Kosmotroniks, with Harry Arling

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And don’t forget, this weeks guest, Harry Arling will also be exhibiting at this years SMC

This week’s guest is Harry Arling.

Harry is better know by the name of his created miniature world Kosmotroniks. Kosmotronik straddles the world of modelling and the world of gallery art with a big A, although as we will hear, its not something Harry necessarily intends or agrees with!

INTERVIEW

Chris

Welcome Harry Arling to the Model Philosopher.

Harry

Thank you.

Chris

I’ve invited you on because we’ve talked quite a lot in the past on this show, about sort of the intersection between modelling and art. And probably some listeners are getting a bit bored of it, but tough because I like talking about it. And this week I thought it’d be really great to have an artist on who also works in models and see it from kind of the other direction rather than modelers who want to try to move their models towards art.

You’re famous for a world you’ve created. and the sculptures within them, called Kosmotroniks. Can you tell us about Kosmotroniks?

Harry

Yeah, Kosmotroniks started off with that… I wanted to build my own models in a way. I made a lot of kit models or how do you call that, scale models. And, they broke and then I made kind of Star Wars. I mixed a tank with an airplane and that went kind of a Star Wars thing. And then I started with just pieces that were lying around, like a plastic cup or something like that. And I made a UFO out of it and very colourful. that started the whole thing in a way. and yeah, that came from the inside. like to build some things and this was a great way to express what I wanted to express in a way.

Chris

Did you come at this from being a scale modeler who just wanted to do something different or have you always been interested in art?

Harry

No, I was never that interested in art. I’m very interested in miniatures. We had German TV here, three broadcasts, German and two Dutch. And Dutch was never anything good for children. So I watched a lot of German television and they had a lot of hand puppets and puppet stuff and miniature and stop motion. And my brother and me loved it. So that’s a big inspiration.

And I always wanted to make also what I saw there, to try to make that. So I just remember that with The Wizard of Oz, there was a… I don’t know if it was kind of… Was it in the movie? Those monkeys fly in… No, they have wings, but there was also a version that they fly in airplanes, in double decks. And my brother and I immediately put some wood and we tried to make those double -deckers. So, it’s always coming from there. And from a lot of scale modelling, I made everything from Monogram and Tamiya was there already and I never did much of Revell, but monogram. And I stopped with scale modelling because I thought that people were much better than me, like Shepard Payne from Monogram. I saw those at the catalogue, those behind pictures. Well, they blew me away. And I wanted to do that also and paint those figures and then that kind of stuff. And then Francois Verlinden in the Tamiya catalogue, that also blew me away. And then I saw, I’m not that good.

I think I wanted to be doing it so maybe I thought “okay let’s make my own stuff and see what happens”.

Chris

So how did you move from making scale models to making original sculptures, shall we say?

Harry

Yeah, very fluently. I never looked at art in a way. I never went to a museum or something like that. when I started I was really a musician.

I don’t know. I really started when things were breaking up with airplanes and tanks, when they were broke. started and Star Wars came, you know, well, it was already there. But I loved that and I wanted to make those planes also. it’s yeah, it was a natural progress in a way to start that way with the models that I made, that were broke and then start from there and make your own science fiction aircrafts and that kind of stuff. But it wasn’t that colourful. What happened was, it’s very corny, but I was like 26 years old, I think, I fell in love and I wanted to make her something, something what I was making. But this one was very colourful and with also with lights in it already with a battery and I never done that before. Before was it always like a spacecraft thing or that but this one was very colourful and that started it that was in a way the first like Kosmotronik you can say. So it never went anywhere, the romance I mean, but it was a good start of Kosmotroniks.

Chris

How would you describe Kosmotroniks?

Harry

I see it sometimes like Jules Verne kind of vehicles and but then painted very colourful. It’s not steampunk or related, I think. I mean many people say it, and I don’t mind, but

Yeah, it’s in a niche of its own, I think. But it’s colourful and very detailed and it’s getting more and more detailed, I think, and better and better. I’m still getting better and better at this. Yeah, it’s very colourful, Jules Verne -like vehicles, something like that. Romantic in a way.

Chris

There’s kind of a, I wouldn’t say a narrative, but there is a story to the world, isn’t there? That there are these vehicles and machines that are friends with the people that pilot them.

Harry

Yeah, the Kosmotroniks in a way in my world, guys who are on there on the machines, they build that machine and with so much love and passion that the machine can talk and feel and that also triggered to make an animation to think about a movie of it and I’m working on

on a five -minute animation of a Kosmotronik with voices, with sound. Because when the book that I made came out, this was the pictures of the Kosmotronik, but also with those little stories of that Kosmotronik. And so, we picked one and now we are trying to make a five -minute story of it. And yeah, It’s always a money thing. The company that I do [it] with is Happy Ship. It has to be done in between jobs in a way, because there’s no money for it. So, I can’t say a deadline when it will be finished. But we are further than we ever were. So, we have now really voices and sound. That’s one of my big wishes, to go like in a movie or a series because I always watch TV, I always watch movies and that’s where I come from, so it would be a logical step to make a movie out of it.

Chris

Do think the children’s animation is maybe where the tone comes from? Because it’s quite an innocent world, isn’t it? They’re not war machines or what have you. There’s no conflict.

Harry

No, no, it’s, it has to be dialogues and not that heavy, but the really good dialogues like, like a Reservoir Dogs movie or, you know, like It really has to have that sharp dialogues. And, and, so it’s not, that it’s not only depending on, “wow, what a machine and, and you can have action with them. No, no, no. I would like to have a halfway, it’s really like mind -blowing how it looks, but also the dialogues and that kind of stuff. That’s very important for me also. And the story that we make is very, it’s very hard to sell also because I want to start off as a documentary. And that’s already a strange thing to do in animation, to start off as a documentary. And then it goes into an adventure. But yeah, we’ll see how that turns out. But it’s great to work on that kind of stuff. It’s all good.

Chris

is world-building a big part of it for you?

Harry

Yeah, it’s just as important as how I paint the stuff or how detailed I make it. It’s all connected.

Chris

Going back to the colour, they are very bright. How do you sort of arrive at that colourful aesthetic and how do you work that?

Harry

Well, as you know, I use Humbrol paint and Revell, what do call it? Enamel paint. that’s also the paint that I always worked with as a kid for scale models. But then the flat colours, not the glossy ones. And yeah, and that were the only colours around, now it’s enormous what kind of paint you now have. That was never there when I started. But that’s all on water base and that’s no good for me. I need those, I like the glossy tone and it’s especially between the bronze that I use, the copper texture and those very glossy colours. That is what’s making a Kosmotronik also in a way. So yeah, and I like colours, I think.

And it’s also like trying another colour scheme or something like that. it’s all, of course, happened in 30 years. It’s not that I boomed, went right away like this. well, yeah, I always painted them very colourful from the start in a way. It’s just, I don’t know. I like it. I like that kind of, the feel of it, that it’s very glossy and it looks like it’s from metal or something, you know, but it isn’t. People often say: “Is this metal”. “No, no, no, this is plastic.” “No, it’s metal.” “No, it’s plastic”. “But it’s got to be metal.” “But no, but it’s plastic.” So, but it’s typical that, yeah.

Chris

Well, to be fair, it’s whatever you can find, isn’t it? Because you use a lot of recycled materials.

Harry

Yeah, the walkers that I’m now making, the body of it is from a cut -off bottle. And then I put tubes as legs there. I don’t know where they were from. And then the smaller parts are from scale models or clockworks, or small things that I can find. But the the main parts are always like from a mixer or you call it, it’s always a plastic waste thing. When I get model kits, we have a model shop here, Krikke (https://modelbouwkrikke.nl/), and they sometimes give me models because they are not complete or something like that.

So, maybe when it’s a plane, I never use the wings or the body because that’s too obvious. So, the main body always has to be something like a kitchen appliance, old thing or whatever.

Chris

So how do you find working with different materials? What do you use to kind of put them together?

Harry

I use, well, in the early years, I always glued them right away together and then tried to paint them. But that fell apart sometimes because I just glued it on and some plastics are very soft and it doesn’t melt. It sticks, but you can pull it off again and then you see the glue. But now I use a lot of super glue, and then everything I do with pins. So I make a hole and then I pin it also onto the body and so it’s very sturdy. And I use, how do you call it, epoxy glue, the two that you have to mix. I use it sometimes. But nowadays I make part of everything and then I can paint it really well and then I can stick it together and look at it. Then because I have pins in it, and I go “I have to do a colour there” and then can I take it apart again. In the early days, I never did that so my earlier Kosmotroniks are very badly painted or not very detailed, and yeah now I can paint things that when it’s fixed, when it’s together, you don’t see it anymore, but it’s there.

And I’m still inventing myself by looking at other model makers and that kind of stuff. So I learned a lot of model makers in a way. I always check them out and see what they are doing. And sometimes it’s not directly related to what I do, but in a way it does. So it’s very interesting.

Chris

Do you sketch them out before you start, or do you kind of find your way as you go by adding things and taking them off?

Harry

No, find my way as I go. Yeah, I never make a drawing. always… I see a piece of plastic and I think, that’s a funny shape. And sometimes the shape is so good that it takes me weeks before I can start on it because there’s so many possibilities to make something out of it. So I really have to think it through. But that’s the nice thing about it. The whole building process is like always an adventure. I I made hundreds of my Kosmotroniks, but every time it’s starting new. It’s a new adventure that you start. I do not really know where I’m going in a way until it’s finished. I mean, of course, if it gets legs, it has legs, but what will I do for feet or how will it move or what will be the mechanism?

And that’s great to explore again.

Chris

Now we were talking before we started recording about showing your work and I’ve been following you for a long time on social media, but also I saw your work at World Model Expo. They had an area in the competition or the display there with a number of your pieces. But you also show them in galleries when you can, that right?

Harry

Yeah.  Most times, I mean, most times in galleries and it became art in a way. So, I never started it, “let’s make art”. I just build what I like to build. As I told you, I’m a musician. And in those days, I played a lot. And what I made, and it wasn’t called the Kosmotronik yet. But when I made a piece then, I always gave it away or else I would break it. I will put it out because I wanted to make another one. So I gave them away and I gave it to a guitar player here in Groningen and a gallery owner came by at his place and he said, “it’s nice thing. But where is it from? from who?” and he goes, “Harry Arling” and that started it. He called me and he said, “do you got more?” I said “no”, and he said, “well, I want to do an exhibition.” And I called my brother, and he said, “okay, well, now they will have to get a name. You have to name them.” And he made a list with some suggestions and Kosmotroniks was there. And I thought, “okay, that’s a good name”. So that started it, the whole art thing in a way. But it was never supposed to like, “I’m going to make art”.

It just went that way.

Chris

It was just a desire to make things and it kind of led you there.

Harry

Yeah, we were always watching a lot of TV. A lot. But no, yeah, no, well, I mean, you know, but then after when we didn’t watch TV, we were always busy making stuff. that went from building your bicycle into something else or, you know, something bigger or what I did a lot was radio-controlled cars. I did that also a lot and you could paint the bodies and that kind of stuff the way you wanted it. So, after the TV thing we were always busy with things and building.

Chris

Now you said you’ve had some success exhibiting in the Netherlands, but not so much outside. Why do you think galleries are resistant to them?

Harry

I think… It’s very difficult to show them pictures, but because that’s what you sent and you write something also like what it is and how it’s a little bit like that info. And I don’t think that gets the message across. What works the best for me is when I talk about it.

one -on -one with people and show them. Because it’s so different. As I said, it’s like the missing link between scale modelling and art in a way or something. That makes people very reluctant to give it a place. I once had a gallery, they said, “yeah, we really want it here, it’s great. We want to have also something on the wall and we have to match that. So we didn’t have find one yet who will match”. I think “what a crap”, just, you know, “just put it in there and it will be great”. So yeah, it’s, I think it’s what I said. It’s pretty, pretty unique work. And that can be a positive thing, but yeah, as I say, it’s also like a…negative thing to get the message across. mean I know it will go there, mean I know, but yeah, but as I said in the beginning, it’s frustrating.

Chris

In a way, it’s kind of both and neither, isn’t it? It’s scale modelling and it’s art, but for art people sometimes it’s not art. And for scale modelling people sometimes it’s not scale modelling. It’s that uncanny sort of place in between, isn’t it?

Harry

Yeah, that was in our music also. My brother says that’s our faith, you know, because we like rock and pop and, but we also do jazz. And so the jazz people find us to rock and the rock people find us to jazz.

Chris

Well, usually the excuse is “you’re ahead of your time”, right? It’s wait for the world to catch up

Harry

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, but I don’t mind. It’s just, mean, I know I got something special. And as I always said to people, I’m like, I’m the luckiest guy on the world. you know, I mean, as an artist also, I have to live from this. you know, it’s like running and standing still, money-wise, you know? One time a month you have money and then six months you don’t have any money.

And that’s pretty stressful. But yeah, if I’m at the workbench again and look what I’m making, then I’m dead. And also like, you know, how I’m like socially [I’ve] got a great wife and a great kid, you know? And it’s all part of what I make. If that is good, then my Kosmotroniks are getting better and better.

Chris

So I mean, people are probably going to be wanting me to ask, how do you make a living from it? Do you sell the work? Do you make stuff by commission?

Harry

Yeah, I do commission and I… Yeah, at galleries. just… I’m now at two galleries. It’s there at display for a longer time. But I still haven’t sold anything there yet. And that’s… I mean, when I do an exhibition here at home, I do sell the pieces. I always sell.

But in galleries it’s very hard. And sometimes people email me, they have seen it on website and they go, “well, can you send me some pictures and this is my budget and can you make something?” So, yeah, I mean… But at galleries itself, I hardly sell anything in a way. But at home, it’s going good.

I the Groningen Museum in 2021. Everybody wanted a Kosmotronik. Really. When it’s art, can label a price on it and just see what somebody will pay for it. I had my Kosmotronik that was… What was it called? “Lighthouse train”? And it was a big piece, but it was 16 ,000 euros. And somebody mailed me and he said, “well, we were at the Groene Geen, and what kind of piece do we have?” And I put the picture also in there and he said, “I thought it was sold.” “No, no, it’s still available”. “How much is it?”  “16 ,000 euros.” And the next mail what I got was, “well, then it’s sold.” And I was like… That’s really, I mean, I made that year, you know, and we all put it in the house. I mean, I saw the museum, Groningen Museum, they bought three pieces. The day after somebody came who bought also three pieces, now then one of 16 ,000. I mean, I had like 80 ,000 euros I made that year. I mean, it was unbelievable. and now it’s back to zero, but it can be done.

Chris

Yeah, I was gonna say, I guess you can do really well for a couple of months, so then nothing for six months.

Harry

Yeah, and I’m used to it now. I mean, in a way, sometimes, of course, you still stress. But that’s also a nice thing is that we got a lot of people around us surrounding us who are like, “hey, if you need some money, you know, just lend it from me because I’ve got money”. So no problem. You know, and when when it’s really tight, I’ll ask them, you know, and because, yeah. You have to live and you have to pay the rent and that kind of stuff. But also that you have people around you. It’s like a safety net. mean, not like, let’s, you know, don’t care. We have a safety net. That’s not the point. But it’s good to have that and it takes a lot of stress away.

Chris

It makes it possible for you to do what you do, knowing that the money will come in eventually and yeah, yeah. So do you think, why do you think galleries are resistant to modelling? What is it about modelling that you think they don’t like?

Harry

The main thing is that they think you’re building it out of a box, you you’re following an instruction, and you do what is told on the instruction and there’s no creativity or originality involved, and that’s of course is bonkers.

But the people I know from Facebook and yourself and others, they are one hell of an inspiration for me because how they paint things and how they… And okay, it’s an existing model, but how they work it and how they… Yeah, I don’t know. It’s magical for me to look at that. I mean, when I was in Tokyo for an exhibition, I was more nervous going to the Scale Model Challenge the year after. Then I was going on an exhibition in Tokyo at an art fair because there are the people walking around. They know their business. you know, they, they, those are the master modelers for me in a way. so, so I have a huge respect for them. And, and I think that’s why galleries don’t.

It will not be looked at as art because it’s from the art of a box and you follow instructions. You don’t have to use your imagination to build it or something like that because it’s on the instructions. That can also be related to my work. That they think, yeah, what this is like. It’s not from a box but…

I think that’s also an issue with that, that they go like, this is not that difficult. Bronze is much more difficult, ceramic is much more difficult. don’t know.

Chris

Do you think sometimes it’s how you talk about it as well? Because I know, I studied art, and I know one thing curators and artists love to do is talk about art. More than they like making art in a way. There always has to be an analysis of it and things like that. Do you think that’s part of the issue?

Harry (35:35.172)

Yeah. What I make is very clear and I don’t, there’s no analysis in a way like, I don’t know, it’s a world of its own, of course, but there’s no deeper message or something. I mean, it’s funny because the neighbours of me here, that’s an art gallery and because we are next to each other, they sometimes go to the wrong door. So when I have an exhibition, they open my door and you see at the fair, the door opens and they go like… And I go like, “you have to go to the next door because that’s really art”, you know, like, I’m not disrespectful for it, but like, scrabbles on paper, you know, and really, really arty farty way.

Chris

Traditional art, shall we say?

Harry

Traditional art, yeah, with a big A, you know. But that’s not my art. mean, it’s also like, that’s the same with model making. It’s a, how do you call it? It’s a skill, you know. I mean, like the painters who can really do good, like painting real stuff, like apples, know, like a composition of an apple with…

You know, it’s not only art, it’s also like a skill, a craft, yeah. So, and that is what I do is also, it’s more like, I think, a craft also. The craftmanship.

Chris

I think there’s kind of more to it as well because you’ve taken sort of models and you’ve gone beyond what they are and made them into something new, made something very different.

Harry

Yeah, I mean, because of the way I paint them also, with the wavy lines, and that’s really a signature for a Kosmotronik now. So there’s more to it because it really has its own place in a world, know, call it an art world. And it’s unique. mean, I’m on Instagram and I see a lot of people and I never saw anything the way I do it. And it’s pretty unique. The funny thing is that the rivets that I make, I cut them off of a round plastic strip. And you suggested once to me, because I said I’m fed up with this, you suggested one time, well, why don’t you buy a sheet of plastic and a punch thing, and they’re all like even and I thought, “yeah, that’s great”. But then I thought, “no, the imperfections of a Kosmotronik, that those rivets are not the same length and some are unbelievable too big, that makes a Kosmotronik a Kosmotronik”. And it is the same with 3D printing. Someone said, “Well, you’ve got to think about 3D printing”. I thought, “yeah, then I can make any shape I want”. And then I thought, “no, the Kosmotronik is the imperfection of the shape”, you know, that I have to do something with it. “It’s great, but it’s not there yet”. That is what makes a Kosmotronik a Kosmotronik”.

So, I started thinking more in that way that it’s, yeah, well, this is more than, in a way, like making a model. So, because there’s a lot of thinking going on for me about how I do it and why I do it and things, the imperfections. Flip Hendrickx, you know him, he came to my exhibition here years ago and he was looking very closely to one of my pieces and I went like, “my God, my God, now we’re gonna get it. Yeah, now we’re gonna get it”. And he steps away and he goes like, “yeah, beautiful”. And for three months I lived on that feeling. So yeah, that’s great.

Chris

It does have a very strong aesthetic of its own and like you say, if you mess with it too much, it stops being what it is. It becomes something else, doesn’t it?

Harry

Yeah, because also… I have enormous respect for people who paint figures, you know, unbelievable. But if you put a figure like that on a Kosmotronik, you tear it apart. It’s not one whole thing. And that’s also what I realized, like, the guys, how I paint them, they’re very glossy clothing, you know, but it fits on a Kosmotronik. And so you have something there, you know, it’s a whole piece, it’s a whole… You don’t want to change that in that way, because that’s the strong points of a Kosmotronik, I think.

The wavy lines also started, because I wanted to straight lines. But if you then wobble a little bit, you see it immediately. And then I thought, “maybe make wavy lines. And then it doesn’t matter”. And all the people go, “the wavy lines, are exactly the same”. No they’re not. They’re totally… Yeah, I mean the wavy lines are also all different, but it doesn’t matter because there’s so much and they are going like this. Yeah, I find that very interesting. And I thought, “wow, yeah, this is a good thing. This is a development. It’s very nice to see how that goes.

Chris

From a practical point of view, must be hard to transport them because they’re pretty big and heavy, aren’t they?

Harry

They’re not heavy, I mean it’s all plastic. So, they’re not heavy. Some are big, but what I learned now, and that was when I had the Groningen Museum come to get pieces, to get Kosmotronik for the exhibition there, they have big crates and they have cushions, very big cushions, and very fluffy filled, or stuffed, very fluffy. And we laid them on the sides in there and then cushion on top and it couldn’t move anywhere.

So my Kosmotroniks are very easy to transport because I now lay them down. I don’t set them on the base because then they wobble all the way like this. But I just lie them down on soft stuff and then it’s very easy to transport them. And of course, you can really take them apart. Disassemble them, yeah, because I made a cloud night and that’s all with stuff, but I can really strip it and put that in a box, this little stuff, and then I only have really just the basic form and that’s easy to transport. So I’m getting better and better in that kind of stuff.

Chris

Why do you think we make things? What is it about making things that is so attractive to us?

Harry

I thought about that a long time. Yeah…

Chris

It’s the hardest question I ask everyone, but I’m really interested in because we all the time we talk about why do you make this or why do you do that or, you know, what’s your favorite genre or whatever, but no one ever stops and say, well, why do we keep making these little things?

Harry (43:46.278)

Yeah, yeah, For me, it’s like… it’s kind of a recognition for myself or something like that. mean, it’s like eating your favourite meal or something like that. And sometimes I’m really dancing when something is almost finished, and it turns out that good. I’m sometimes almost like dancing, like, “yes, you’re the man”, you know, “did it again”. That kind of stuff.

Chris

Yeah.

Harry

Because I’m really, really happy. That’s, of course, a feeling. I mean, yeah, that’s what I own. That feeling in that way is only when I, when I’m building stuff. So that’s for me, it’s so enjoyable. As I said, I’m my biggest fan. I’m so proud of myself of what I’m making. And yeah, I don’t know. It just keeps on popping up in my mind and it’s all related to my youth with the TV series and movies and comics that I was looking at. And as a kid, we made all kinds of stuff also. yeah, it’s, I don’t know, for me it’s a necessity to make stuff or else I’m like… I mean, I don’t want to say it’s not worthwhile living, of course, it’s just that extra… I mean, it makes you proud. It makes me really proud. And that’s a good feeling.

Chris

Do you ever abandon any? Do you ever get to a point where you think “this one isn’t working” and just…

Harry

No, not in a building stage. Sometimes I start, but then immediately I see like “this is not going to work”, but then it’s like two stages, I build on it or something like that.

But I had some Kosmotroniks, when I stored them, I had a big plastic bag over them and so I don’t see them. then, after years, I looked at it again and thought, “no, no, this is no good. This is, this is, and I threw it away.” I but it was totally, I think people would have loved it, but I was like, “nah, nah, this is, this isn’t, I can’t exhibition this anymore. This is no good”.

When I sell stuff, they have alifetime guarantee. I get, sometimes, Kosmotroniks back from like 94 or something, and then I repair it. And then I also see the like, “my God!”, but I never have the urge to put more details on it, you know, because the naivety, Yeah, that was a big part of my work in the beginning. Now it’s more like the craftsmanship is taking over and I think the naivety is still there. But in the early days, I was really like just exploring, you don’t know what you were doing and you can still see of those models of those Kosmotroniks. that’s what I like that because the charm is still there, but it’s just poorly, in a way, made. Could be better.

Chris

Do you find yourself, even when you’re not working, looking, like out for dinner or something and you see an object and you think well that would make a great Kosmotronik?

Harry

No, when I’m alone, yes, I’m thinking about it. today I’m going to give soccer training and then I’m totally away and I’m not thinking of it. And that’s what I like a lot. I’m totally out of touch with Kosmotroniks then and just like giving training and It’s the same when I play music also, you know, it’s a great combination because it’s totally, in a way it’s different and when I play the drums I’m only thinking of playing the drums and not on building or on Kosmotroniks.

Chris

So Harry, where can people see Kosmotroniks?

Harry

Well, a lot of here in Groningen. I have an exhibition always here and two times a year I do it. And also in cities, but it’s always in the Netherlands in a way. And 2025 I have the exhibition in Norway. And I’m working on coming to England and getting an exhibition there.

So that would be great because I want to really take it out of the Netherlands and let it show to people all over the world. So if they want to really see it now, they have to come to Holland.

Chris

Well, they can see it on your website, of course, which is http://Kosmotroniks.com and Instagram, what’s your Instagram?

Harry

Yeah, Instagram is also Kosmotroniks, the same. on Facebook I have two accounts. have a Harry Arling Kosmotroniks and I have a Kosmotroniks account and the Kosmotroniks one there I show every Kosmotronik, how I make them from the beginning to end. And on Instagram also I post when I’m working on one, it’s from A to Z. You can see in pictures how it develops.

Chris

Fantastic. Thank you for joining us. I hope you follow Harry on Instagram, on Facebook, or pop on to his website. And if you do get a chance, go on to Groningen and see his exhibition. Where is your exhibition in Norway?

Harry

Thank you, Chris.

It’s in Bergen, that’s the city, it’s a Norwegian name and I’m not… It’s on the website. Yeah, it’s on the website and also when it’s time for that I’ll always post it on Instagram and Facebook.

Chris

All right, if people keep an eye on Instagram and what have you on the website, all the details are when they were there.

Harry, thank you very much. And I do hope people go along and have a look at that and maybe have a think about their own creativity and new directions they might want to pursue.

Harry

Yeah, thank you, Chris. It was a pleasure. Thanks.

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I hope you enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed talking to Harry. Personally I find his positivity and creative energy incredibly infectious. I urge you to look up Kosmotroniks as it defies explanation in many ways. For me it brings to mind the innocence of childhood, uncomplicated by history or the negativity of the world, in a time when our imaginations are unfettered by cynicism, or the restrictions we place on our selves in the “real world”, a universe of possibility and joy. It invites us to let go of all the things we have learned about realism and physics and just enjoy possibilities models and machines could have.

In that way, it invites us as modellers to free ourselves from the frameworks we erect to define what our modelling has to be. When we let go of the box, and instructions we can make something truly special, even within the framework of historical accuracy. Assembling a kit, to the instructions is fun and a fantastic hobby. But modelling can be more. Much more. 


This blog has leaned hard into the art and modelling topic, and although it will always be a theme of the show, the main topics of discussion will move on to other things for a while. If you have a topic you would like to see discussed, or if you have any feedback on the blog or pod, please do email me at info@insidethearmour.com

Talking of which, please do check out my business, 3D parts and accessories, plus modelling books and more, at insidethearmour.com

While I am begging your attention and indulgence, if you like this show, please go to your podcast app of choice and leave a review, as it helps this show in the podcast recommendation algorithms and helps others to find it.

If you can, and you would like to support the show, you can become a Patron at Patreon.com/themodelphilosopher. It really helps pay for hosting and equipment needed for this show.

Finally thanks to the Model Philosopher Patrons, and our sponsor, Scale Model Challenge, and to you dear reader for reading to the end. Take care and see you next time on the model philosopher

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LINKS

https://www.kosmotroniks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kosmotroniks
Instagram @Kosmotroniks

Scale Model Challenge: https://Scalemodelchallenge.com