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John "Dragonet" Pilkington |
Apr 2, 2006 |
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| Name: John Pilkington - aka "Dragonet" |
| Age: 49 |
| Location: England |
| Profession: Model Maker |
| Website: N/A |
| E-mail: dragonet@easynet.co.uk |
| Model Style: Dragons, figurines and fantasy! |
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I was born in '56 in Liverpool into a lower middle class family. We weren't rich & any pocket money I got had to go a long way. I can't remember when I got my first model, it was either a Spitfire or Hurricane (can't recall which one) at around age 8 maybe 9.
I collected planes to start. Didn't paint them simply put them together. I liked the shape.
My first attempts at painting were awful. I used remnant gloss house paint, made a right mess. But I got better and progressed to the little Airfix paint sets in the glass phials. By the time I hit secondary School I was into AFV's as well. I used to get the Airfix Magazine and tried to do conversions of the tanks with cardboard instead of plasticard. Airfix kits came with a little slip inside to request parts if any were missing. I bought a German armored car and something wasn't there so I sent off my complaint form and got a complete kit back. There after I seemed to always pick kits that were missing bits and I think they wised up soon after. I had all-sorts. The original James Bond Auto-gyro that actually fired missiles. They re-released that much later without all the springs. I think I burnt mine, never thought they would sell for over £200 on E-bay.
I also had 2 Stingrays. One 12" one that went in the bath, you could wind up the cog thing at the back and another that was a straight plastic kit about 14" long. Dunno where they went. I did a car for my brother that was the Airfix Gangsta Lincoln with white wall tyres and a secret compartment for all the guns. Never seen one of them since. I also had a 1/35 or 1/24 Lady Penelope pink Rolls Royce, converted that into a German staff car. I had a motorized Stuka, that was fairly big. It was supposed to spin it's propeller and taxi, it did neither.
Then there was the Frog Vickers Vimy Bomber that I built an underground hanger for in the garden, not taking into account the movements of my brother who duly stepped on it. The first Tamiya tank I had was the US light Chafee, did that in front door green. They were much more fun when they had motors.
In the 3rd form I had an Art Teacher who showed the class how to make flintlock pistols out of paper and card. I ended up making a 1/1 ships cannon, a 1/1 US Navy Colt with a humungus calibre (Clint would have been proud) 'cause I got the scaling wrong, a D-Day glider in 1/35 and a 1/1 Gibson SG all out of paper and card. Well I was 15 and in the throws of discovering Heavy Metal. The need for 12" vinyl choked the need for plastic kits and I only did a 1/35 Jadgpanther after that. I screwed up my mock A-levels - 9% in Physics so I changed direction. Boots would have to look for someone else to manage their shops. I went to Art school. Did a 2 year Foundation course and then managed to get into St Martin's School of Art doing Graphics. I learnt 2 disciplines there, Airbrush and Photography. The rest of the stuff I messed about with. Wish I had taken my camera to the 1st Sex Pistols gig I could have had money coming in from that even now - but I didn't and the guy that did have his camera was a plonker and didn't load it properly. (When you get to 50 on a roll of 36 something should tell you you have a problem.)
Anyway I left St Martin's with a degree and could have had an agent but oh no after 9 months of trying to get freelance Illustration jobs I settled for a Photographic studio. There I learned Colour Printing and Studio photography. Digital is nice but a Hassleblad is better.
After that I stayed in the technical side of photography. I ended up doing 14 element Photocomps with registered film cells. Anyone can do that now with the cheapest PC but then is was extremely difficult. But I tired of that and decided that with all this technical knowledge I would make a good Rep. I didn't despite trying twice.
It was around this time I re-enlivened my interest in model kits. To start I built up a replica gun collection. I had a kit of an AR15, and an AK 47, an Soft air Uzi that ejected shell casings when you tried to reload it, a kit Browning, a soft air Ingrams, a blank firing Derringer and a kit .357 Magnum that fired sprung loaded bullets a whole 10 feet. Some worked and some broke. Then I went out to get a Samurai and came back with a Grenadier Dragon. The big Chinese one.
My wife was making Aromatherapy concoctions by then and had booked herself a stand at our local Craft Fair in Hertford and we took this Dragon along as a stand decoration. And Lo and behold there was more interest in the Dragon than the oils and creams but more money was made with the oils and creams than the Dragon.
And we have been going on like that for 16 odd years. My stuff gets us noticed by good shows and my wife's stuff makes the most money. I got into the Garage kits via Comet Miniatures in Clapham. I got a recast Silene and an Iria from him. Oh, he was expensive but I didn't know any better. I already had an account with Grenadier and TSR by then so retail prices were a shock. Didn't get that much better a deal when I set up a trade account later on, got the big Sulaco and the 1/1 Pulse Rifle/ Flame thrower combo from him, all three were a nightmare.
By now I was aware of Modelmart and in particular MVM. They did all the Sol recasts at trade prices so that's where the credit card details went. All the while I had been selling the models at Craft Fairs. My wife and I have done some weird ones over the years. We did a Gencon for all the psychotic, cheapskate D/D gamers. A naff weekend in an out of season Pontins. 2 days at a Memorabilia in the NEC. All mouth and no wallets. 4 days at Erotica in Olympia Kensington. Sex doesn't sell and 4 Days at a Country show in Germany. These are very nice but I wouldn't have one in my house. Oh **** off then.
These days we concentrate on Hatfield House, Penthurst Place, Stonor Park and the Channel Islands. I also do the occasional home visit to serious clients, well we do take chip and pin.
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