The Walk-Thru of the 2023 International Paper Modeler's Convention (IPMC); the 25th

[THE DC]

For those who would like to order some of these kits, and not wait for the 2024 IPMC, here's your access:



Wurlington Press


This will take you to the webpage for Wurlington Bros. Press; where postcard kits, and even his books, may be found.

[THE DC]

I think it was the Beatles who sang “With a little help from my friends.” I have to thank several of them here, at this forum, for pressing me to move forward with this Thread. Recent injuries on the job, strong obligations to clients and family, and the challenges associate with writing, editing, and photographic organization have stalled the progress on this Thread, but good people here reminded me of my obligations and commitments. I had not realized that there was so much interest, as I hadn’t seen many posted responses, but the encouragement from private messages has proven me wrong. With my laptop repaired (or at least "splinted & casted"), I have again taken the writer’s seat. My appreciation for all of your encouragement.

One would almost think that I am pacing this Thread to maintain interest, throughout the year, to encourage awareness of the convention, to promote improved attendance next year! ;-)

I’ve made no secret of how challenging attending the IPMC was for me in 2023. It was difficult to get everyone’s interviews, as it was so busy there, with others recording and reporting at it, and I made it harder on myself as I was a bit over detailed in my efforts to provide better photo’s than in previous Threads. I did that to myself! The expense and time to get there from my business was also a great challenge. One would wonder what would make such an effort worthwhile. Meeting persons, like my next interviewee made the effort worthwhile.

Richard McClintock is a personable, talented, and generous soul. Though I count myself very lucky to have met him, by the end of this chapter, I believe I can prove to you how fortunate it was for many others, as well, that we met.

The talented artist that warmly introduced me to his work hails from local parts and he shared that he had been building models with different materials his whole life. He became involved with paper models after his wife brought him along to a female-themed conference, where he went exploring, to find some diversion. He visited a historic house in Blacksburge Va., and in the gift shop of that historic location, went searching for a kit of it; to no avail.

Failing to find a model kit of that house, compelled him to attempt to make one of his own. He decided to design his first paper model in 2012, as a result of that building's call; the Smithfield Plantation (the original built in 1774).

The new medium of building of architectural kits prompted what has become a passion since.

[THE DC]

Sharing an appreciation for historic architecture made perusing McClintock’s table quite a joy. His talent is clear in the finished products; both in designing and in building. The collection of designs includes unusual pieces; different from the typically famous buildings and structures. Richard’s work ranges from the historically famous to the unknown; yet still all of valuable replication. Perhaps it was how his design ethos developed that resulted in a very varied lot of builds and designs.

McClintock explained that after developing his skills and first design of the Smithfield Plantation, he began a not-for-profit exercise, rather than a traditional business. People that he met began to ask him to make designs of their personal houses, and sharing an interest in architecture, he gifted them designs of their personal homes. That led to his cooperation with the museum stores of many toured structures that he visited;where he would design the mode and gift it to the museum to sell in their gift shops.

I was tempted to ask him to design a model of my home, an 1890s middle class, doctor’s house that I call home, when I heard about his openness to immortalize structures, but I resisted this urge; thinking instead of a project that would benefit many more people than myself. There will be more about that project, and about how it has impacted people, later on in this Thread.



In the picture (pic 2) are all of McClintock’s models:

First section from back to front: Cape Henry Lighthouse (1798, Virginia Beach, VA), McCormick Observatory (1896, Charlottesville, VA),
Maplewood Depot (1901, Maplewood, NH), Carle Park Pavilion (1921, Urbana, IL),
Fireproof Building (1806, Charleston, SC), Pure Oil Station (1920s, Cape Charles, VA), Eyre House Orangery (1798, Easton, MD - an actual 3D model I built in 1977, not a kit)

Center section (raised): Drayton Hall (1735, Charleston, SC), Poplar Forest (1806, Forest, VA), Schwartz's Tavern (1795, 1820, Blackstone, VA)
Right section: St John's Church Steeple (1805, Richmond, VA), Capitol Square Bell Tower (1824, Richmond, VA), Derby Summerhouse (1793, Salem, MA),
Château Gudanes (1754, Provence, FR), Norfolk & Western Depot (1903, Farmville, VA), Joel Sweeney Cabin (1825, Appomattox, VA),
St John's Caretaker's Cottage (1898, Richmond, VA), , Beneficial Society (1868, Hampden-Sydney, VA), Lenoir Store (1869, Horatio, SC),
Millmaster's cottage (1818, Charlottesville, VA), Worsham Schoolhouse (1805, Worsham, VA)




Picture 1: Richard McClintock's table…

Picture 2: 2023 McClintock’s IPMC table arrangements…

[Don Boose]

Thanks for your continued reportage, Don.

Richard's building model are a sight to behond.

Don

[THE DC]

Thanks Don. Glad you are enjoying it.

Yes, his talent is impressive....and when you hear about how nice a guy he is...


Stay tuned for that!

[THE DC]

Richard McClintock’s exhibit included a display of his many kits that he sells. Though he doesn’t charge anyone to design the paper models of the structures, he does sell the kits openly in exhibits, as well as on the web. Titled “Build It Yourself Historic Buildings,” the kits provide HO scaled depictions (1/87 scale) of famous and less famous but historically interesting buildings. The selections would compliment any Smith or Gillion collection (for those other paper model architecture enthusiasts!). You don't have to take my word for it, Gentleman Don Bose just noted how this near-table-neighbor had impressed him!

McClintock had a catalogue of his kits available at the exhibit; depicting many unusual kits to acquire. His work may be accessed by you, on his website: Historic Models | Build-it-yourself Models of Historic Buildings. The kits included preserved residences, bridges, train depots, jails, schools, taverns, and even forts. Many of the listed kits are structures in Virginia.

Trained as a Latin professor, but employed as a graphics designed, he began designing paper models of historic buildings in 2012. His teaching background is expressed in his excellent and detailed instructions with each kit. A complaint that I have about many fine kits, is that the designers do not include instructions necessary to build the kits well. When working with young people, or novice builders in general, instructions make for important guides toward success of any kit. Without instructions, the builder loses a valuable map towards a successful build.

The provision of directions not only enhances the field of paper modeling in general, it makes the specifically designed kit more valuable, and usable, to a person who inhabits a world that is not in the mind of the designer (everyone else!). Some organization of kit pieces may seem obvious to the person ho shaped the parts of the model, but might seem inconceivable to another. Many designers, however, find that the making of instructions an arduous task.

Richard McClintock’s background as a professor is demonstrated in his patient and detailed step-by-step design of instructions that make the kit valuable to any novice to experienced builder alike. His instructions are general, regardless the skill of the builder, specific to the particular kit, and clear in a step-by-step fashion. Anyone wishing to master this craft would do well learning on one of his kits.


Picture 1: Richard McClintock's kits…

Picture 2: Richard McClintock's catalogs…

[THE DC]

The first kit (see pic 1) that McClintock exhibited was the Wye Orangery, listed on the Eastern Shore, VA. I found a structure of the same name in Maryland, on the east shore of that state.

The model depicts a structure that was rare in its day; a heated greenhouse for growing oranges in the eighteenth century (this one’s central portion had been built around 1770, then it was added onto and changed over the decades). The Orangery sits upon the land owned and residence of the Llyod family, who held it in the family for eight generations, near Lloyd Creek on Wye Island’s shore.

The Orangery build has a detailed, textured roof, defined window panes, and a textured brick facing of the central structure. Two well crafted chimneys frame either end of the main, two story, structure.

Behind the Orangery build, was a Fireproof Building in Charleston, SC. Which also sits next to a PURE Oil Station build, a replica of the 1920s (see pic 2). The actual Fireproof Building, located today at 100 Meeting Street of that city, was built in 1827. Designed by Robert Mills, it is believed to be the oldest fireproof structure in the United States, at the present day. Mills is believed to have been the first American born, classically trained architect. He would move on to work with Thomas Jefferson to participate in the Monticello estate and even serve as the designer of the Washington Monument. His Fireproof Building was designed as a government building to store government records, and as such, built without flammable materials, to ensure against a serious threat of the period; frequent and destructive city fires. It currently serves as the South Carolina Historical Society Headquarters and may be visited on a tour of the city.

The PURE Oil Station of the 1920s represents one of many of the types of gas stations that were built by the Pure Oil company, founded in 1914. The company changed to a different name in the sixties, but recently the Pure Oil name has been used for a new entity in the 1990s. Three companies have used the Pure Oil name in the U.S. The gas stations model is emblematic of the type of gas station a motorist would encounter in the 20s.

The kit of the PURE Oil Station was well crafted, with a colorful blue shingled roof; emblematic of the efforts of early service station efforts to garner attention with color or roadside attractions. The automobile was fairly new to the American public, and a love affair with travel had developed, encouraging competition between fuel providers. The model also included awnings over the door and windows against the rain, to attract customers, just as an actual building of the era would. Chimneys to heat the business structure and even a water pipe detail the fine build.

The next picture shows two other kits (see pic 3); the BQM Depot in Maplewood, NH and the McCormick Observatory in Charlottesville, VA. The Maplewood Depot was built in the late 1800s and used through the early 1920s, servicing visitors from New York and Boston to Bethlehem and Maplewood, NH. By 1925 the trains stopped, due to the rise of automobiles, making the train less necessary to the residents and it was abandoned the following year. The station was raised in 2021, after years of neglect and decay, but has been preserved to be restored in another location in town, once funds are raised. The model depicts the tiled roof design of Victorian Stations; with the colorful paint scheme of its hey-day; not the more recent brown, decayed image of recent neglect.

The build of the Maplewood Depot depicts a structure in period, bright Victorian colors of a base yellow, red shutters and trim, and a blue tile roof. The complex gabling of the roof makes the model interesting, as was the original structure.

The McCormick Observatory in Charlottesville, VA still provides public views of the stars, through its historic 26 inch reflector. Dedicated in 1885, the structure has a long and storied history, on the campus of the University of Virginia. It served as the primary research tool for the university into the 60s and was modernized and publically used for astronomy into the 90s. Now its been upgraded with sophisticated digital-computer tools. The 1885 26 inch refractor is still in place. McCormack’s detailed model depicts the brick façade, the segmented, rounded roof, and the doors in that roof to permit telescopic access to the night sky.

It is a beautiful model. The detail of this kit is impressive. The complicated roof design is faithfully reflected, and the masonry work of the original is faithfully replicated in the round, brick structure, the arches over the windows, and the entryway’s arched door and shingled roof. Even the details of the masonry support arches that frame the rounded structure are provided in 3D detail. McClintock’s build is clean, tightly joined, and without visible error or flaw.




Picture 1: Wye Orangery Eastern Shore VA…

Picture 2: Fireproof building, Charleston, SC & Pure Oil Station, 1920s…

Picture 3: BQM Depot, Maplewood, NH & McCormick Observatory Charlottesville VA…

[THE DC]

The next kit-builds exhibited stressed not only McClinton’s design skills, but as well his model building acumen. The Lenior Store, built in Horatio, SC in 1869 (see pic 1), represented the examples of the passing of an era and some of the changes that society bring, through physical remnants of those eras. The general store that had been located in the High Hills of Santee, and had been constructed on the lands where the Lenior family had resided since 1808, and it represents the oldest general store still standing in Sumter County. It had served as the Post Office as well, since 1900, and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. What is interesting, beyond the history and legacy of the building, is that three gas pumps sentry the front of the edifice, suggesting the modifications to the establishment over the years. The two era gas pumps, that modernity attempted to impose, betray its “old western” false front and clapboard design. Even the gas pumps represent differing eras of the store’s history, as one is very early and the other two are more semi-modern, if pre-digital, designs.

The model was accurate in its depiction, right down to those 3 described, gas pumps; presenting the red, slanted roof, rear access room, and the awning posts across the front. The model was not only an interesting reference to the passing periods of history (pre-gas, early gas station, and later station resources) but very detailed in the roof and awning of the old service structure (though McClinton’s model looks a bit more solid and straight, than the actual structure!!!).

Returning closer to his home, McClintock took interest in the Beneficial Society Building, in Mercy Seat, VA. This structure represented an establishment opened in 1843, by free black residents (also see pic 1). Many of its founders belonged to the Mercy Street Baptist Church and was a brethren society, comprised of men who provided benefits to the needy and support for those survivors of recently deceased, at the time of death. When schools closed in the county, in 1959, the same facility served as a training center. It survived the Civil War and sustained the community since.

The small, attractive HO scale model depicts the white, metal roofed structure with the single chimney and side entrance. The window shutters suggest the care and pride kept for the structure, given the expense of such shutters at the time. The model is well crafted, as the side entrance could have just been printed onto the side, but McClintock took the care to craft the dimensional inset for the door, as it would actually appear, and even included the steps leading to that entrance.

For a completely different experience, the Chateau Gudanes (see pic 2), in France, offers the elegance of a chateau, built on the foundations of a former fortress (in 1745), on the land belonging to the Marquis de Sales. The earlier fortress had dated back from the 13th century, but had become degraded during the Wars of Religion and was in ruins in 1580. Upon these foundations, the Chateau Gudanes was built. The structure remained in the family of Louis Gaspard until the French Revolution, until his heir’s claim, of being related to de Sale, made him a target of the Committee. He was arrested, died in prison before he could be tried by the revolutionaries, and the chateau was confiscated, as was much Church and Royal families’ property. A prosperous businessman, who had no titled aristocratic ties, was able to purchase it. Though he had may have enjoyed a great opportunity, his joy was short lived. In 1830, during the War of the Demoiselles, by a rioting group of protestors to post-Napoleonic rules restricting their access to forests, ransacked the chateau. Charles Jean de Limairac, a politician took over the structure next, immediately placing his family crests upon it . It remained in his family for generations, renovated and altered, through WWII. In the 1970s, it became a home for children’s camps, then was purchased to turn into a hotel, but the plans were arrested during disputes between the developers and with the government. During the long dispute, the hotel fell into further disrepair, its roof caving in and the rooms becoming inaccessible. After four years on the real-estate market, a wealthy Australian family purchased it and had begun a painstaking restoration to return it to its glory days.

The model is a picturesque representation of the chateau as it should appear. The roof is multi-peaked and McClinton did a fine job capturing the detailed windows and foundation. The family crests can even be seen, as they have been on the actual structure since the 19th century.

Behind the model of the Chateau Gudanes was his build of the Derby Summer House, in Salem MA. (also see pic 2). The actual structure was built in 1793 on the grounds in Danvers MA (where the actual witch trials originated; not Salem). It’s a rarely preserved summer house, the type of structure that often is not preserved, and was moved 4 miles away in 1901 and preserved. It’s been a National Historic Landmark since 1968.

The model depicts the two-story structure, with decorative statues across the roof, detailed windows, and three-dimensional first story siding. The arch stone sets off a dimensional detail in the entry. Even the base is provided with pathway detailed.

The last model in the picture is the Patrick Henry Kitchen, in Red Hill, VA (see pic 2). The famous patriot had purchased a 700 acre farm in 1794 from Richard Booker, the man who had inherited the land in 1772. Booker was heavily in debt. Henry would add to this farm-purchase until the spread reached 2930 acres. His famous law offices were there and he is buried on his property; the place that he called the “garden spot of the world…”

The model that McClintock designed was of the property kitchen. Colonial kitchens were not housed in the main house, when possible, as the threat of fire from them encouraged distance between the buildings. Henry’s enslaved cook, Critty, ran the kitchen, Her three children lived with her in the kitchen on the second floor, faithfully represented in the replica. The detailed model depicts the rough, red brick chimney, the shingled roof, and even the stone used for the step up into the doorway.

These highly detailed buildings are deceptively smaller than one would expect (see pic 2 for the pen next to the Patrick Henry Kitchen, for size comparison).



Picture 1: Lenior Store, Horatio, SC & Beneficial Society, Mercy Seat, VA …

Picture 2: Chateau Gudanes, France & Derby Summer House, Salem MA & P. Henry Kitchen, Red Hill- VA…

[THE DC]

Another kit-build that was spectacular to behold was Poplar Forest, found in Lynchburg, VA (see pic 1). For those who have had the opportunity to visit Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s main and more famous home, Poplar Forest provides a different view into the mind of the 3rd President, Founding Father, inventor, philosopher, and agricultural business magnet. The land was inherited by Jefferson in 1773; all 4819 acres, through his wife’s side of the family. He didn’t initially begin any of the later improvements upon the property, instead replying upon the working plantation for income during the last year of his wife’s life, and during his overseas role as ambassador to France. The property’s success in tobacco was valuable to him, thanks to the slave labor that mitigated the costs of farming it. The conflict of the man, between the ideals of freedom and pragmatic opportunism of his age, is most visible in his absentee stewardship of the Poplar Forest plantation. During the most turbulent times of his ever-challenging financial burdens (Jefferson was not fiscally skilled) those slaves that provided his stretched resources were traded, bought, sold and their families broken up as Jefferson sold off parcels to pay off his many debts.

Having inherited the property from his wife’s side of the family, Poplar Forest never seemed as much of a valued interest to him in the early years of ownership, as it presented a more practical tool in managing the resources of needed income. Located in Forest VA., the property developed into a place of retreat from his home of Monticello. He built the main house that he would live in, starting in 1806 and taking two decades, as a balance to the demanding professional life required in Monticello. He would later use the plantation grounds to welcome close friends and family members to it for more intimate gatherings, than the busy, and ever formal, Monticello (which taxed his resources so greatly, that main property bankrupted him). Like Monticello, Jefferson designed the house carefully himself; a smaller version of his main residence. It bears the same brick siding, columned front, and side-wall leading to lower-grounded support structures; it just never had the balanced, paired array as Monticello did. He was President of the United States when construction started and his attraction to daring architecture, such as octagonal designs, is evident. Some argue that this was the first octagonal house built in the US, inspiring replication elsewhere.

McClintock’s build captures the house perfectly. The multiple chimneys, the columned entry, the below-story service arches, and the railing across the roof reflect Jefferson’s attention to balance and functionality, and are true to the structure. Jefferson’s tall dominating windows, also evident in Monticello, are depicted, as well as his skylight; Jefferson favored lots of windows, despite their cost. The appreciation for symmetry of geometric shape is clear in the model. The build represents Jefferson’s ideals, if not his struggle to fulfill those, and is a beautiful replica of this lesser known home.



Picture 1: Poplar Forest Lynchburg, VA…

[THE DC]

The kit that demanded your attention in the Exhibit was that of Drayton Hall (see pic 1). This was the build that McClintock said was his favorite design. It is easy to see why.

The 18th century plantation survived the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Indigo and rice were grown there by 78 slaves. Seven generations of Draytons lived there and the house is now a tour site and National Landmark.

The model of the Drayton Hall is magnificent (see pic 1). It includes the main house, two out buildings, and a brick wall connecting them (see pic 2). The main house and two of the support houses, long gone now, detail the house as it would have been in its glory-day, with the complicated roof structure accurately portrayed (see pic 3). The front steps and landing have a red-diamond pattern and the chimney tops have the accurate masonry vents (see pic 4). The detailed porch and stairs bear the accurate flooring and rounded columns base the railings and upper balcony. The model captures all of the detail and beautiful angles of the structure (see pic 5). The Drayton Hall model is detailed, accurate, and understandable as his favorite kit.


Picture 1: Drayton Hall, Charleston, SC…

Picture 2: Drayton Hall, Charleston, SC -2…

Picture 3: Drayton Hall, Charleston, SC -3…

Picture 4: Drayton Hall, Charleston, SC -4…

Picture 5: Drayton Hall, Charleston, SC -5…