who is the best

[highway]

I hadn't heard of Gary Kulchock before, so I Googled his work and you're right – especially about the Hillbillies truck.

http://public.fotki.com/gkulchock/all-my-modeling-rel/

Thanks for posting the link, Skip. I haven't seen Gary for a while, and it was interesting to see he has added some more beautifully weathered models to the collection! By the way, the one I was talking about is the one listed as the Beverly Hillbillies TV truck, I have never seen the other Der Barvarian Hillbillies halftrack, but I sure got a kick out of it!

[Chuck Most]

Mark Jones? Chopper Lear? I think I forgot to mention those guys earlier.

[Jeff Sauber]

When you reach a certain high level of building, it all boils down to styles. There is no real "best guy" in the world out there. Any nice model can be beat out on any given day.

No matter how great a certain car project is, there's always somebody out there that can & will do better....You can bet on it.

This is model car building, not a heavyweight championship title fight!!....There is no Champ and contenders...etc...

Just think of all the great builders in various corners of the world who aren't even known yet, don't want to be known, and are not "in the typical loop/circle of the usual mixing bowl of well knowns."

Who cares who's best....It's a title that really doesn't exist.

[Harold]

Y'all nailed the great ones. I agree with all the choices mentioned. As for faves, Juha Airo, Mark Gustavson, Bill Geary, Chuck Most, Jairus Watson.

[voljeepx]

Everyone on this forum is an inspiration for me to build better models and work on the little things that produce better results. With that said, the two builders who I admire the most are Clay Kemp and David Thibodeau. I always thought Clay did amazing work until I saw his builds in person and was totally blown away by all the details. David is my favorite painter and there is not a week that goes by that I don't go to his fotki account and check out something for a reference pic.

[Modelmartin]

This type of discussion is always interesting. A lot of people, naturally enough, go with people they know(what else can you do?). It is helpful if you have spent more time and traveled around in the hobby. Most of the people mentioned in this thread are very worthy modelers to be included here but some(and I will not say who) will violently protest their inclusion in this list. Why? Simply because they are not among the best builders. They are active in the hobby and produce beautiful models that get a lot of coverage. They are usually prolific builders, too. Nothing at all wrong about that but it doesn't merit inclusion here.

To me, a top builder has to be able to do it all! Scratchbuild, paint, detail, assemble, design, engineer, plan, finish the d@mn thing AND show up! My top choices(and favorites) are Jim Drew, Randy Derr, Bill Geary, Dirk Joseph amongst others. There are many more. We have a guy in Minnesota who does everything but show up - Jay Lewis. He could take Best in Show almost anywhere but hates contests! You can see some of his work in the gallery of Dave's Showrod Rally site.

I think the absolute best I have seen are Manuel Olive Sans and Tom Kirn. I have seen their models side by side and to me the nudge goes to Tom's Duesenberg. Sans was professional and worked in bigger scales and was top notch but Tom's Duesey was just that little bit better as amazing as that is! Of course Manuel built many, many models over decades and Tom built 2 that I know of! Wingrove is definitely great but Sans and Kirn are a notch above. The rest of us kit-bashers are just having fun and chopping up plastic toys!

The French Ferrari guy did not build a model. That was a small car. I mean that.

[Wayne Buck]

This one is impossible to answer for me as there is a TON of talent out there. Different people are just amazing in different areas of building.

A few that come to mind at the moment are John Teresi (because I absolutely LOVE drag racing and he has built some beautiful machines), Bill Geary (his 57 Corvette just BLOWS me away) and Mark Jones (I'm still cleaning the drool out of my keyboard from that Super 7 build). Oh and Jeff Sauber too (just amazingly clean work).

Edited June 10, 2010 by NJ-Wayne

[jas1957]

Randy Derr, an artist & a gentleman

Tim Boyd, simple clean style that always looks good

Morgan Barkley, just the idea that he works in metal with flawless workmanship

[george 53]

Has anyone ever paid attention to the amount of detail that our own Ed Shaver puts into his models? And being as how they're mostly Dio's, they really are a bunch of little models all put together to be one BIG one! Check his stuff out, it IS pretty cool!

[MikeMc]

George does bring up a great point...the details Ed and others listed build for us to see are nothing but talented genius!!!THANK all of you for these wonderful models and memories!!

[Junkman]

Michele Conti. To my knowledge, he is the only car modeller whose models made it into the Museum of Modern Art.

Henri Baigent.

Louis Chenot.

Ingvar Dahlberg.

Joe Enriquez.

George Ronald Guttu.

Will Neely.

Francisco Pulido.

Pere Tarragó.

Roger Zimmermann.

[simonr]

Do someone here has entered to the Hiroaki Fukuda's webpage?..What about the Mexican Master Modeler Ramon García? What about the 1/43 Japanese master modeler Akihiro Kamimura?

What about this modeler who did this 1/43 Porsche 917k's for homologation style, like the real thing back in 1969 from scratchbuilt?

Look for the whole thread:

http://www.builtupmodels.com/en/thumbs.php?pageNum_rs_planche=1&totalRows_rs_planche=100&FolioID=22&ID_menu=smenu2

What about the same guy doing this high detailed Porsche 911 RS, departing from a Renaissance curbside 1/43 kit?

Look for the whole thread:

http://www.builtupmodels.com/fr/thumbs.php?pageNum_rs_planche=4&totalRows_rs_planche=184&FolioID=4&ID_menu=smenu2

But this Japanese is the horse, pick the Tyrell P 34/2 Brithish GP 1977 and the Profil 24 Porsche 962C just to name for example:

http://www.geocities.jp/dreamworks43modelcars/modelcarframepage2.htm

Tyrell P34/2

http://www.geocities.jp/dreamworks43modelcars/tyrrelp34.htm

Porsche 962C Rothmans

http://www.geocities.jp/dreamworks43modelcars/962c.htm

Ford GT 40 MK II

http://www.geocities.jp/dreamworks43modelcars/ford_mk.htm

Simón P. Rivera Torres

[Chuck Most]

The French Ferrari guy did not build a model. That was a small car. I mean that.

I know what you mean. That's why I don't consider Gerald Wingrove a mere 'modeler'!

[meaneyme]

Was the original question or post about the guys here in this forum or was the question in general? I thought it was about the talent in this forum.

[Harry P.]

Was the original question or post about the guys here in this forum or was the question in general? I thought it was about the talent in this forum.

I think that was the intent, but people sort of get carried away...

[Wayne Buck]

There's another person I forgot to mention!

Harry, your Pocher builds kick rear!!

[whale392]

I don't rightly know if we can crown a 'best' here. It is more like a tiered system. We have many builders here who reside on the top tier of skillsets and building prowess. Then we have the mass majority here who build on a middle tier, and seek to either get better or enjoy their status as it is. Then there are those who are just starting out and sit on a side tier, as their potential remains untapped and untried. Then we have THOSE builders, who really have no tier, but their builds bring tears to the eyes (I am in that level......I can hear the plastic gods weep for their children fallen into my hands!).

[Harry P.]

Harry, your Pocher builds kick rear!!

[sjordan2]

Yayyy, Harry! You're my huckleberry.

[gkulchock]

I feel honored to be mentioned along side some of the modelers I've look up to for so long. Thank you!

I too have a list of modelers that I feel are the top dogs that I look up to.

Randy Derr ..... your upcoming sprint car just blows me away. Jim Drew ..... what more could be said about your Grand Sport. Ken Hamilton ..... Your attention to detail is second to none. Larry Booth ..... Everything you touch turns to gold, fantastic.

[John Teresi]

Hello everyone.......I am new to this forum....... I have posted for about 4 or 5 months ......and have been building for about 4 years.......I also built a s a kid around 8 to 13.......but I have had the bug for about 3 years.......going to local model contest shows and all........but I am truly thankful and honored to mentioned as a liked modeler.......and in the company of all the greats mentioned......I have seen most of all these guys builds and have to say that they are all truly excellent builders......I also have to say that trying to go beyond by making my own parts has made me a better builder.......I am not and will not let these nice comments go to my head..........again I am very thankful to be considered a liked modeler.

[Jeff Sauber]

I don't rightly know if we can crown a 'best' here. It is more like a tiered system. We have many builders here who reside on the top tier of skillsets and building prowess. Then we have the mass majority here who build on a middle tier, and seek to either get better or enjoy their status as it is. Then there are those who are just starting out and sit on a side tier, as their potential remains untapped and untried. Then we have THOSE builders, who really have no tier, but their builds bring tears to the eyes (I am in that level......I can hear the plastic gods weep for their children fallen into my hands!).

Agreed.

The hobby is far to vast and diverse to call somebody "the best". There's thousands and thousands of great builders. Some are well known, and some are not known at all.. The hobby simply doesn't revolve around any one person or any group of persons.

There's also a BIG difference between naming off FAVORITE builders and naming off WORLD CLASS builders. Some here seem to struggle with that difference.

[Modelmartin]

I know what you mean. That's why I don't consider Gerald Wingrove a mere 'modeler'!

But Gerald is indeed a modelbuilder. He is quite good. The French Ferrari guy made a functioning autonobile in smaller than usual size. There was a guy back in the '80s who built a running Locomobile race car. It ran and shifted, braked, etc. Again, not a model!!

To me a model is a non functioning representation of something(usually in scale).

Somone earlier in this thread mentioned Michele Conti from Italy. If you ever saw his models in person you would realize that they are very appealing folk art. They were actually kind of horrific as scale models. Bad technique and bad proportions abound.

I like what some have said about there being hundreds of great builders around the globe and there are tiers of builders. There isn't a one truly best builder out there. There can only be a best at one moment in one place and that certainly is a rotating position.

[Modelmartin]

There's also a BIG difference between naming off FAVORITE builders and naming off WORLD CLASS builders. Some here seem to struggle with that difference.

You've got that right! There is a big difference between building some really, really cool curbsides and building a 95% scratchbuilt full detail and looks real model car. Both are very cool but apples are not oranges.

[sjordan2]

If you look at what's happening to this thread, we're getting the comments of superb builders who don't normally post here, plus information on other incredible artists. I think this is one of our best threads ever.