For Art Crawl 2024, here's an example of what I do as an artist...

I kitbash. I take parts from different old models and turn them into something new.

It's more than just a craft- creating these pieces that wouldn't exist if I didn't have the vision to put these disparate things together is an art form in and of itself.

While it didn't win, it got a lot of comments- and he'll be making his premiere in competition at a model show next weekend!

One other note- the background was built for a movie by an old friend of mine, who passed away unexpectedly in 2015. Miss you, Bluesman.

If you'd like to see some of the other models I've kitbashed, check out my earlier posts! Thanks!

This little guy was created for a contest sponsored by USA Gundam, an online model vendor, last year.

The idea was to do something "different" with a kit of their mascot- a cute little flying warehouse robot called "APEX".

(Fun fact- my wife built the "base" (unmodified) APEX kit in the background.)

The original APEX seemed like a poor choice for a "warehouse" robot, so I made him a little more rugged (and gave him hands).

It's fun to take an existing kit (or pieces of kits) and come up with a different background and reasoning for the design changes expressed in a good kitbash.

These are instructions from some of the source kits for this design.

I was able to use the "floating" LED to make his mouth light up. I feel it makes him friendlier.

I then put together a "brochure" talking about the different ways the "APEX Mark II" was better suited for warehouse work.