SCALE MODEL NEWS

Competition for Japan? It took only a short while after our article on the Japanese artist Takanori Aiba for SMN contributor Mat Irvine to email us this pic of his neat UK competitor. Glowing shades The Rickshaw Trike motorcycle was painted in bright colours to match the sort of gaudy schemes seen in bustling towns and cities across Asia. Neat presentation Mat’s bonsai tree certainly fits the bill so far as theatrical presentation is concerned, as does the ceramic urn that holds tree and bike. We’re not sure what scale or kit the Trike came from, but doubtless we’ll find out and report in good time. Space dome and squirrel shelter Note the other model behind the Trike - it’s a 1:72 scale Apollo lunar landing diorama, laid out in a nifty circular section of specially-made moonscape. The perspex dome is a good touch - it looks very ‘spacey’ as a display device. Mind you, such specialist items can be expensive, so it’s worth looking around for cheaper options. We found a slightly weird po...

Tiny treats from Japan: Tending to a bonsai tree is a labour of love that takes plenty of TLC, but Japanese artist Takanori Aiba has taken the whole concept a quantum leap into the model world, by combining live trees with blow-your-mind superdetail scale models. Cool magazine in Japan Aiba has worked for many years in the fashion magazine world, especially with Popeye, a super-cool mag aimed at street-smart Japanese males. However, it’s his model work we’re looking at here, and that hearks back to traditional Japanese imagery and botany more than the uber-fashions of today. Oriental philosophy Aiba has spent years on these beautiful works, described by him as: “an experimental approach to turn out a modern bonsai style that portrays the beauty of spiritual accordance between human and nature in miniature.” That’s a bit of a mouthful perhaps, but words are earned by results, and Aiba hits it big in that department, and comes as a breeze of fresh air in the conservative world of bonsai...