Get to know John Roberts... a quick preview

I'd taken a bit of a hiatus from the model collector profiles I'd been collaborating on while we moved to Colorado. Now that we're getting settled in, that work has picked back up and I expect to share an exhaustive profile of the amazingly long and productive modeling history of John Roberts. I promise you'll learn something new about this incredibly gifted artist!

Here's a sample from the upcoming article:

“My obsession with altering, recreating, and building has always meant that I usually see models as a blank canvas,” he says.

For many collectors, the arrival of a pristine model in its box represents the conclusion of the process. The model is acquired, inspected, displayed, or stored and preserved as issued. For John, it can be the beginning.

He readily understands collectors who want untouched examples with perfect boxes, including those who pursue scarce colors and manufacturing variations much as stamp or coin collectors seek the finest examples. He respects that approach. It simply does not come naturally to him.

“If I buy a mint and boxed model I tend to look at it, think it’s nice, then put it back in the box and pack it away.”

The model that excites him is more likely to be one that suggests what it could become with another body style, a different trim level, a station wagon, a police car, a factory color Brooklin never offered, or an ordinary version of a car most manufacturers chose to portray only in glamorous form.

And here's an example of that mindset. While we were working on his story, he found pictures of his work on a certain Cadillac, one that I now own. I was excited to get these photos showing its creation.