I've finished the main floor redo and now working on the museum redo. My goals for the museum are to. 1) Make it more personal as well as more themed, and, 2) To eliminate the closed in, claustrophobic appearance, to open it up and make it less crowded. And 3), To add some dioramas I had in storage. To accomplish this, I moved some of the unrelated memorabilia to the main level and converted a couple of spare bedrooms, plus a lot of moving around and consolidation in the museum. Frankly, there were a lot of things that had little meaning and they were there simply from habit. I'm now finishing up one room in the museum that is about 20' X 20' in size. I'm making it the Memorial room. There are six glass tower displays and three very large, 6' X 6' X 2' rectangular glass display cases. The first one is a memorial to my close modeling friends who have passed away. I have models and dioramas of most of them in my collection, so I located photos of them, captioned and framed them and displayed them with their smallest builds I had in order to fit them all in. Another case will be memorabilia from the Mastercon conventions. That show went on for 27 years. And the last one will be VLS memories. Here is the first display case, almost finished except for inserting the two glass panel doors.
I'll begin with Lewis Pruneau. I actually have 23 of Lewis' dioramas, all but one far too large to fit in this case. This one is entitled "Stuck". A scratch built 120mm BMW motorcycle with five converted Verlinden 120mm figures pushing it out of a muddy puddle in the road. One of his Fine Scale covers, (He had three of them). On the left, a synopsis of my post on here about "My Buddy Lewis". Other memorabilia and a Newspaper article, (Next image) of his passing. Lewis was, of course, one of my closest friends. He was an incredible modeler.
Below the newspaper article is one of the dioramas Lewis and I built together. It was a new Verlinden diorama base
for a flak emplacement. I built the 88mm gun and lewis put it in place and finished out the details.
At the other end of that shelf is Shep Paine. I knew Shep from the late 1970s until his passing. He was heavily
involved with Mastercon, where he gave demos, fielded questions at round table discussions and presented trophies.
I worked with him on a couple of his books and dioramas. I counted Shep as one of my best friends.
The diorama is from the Monogram series, "Tips on building Dioramas" See it on the right.
The second shelf begins with Don Kanaval. Don was a gifted artist. His "Nose Art" dioramas were
featured in numerous publications. I have seven of his creations. He spent his life working as an artist for
various companies. He designed the Mastercon Logos for VLS. The Vignette below entitled
"Full Moon" was a "Joke" vignette Don made for my wife Susan. He also presented her with
"Horse Apples" after Mastercon III, winning a Gold medal. Don rarely missed a Mastercon convention.
He could keep 600 Mastercon attendees laughing 24/7, a natural born comedian.
Next up, John Bowery and Gil Gonsoulin. John was an immigrant from England living in Dallas.
Gil was from New Orleans. Both were my friends for more than 40 years. Both were members of
modelersalliance.org for many years as well. John worked strictly with aircraft, and, later became
quite proficient in figure painting. Both Gil and John were close friends and their wives and Susan
are still close. Susan and Sydney Gonsoulin take annual trips to Las Vegas together. Gil was the
single modeler to have never missed a Mastercon in 27 years. One year, during Katrina, he actually
drove to Mastercon. The members chipped in a raised a nice sum of money as his house was destroyed.
The three of our wives were great friends and we travelled together and socialized. This was taken
in Dallas after Mastercon was moved to that location in 2008. L to R - Maureen Bowery, Sydney
Gonsoulin and Susan. Alleyn Kinney's wife on the right. Alleyn died several years ago as well.
A photo of Gil Gonsoulin and his armored car on the left. Chris Saulet, a Missouri State Highway Patrolman,
a good friend and an avid aircraft modeler on the right. Chris competed in bicycle racing both here
and in Europe. He competed in the Tour de France with Lance Armstrong twice. Chris rarely missed
a Mastercon as well. In the center is a Christmas card from the sculptor of the old Sexy female figure
company, Mascot Models out of England.
Mort Schmidt was from Kentucky. He modeled in all categories of the hobby, a great figure painter
as well as armor modeler. He was the official Mastercon photographer. Mort had a bad heart and
died much too young years ago. We miss his joking and big smile! His work never failed to grab
gold at Mastercons.
To the right of Mort's display, another Mastercon regular, Roger Altizer from Tennessee. Roger
was a hell of a modeler as well as a Body-builder. We always had lots to talk about.
Roger was another good friend.
To the right of Roger is Fritz Swanson from Vermont. Fritz was younger than most at Mastercon and took a lot
of good natured kidding. He died much too young as well last year following a long illness..
Duane phister and I had a long history. We were in the same Battalion in the army in Verdun France
in the late 1950s, early 60s, only different companies. We only knew each other from a distance
until he showed up at Mastercon one year and we remembered each other from long ago.
He hated flying so he travelled to the convention every year by Amtrac from California. He was known
for his models being the primary source of the now defunct model magazines, Military modeler and
Scale modeler out of California. Below is his gold medal winning Russian truck mounted anti-aircraft
gun.in 120mm scale
Then there was Colonel Marvin Howell. I met Marv at an IPMS regional in Omaha, Nebraska in 1983.
A great guy, he was a commander of The Strategic Air Command (SAC). in Omaha. For years we met
at conventions all over the country. A great guy. He was always asked to be a judge as he was as fair
and impartial as they come.
Ralph Koebbeman had the largest collection of miniatures I ever knew. He had most of Shep Paine's
shadow boxes, he had at least one of every master at the Chicago Show, he had dozens of Pruneau's
dioramas. His collection was massive. Ralph pestered me for years to buy my "Winds of War" diorama.
In 1990, I finally gave in and sold it to him. After that, we became business partners in the Miniature
World Museum in Old Town St. Charles, Mo. Ralph was a millionaire. His wealth came from an invention.
He invented the magnetic dip stick many years ago. Then he created a machine that would automatically
produce them. All he had to do was insert the metal stock and at the end of the production line and the
dip sticks would pop out ready to be shipped. He sold millions!
As with the others, Ralph and his wife Rosemarian were long time friends. Ralph died at 98 years of age,
his wife lived to be a centenarian. She was a well known artist in her own right and painted a portrait of me in 1995
with my diorama, Legacies, in the background and another one of our dogs, Southern Star the doberman and Cagney the Yorkie.
And last, but certainly not least, Msgt Richard Mitchell. He retired from a career in the US Army
and was highly decorated. Among his many medals was the second highest only to
The Medal of Honor, The Distinguished Service Cross.
Richard was the all time most awarded medalist at Mastercon. We visited Richard at his home in
Kentucky a few months before he passed away. He gave me several of his most prized dioramas
for the museum. two of which are in front of his photo below. He worked mainly in 120mm scale.
OK, that wraps up this case. I plan to post all the glass cases as I complete them and when the
museum is completely finished some photos of it in general. Thanks for looking in.
Bob
I'll begin with Lewis Pruneau. I actually have 23 of Lewis' dioramas, all but one far too large to fit in this case. This one is entitled "Stuck". A scratch built 120mm BMW motorcycle with five converted Verlinden 120mm figures pushing it out of a muddy puddle in the road. One of his Fine Scale covers, (He had three of them). On the left, a synopsis of my post on here about "My Buddy Lewis". Other memorabilia and a Newspaper article, (Next image) of his passing. Lewis was, of course, one of my closest friends. He was an incredible modeler.
Below the newspaper article is one of the dioramas Lewis and I built together. It was a new Verlinden diorama base
for a flak emplacement. I built the 88mm gun and lewis put it in place and finished out the details.
At the other end of that shelf is Shep Paine. I knew Shep from the late 1970s until his passing. He was heavily
involved with Mastercon, where he gave demos, fielded questions at round table discussions and presented trophies.
I worked with him on a couple of his books and dioramas. I counted Shep as one of my best friends.
The diorama is from the Monogram series, "Tips on building Dioramas" See it on the right.
The second shelf begins with Don Kanaval. Don was a gifted artist. His "Nose Art" dioramas were
featured in numerous publications. I have seven of his creations. He spent his life working as an artist for
various companies. He designed the Mastercon Logos for VLS. The Vignette below entitled
"Full Moon" was a "Joke" vignette Don made for my wife Susan. He also presented her with
"Horse Apples" after Mastercon III, winning a Gold medal. Don rarely missed a Mastercon convention.
He could keep 600 Mastercon attendees laughing 24/7, a natural born comedian.
Next up, John Bowery and Gil Gonsoulin. John was an immigrant from England living in Dallas.
Gil was from New Orleans. Both were my friends for more than 40 years. Both were members of
modelersalliance.org for many years as well. John worked strictly with aircraft, and, later became
quite proficient in figure painting. Both Gil and John were close friends and their wives and Susan
are still close. Susan and Sydney Gonsoulin take annual trips to Las Vegas together. Gil was the
single modeler to have never missed a Mastercon in 27 years. One year, during Katrina, he actually
drove to Mastercon. The members chipped in a raised a nice sum of money as his house was destroyed.
The three of our wives were great friends and we travelled together and socialized. This was taken
in Dallas after Mastercon was moved to that location in 2008. L to R - Maureen Bowery, Sydney
Gonsoulin and Susan. Alleyn Kinney's wife on the right. Alleyn died several years ago as well.
A photo of Gil Gonsoulin and his armored car on the left. Chris Saulet, a Missouri State Highway Patrolman,
a good friend and an avid aircraft modeler on the right. Chris competed in bicycle racing both here
and in Europe. He competed in the Tour de France with Lance Armstrong twice. Chris rarely missed
a Mastercon as well. In the center is a Christmas card from the sculptor of the old Sexy female figure
company, Mascot Models out of England.
Mort Schmidt was from Kentucky. He modeled in all categories of the hobby, a great figure painter
as well as armor modeler. He was the official Mastercon photographer. Mort had a bad heart and
died much too young years ago. We miss his joking and big smile! His work never failed to grab
gold at Mastercons.
To the right of Mort's display, another Mastercon regular, Roger Altizer from Tennessee. Roger
was a hell of a modeler as well as a Body-builder. We always had lots to talk about.
Roger was another good friend.
To the right of Roger is Fritz Swanson from Vermont. Fritz was younger than most at Mastercon and took a lot
of good natured kidding. He died much too young as well last year following a long illness..
Duane phister and I had a long history. We were in the same Battalion in the army in Verdun France
in the late 1950s, early 60s, only different companies. We only knew each other from a distance
until he showed up at Mastercon one year and we remembered each other from long ago.
He hated flying so he travelled to the convention every year by Amtrac from California. He was known
for his models being the primary source of the now defunct model magazines, Military modeler and
Scale modeler out of California. Below is his gold medal winning Russian truck mounted anti-aircraft
gun.in 120mm scale
Then there was Colonel Marvin Howell. I met Marv at an IPMS regional in Omaha, Nebraska in 1983.
A great guy, he was a commander of The Strategic Air Command (SAC). in Omaha. For years we met
at conventions all over the country. A great guy. He was always asked to be a judge as he was as fair
and impartial as they come.
Ralph Koebbeman had the largest collection of miniatures I ever knew. He had most of Shep Paine's
shadow boxes, he had at least one of every master at the Chicago Show, he had dozens of Pruneau's
dioramas. His collection was massive. Ralph pestered me for years to buy my "Winds of War" diorama.
In 1990, I finally gave in and sold it to him. After that, we became business partners in the Miniature
World Museum in Old Town St. Charles, Mo. Ralph was a millionaire. His wealth came from an invention.
He invented the magnetic dip stick many years ago. Then he created a machine that would automatically
produce them. All he had to do was insert the metal stock and at the end of the production line and the
dip sticks would pop out ready to be shipped. He sold millions!
As with the others, Ralph and his wife Rosemarian were long time friends. Ralph died at 98 years of age,
his wife lived to be a centenarian. She was a well known artist in her own right and painted a portrait of me in 1995
with my diorama, Legacies, in the background and another one of our dogs, Southern Star the doberman and Cagney the Yorkie.
And last, but certainly not least, Msgt Richard Mitchell. He retired from a career in the US Army
and was highly decorated. Among his many medals was the second highest only to
The Medal of Honor, The Distinguished Service Cross.
Richard was the all time most awarded medalist at Mastercon. We visited Richard at his home in
Kentucky a few months before he passed away. He gave me several of his most prized dioramas
for the museum. two of which are in front of his photo below. He worked mainly in 120mm scale.
OK, that wraps up this case. I plan to post all the glass cases as I complete them and when the
museum is completely finished some photos of it in general. Thanks for looking in.
Bob
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