Yesterday the folks at Revell-Monogram hosted a very nice open house to break in their new headquarters building outside of Chicago. Several of us from FSM attended and toured the building.
Fans of Shep Paine (myself included) were very happy to see that the diorama series that Shep did for Mongram in the '70s is prominently displayed, along with a stellar collection of the company’s original box-art paintings.
Here are some of the shots I grabbed during the tour:
Matt Usher
Senior Editor, FSM
thanks those are great pics
joe
Shep Paine was a brilliant artist/modeler and it’s good to know that Monogram is giving his work proper respect. Was his water recue diorama featuring the Devastator on display? That was always one of my personal favorites.
Wow, absolutely fantastic. The things I"ve seen form him are spectacular. He’s definitely an inspiration to the whole modelling world!
Are they scaling up the quality of their kits as well? Hope so.
Can anyone get in to see them?
I didn’t see the Devastator diorama, and I don’ t believe they have any of Shep’s armor dioramas any longer, either.
I assume you could contact the company in advance and arrange for a tour; I think they had a similar policy at their old facility. The new building includes a full-line product showroom, too:
Matt @ FSM
It’d be amazing if there were a museum showcasing nothing but dioramas. I’d absolutely love to go to a place like that.
those are great pictures, i just bought the revell f 86d dog sabre, and it has recessed panel lines. I was surprised, it looks like they are improving their kits tremendously.
Hey, Matthew! Fantastic pics! But they’re way too small! I love that one with the crashlanded B-17 (never seen it in color…).
PSSST! Jeff: Your signature is missing a slash in the last img tag… it should look like this: [/img]
There used to be a place in St. Charles Missouri called ‘Miniature World Museum & Scale Modeler’s Hall of Fame’ which had over 2000 models and 135 dioramas on display. The place closed in 2001, here’s a quote from the VLS Website:
October 2001) After eight years, Miniature World Closes. Located in Old Town St. Charles, a tourist area, the museum fared well during the Summer. As soon as school started, the tourists stopped coming. Then we discovered a rule that we never realized. Locals do not attend their own attractions! The displays were reclaimed by their two owners. Ralph Koebbeman returned his displays to Rockford, Illinois, where they are currently on display in his basement. (Open by appointment only). Bob Letterman moved his half of the collection to the VLS facility where they are on display for our customers. (no admission charges)
Fade to Black…
I’ve slways been fond of Mr. Paines dios. Thanks for letting us know they’re still around.
Thanks for the pics, they are great.
I remember building my first 1/32 scale tank, the Monogram Sherman Calliope. But the best thing about the whole kit was the color brochure with Shep’s diorama depicting the Sherman in the Battle of the Bulge. It inspired me to want to do something like that. MY older brother had the 1/48 scale B17-G and the diorama that Shep did of a crash landed B17 was the ultimate diorama to me back then.
Dan
I think, I don’ t know for sure, but I think that the B-29 that was in the Monogram pamphlet is located at the New England Air Museum.
Again I cant say for sure, and I don’t know who did that one, but their is one of those out there and I think it could be the same one.
Thanks for the pics.
Memories… that classic Shep Paine How to build dioramas was one of the first modelling books I every got. Still use some of the tips out of there!
Thanks for the pix, Matt. Shep is definitely a modelling hero!
For more photos of Revell-Monogram’s collection of the Shep Paine dioramas, see Great Scale Modeling (annual) 2001. It’s still available in back issue:
http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/gsm010101.html
I took most of the photos in this feature article.
Thank you for the glimpse of Mr. Paine’s work Mr. Usher. I would love to go and see some of these in person someday.