Whose designs do you admire?

[Kugelfang]

And why?

Yesterday I downloaded a number of the free models from ecardmodels.com to check out the work of various designers. I have to admit that for the most part the kits left me feeling... meh. Granted, they're free models and you get what you pay for. And, since I've not built them I really can't comment on the designs themselves. But as far as graphics, presentation and instructions I felt they all lacked something.

As someone with a growing interest more in designing than building I'd be interested in knowing which designer's work you really enjoy seeing. Which kits inspire you to do your best work?

TIA

--jeff

[Knife]

I like the airliners over at paper models. Lots of graphic details and parts fits perfectly. For free models, check out Ken Pilsworth's models at this site, and the Master UHU02's models from his site.

[bloomohio]

You get what you pay for? yes he does nice work and prices are reasonable for his design. I just tried my first pay for download of 1/16 model. My problem is the printing of A3,A4 and the cost of ink as paper is cheap except card stock only 8.5x 11 is available but no legal card stock help?

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Gary Pilsworth's models indeed are little gems. Not too hard, close to the right shape (or at least the feel of it) and easy to reduce in size.
Same goes for Alfonso X. Moreno's space models which are great in their native 1/100 but also look awesome in 1/400. Mark Cable's rockets are also really worth checking out. Let's not forget the models John Jogerst, our own Yogi, makes. They are nice models to begin with, and nice to use as a base for superdetailing. Always a good fit, good instructions and well documented.
I also like Leonid Charkashyn's arsenal of free downloadable rockets a lot. Great details, good fit and very nice builds.
Kancho Iliyev's aircraft models are wonderful, Johan Scherft's birds are genuine works of art. The late Fabrizio Prudenziati made lovely little airplanes. U-Don also makes great models. Emil Zarkov's aircraft look wonderful, too. All worth it.

[Swampfox]

I have to say John Dell designs the tightest models I've ever worked on. He works and reworks his stuff to the point of insanity. He's a rivet counter from the word go. I've found if you don't get the part aligned exactly as he intended, the graphics will NOT line up, so you have to figure out where the problem is in your build.
I've done lots and I mean lots of test builds for him, I can't even recall how many times he had me test build the glass nose's of his B-17s until I just about went frickin' crazy doing it but even after he was "done" with that part he kept up-dating it, and still does any time he comes up with a better idea.

His instructions are clear and detailed and his shapes are excellent. Excellent quality overall.

Give his stuff a try, you'll be amazed.

This is not an endorsement for John Dell, and I have not received any compensation for my comments, but I hope he approves this posting. Oh wait a minute this isn't a competition...sorry, just got carried away...

Thank You,
Swampfox

[whulsey]

I like Uhu02 work, also MAK and the gentleman that designed the Stalinetz S-65. Ichiyama has some nice work also: Home of for some less complicated, but really good, models

[paperengineer]

In sheer quantity ScissorsAndPlanes is very impressive. The models aren't bad either, very accurate shape, just some details are omitted or simplified because the models are a smaller scale. I build his models all the time and once you build one you can pretty much build them all (they don't have instructions however).

The A-3 skywarrior looks less detailed than the rest because it was part of bruno (scissorsAndPlanes)'s free collection and was up scaled to 1/200

[Don Boose]

Speaking only of aircraft and only from my own experience:

I second all of Swampfox's comments about John Dell.

Dave Winfield is another designer who goes to extraordinary lengths to make sure that his designs go together well.

Every one of Nobi's models that I have built has had perfect fit.

Dr Emil Zarkov is another exceptionally skilled, conscientious, and helpful designer.

I have always found Aaron Murphy's, Gary Pilsworth's, DGA's, Kryzchu 74's, and Contour Creative (Terry Moyle and Rosie Louise's) models to fit well and to be enjoyable to build.

Gerard designs very well thought out models, mostly of Dutch aircraft.

Leif Ohlsson has done some terrific and deeply-researched modifications of other designs, as has John Bowden.

Roman Vasyliev's models fit perfectly and he offers a wide array of markings.

I have only built one of Bruno's vast array of Scissors n Paste models, but it went together well.

I have never built any of Martin Saenger's models, but I have his FJ-1 Fury, and it looks very impressive. Same for Skyline models.

There may be exceptions, but I think a modeler is unlikely to be disappointed by the products of any of these designers.

Don

[richkat]

Dave Winfield, he and Ken L. West are my favorite two that I have used. I have just bought a B-17 from John Dell, haven't started it yet but it looks great, so he may need to go on the list as well.........Rich

[richkat]

Oh I forgot one....Aaron Murphy, love his models....Rich