In the Beginning

Everyone starts somewhere, and no one starts as a master.

Probably a lot of good painters will never show you their first models.

It's a shame really, because beginners get the impression that there is no development, they don't get to see the struggles and learning, just the up to date, present brilliance of current output.

So here's my models, from the first 28mm Ral Partha figure I painted in around 1979 /80 through to better things in 1989.

10 years, it's a long apprenticeship, but there was no internet, very little information, and even magazines tended towards either military subjects or tabletop wargaming. So a lot of this process was self taught, trial and error plus discussion with a couple of school friends - Ian Ashworth and Ian Saxton.

The main picture is a Ral Partha Orc, painted in Humbrol Enamels and is one of three that I attacked with a brush.

The other three pictures are ( from lef t to right :-

A Ral Partha High Elf Archer, again painted in Enamels. 1981

A Ral Partha Thief, someone mentioned oil paints, so I bought some and gave it a go. 1982

A Citadel Paladin Adventurer, the oils working a bit better for me, as I'd discovered priming, undercoating and also Milliput for bases. 1983

The years are approximate, but I started to realise that improvement could be measured if I saved, what I considered was my best painted model, each year.

Visible progression

Well, it had to happen eventually.

Whilst it looks like a lot of progress has happened, the Chequered Knight was probably done in 1986. It was in the first Golden Demon competition and whilst it didn't win anything, it did get photographed and appeared in the 1988 golden Demon book showing pictures from the previous year's show.

I'd discovered acrylics by this time, along with Winsor and Newton Series 7 brushes and was painting for the Games Workshop Manchester store.

Fireman Sam was painted in 1987 or 1988, and again is pictured in the 1988 book. In fact anything in that book by A Hopwood or C Slater was done by me.

The Chaos Daemonette was done in 1988 I think , and at this point in time I had discovered the use of granulated sugar as a basing material. Acrylic paint used undiluted doesn't melt sugar ro much, but does dry knobbly so you can drybrush it and add inks for shading.....

The Eldar in the last shot was painted in 1989, a good year for me, but more of that one the next section.

Games Workshop Competitions....

Yes, competitions.

I've entered one or two, and admittedly am competitive by nature.

The two Orcs below won Best Command Group at Games Workshop's Games Day in 1986 along with a set of Dwarves that I'd painted that won Best Army the same day.

However the Goblin and Temple Dog conversion won a Silver Demon ( shown below ) at the 1989 Golden Demons, one I'm still rather pleased with today.

The banner is a hand painted representation of the cover of Chris Achillos's Medusa art book, and the shield the Goblin is holding has and even smaller reproduction of the same picture on it's outer face.

Moving on...

From competition, came the request to write articles. Neil Robinson was starting off a magazine called Military Modelcraft and approached me at the Hartlepool show to see if I was interested.

I was, and so to the right is the main picture from my very first article, Kirin's 120mm American Doughboy, Trench Raider 1996 October's issue

Moving to Military Modelling a couple of years later, Vago the Gladiator from White Models was my first article for Ken Jones.

I had a long and very happy association with Ken. I learned a lot and gained a lot of confidence through him. A very clever chap, approachable and good hearted, he was fun to be around.

The internet and all that stuff

It's a powerful tool, the internet, and I've been lucky with it on many occasions.

I met Robin Snelson at the Huddersfield show in about 2003, and in amongst discussing the competition and how it had been judged ( neither of us had been involved in the actual judging mind ), he mentioned that he could build websites.

And in that moment a monster was born.

The AH website was first, showing every model I'd painted that I possessed photos of, all put together by Robin. A hell of a lot of work.

From that developed The Basement Forum, and alongside that began the FigureWorld show held in Oundle.

Without Robin, and the close friends that developed through his development of the above, I doubt I'd have had the confidence to build this website, or in fact do many of the model related things I do now.

After the magazines close..

With the closure of Military Modelling magazine in 2016, I experienced a certain amount of freedom regarding what subjects I wanted to paint.

I'd concentrated for many years of Historical subjects, with some Fantasy pieces interspersed with them, but now looked into the storage shelves in the loft and recognised that Id become a collector of not just figure kits, but a fair selection of cars, AFV's and a few aircraft as well....... Maybe I should build some

Commissions....

I've kind of always done them, I learned from getting review samples from magazines to be choosy in what I took on, and being honest - telling someone that if I didn't like a model, it was best that I not take the commission.

However, I've done more and more as the quality of kits improves, or I just have gotten broader horizons regarding what I like.

It's an honour to be trusted with a commission from someone, but it means that I'm taken away from my own projects - a double edged sword - so it's not done for free.

I work out roughly how long something's going to take, work out an hourly rate and add in the cost of any items I'll have to add in like a plinth.

If you're thinking of getting a piece painted - by me, or anyone else for that matter - please realise the years it's taken them to get to that level of expertise, and how long it will take them to paint your model.

I can give a breakdown of why I charge what I charge for each commission, but you'll find that most people paint for a lot less than minimum wage, it's not money for nothing.

Thinking ahead....

I'd thought that there was a gap in the market for some larger scale scenery in 2013, and I'd made a few moulds to reproduce a couple of arches and the like.

In 2017 I bought the rights to produce a Spacegirl bust, and followed that with a scratch-built bust of my own.

More groundwork pieces followed, and I tried my hand at trading at shows with the help of my wife Ruth.

Covid and the rise in price of trade stands killed the appearances at shows, but eBay took over along with selling off some of my old kits, or ones that I thought I'd not get around to building.

Competitions Continued

So yeah, I did more of that, and still take part in them

I liked Euro Militaire's standard of judging, although I didn't always win, and have the same respect for the organisation and running that the Crombeeke's and their team put into Scale Model Challenge over in Veldhoven, Holland.

There's 22 classes in their Masters section of the competition, and I'm doing my best to attempt an award in as many of those classes as possible.

At the time of writing ( January 2025 ) I've managed to gain awards in ten of them, including 1/48th scale Aircraft, Scratch Built "Green" Figures, 1/35th scale Converted Vehicles, Vignettes, Sculpted Flat Figures and of course Fantasy and Historical Figures, with awards ranging from Highly Commended to Silver.

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