Shep Paine Passed - What does it mean ?

Awe man.... this happend during my time off of modeling, I didn't know.  I'm disheartened.  This coupled with Verlinden products no longer a thing... it's like hearing my favorite college professor died.  Great influence, I poured over those books over and over - before the days of the internet.  Man I'm bummed.  What a great and talented guy.

Man, oh man I'm bummed...  Sorry for the zombie thread, just had to put my thoughts down.

RIP master modeler.

Hi John ;

 Aw , don't worry about being late .What's the old saw ." Better late than Never " . Men and Women who worked for the various companies never got their day in the sun .

 A good 95 % of what you saw in the hobby shop windows ( Company Display Pieces ) were built the many Women and Few men employed in those roles by REVELL , MONOGRAM and AMT , MPC and others . 

 They built those very Beautiful  ,apparently flawless models , on cardboard dio settings as sales tools for the shops .Well  ,here , this will help you sell the subject !

 Shep came along from Inside the company . Whether under contract or what ,  who Knows ? Who Cares ? He  , Like our first Astronaut and Mr Holland , and Mr Boeing ,  Blazed trails and never looked back.  

I never heard of him. Just doing a quick google image search of his work and wow! His work is very inspiring. His technique and skill as a modeler are exceptional, as well as his knack for telling a story in plastic. A true artist. I can see why so many of you are inspired by his work. 

What made him so great in most of our eyes is he was a pioneer. He scratch built before there were any aftermarket or PE and paved the way on weathering when most of us were building OOB and painting with brushes. The flyers of his creation's Monogram would include in the box made me dream of possabilities becides just slapping it together and putting it on the dresser or hanging them from the celing. There were other modlers doing similar, but Shep was the one highlighted most. I wish I still had those flyers.

Cheesy - I think you are probably a bit young to appreciate Shep. Imagine race cars 50 years ago, no electronics, no abs brakes, no thinking differentials - just a huge motor, four wheels and sheer determination on the driver's part.

In that world, Shep was a Ferrari. Maybe not as fast as the super cars today, but until technology eventually helped everyone else to catch up, nothing could catch him. He was the pioneer that lead to most of the aftermarket suppliers that are around today.

RIP Shep and condolences to his family!!