I met Lewis Pruneau way back in 1981 at an IPMS Gateway club meeting in St. Louis. He lived in St. Genvieve, Mo, about 60 miles due south of The St. Louis Metropolitan area where I lived. I had just joined the chapter on the advice of another good friend, Wes Bradley. Wes worked at the number one hobby shop in town at the time, Astro Hobby. I had met him a year earlier and after coming to my house to see my diorama, The Winds of War, he got me interested in IPMS as their national convention was scheduled in St. Louis in August, 1982. Lewis was a great guy and we hit it off immediately. When it came to modeling, we had a lot in common. We both entered dioramas in that national convention. Mine won a best of and Lewis had a scratch built K-5 rail gun coming out of a tunnel that didn't manage to place. It was our first competitions at a show of that magnitude. People like Lewis never let failure get him down and his loss made him even more determined to create something superior in his next National competition. And did he ever!!! He began work on a 100% scratch-built 1/35th scale German Railroad gun "Dora" It was incredible! He brought it to a club meeting and Wes and I were blown away. So were most of the members. However, the "Big Shots" of the club criticized it visciously. We were newbies, so, our opinions mattered little.
I instantly saw both his talent and potential. He took the diorama and walked to the parking lot and put it in his truck. I followed him out and told him to pay no attention to what they had said as I felt certain they were critical only because they were intimidated. They had been the "Kings" of that chapter for a very long time. All three were nationally considered the best armor builders in America at that time. We talked for awhile, I advised him to take it home and do some more detailing and pay attention to all the small details that were so important to the IPMSers in those days. Weathering was not yet accepted then either. He not only did that, but improved the weathering, and added a gantry crane and other diorama aspects. It was phenomenal!
My diorama, "The Winds of War" had been featured on the cover of the second issue of Fine Scale Modeler. magazine. In August, 1984, Lewis and Wes went with Susan and I to the IPMS Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia., Lewis won best Diorama in the competition and became an instant celebrity in the model world. His "Dora" made the cover of the January-February 1985 issue of Fine Scale Modeler. I could see the jealousy in the eyes of the "Big Shots" of the chapter. Keep in mind that Lewis' Dora was built from scratch 25 to 30 years before the one thousand dollar plastic kit was released.
The rank and file of the 100 member chapter treated us like royalty, but, we were not popular at all with the "elites". Lewis had made his name throughout the country. We both had. I was working on a "How to" book deal with Kalmbach Publishing and I had won big as well at that show. Coincidentally, Atlanta was the show where we met the Belgian modeler, Francois Verlinden. After my big win in the St. Louis National, I had started up a model mail order business that I had hyperbolically named, "Warwinds Military and Hobby Ltd"" in 1983, my first attempt in the business world. In time, it would play a huge role for all of us. At Atlanta, Susan and I rented seven 8 foot tables in the Vendors room and our friends helped us man them. I will never forget the sales total from that three day show. We sold over $30,000.00 worth of merchandise. We were all amazed. Other vendors told us they had never heard of sales like that at a convention before. Apparently Verlinden and his business partner, Jos Stok were as well as they had came to the show to find an American distributor for his new company, Verlinden Productions. Lewis and I both found Francois an interesting and personable guy and we became instant friends.
Kalmbach had notified me that due to internal problems, they were putting all book deals on hold until their problem was resolved. I had most of it written and was, of course, disappointed. Verlinden then asked me if he could publish a book under the Verlinden Publications brand. During the discussion, I brought up Lewis and his Dora diorama. Verlinden said he would like to include Lewis and make a book combining both our dioramas but, Dora had already been featured in FSM and he didn't want to duplicate it. At the time, I was building the original Legacies. Lewis was always secretive about what he was building as he liked to surprise people. I told Verlinden I would have Legacies completed by December of that year, 1985, and that Lewis would have something new as well. Verlinden came to visit and stayed at our house that summer. Once more, we had met him in Indianapolis at the 1985 IPMS National Convention and drove him back to St. Louis. As an aside, we also met two Chinese Nationals there who were starting up businesses in California. One would eventually become Dragon Models. Freddie Leung and Tony Chin. Their companies would play a major role in the lives of most everybody who worked for VLS over the years.
Lewis once more shocked all of us with his "Paris Gun" diorama. It was spectacular. Set in WW I, it was a Krupp factory where "Big Bertha" was being built, a railroad gun they would use to shell Paris. A photo is worth a thousand words so, here they are. These were actually taken in my Front yard!
To be continued in My Buddy Lewis Part 02.
I instantly saw both his talent and potential. He took the diorama and walked to the parking lot and put it in his truck. I followed him out and told him to pay no attention to what they had said as I felt certain they were critical only because they were intimidated. They had been the "Kings" of that chapter for a very long time. All three were nationally considered the best armor builders in America at that time. We talked for awhile, I advised him to take it home and do some more detailing and pay attention to all the small details that were so important to the IPMSers in those days. Weathering was not yet accepted then either. He not only did that, but improved the weathering, and added a gantry crane and other diorama aspects. It was phenomenal!
My diorama, "The Winds of War" had been featured on the cover of the second issue of Fine Scale Modeler. magazine. In August, 1984, Lewis and Wes went with Susan and I to the IPMS Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia., Lewis won best Diorama in the competition and became an instant celebrity in the model world. His "Dora" made the cover of the January-February 1985 issue of Fine Scale Modeler. I could see the jealousy in the eyes of the "Big Shots" of the chapter. Keep in mind that Lewis' Dora was built from scratch 25 to 30 years before the one thousand dollar plastic kit was released.
The rank and file of the 100 member chapter treated us like royalty, but, we were not popular at all with the "elites". Lewis had made his name throughout the country. We both had. I was working on a "How to" book deal with Kalmbach Publishing and I had won big as well at that show. Coincidentally, Atlanta was the show where we met the Belgian modeler, Francois Verlinden. After my big win in the St. Louis National, I had started up a model mail order business that I had hyperbolically named, "Warwinds Military and Hobby Ltd"" in 1983, my first attempt in the business world. In time, it would play a huge role for all of us. At Atlanta, Susan and I rented seven 8 foot tables in the Vendors room and our friends helped us man them. I will never forget the sales total from that three day show. We sold over $30,000.00 worth of merchandise. We were all amazed. Other vendors told us they had never heard of sales like that at a convention before. Apparently Verlinden and his business partner, Jos Stok were as well as they had came to the show to find an American distributor for his new company, Verlinden Productions. Lewis and I both found Francois an interesting and personable guy and we became instant friends.
Kalmbach had notified me that due to internal problems, they were putting all book deals on hold until their problem was resolved. I had most of it written and was, of course, disappointed. Verlinden then asked me if he could publish a book under the Verlinden Publications brand. During the discussion, I brought up Lewis and his Dora diorama. Verlinden said he would like to include Lewis and make a book combining both our dioramas but, Dora had already been featured in FSM and he didn't want to duplicate it. At the time, I was building the original Legacies. Lewis was always secretive about what he was building as he liked to surprise people. I told Verlinden I would have Legacies completed by December of that year, 1985, and that Lewis would have something new as well. Verlinden came to visit and stayed at our house that summer. Once more, we had met him in Indianapolis at the 1985 IPMS National Convention and drove him back to St. Louis. As an aside, we also met two Chinese Nationals there who were starting up businesses in California. One would eventually become Dragon Models. Freddie Leung and Tony Chin. Their companies would play a major role in the lives of most everybody who worked for VLS over the years.
Lewis once more shocked all of us with his "Paris Gun" diorama. It was spectacular. Set in WW I, it was a Krupp factory where "Big Bertha" was being built, a railroad gun they would use to shell Paris. A photo is worth a thousand words so, here they are. These were actually taken in my Front yard!
To be continued in My Buddy Lewis Part 02.
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Those were the days my friend!
