Fantasy Modeling #6

Sadly I post the final issue of the excellent 1980s hobby magazine Fantasy Modeling. This one is a doozy featuring two articles by my spirit ancestor Andrew P. Yanchus, space ship building on a budget, building a spray booth and other great stuff. Read it slowly, soak it in, for it's the last of the good stuff.

5 Editorial
6 Space Age Modeling on a Budget
12 Beauty in The Beast
18 Star Wars Mini Rigs
22 Computer Gaming Part 2
26 All Weather Spray Booth
28 Converting Non-Flyers
32 The Beast Bust
36 Horses of a Different Color
38 Building The Ark of Space
42 Points to Remember
43 Reader's Photo Page
44 The Competitive Edge
46 Odds and Ends
48 Collectables


Fantasy Modeling #6 -  

And be sure to check out the other five issues:
Fantasy Modeling Issue 1
Fantasy Modeling Issue 2
Fantasy Modeling Issue 3
Fantasy Modeling Issue 4
Fantasy Modeling Issue 5

Fantasy Modeling #5

It's been a long while since I've posted a new issue of Fantasy Modeling but here it is! This is issue features some great stuff including a brilliant article by Rick Overton about kitbashing Victorian Spaceships that was truly steampunk way before there was such a word. This whole issue is a treasure trove of hobby goodness. Check it out!

Fantasy Modeling Volume 5, 1981

Contents:

5 Editorial
6 Victorian Spaceships by Rick Overton
10 Dungeon Diorama by Philip O. Stearns
14 Model Kits That Almost Were by Andrew P. Yanchus
18 A Spaceship For The King by David Douglass Merriman III
22 Computer Gaming by Mike Kilbert
26 Adventures in Gaming
27 Reader's Photo Page
28 Spaceship Photography by Jack Gurner
34 New Technologies in Rockets by Michael A. Banks
38 Super Detailing Spaceships by Jeff Pollizzotto
42 The Competitive Edge by Philip O. Stearns
44 Book Reviews
46 Letters
48 Collectables
50 Odds and Ends by Andrew P. Yanchus


Fantasy Modeling #5 -  

Fantasy Modeling Issue #4

Hi everyone! Here's another issue of the mighty Fantasy Modeling magazine from way back in 1981. This is a special issue for me since number four was the first issue of FM that I ever saw. It was laying in a pile of other mags in the back room of the Game Preserve when it was still in Glendale. From the Zaku model on the front to the serious way that the MPC Empire Strikes Back kits were treated it grabbed my attention and I've been a fan ever since. And dig the odd little miniatures by an equally odd little miniature company called Citadel, Tom Meyer looking like he's 15, and Martin Bowers kind of creepy "cool guy" picture.

Enjoy!

Contents:

Editorial
Willy Whitten's Wizardry
Model Girl
The ESB Snow Walker
The ESB Snow Speeder
Ral Partha Exposed
Role Playing Games
Aerial Photography and Rockets
America's Premiere Competition
Collectables
Book Reviews
Odds and Ends


Fantasy Modeling Magazine No. 4 -

Fantasy Modeling Issue #3

Well after too long of a hiatus I'm finally back with another issue of the awesome Fantasy Modeling magazine. Finally getting caught up with our comics coloring and design work so now I get to do some geeky fun stuff. And I wanted to get this posted so Tom can put down the Thorazine darts.

This issue features an in-depth interview with one of the founding fathers of modern fantasy miniatures, Tom Loback. Mr. Lobacks's company Dragontooth Miniatures released some of the most purely creative miniatures of the 1980s and really set the stage for massed combat fantasy miniature gaming.

This issue also begins the series Odds and Ends which shows how to use common items that might usually be thrown away to create and convert science fiction miniatures. Many of these ideas are still useful and this series really inspired me as a kid to "trash-bash" my own creations.

An interview with artist Dave Cockrum, model rocketry, spaceship scratchbuilding,and tons of other goodies.

Enjoy!

P.S. And I know the Martian Metals ad is upside down. Just like in the magazine.

Contents:
Editorial
Plastic's Modeler Dave Cockrum
The Atlanta Military Miniature Exhibit
The Return of The Backyard Spaceship
Conan Reconsidered
An Interview with Tom Loback
Role Playing in a Future "Universe"
From The Natural to The Supernatural
Scratchbuilding Spaceship Miniatures for Film
Fleets
Collectables
What Kit is That?
Outerspace Odds and Ends
Adventure Gaming
Book Reviews


Fantasy Modeling #3 -

Fantasy Modeling Winter Issue

Finally back from the Calgary Entertainment Expo and a general tour of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Now to finally upload another issue of Fantasy Modeling. This issue has some really stand out pieces. The Fantasy World of Rev. Spencer Van Gulick is inspiring and interesting. Andrew Yanchus's history of plastic monster model kits is a fun read with some groovy behind the scenes information. And an outstanding diorama article from the great Sheperd Paine, autographed by the man no less, is informative and impressive. Who knew the The Shire had a red light district?

Enjoy.

Contents:
Editorial
The Fantasy World of Rev. Spencer Van Gulick
Book Reviews
...And They Glow in The Dark
The Age of Conan
Fleets
An Interview with Eric Goldberg
The "Empire" Casts Its Influence On Modeling
Collectable
Three Dioramas-Three Different Problems
Kit Reviews
Adventures In Gaming


Fantasy Modeling Winter Issue -

Fantasy Modeling #1

Fantasy Modeling Magazine was a magazine devoted to the various disciplines of the fantasy and science fiction modeling hobbies. Each issue was a motley assortment of how to articles, features on outstanding artists, and industry information. In the pre internet years of the 1980s FM acted as a source of mailing addresses for many gaming, miniature, and modeling companies. There was no preference shown in FM for one part of the hobby over another, just an overall appreciation for the craft of making interesting models and miniatures.

Discovering Fantasy Modeling Magazine was one of the turning points in my adolescence. There were a few stray copies in the back room at The Game Preserve game store in Indianapolis and I would routinely read through them and wonder at the fact that "grown-ups" were making models out of spare parts and junk like I had been doing since I was allowed to have model glue. It made me realize that all of the "junk" that I had been building had some value to others and that I wasn't alone in my desire to create these things. The tone of the magazine is a bit "gee-whiz" which still comes across as refreshing in an age when I am constantly beleaguered by the rudeness and childish entitlement of many modern hobbyists.

The contributors to Fantasy Modeling often had to scrounge their hobby together from actual garbage, toys, and parts of things never meant for model making. As somebody who sees scratch building and kit bashing as a justifiable post-modern art form this stuff makes me happy. From the truly brilliant kit bashing of Rick Overton and Michael Sullivan to the charmingly odd work of Andrew P. Yanchus, Fantasy Modeling showed me high end trash-bashing that made me want to make stuff. And that sort of inspiration was and still is invaluable to me.

I decided to scan the six issues of FM to share the wonder that I get from them.

Here is the premier issue of Fantasy Modeling. I hope it inspires you to the level that is has me.

In this issue:
The Popular Imagery of Boris Vallejo
The Plastic Industry Strikes Back
Atlantis Lives
The Military Corner: Historex Walks New Paths
Origins '80
Kit Bashing Spaceships
War Games: the Greatest Fantasy of Them All
Book Reviews
Fantasy Collectables
Adventures in Gaming
And enough vintage ads to make you want to play first edition D&D again!

All five Fantasy Modeling Magazines are available in the FILES section of the Trash Bash Bits Facebook Group.