CMON submission gets "Mini of the Week"

Whenever I have to spend a lot of time on the phone, most of it on hold, I cruise the blogs and geek sites that I frequent. My first stop today was coolminiornot.com (as geek as it gets for me, that) when I noticed the following in the news section:

Ainu's Mini of the Week: Scratchbuilt G-Scale Billboard by misterjustin

For me, this week's miniature was a dead giveaway. Misterjustin is a highly active painter and hobbyist, bringing us new, inspired submissions with each week. But for me, the painted and scratch-built Billboard that he built for his step-father in law's birthday stands out.

The freehand paintwork is nothing below professional, and should make this piece the focus of the railroad track. What I can really appreciate besides the freehand, are the small touches that add a sense of authenticity to the piece. Buckets of paint, spatters of paint on 'Bill's clothing, the excellent graffiti, and especially the lights up above.

There is, however, room for improvement. The billboard seems too small at this scale, as the painter could merely jump down from that height which isn't quite accurate. But this still does not overshadow the details of the piece, though it should be taken into consideration considering that the whole board is being built from scratch.

This 'miniature's basing (not sure if something this large qualifies as a miniature!) was done very creatively without being unrealistic. The trash and sheet metal fit in well with the construction site feel exuded from this piece.

To conclude this week's mini of the week, I'm sure that his step-father in law will be one very happy man.

Ainu's Mini of the Week: Scratchbuilt G-Scale Billboard by misterjustin receives 8.1/10.

I am just about as pleased as I can get. This site gets hundreds of submissions each week and is the most active miniature painter community online -- so this, this made my day.