Ed Phillips-Master Model Maker

Catherine the Great's Russian palace.

Ken Bunger sent me a link to a web page that featured an article about the historical models that Ed Phillips makes. Those readers who are members of the Seven Years War Association will know Ed very well and are already familiar with his talents as a diorama designer and maker of miniature models. Ed's work has been previously highlighted on this blog. I am fortunate to have a full set of Russian munitions wagons, a blacksmith vignette, a field bakery and supply depot, among others.

Ed Phillips Article

I had never seen the Russian Palace model before and I have to say that I am completely blown away by how wonderful the model looks. This may well be one of the best that Ed has ever made.

The Empress Catherine walking towards her coach, passing by her Guards.

Colonial village inspired by Trenton, NJ at the time of the AWI.

Click on the "subject" link at the bottom of this page to go to other pages on my blog that mention Ed and depict some of his models:

Here  (siege works and pontoon bridge) and Here (field bakery) and 2018 SYWA Convention Pictures

I have also included some of the vignettes that Ed has presented at the annual SYWA convention. Ed sometimes sells some of his models at the convention, while others are there for "show and tell" purposes. Ed's creativity is simply amazing as you can see from these pictures.

Maurice de Saxe vignette by Ed Phillips

French SYW era medical ambulance vignette by Ed.

Pontoon vignette made by Ed.

Minden Pioneer figures feature prominently in many of Ed's vignettes.
This model is now in my collection.

Russian artillery wagon, scratch built and very complicated.
Also in my collection, thankfully.

Ed is a real treasure to the hobby and one of the nicest people that you could ever hope to meet. I hope that we are able to have another SYWA convention next year so that we can see what he has been up to during the pandemic shut in period.

Congratulation Ed, your recognition is well deserved.

Ed Phillips: SYW Modeler Extraordinaire

French siege works in SYW - modeled by Ed Phillips. (click to enlarge)

Here are a couple of pictures of some French artillery emplacements that were scratch built by Ed Phillips and displayed at the 2013 Seven Years War Convention. His models usually sell out within minutes of their being displayed on the table for the first time. All the more reason to get to the convention early.

Note to Ed: I need to order two gun emplacements for my 12 pounders. Also, a coach for Frederick II to ride around in ( I can provide the coach horses and a driver or two).

Ed uses bits and pieces from various figure ranges such as Old Glory wheels and axles and many others. In these pictures, I can identify an Elite Miniatures French 12-pounder and some Minden Pioneers painted as French artillerists in red waistcoats. The fascines shown in the works appear to be fibre bristles taken from a common whisk broom.

I run out superlatives in my feeble attempts to describe these wonderful models. You never know what Ed is working on or what he will bring to the SYW convention each year. Once I started looking through my collection of photographs of Ed's modeling work, I decided that I had to include more piccies, so this blog entry has expanded into a more comprehensive look at Ed's work.

More siege works by Ed Phillips (plus some interesting models in the background - click to enlarge)

Ed's Field Bakery with Minden Pioneers employed as the help.

A portable field mill for grinding wheat into flour for the field bakery.

French SYW engineers setting up some pontoons to cross the river.

Another view of the pontoon bridging crew. Minden pioneers. Everything else is scratch built.

A view of the pontoon bridge under construction.

A camp vignette with a lot of detail.

French field forge.

There seems to be no limits to Ed's imagination when it comes to building models and vignettes for the Seven Years War. One of the highlights of the convention for me is to see what surprises he is bringing to the show. As you can see from the pictures, Ed is a very talented modeler and I think that he deserves some publicity for his work.

18th Century Field Bakery

Field bakery model for the SYW, crafted by Ed Phillips, and now in the collection of Randy Frye.

I played in a SYW game at Chez Protz last weekend, as part of Bill's annual birthday wargaming bash. During the course of the game, I noticed this model of a field bakery that Randy had brought to the game. The model was crafted by Ed Phillips, whom many of you know as the owner of the Wargames, Inc. mail order business, until he sold it and retired. Ed brings something new and different to the annual Seven Years War Association Convention, and his models usually get snapped up fairly quickly.

Randy was lucky enough to have purchased the model that you see above and below and it is very similar to the one that I bought from Ed last year (although I must say, that Randy obtained the better model - Ed gets better at his craft every year). Ed got creative and built one of the baking ovens completed (with the awning) and the other one as a "work in progress". He also scratch built the wheeled cart shown in the pictures and finished it off with some of Frank Hammond's Minden Miniatures Generic Pioneers. I would say that the Minden figures look like they were made for this type of model.

Rear view of the field bakery model.




Side view: note the Minden figure placing some bricks on the uncompleted oven. A second Minden figure (lower right) is shoveling some dirt. The third figure in the background (blue waistcoat) has had its shovel tool converted into a baker's spatula for removing the bread from the oven.


Front view providing a better look at the fellow constructing the oven on the left. Ed also scratch built the 2-wheeled wagon.

I hope that you enjoy looking at these models as much as I do.