Sometimes it is fun to connect with history.
The last couple weeks I’ve been focused on pulling together some pieces for the MFCA 2026 Annual show, held just outside of Philly.
Hosted by the Miniature Figure Collectors Association (https://www.mfcaclub.com/) this show is in its 83rd year! That’s pretty wild. For anyone who got into this hobby through, say, Warhammer video games (which is part of my history in the hobby as well), its sometimes important to step back and recognize the connection to a history of weirdos collecting, painting, and playing with toy soldiers. And not just toy soldiers, all kinds of miniature scenes and topics. And while it has previously been focused a lot on historical soldier painting, the aperture has widened quite a bit to include Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and just straight up expressive pieces.
So I thought I would try to document this one a little bit- if you are not familiar with this show but have gone to things like Adepticon or LVO in the past I think you will find some really unique things. If you can make it there next year, think about it! A quick disclaimer- it was possible to do some attribution on this one, but I may have misspelled names or missed handles. Also, I include some crowdshots from this event. If you have any concerns about attributions or inclusion in crowdshots, don’t hesitate to reach out to help improve this.
The Show
So this show is pretty unpretentious, held in a hotel in the suburban Philly area. It’s a two day event, but I just drove up for Saturday (you can exhibit on both days or just Saturday).
You just wander in, and if you remembered to preregister for the event it will save you some time. The main part of the event is the show itself, which takes place in a few connecting rooms with tables jam-packed with amazing displays.
The way most people approach this is they fill out a little slip for each piece, and then assemble the pieces on the table themselves to create a cohesive display. This was a new experience to me last year, but I think a pretty groovy style of show you’ll find around the world. Building on my experience from last year, this is how I displayed my vikings for the historical painting category.
It’s an open judging system with bronze, silver and gold. Some categories will have no awardees at a given level, and some up to 10 or 15 depending on the judged quality of the entries. It’s really a flexible and supportive format that leads to a lot of creativity (as you will see)!
So then you just wander around enjoying displays and taking pictures and notes. For the love of god don’t pick up other people’s stuff or sneeze on it or whatever. Last year I’m pretty sure I watched someone sneeze on Erik Swinson’s Sherlock bust with the beautiful houndstooth pattern. Anywho.
The show is the main thing. There was a vendor hall with a lot of sellers more in the historical display category (so a nice change of pace from Adepticon) and some small activities like an auction, meet and greets with artists, and so forth. Just be prepared to go around and chat with folks and make some friends.
The sticker game was also pretty good.
The Bill Merklein Seminar
So one thing I did this year was stop by the seminar by their guest artist, Bill Merklein. What an interesting dude! Bill (he surely won’t mind if I call him Bill) has been painting and sculpting forever and took us on a walk down memory lane on some of the projects in his portfolio. He’s done a lot of 2D art, including combat art and a lot of fine art landscapes and portraiture, which can be seen throughout the world.
But in the context of MFCA, he focused a lot on his sculpting work and working with toy soldiers. He’s done a number of figure lines dating back to the late seventies, and in the eighties was a very active commercial sculptor. One wild project was he sculpted the original dove used to create the hologram for the first wave of Visa credit cards (the holograms needed to scan a 1:1 3D object). He also sculpted a tremendous number of GI Joe figures by hand, but having to take into account the accessories and using special articulated armatures to support manufacturing. Finally, he did a number of collectible sculpts for movies such as the Crow and Aliens.
He ended with some thoughts on sculpting, as well as art in general. Reminiscing about a mistake he once made, he warned us never to override the interpretation of someone who had engaged thoughtfully with your art. And he ended on a very Bob-Rossian note that he was never a formally trained artist and that we should never think of his work as an apex- rather something we can also do if we give it a try! I might have some sculpting in my future…
The Displays
So the displays are the core of the show, and I think the format and community really encourages some creative displays. It runs a little groggy and the median age is a little higher than adepticon (I was probably the youngest person in the seminar, which is saying something, though definitely not at the event). You’ll see a lot of Shermans and Shermans (WWII and ACW). But you’ll also see a lot of things I’m not seeing in the more commercial display painting competitions!
My goal here is to highlight some great work I saw. It is not meant to be comprehensive! I certainly dont have the time to document everything, and my camera work would make people sad anyways. I used the slips next to the work to identify most of the pieces (which is intended for this show), but I missed some names. If you spot any issues with attribution let me know- I copied names by hand from pictures of handwritten slips, so I surely got things wrong.
Toy Soldiers
So one of the fun things is there is an entire Toy Soldier category for dioramas built of toy ranges. It’s a lot of fun and harkens back the the roots of this community. Not everyone got into this hobby through army guys, but a lot of people have over the years. It’s just fun to see this kind of stuff, a very different aesthetic than current mainstream figures.
Figure Displays
Most of the displays were either historical figures, fantasy/scifi figures, or ordance (vehicles).
Some amazing artists brought an array of pieces, shown together to highlight the breadth and depth of their work.
@roxanadu_hobby brought a display of her busts and single figures that was incredible to see up close. What work with lighting!
@declan.miniatures also had an incredible display, it was awesome to see a bunch of things from instagram gathered all together.
So many artists were bringing these great cohesive displays of their body of work. I tried to model mine off these, to the extent that I can! These displays are judged together. If there is a single standout piece, the artist will get a corresponding award of the highest piece. If the body of work is judged to cohesively hit a certain level, the award will be given for a whole display. It’s a bit different, but I think a great way to allow these artists to showcase everything they do and it doesn’t feel like your spamming a category. Also all your work is displayed together in a way you control, rather than scattered to the wind in the cabinets!
I’ll just run through a few pieces that grabbed by eye next! Again, not comprehensive, just ones that I got (bad) pictures of.
@waxy_sandwitch had this standout bust (custom sculpted I believe) as well as this intricate flat. These flats are something I was introduced to at MFCA last year- embossed and stamped metal reliefs for painting. I have one to try!
Bob Bissacio made this ambitious Bastonge diorama, informed by a trip to Europe. He even used dirt from Bastonge to texture the base!
A wonderful example of the incredible vehicle work done at MFCA- such attention to detail. This was by Patriq Auquinet.
This Versailles Diorama by Phillipe Aengembre was incredible, so many fine freehand details on all the cloth, and lovely compositions!
@sqaured_paints was back, great to see him again after meeting him at MFCA last year! He had so many good pieces, but I fell in love with this lil fella. What a good boy.
Joe Pacah had this incredible diorama in a gameboy advance- a commentary on the gamification of warfare (thats my read at least)!
@blackcat_miniature had this wonderful bust. Its hard to see but it has eyelashes. EYELASHES.
Matt Mckeeby had this great fantasy display really skewing away from fantasy/scifi tropes and finding a lot of inspiration in places like early hollywood. Cool stuff!
Marion Ball made this incredible Waterloo diorama- I can hear the French horses!
This fellow Jerry Allen had pieces scattered through the show- I kept finding more of his things as I looked around. Sherman’s Bummer (The Union Soldier with pig) might have been my surprise favorite of the day!
@khromatic_miniatures had an amazing and lauded display, but I wanted to highlight this one monstrosity. It is simultaneously enchantingly painted and just pure nightmare fuel.
Dinosaurs
And of course, there were some dinosaurs! Yay! A favorite subject of mine. I sadly did not get these artists names. Next year, I should bring dinosaurs!
Shadow Boxes
A final cool thing to highlight are all the shadow boxes. This is a style I really love, allowing one to create a forced perspective diorama. I have some ideas for these, although they can be ambitious projects.
A closeup of one by Matt Mckeby.
A cool commentary on art by Joan Biediger. I feel like this sometimes trying to copy other people.
And a neat one by Barry Biediger with multi-scale figures to create the perspective.
And let’s end on something grim and gritty.
Hopefully by now you can see why I wanted to document this one a bit more. The breadth and depth, combined with the accessible format, make this a really groovy show!
The Bonespoon Displays
So I put some stuff in historical painters (a group of 4 dark age pieces) and fantasy painters (a non-themed set of busts and figures). It was fun to assemble projects from the last year into a semi-cohesive mess. And given the format I didn’t feel too bad about bringing too many pieces or bringing back pieces that could do well together in a display. It was fun to put this together, and I hope to be back next year!
Historical
The fantastical.
Great show, fun to meet so many people and see all this great work! Hope to be back next year, and for those of you unfamiliar with this little event, I hope it was a good primer!
-BS