this debate came up among friends, and I wanted to see what a wider audience had to say:
Who was/is the better style of modeler - Verlinden or Shep Paine?
I say Paine's style was better because his dioramas told distinct stories. Verlinden's had incredible models, but everything always looked to stiff and was more of people just standing around. What say you?

Two totally different styles... Verlinden is typically limited to using his own creations, while Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... this is a "can't win" arguement between you and your friend. It's like saying "who is the better musician, David Bowie or Paul Williams?"

I think Feldgrau and Olive Drab are wonderful colors, but my wife thinks they are boring.... so on with the debate at hand....

I find that Francois is probably the more "noted" because he has invented so much in this hobby genre... I actually know several people who do work as well as Shep Paine (for example, Mike Good, or Bob Letterman - owner of VLS)... this doesn't diminsh Paine's work - it IS great stuff... but I give the edge to Francois who creates his own materials - he doesn't use much from anyone else. Shep is not hindered that way...

But the "all-time" great in this hobby IMHO, is the afore mentioned Bob Letterman.... take a look at his famous piece called "Legacy" and then tell me differently!

WOW...

A contest of TITANS of the modelling world, eh??

Shep Paine did SO MUCH in the early days of the hobby (OK-early is a relative term). He set a tone for building STORY dioramas, used a WIDE variety of materials and encouraged the STORY over the 100% Dead A*S accuracy of the build!

Francois Verlinden gave us the COTTAGE INDUSTRY that supplies so much of what is available to enhance/accurize,etc.

As to their styles of building, which was the main question, I don't know! I think I'd give the nod to Shep Paine! But only by a very small hair! Both of them are BIG reasons I build!

Maybe we should have an old fashioned duel. The one left standing is the best in the world.

In my opinion, Shep is "the best", he says something with his dios. Francois, just shows off the equpment. Does that make sense?

Speaking of Shep, whatever happened to him? Is he living in Hollywood now, dating a supermodel?

~Chip :-)

Shep's books are a reason that i started in the 80's doing only 1/35 military and dioramas. After him i found Verlinden. Francois constructions are always so neat and stiff, so well done as my wife wants the living room to be!! on the other hand Shep is more like me, doing well everything but in a cool and easy way , do'nt push it to the edge of perfect looking. I mean i found his models and dioramas more "physical" and more tha way i like em. He also gives in his books a lot of cheap techniques to do almost anything and a lot of tips that are solid gold. Francois tries to sell through his books his own creations (which are perfect no doubt) and gives more a showcase than a handbook for a modeller that wants 1000 solutions every day.
Concluding i would vote for sheperd as a modeler and a spirit , and francois as a merchant and a bussiness man which also is a superb modeller.
Why Shep is not releasing any more nice books?

Verlinden. I think he is an amazing technician. I'd rather be able to build like him, no question.

Paine is great too and has the edge when it comes to the 'story' dio. Certainly some of the scenes in his how to dio book are very neat.

Steve

I'm a Paine man..... the guy has awesome techniques and has the ability to share this with the world in his books. Paine's way learned me to look at the story behind the dio.... to see it as a bigger picture.... In my eyes he's the best.

Verlinden ....good modeling, but I always felt he's more a commercial kind a' guy than a guy who want's to spread modeling over the world. Arrogance rules the VP company and that's a shame. But as for his modeling....it is good stuff he shows us.

I think Shep has that creative imagination that is able to tell a vivid story. Verlinden has that photograph in 3d precision. Both are wonderful skills, but I have to give the nod to Shep as I think the ability to show action requires so much creativity.
capnjock

The contribution that Verlinden has made to to diorama building is immense. Many of us have no doubt been heavily influenced by his ideas. However, Shep Paine for me is the true diorama 'meister'. Verlinden's dios look too static and his use of weathering, although innovative in its day, has become somewhat jaded to my eyes...
Verlinden has become too much of an 'industry' for my liking, the recent releases are treading the same ground again and again and rapidly creating a monopoly in the hobby. In figure painters, my favourite has to be Horan although Mike Blank and others inspire awe. In the 'new' generation of painters, top of my list is undoubtedly Raul Latorre both in his painting style and the figure masters he keeps producing.
In spite of my admiration for the above-mentioned 'names' I still tend to get a little suspicious of the awe that they generate. One of the great things about this site, unlike Missing-links (for example) there is a healthy sceptisism for the 'Superstars' of the modelling world, something that long may continue......Jim

Shep Paine is who got most of old dudes started in this crazy hobby. I know his inserts on dio"s in the old Monogram kits were an inspiration for me. He was the father of gizmoligy as he called it. Thats taking bits and pieces laying about and building something that represents what you are building. I talked to Shep at last years MMSI in Chicago and asked him if I was doing a certain procedure right. His answer was" If your having a good time doing it and you like the results your doing it right" Verlinden is great,but Shep Paine is the man.

Verliden's books seem more like catalogs to me. He shows us a diorama and then he lists all of his aftermarket stuff he used to build it. He could at least put on the occasional rifle strap, from where I'm sittin' (Made out of lead foil, available from Verlinden, of course).
Give me gizmology.

Shaun

I know exactly what you mean. I have two books on my bookshelf from Verlinden. And it lists everything associated with that kit. The kit, the PE detail set #, The resin detail set #.
It kind of gets to be like a subliminal message after a while.

~Chip :-)

Wow, this is a good debate where Everyone is Right and Everyone Wins.

My personal opinion is that Verlinden in an amazingly detail oriented technician and is a superber creator. While Shep is an amazing visionary who can execute a technique amazingly well.
I would liken it to Oil Painting and Portraiture Drawing. Both execute their style, skill, and creativity to an amazingly high state. Each with a slightly different outcome and emotion for the viewer.

Shep Paine -- hands down. I return to his books time after time for inspiration and ideas.

Verlinden is master of the drybrush, but his building skills are questionable and the historical accuracy of his models is extremely questionable. I always wondered why he insists on filling every corner of his dios with clutter that may or may not have anything to do with the central subject. Master of "magnetic stowage" -- stuff glued on turret and hull sides with no apparent means of support.

Hi,
Many of you are masters. I'm a novice. Here's my take.
1. Add Lew Pruneau, as he is not only a great builder and story-teller, but he was kind to me when I visited VLS.
2. Bob Letterman. Umpteen years ago I was in a failing St. Louis mall and saw a display of dioramas in a little storefront, including "Legacy" (the original" before it melted and was rebuilt as a "before"). I was let in that area by Bob, who'se office was across the aisle. At least an hour later I walked out in awe. Visited the Miniature museum before it was moved to the VLS part of town and his work is inspirational.
3. Mr. Verlinden. It was his first book, bad proofreading and all, that I picked up to look at in a mall in Wichita. It actual had some "how to's" in it. My hobby found me at that point. Agree with later books, all about his products, and "do this in the usual way..."
4. Mr. Paine- thanks for the plain English how-to's. You are enduring.
Armorama, thans for being here for me.

Sealhead

I got shep paines book and liked they plain ways he described doing things I cant compare
things between him and mr V as I havent seen any of sheps newer work the book shows kits from the 70's but his weathering was better than mr V's just look on the older italeri kits the painted models were done by mr V also in a recent article about painting figures that he found it funny that people were using loads of different oil colours were as he mixed from 10 colours he thought it wasn't nessary to go and spend loads on paints which is a good thing if your new to the hobby nothing worse than seeing a nice figure ect only to see a list of about 60 colours used. As for Mr v I think that some of his figures look like corpses
I think both have styles that appel to everyone were in Sheps case its look I made these parts from stuff lying around and Mr V saying I can supply these for you

As someone said earlier, this is an excellent thread. How many of you out there get the distinct feeling that Verlinden is nothing more than a recycling operation? Verlinden's influence on the hobby is immense, however, I tend to think that others have picked up the ball and are running with it......Jim

I'm going to go with Shep Paine.
In the 1988 Tamiya catalog, there are a series of "dioramas" featuring Tamiya's armor kits. They were placed on ground work, used forced perspective (1/72 models and figures in the background) and looked like displays for models. I believe these were done by Francois Verlinden.
12 years earlier, Paine had been transforming Monogram models into stories. FSM featured a story about these a while back and at least one of these, maybe the crash landed B-17, was done in something like week.

Well I am very much an amateur, maybe 5 pieces of armor under my belt so far, and here' my take...

I got one of Verlinden's books and wow, what an inspiration! Everthing was so perfect! But alas, it taught me very little in the way of technique. Because there was lacking technique explanations but plenty of references to his parts, I did get the catalog impression.

I got Shep Paine's "How to Build Military Dioramas" and was immediately in love with the hobby. He explains everything and taught me that work like his was within my grasp. Verlinden's book really just intimidated me away from doing better work, because I thought I had to make things look like his to be good, which of course I could not (yet!). Shep's book made everything look natural, which in my opinion is actually easier than creating Verlinden's perfect images. I also constantly find myself revisiting his book. Shep, therefore, helped me unleash myself on the modelling world.

My vote goes to Shep.

For the record, I do purchase Verlinden stuff from time to time (not their figures because I think their scale is off, some of their kits have poor fit, and some of their buildings scale seems to be larger like their figures, so I guess that doesn't leave me with too much, huh? Maybe static grass and camoflage netting?)

Verlinden's models and dioramas always seemed, to me anyway, to be a triumph of technique over actually looking like a scaled-down version of an object (the faces on his figures always look overdone to me, don't look like people at all and that's speaking as someone who's not a terribly good figure painter). I remember the Shep Paine Diorama leaflet that came with the Monogram B-17 I got one Christmas (which in my 12-year -old enthusiasm I made a complete horlicks of) and that at least LOOKED like a crashed B-17 to me.

There really is no contest IMO. Sheperd Paine has not only contributed more to the modelling community through his involvement, he has contributed more through his artistry. He has also taught many people in the scale modelling world how to paint and model figures. Imagine if you gave Shep and Francios the same components to construct a diorama. Whose do you think would be better composed and executed?

To Francios Verlinden's credit, he has provided the hobby with,until recently, unparallelled variety of aftermarket diorama accessories.

I wasn't going to comment until I read JohnLong's post above. I agree with him on what he said about Shep Paine. I think more about a modeler and the impression(s) their efforts create than a single miniature they built often times...

In '96 I was participating in an event that Shep Paine happened to be judging in. This is a rare occurance - rarer as the years have gone on. After the judging had concluded, Shep told a close friend of mine that a model I had entered in the event was the best model he had ever seen.

It was my first gun truck miniature. Simply, I can't describe that feeling coming from someone that I hold in that regard. That miniature will always be special to me because of that comment someone was told one weekend afternoon.

I have competed against and met many of the modelers considered to be "big names" out there - but none impressed me like this. If I were ever to be considered a "big name" or "great" - I'd want it to be because of helping out in a community of modelers and creating lasting impressions like that. If that is a truer measure of "greatness" then Armorama has given a lot of you guys opportunity to become "great".

Gunnie

I think to an extent this could actually be comparing apples to oranges. Both men are artists, but their styles are so different, I think a comparison may not be fair. Verlinden's mastery of drybrushing is unparalleled, but his talent is now more commercial. He builds to sell his product. A man has to make a living. Paine's techniques seem to be more education oriented. The master of "Gizmolegy" showed us the uses of railroad parts, wire solder, and MV lenses. I have read How to Build Dioramas more times than I would even try to count. I respect both men's work, but my vote goes to Mr. Paine.

Patrick

Hi there.

Paine is the master. Amazing work given the products he used!!

Verlinden has way too many items floating on armor (no straps on the majority of gear on vehicles), and the style is too stiff and dry-brushed for me.

It's no contest IMHO.

Cheers
Andy

Hello:

I'm with Paine. What he does is art, not only the models but the way they link to create a snapshot of real live (at least that is what I think). Verlinden is also a great modeler, but not as good artist as Paine.

Danmo