INSPIRED BY AUTOMOTIVE ART

AS NOTED HERE fairly frequently, one of my primary time-gobblers (and whimwham antidotes) is GMax modeling. Associated as it is with Microsoft Flight Simulator, most of my renderings have been of old aircraft.

On the other hand, Mick Walsh’s “Motoring Art: Alistair Brookman,” Classic & Sports Car, July 21, 2023, might well inspire me to more ground-based subjects. 

“Very few model makers,” Walsh writes, “can match the miniature masterpieces of Australian Alistair Brookman. His scratch-built beauties of Italian and German Grand Prix legends demonstrate a skill that stands with the greatest of craft.” 

“I remember Stirling Moss racing the Maserati 300S, which really lit the wick,” Brookman tells Walsh. “From then, there was no hope for me.” 

Brookman’s training as an engineering draftsman led to his working in England for the Hesketh team. “And about the same time,” Walsh writes, “he picked up Gerald Wingrove’s book, The Complete Car Modeller, sparking the idea of building bespoke models for a living.”

Thanks to a Classic & Sports Car story in 1986, Walsh recounts, “… the phone began to ring. ‘Even Stirling Moss called to talk about a model project.’ ”

“My biggest challenge,” Brookman says, “was the Mercedes-Benz W196, but the factory museum allowed me a day to study the car.”

Brookman’s draftsman skills help him in modeling a car even if none survive: “With an engineering background,” he says, “you can gain so much from good photos.” 

Walsh notes, “Across the past four decades Alistair has handbuilt nearly 50 masterpieces, including several unique commissions: ‘I’ve always had a special admiration for Vittorio Jano’s designs, which are works of art.’”

“Now in his 70s,” Walsh says, “Alistair’s work has slowed, but he still longs to build an Alfa 158 Alfetta.” 

“For further details,” Walsh says, “email alistairbrookman@gmail.com.” 

GMax Car Modeling. For awhile there in 2014, I turned my GMax time-gobbling to earthbound projects: The Cooper Formula 3 car (in Rob Walker livery) rode as cargo in the Miles M.57. The Schmid Land Speed Record car sidestepped regulations about jet propulsion, sort of. And the Otto Four-Stroke—Self Taught” even followed up with its own “Director’s Cut.”

Alas, my current hardware/software lacks several nuances of animation I had back then. However, as I’ve learned in modeling aircraft engines, there’s good time-gobbling in rendering mechanical details.

Hmm…. What’s a good first project? Ford’s 999 race car? My favorite Bugatti Type 43 Grand Sport? Or what about an Austin Mini Moke?

Thanks for the inspiration, Alistair and Mick. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023