Small Subjects

In this episode, your hosts talk with Virginia Beach-based professional miniatures painter Erik Swinson, one of the most stunning talents on the scene today. Erik streams on Twitch most Wednesday evenings: https://www.twitch.tv/erik_swinson If you can't make those live streams, you can watch them later on his Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@erik_swinson Follow Erik on Instagram: htt...

On this episode, your hosts tackle two big ideas they’ve been thinking and talking about a lot lately. First up: The notion of throwing away all the “rules” and thinking more abstractly. They also talk about digital modeling and 3D printing in terms of it's advantages and disadvantages versus traditional scratch building.  For photos of what we discuss in each episode, visit the Small Subject...

We chat with Alabama-based modeler Jon Harbuck, an attorney, a true Southern gentleman, and a favorite for the powerful storytelling in his work. We also talk about Barry and Joan's recent trip to Las Vegas for a painting workshop taught by Matteo di Diomede held at Verko's Vault , the exciting new miniatures museum. For photos of what we discuss in each episode, visit the Small Subjects...

In this episode, your hosts talk about what’s been happening at their work benches, and (as usual) a few other things, including a movie they’d been eagerly anticipating but which, alas, let Jim down. Barry gives an update on his restoration of the classic Shep Paine box diorama  “A King of Shreds and Patches (Hamlet Sees the Ghost of His Father),” and Jim talks about two box dioramas he is workin...

Warning: Unlike most of our episodes, this one has some profanity. We talk to veteran MMSI member and expert painter Bob Sarnowski.  We also recap MMSI 2023. Listen to find out why there will be one less thing Jim can tease Barry about. For photos of what we discuss in each episode, visit the Small Subjects blog on boxdioramas.com: http://www.boxdioramas.com/smallsubjects Join one of our group bui...

Your hosts aren’t at all sure that anybody will be interested in this rather self-indulgent episode, but hey, we were just responding to a request from one of our loyal listeners, Jamie Stokes in Australia, who left a voice mail for us on Telbee (and everyone is welcome to do the same by clicking here !). You can find photos and links to information discussed in each episode at our podcast blog on...

Another illuminating chat with Marijn, this time on the subject of the open system of judging miniatures and models.  We also answer a listener voice message from Grant Mayberry about what to expect at your first open miniature and modelling show. You can find photos and links to information discussed in each episode at our podcast blog on  boxdioramas.com Join us on Facebook: Historex group build...

Jim and Barry talk to Dave Youngquist of the ace online hobby shop Last Cavalry . They also chat about Barry's recent trip to the  IPMS/USA National Convention. Photos of the pieces we discuss can be found on our blog on Boxdioramas.com 

In this episode, your hosts have a fascinating chat with British native, now San Diego-based painter and modeler Gary Baker. In addition to being big fans of his work, and agreeing that he’s one of the finest gents we’ve met in the hobby in recent years, we were eager to hear Gary’s thoughts about sculpting and painting hair—he’s a professional stylist and the creative director at UNITE Hair—and h...

Barry and Jim had a splendid chat with Mike Hilleary, the Connecticut-based modeler they consider one of the best painters in America today. The boys also used the opportunity of a question left on the show’s voice mail to discuss that recent editorial in the IPMS Journal by the group’s president David Lockhart, which effectively claimed that there would be no modeling shows in the U.S. without th...

 On May 5 and 6, your hosts once again traveled to the outskirts of Philadelphia for  the 80th Annual Show sponsored by the Miniature Figure Collectors of America , one of the premier exhibitions of miniature arts in the U.S. In this episode, Barry and Jim offer some thoughts on the show recorded after the fact, as well as some live recordings amidst all of the fun on Saturday morning—an audio vér...

Joe has been an active modeler since his teens in the early 1970s, and he is one of the most acclaimed artists and well-loved friend-to-all in the miniatures hobby. A retired art teacher, he’s a man with a million stories (and a rather famous alter ego , at least among baseball fans). We enjoyed every minute of talking with him, and feel like we’ve only scratched the surface, so we may well have t...

Your hosts have been big fans of Ingvild Eiring’s box dioramas since she first made us aware of them by emailing this Web site and asking if we thought it would make sense to add a gallery for her . Heck yes!, we said, and what’s more, we thought we could learn a lot by chatting with this extraordinary artist, since she straddles the worlds of our pursuit, the dollhouse hobby, and fine art. (She h...

On this episode, we talk with one of Barry’s fellow modelers from Utah, Travis Haussener, who, despite the shared passion for miniatures and modeling, differs from him and co-host Jim in two pretty significant ways: Athleticism (you won’t find either of us getting buried in an avalanche, mainly because you’d never find either of us on skis), and, um, he holds a PhD in organic chemistry. We thought...

 Tools (And Other Stuff) We Hate (according to Jim), or Tools (And Other Stuff) That Just Haven’t Worked for Him (according to Barry, who is overall a kinder person). You can find photos and links to information discussed in each episode at our podcast blog on  boxdioramas.com Check out some other great modeling podcasts on modelpodcasts.com We want to hear from you! CLICK HERE to leave us a messa...

One of our favorite and most outspoken voices in the hobby, we thought it was long overdue for us to chat with Will Pattison, especially since Jim needed some advice on chipping, and Will is the master!  Will frequently posts to the Scale Modelers Critique Group on Facebook, shares his knowledge on his YouTube Channel, and talks modeling and other things with co-hosts Tracy Hancock and Chris Meddi...

The name of California-based miniature sculptor Mike Good should be familiar to many in our hobby. We talk with him about his work, his interests, and his methodology. You can find photos and links to information discussed in each episode at our podcast blog on  boxdioramas.com Check out some other great modeling podcasts on modelpodcasts.com We want to hear from you! CLICK HERE to leave us a mess...

Barry and Jim talk with Chicago-area modeler Greg Cihlar, a consistently gold-medal maker of striking dioramas and vignettes in the historical world (World War II a specialty) who’s also branched out to do some stunning work in the fantasy realm.   You can find photos and links to information discussed in each episode at our podcast blog on  boxdioramas.com Check out some other great modeling podc...

 In this episode, Barry and Jim wax rhapsodic about tools and other stuff they can’t live without on their workbenches—and they have A LOT of fun doing it! We want to hear from you! CLICK HERE to leave us a message about anything in any of our episodes, or to pose a question you’d like to hear us address, and we’ll air it in an upcoming episode.  Contact us at smallsubjectspodcast@gmail.com

http://www.boxdioramas.com/smallsubjects/2022/8/19/episode-26-actor-playwright-and-modeler-pat-mcgrathhttp://www.boxdioramas.com/smallsubjects/2022/8/19/episode-26-actor-playwright-and-modeler-pat-mcgrath Based in Dublin, armor modeler and orc sculptor Pat McGrath is a talented miniaturist, as well as a fine artist, an actor and a playwright; he performed a brilliant one-man show about our hobby,...

Jim and Barry chat with John Bonanni about the 2022 International Plastic Modelers' Society USA national convention (the "Nats",) which they attended in Omaha, Nebraska in July.  John is the second vice president of IPMS/USA and happens to share some of our views on how IPMS contests might be improved. You can find photos and links to information discussed in each episode at our pod...

In addition to being a fine armor modeler, Pat is a helluva funny guy, who wrote to your hosts saying he’d be eager to chat with us, after we mentioned our enduring fondness for the late, lamented magazine he edited, Military Miniatures in Review. Eager to get the story behind the sad demise of that fine mag, as well as to hear what Pat is currently up to in Delray Beach, Florida (his new publishi...

 Calvin Tan has been recognized as one of the most talented sculptors and figure painters in the world, especially among those working with WWII subjects. A graduate of RMIT University who is now the Department Chair at DigiPen Institute of Technology, he’s one of the most eloquent artists we’ve interviewed on this podcast in terms of drawing connections between what we do in miniature (his favore...

You can find photos and links to information discussed in each episode at our podcast blog on  boxdioramas.com And, in the wake of MFCA 2022 and a continued period of busy modeling by people stuck inside avoiding COVID, we've added a ton of new updates to boxdioramas.com , all of which are charted on the News page , though it's also a lot of fun to just click around." Check out some...

Taesung Harmms is the driving force, artistic director, and primary sculptor behind Alpine Miniatures , one of the highest-quality producers of resin figures in the hobby’s marketplace today. You can find photos and links to information discussed in each episode at our podcast blog on  boxdioramas.com And, in the wake of MFCA 2022 and a continued period of busy modeling by people stuck inside avoi...