Titanium Dropship 2014 - Judge 1/3 - Dwartist

Ladies and Gentlemen, please return your seats to the upright position and allow the crew of Dropship Horizon to introduce you the first of the three Titanium Dropship 2014 painting competition! Noone else than David "Dwartist" Woods!

Welcome on board David! Would you care to tell us how you did end up painting miniatures for a hobby?

I've just turned 64 and I've been modelling/painting since I was a young boy  - mostly Airfix 1/76 and the occasional Frog-de-Luxe 1/32 (?) or Revell 1/40 military models (birthdays and Christmas). I used to walk several miles to the nearest specialist store just to gaze in awe at the models in the window. Of course as a teenager that was all pushed aside as I discovered more interesting hobbies and I didn't go back to modelling until the 1970's when I was married and, by 1973, had two young daughters. I returned to the hobby after discovering a model shop in Liverpool's city centre - City Models - and seeing a built and painted Tamiya Hanomag complete with crew and stowage and couldn't resist the impulse to buy the kit and whatever else I needed to emulate the model in the window (which I obviously couldn't do lacking the required experience and skill). I've never stopped since then though but have moved away from the strict requirements of historical modelling into science fiction (my favourite book and film genres too) beginning with the SF3D models in the eighties and eventually moving down the scales to Games Workshop and Space Marines! I actually won a Golden Demon (vehicle) in 1991 for a converted Rhino. I very rarely buy or paint GW miniatures now but that's not because I don't particularly like their product I just prefer a more 'hard' sci-fi image these days and the choice is very varied and ever-burgeoning particularly with the advent of Kickstarters and 3D printing.

I guess that's the one! Found the pic on the net and using it without permission...

What about 15mm Sci Fi, how did you got your fingers into that?

Very interesting question that as, for a number of years, I'd considered myself solely a 28mm painter and had no interest in taking on smaller scales (at 64 and a spectacle wearer for the last twenty-odd years I considered 28mm small enough and can only paint reasonably successfully in that scale with an optivisor) so when I was approached by Jon from Khurasan who'd seen my work posted on several forums to paint one of his models (the Advanced SuperHeavy Grav tank) I politely refused. Jon, though, wouldn't take no for an answer (he can be very persistent) and so more as an effort to stop him pestering me I agreed to paint this one model. Ha - little did I know! Now 15mm is a much the norm as 28mm and I spend a lot of my hobby time painting for Jon (some great 28mm vehicles and figures too!) and Jed from Antenociti's Workshop.

Sticking to 15mm Sci Fi, what is/are your favourite piece(s) so far?

Now that's a very difficult question... (pauses here to go to the 15mm display cabinet)...if I had to pick one or two (can't stop at one, sorry) it would have to be Khurasan's 'Caiman' and I've recently received Antenociti's 15mm Warthog ADV and Meercat to paint and they're both little beauties!

Khurasan's Caiman

And two Antenociti's Meercats

Anything specific you'd like to see coming from the manufacturers side? 

Lots of great stuff to come this year but I'm particularly excited about the advent of some new dropships from a number of manufacturers and the wonderful little figures and vehicles planned by Harold and Clear Horizons.

I'm sure our very own Harold will be pleased to hear that! Finally, do you care to shed some light on what you'll be looking for/at in Titanium Dropship entries this year? Any tips or words for the competitors?

Paint something that makes me say "I wish I'd done that!"

Well that's quite a tall order! So people, stop wasting time on here and go back to painting! David, thank you very much for taking some time to shed some lights on yourself! I'm sure you're looking forward to the 15th of February too!