th scale aircraft kits. His work was/is totally phenomenal. He was truly talented due to his ability to detail and scratchbuild without the access to todays aftermarket items. He was truly a craftsman and artist.

Seeing those again really puts my age (38) into perspective. LoL

shame though that some of the links are dead...

I remember just bout every one of those....

sighs... ahh the good ole days...

I remember his downed B-17. Awsome and very impressive ,especially back then. Made me want to start doing dios and so it began. Thanks Shep.............

Truly INSPIRING work! But, they sure do make me feel OLD!

Thank you for providing the link, since I had forgotten many of these masterpieces!

Too bad the last four links for the bombers don't work.

Ahhh, yes. Fond memories indeed.

It's amazing to think that I purchased and built almost all of those kits, with the exception of the Panzerspahwagen and the AA version of the US halftrack. If only I had them in my stash now!

-YL

Dang!

The bombers are missing!
You can get the B-17 here:

http://sheperdpaine.com/monogram/index.htm

I will hunt up links for the others.....

another

http://sheperdpaine.atspace.com/c47.htm

Sheperd Paine was the one that clearly showed me there was more to diorama making than "well, this untersharsturban schmidt with his schwimmpanzer XXII trying to figure out whether the must turn right or left" or a good way to spend money by scattering tons of little very expensive objects on some base. he is the first and last and always ultimate diorama maker

And that's what I miss so much in modelling today!
To me, the man still is one of the best and one of my inspirers.

Am I a fan?
yes, Sir. I am!

great memories of great creations. I remember opening the kit boxes and reading through Shep's sheets. Great stuff

Hey Brian,
Boy, those bring back memories, I was about 11 or 12 when I first heard about Shep Paine
I have a bunch of the 1/32nd armour pamphlets sitting in my hobby library too, both the coloured glossy ones as well as the black and white sheets.
Thanks for the link.
Cheers

jjumbo

Tunis!

Brian, is there a lot of difference between those dioramabooks of his?

Hey Ron,

Yes the two dio books are a bit different. The second edition is an "upgraded" version that came out few years later. It has chapters on photo etched and resin parts as well as some new photos and diorama subjects.

I still reference these volumes often.

His color wheel and formula for various colors used in military modeling helped me to develop colors for the DOA Paint line I recently created.

for me Shep Paine works was very inspirational... and I think that is work looks very good today...

Shep built his dioramas many years ago, but they're outstanding even today.
The most interesting fact about the Monogram dios is that most of them had to be built in less than a week .

Is Shep still involved in the modelling scene?

- Steve

Shoot, Im not sure...

Here is his website...looks like he came out with a book recently..although exactly how long ago it came out is hard to say...

http://sheperdpaine.com/

You know...it might be interesting to pick one of these scenes and see how well we can duplicate it..you can still get the models off ebay...

I might try the Panzerspahwagen scene....

Although I got into the hobby long after that (born 1980) I had two of his books and he was/still is a great inspiration for me. I second Steve's question: Is he still around?

Cheerio!

EDIT: Must have hit the reply button at the same time... Well, I guess that homepage answers all of my questions... thanks for that!

That would be a great idea for a campaign!
No PE or AM allowed.....

Apparently not. His research led him into military collectables and I gather that's where his interests now chiefly lie. The new retrospective photo book on his body of work has some glowing reviews, though (it is also pricey). I cut my teeth on his techniques as I matured as a modeler, and those Monogram leaflets were a revelation to me, back in the early 70's. Sad thing is, his models would be sniffed at by most contest judges today. No preshading, post-shading, filters, Mig pigments, and very few paint chips. Just washes, dry brushing and the occasional glaze. And a superb eye for storytelling.

I well remember as a young boy of 10 or 11 getting these Monogram models and reading and re-reading the tips and techniques flyers by Shep. His work really put a passion in me to build dioramas and collect military models. To this day I hav'nt built much, but continue to collect the models and practice different techniques with ground work and so forth. I too am a fan of his. One of my all time favorites is the GMC truck and the Marines at mail call. I wish I still had my Monogram collection.

I'm a Shep fan too. Thanks for the links guys. He really gets your creative juices flowing.

I have Shep's first two books anf reference them all the time. I think the most inspirational flyer for me was the B17 dio when I was growing up. I started modelling with airplanes and that flyer was a work of art in my eyes.

Only if the judges were idiots. A good judge looks at the final effect, not the techniques used to get there. Realism can be gotten so many ways; no good judge ticks off a checklist of techniques and looks for each one. Some lousy judges do that......

Also, his dioramas inevitably have excellent storytelling and composition, and that's where most dioramas fall short even today. Some guys have a natural eye for composition, or they've trained themselves, but sadly many do not. Paine's stuff is always well-composed. It is true that the level of fine detail, and the technical accuracy, is generally better these days, but the art of composition and storytelling doesn't depend very much on those developments.

So, I'd wager if one of his armor dioramas was entered at AMPS 2010 it would do quite well.