Greetings. My name is Michael Bower Putman, and I hope you have enjoying wandering around the Shipyards. Its always a kick to think that something that brings me joy and relaxation can entertain and inspire others out there in the modeling community. In the beginning I was a former child modeler who built everything Aurora made from the monsters to the space ships...who grew up to be a designer and illustrator who got the modeling bug again in his late thirties. I stumbled across the sites of Marcus C. Nee and John Payne and had a familiar revalation anyone who's taken up modeling understands. "You mean you can build your own designs?" "Dooooh!" One model (my take on a Centaur Class) led to another, and so on. Some of designs have been inspired (Rebel, Val'Jorran, Titan, Ginsu...) and some not so successful (most of those are not on the site...but names like the Siberian Class, Cavalry Class and Utopia Class come to mind), but all have been engaging and fun.
So for the last decade I have enjoyed the art of scratch-bashed vessels from the Star Trek universe. Why Star Trek? Who knows. Maybe for same reason Alfred Wong embraces the Star Wars universe so brilliantly. I have always been drawn to the design philosophy and vision of Rodenberry and Matt Jeffreys and John Eaves, Andy Probert, Rick Sternbach and all the talented artists who have shared their creativity. Like I said, who knows why. I like it. I'm good at it. I kinda leave it at that. I'm happy I have found a great audience to show off my little hobby, and I thank all of you for your encouraging and kind comments and e-mails. It's nice to know a whole lot of folks enjoy what I do.
I find working in styrene, and conceiving both a design for a new ship, and the ways to create it through engineering, supremely engaging. A great break from the world. All of my models are designed and fabricated from on-the-shelf kits, sheet styrene and my favorite transparent and flouresent rods. They are hand-painted and detailed with a brush. I am a bit of a lazy modeler and the idea of an airbrush seems like way too much work.
All the images you will see here have been modified to place them in context, at warp, exploring a new world, or fighting a pitched space battle. Being a designer and illustrator by trade, I also love creating the backgrounds for my ship images. So when I get tired of glue and styrene, I move to Photoshop and pixels. It's all quite fun.
Thanks for dropping by. I appreciate the visit...
Michael
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