Tamiya ..Richard Konstam..1970's Promotion.. Don Skinner

[NogginThe Nog]

Sorry if this not quite the correct forum for this query but its a little unusual 

 

In 1975 I happend to see a promotion in Beaties shop window which totally captivated me. 

 

It was a collection of WW2 dioramas and a few Formua 1 racing cars and were housed in perspex display cases. They were modelling life changing for me and I'm trying to find any information about them.

The models were built by Donald Skinner and also (David ?)Whylie and were part of Richard Konstam or Rico promotions. 

 

One or two dioramas appear in the book Military Modelling and I know Don Skinner was a model maker and designed the Italerie ? Nerbelwerfer  I think ?

 

I managed to take some blurry photos of the promotion but that's all I have from 1975

 

Does anyone have any information or knowledge of any of this or about Don Skinner ? Photos would be a dream !

[Lloydylloyd]

I spent many happy hours looking at Don Skinner's work as a child in this book Encyclopaedia of Military Modelling https://amzn.eu/d/8sfzm2Z

 

The US command group in a ruined building was a real favourite.

[Modelholic]

This ended up in wrong forum.

 

Edited August 10 by Modelholic

[Ian Skinner]

On 19/02/2023 at 12:12, NogginThe Nog said:

Sorry if this not quite the correct forum for this query but its a little unusual 

 

In 1975 I happend to see a promotion in Beaties shop window which totally captivated me. 

 

It was a collection of WW2 dioramas and a few Formua 1 racing cars and were housed in perspex display cases. They were modelling life changing for me and I'm trying to find any information about them.

The models were built by Donald Skinner and also (David ?)Whylie and were part of Richard Konstam or Rico promotions. 

 

One or two dioramas appear in the book Military Modelling and I know Don Skinner was a model maker and designed the Italerie ? Nerbelwerfer  I think ?

 

I managed to take some blurry photos of the promotion but that's all I have from 1975

 

Does anyone have any information or knowledge of any of this or about Don Skinner ? Photos would be a dream !

Don Skinner was my father - I was born in 1975, as it happens! I’m the eldest of 5.

Here’s a very potted history about him-

Dad was born in Oxford in 1948, and took up model making at school at an early age.

 

I remember going to toy fairs with him, and he used to have a stall at the IPMS fair. In the early 70s he was busy painting a soldier at his stall, in his characteristic brown apron, long hair and huge beard… not really paying attention to the crowd, when a woman asked him “..and what are you doing, then?” Without looking up my dad muttered “I’m flying a kite!” and was later informed that he’d just been rude to Princess Margaret.

 

He claims to have invented, or at least instigated the diorama- until dad started doing it, model soldier exhibitions featured soldiers of all periods on plinths. Dad started putting them in sets, to make them more interesting and you’ll have seen some of the WW2 ones he did in the books.. and these often included hidden anachronisms- I remember a couple of menacing dinosaurs in a Perspex case, prowling undergrowth (moss rescued from up the road), and a tiny, perfectly munched apple core at their feet.

He worked in London for a while, and for RIKO as you mentioned.

I remember going to their offices in Hemel Hempstead with dad at a young age dropping off kits he’d built (where I dimly remember meeting Richard Khonstamm).

 

Most of the models of aircraft photographed on their blueprints on AirFix boxes were made by dad. 

He worked for Therloe Models in Sulgrave, Northants for a while in the 1960s, and working in a cow shed owned by military uniform expert Andrew Mollo.
He owned ‘Skinner Models’ in Brackley, Northants in the 80s & 90s, building private and commercial commissions, architectural models, stripping Yesteryears and putting company logos on the side as code 3s.. he worked for the architect that designed Milton Keynes, he worked on many films including The Fifth Element (he made the alien’s ’key hand’ at the start of the film that was trapped in the stone doors!), Tomorrow Never Dies, The Borrowers, Mission Impossible… others.. he featured as an extra  in the Civil War film Winstanley in the early 70s, when he was a member of the Sealed Knot!

He finally fulfilled his ambition to live as a woman in the mid-late 2000s and became Dawn Skinner, and died of cancer in Oxford in 2012.

please don’t think this disrespectful, but I do say ‘he’ retrospectively now when referring to him as my dad I only knew about that side of his life towards the end, (although 100% supportive of it). We five had ‘special dispensation’ to do so as in his words, ‘dad’ and ‘she’ don’t really go together!

 

it’s lovely to have stumbled on this post (and the replies), I joined the website to be able to post this. 

 

 

[Troy Smith]

33 minutes ago, Ian Skinner said:

it’s lovely to have stumbled on this post (and the replies), I joined the website to be able to post this. 

Absolutely fascinating Ian

If you can, perhaps you can post some images of his work,  a quick google has not turned anything in particular up.

a good part of the membership is of a 'certain age'  and there is plenty of interest in the history of the hobby.

36 minutes ago, Ian Skinner said:

Most of the models of aircraft photographed on their blueprints on AirFix boxes were made by dad.

you mean the 80's blueprint Airfix series?

Known as type 8 boxes

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/airfixtributeforum/airfix-kit-packaging-index-t31593.html

 

I'll @Richard Humm  @tempestfan  

 

cheers

T

[Peter2]

A very moving reply about your father's life and work, wonderfully narrated.

[tempestfan]

Thanks @Troy Smith for thinking of me, I guess @TonyW will also be interested.

Fascinating to have one more name and story to the hobby.

 I think the Spit Superkit was in the catalogue in the Palitoy years, but as the box top above is on a map and the pic looks somewhat manipulated (the original, that is), I’d tend to think it’s from the Humbrol years, as many of the pics originated by them had those features (Battle, Devastator, Whirlwind).

[Pete in Lincs]

Ian, a fascinating part of modelling history. Many thanks for posting it.

[Lummox]

On 8/9/2024 at 7:46 PM, Ian Skinner said:

I joined the website to be able to post this. 

And I for one am very glad that you did. Thank you Ian 👍

 

On 2/20/2023 at 8:19 AM, Lloydylloyd said:

I spent many happy hours looking at Don Skinner's work as a child in this book Encyclopaedia of Military Modelling https://amzn.eu/d/8sfzm2Z

 

The US command group in a ruined building was a real favourite.

I too spent many hours admiring Don Skinner's work as a nipper. In fact I still have the book (well thumbed), which I duly dug out of the loft:

 

I suspect that this is the 'command group' you refer to, which is a good example of the quality of Don's work:

 

 

Happy memories have flooded back

 

Paul.