John Moscato Interview and Model Retrospective

[SCOOPUDA!]

Saturday, November 2, 2013 at noon / 1200 hours Central Standard Time on the Macross World forum, a live interview will be held on the Macross World forum with John Moscato / Captain America, model maker extraordinaire!

The John Moscato online interview will be presented both as a forum interview with questions / comments / pictures posted here on the Macross World forum and as a live podcast on the Macrosshare Radio Mixlr account.

Initially, I will be posting 28 interview questions on the forum from a recent email interview with John. One interview question / answer will be posted every 3-5 minutes, so that you can share comments, pictures and pose questions to John about his modeling projects during the interview. Every 15 minutes, a new segment of the ongoing live interview will be posted through the "Macrosshare Radio" Mixlr account. I will be posting weblinks to the interview segments on the forum as the podcasts become available. The live audio interview podcast will be presented as 3-4 parts of 10 minutes each. Next week, I will present a final edition of the John Moscato audio interview podcast.

For this afternoon, John will answer as many questions as he can before he heads out for a Halloween party.

There will also be made available on bittorrent the "Moscato Model Retrospective Collection"!

It will include a a large collection of completed model pictures contributed by the many talented model builders from the Macross World forum as well as Model Production Diairies in PDF format that show John's model work in progress.

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For many years, John Moscato has hand-crafted many Mospeada and Macross models that can be seen in the models section on the Macross World forum. The idea for conducting this interview started out by creating a model production diary for John's model version of the 1/32 scale Genesis Climber MOSPEADA Legioss mecha. But then I saw that John had made many more model progress threads on the forum and that I could put together a few more model production diaries. I had already collected quite a few of completed Macross models pictures including models made by John for my Macross picture collection. So, I started putting together a whole package of the completed model pictures and model production diaries into a cool collection for sharing.

I just wanted learn a little more about John's modeling work,the completed Legioss project and how he has acquired his mad modeling skills. And then I just mentioned to John that we could do an interview. He said 'okay'. So, the project just kept getting bigger.

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Thanks to Acroray, Cool8or, Derex3592, GundamHead, Mslz22, Myersjessee, Neptunesurvey, PetarB, Sean Brannin, Shinagami, Thegunny, Varitechs, and WMCheng for sharing their completed Moscato models!

A special thank you to robokochan,administrator of the defunct Samurai Monkey modeling website, who was generous to share a lot of John's model build-up pictures, but I was not able to access the sql forum back of the Samurai Monkey forum to recover more of John's model build-ups.

And thanks to Jess, a friend of John Moscato, who was the technical support for finding the Skype recorder software for the audio interview.

******************************************

You are invited to join in on the interview thread on the Macross World forum!

Read the full story here

[boinger]

Macrosshare Radio

Click on "Macrosshare Radio" to listen to the live broadcast.

Macrosshare Radio is currently offline.

******************************************

Macrosshare Radio Presents:

An Interview with John Moscato, Model Maker

Podcast Series

Click on "An Interview.....Series" to go listen to all three

parts of the Moscato Interview podcasts.

Part One 15 minutes

Part Two 20 minutes

Part Three 22 minutes

Part Four 1 hour 3 minutes

********************************************

Moscato Model Retrospective Collection

Alternate 01

Available Now!

John Moscato Model Production Diaries

now available on Scribd !

(pdf)

English literal transcripts of the John Moscato audio interview

parts 1 to 3 are now available on Scribd!

Part 01

Part 02

Part 03

Edited March 8, 2014 by boinger

[coronadlux]

Sweet. I would really like to know what makes the Captain tick. Anxiously waiting til tomorrow.

[Valkyrie addict]

uhhhh.....very interesting!! thank you

[skullmilitia]

He needs his own art book.

His stuff is just.. Too good.

[Benson13]

I'm looking forward to this. I really admire his work and appreciate all the time he's taken to fill in the gaps in our collections.

[Drad]

The Captain is awesome. That is all.

[EXO]

Boinger! You da man!

[derex3592]

Awesome idea! I'll try to listen in

[captain america]

Getting ready...

[boinger]

Hello fellow Macross Worlders:

We will start off the interview on the forum with one of the questions / answers from

a previous email interview with John Moscato!

******************

1.

boinger:

What brought you to the Macross World forum?

John Moscato / Captain America:

As it turns out, happy accident! I was looking around for Mospeada-related material circa 2001 and Macrossworld was one of the search results. I actually didn't know about the forums until later, but I thought that the section on vintage models was really great and brought back many fond memories.

*****************

The first part of the live interview will be broadcasting shortly, once I can

upload a bunch of John's model progress pictures on my photobucket

account.

Edited November 2, 2013 by boinger

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Excellent idea! Will try to listen

[boinger]

1st part of the Interview is being broadcast now and I will have the podcast

for later listening on Mixlr.

1st Part : 15 minutes approximate

Click on this weblink

to listen to the John Moscato Interview Part 01 !

Edited November 2, 2013 by boinger

[varitechs]

Perhaps you should write here the interview for guys who can't understand english spoken...

[boinger]

******************

2.

boinger:

Are Mospeada and Macross your favourite anime and why?

John Moscato / Captain America:

Favorite is a bit of a relative term for me. Let's say that they are two Anime series which are very close to my heart. I grew-up watching Robotech and instantly developed an affection for those two chapters. They seemed to speak to me in ways I couldn't explain adequately. Later on as I discovered the origins of these two distinct series, I developed an even greater appreciation for them and their essence.

*****************

Hello Varitechs:

English is my main language. I have to use Google Translate to update

blog posts into Espanol / Spanish.

[EXO]

Hi varitechs... would you like to start a thread in the Spanish section? Let me know and I'll put a link on the Facebook page.

oops, I meant varitechs

[boinger]

Macrosshare Radio will be online

shortly!

The John Moscato Interview Part 02!

20 minutes approximate

*******************************

Macrosshare Live Interview Broadcast

**********************

You can listen to the save Interview podcasts Part 01 here.

Edited November 2, 2013 by boinger

[boinger]

John Moscato Interview Part 02 is broadcasting will be available as a

podcast shortly after on the Macrosshare Radio Mixlr showreel.

In part 02, I was losing a little track of how the recording was going and I babbled a bit. Sorry about that.

Just now, John and I are taking a quick snack break, so we'll be back to part 03 of the interview

in the next half hour.

If you would like to post any comments / questions for John or share related pictures, then

you can post in this thread and John would be happy to answer back.

Thanks for listening!

******************

3.

boinger:

Does being a Canadian make you a different kind of Macross fan?

John Moscato / Captain America:

I really don't know, since my perspective is the only one I have. I imagine that people from different cultures embrace anime in their own way.

*****************

Edited November 2, 2013 by boinger

[boinger]

4.

boinger:

What was it like growing up as an anime fan?

John Moscato / Captain America:

I was actually exposed to Anime at a fairly tender age (5 or 6) because a host of different Anime series had been translated into French (most notably Harlock and Grendizer) and were broadcast on local T.V. To be honest, it's like a fish that has never been out of water: that environment is all it knows and can't conceive of anything beyond that. I suppose that this parallels my case.

*****************

[boinger]

Macrosshare Radio

John Moscato Interview Part 03

is being done now!

The live broadcast will follow shortly after.

And then the podcast version will be available shortly after.

Edited November 2, 2013 by boinger

[Valkyrie addict]

WOW! this is great!

[boinger]

5.

boinger:

Was model making your favorite hobby while growing up?

John Moscato / Captain America:

It was a close second: as soon as I was barely old enough to hold a pencil I started drawing, much to the amazement of my family. Apparently I had a natural gift for it, but I would say that modeling was also very prominent, even if it didn't manifest into a more tangible skill until much later.

*****************

[boinger]

Macrosshare Radio will be online shortly.

The John Moscato Interview Part 03

22 minutes approximate

******************************

The 3rd part of the interview will be uploaded as

a podcast after the broadcast.

That will be the last interview session for this week.

John and I have agreed that we will conclude this

interview in the next 3 weeks.

The last part of the interview will include any comments / suggestions /

questions for John.

**********************

John just left now to get ready to go to a post-Halloween party.

But you can post on this forum thread and John would be happy to talk some more when he can.

*************************

I will be posting up the remaining 18 additional interview

questions / answers from a previous

email interview with John Moscato / Captain America.

And I have a Moscato Model Retrospective Collection

to get ready for upload for bittorrent sharing.

So, I hope you have enjoyed listening to the podcasts of John sharing his thoughts

on his model making and you were able to somewhat tolerate me.

Overall, it was good learning experience for something!

Edited November 2, 2013 by boinger

[boinger]

6.

boinger:

Do you prefer models over toys?

John Moscato / Captain America:

it really depends on how you define each of those words. In the strictest sense, they each respond to different needs and desires.

They also stimulate different parts of the brain, and so I enjoy them equally for different reasons.

*****************

7.

boinger:

Did your family or friends have an influence in your choice to take up this hobby?

John Moscato / Captain America:

As it turns out, they did! Do you know how I got started in model-building? When I was about 5, I had my tonsils amputated and naturally, I had to stay home to rest and recuperate. My parents went out to get me something that would help me pass the time, and they came back with a brand new MPC Darth Vader Tie Fighter model kit (a decision they probably rue to this day, hahaha!!!) It was awesome! I had no clue how to put that sucker together, so I tried Elmer's glue. No good. So my dad went out and picked up both a tube of Testor's model glue (the orange/white tube) and a bottle of gloss black enamel paint. When I tried to paint the Darth Vader figure, most of the contents of the paint bottle ended up on the floor... To this day, there are still traces of that paint in my old bedroom. Aaaah, the memories!

*****************

8.

boinger:

Do you have a role model or somebody that inspires you to make models?

John Moscato / Captain America:

Not really. When I started out, I was on my own. My early goals were pretty simple: I just wanted my models to look as good as they did in the pictures on the box panel, and at the time that was already a major hurdle. Then when I started airbrushing my horizons broadened, as did my ambitions. Experimenting with Milliput putty, I was able to re-shape parts to my liking and that took me to another level. By the time I started finding magazines like Hobby Japan and Model Graphix, my skills were already pretty much on par with what I saw in magazines, so no one truly inspired me, but I did find new and great ideas in seeing other peoples' projects.

*****************

9.

boinger:

How long have you been making your own models?

John Moscato / Captain America:

Models as in scratch-building, or building professionally? For the latter, I actually got my big break in January of 1995 when one of my college professors (who had his own special effects company) hired me to work on a low-budget film called Screamers starring Peter Weller. I was tasked with both designing and building the helmets for the main characters, which I did. Talk about being thrown into the deep end of the pool!...

*****************

[boinger]

Macrosshare Radio Presents:

The John Moscato Interview Part 03 Podcast

22 minutes approximate

***************************

I was not able to label the Radio broadcasts with the

Mixlr software, so you would need hear me say which

part of the interview is.

Part 01 15 minutes

Part 02 20 minutes

Part 03 22 minutes

Part 04 will be broadcast in the next 3 weeks

You can participate the last interview session

with any comments / suggestions

or questions for John to be

posted on this forum thread.

Then I would like to edit all 4 parts into a one file, but I might

have to actually replace all my interview questions because

I sound so dopey.

I was doing all the technical interview stuff

in the background during the interview and trying to think of some good question

that would give John an opportunity to share more of his

insight into his model craft. I think I need to write down a few

notes or questions for next time.

[MILKAUTICO]

Wow! There are very talented people, and it's amazing to see them in their pure essence.

[boinger]

10.

boinger:

What do you recall about your earlier model works? Most proud of? Least proud of?

John Moscato / Captain America:

That I sucked! *laughs* I don't think that there's anything I've done that I'm not proud of in some way. Every model or project has challenged me in some aspect or another, however subtle. I can tell you however that my most frustrating creative period was when I was working for Wow Wee toys (late 1995 to sumer 1997.) I was very creative during that period but due to the nature of the business, I had to abandon lots of projects seemingly at the drop of a hat to start on new projects.

I'm someone who likes to see things through, so you might imagine how that really frustrated me.

*****************

11.

boinger:

Would you consider your model productions an expression of who you are at that point in life?

John Moscato / Captain America:

Every project I undertake, every illustration, every logo and every modeling project is, in no certain terms,

a statement of who I am and who I choose to be at that point in time.

*****************

[boinger]

12.

boinger:

Have you done any original model productions?

John Moscato / Captain America:

-That's an ambiguous question. I'll try to break it down comprehensively.
-I've worked on product modeling/pattern-making projects based on my own ideas.
-I've created some material for things in the Anime/mecha realm. The mecha

designs for Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles were all done by me.
-I've also created some material for anime/mecha designs purely for myself that

I'd started sculpting, but were never released for consumption.

There's something that I may yet develop as either models or toys of my

own design, but the pieces of the puzzle haven't fallen into place yet.

*****************

13.

boinger:

What motivates you to take on projects, finish a project or abandon a project?

John Moscato / Captain America:

For a commercial project, firstly, it has to be something that innately interests

me for me to even consider taking it on. I have to like what I'm doing, otherwise

I simply have no motivation to do it. It's very rare that I will abandon a project

in the strictest sense, unless the client desires it or simply chooses not to continue

funding it. More often than not, projects simply change shape and are transformed

more than they are abandoned. Personal projects are different. Sometimes they're

put on the "back-burner" because of time, other commitments, or sometimes I just

don't feel that the timing is right or I have a creative blockage (which is essentially the same thing!)

*****************

Edited November 2, 2013 by boinger

[boinger]

14.

boinger:

Is modelling a collaborative art? Or a solitary art?

John Moscato / Captain America:

It's always collaborative, it's merely a matter of degree. Even if you say that you

work alone in your own basement, your supplies come from somewhere else, so

there was a train of collaboration from the makers of the raw materials, to the

distributor, to the party (or company) that transforms the raw materials into a

product that you buy and then build from. When I undertake kit projects on

Macrossworld, there's also feedback from members, others help find old,

elusive artwork or screen caps. Don't think that anything creative ever happens in a vacuum.

*****************

15.

boinger:

Do you get something out of sharing your productions on the MW forum?

John Moscato / Captain America:

Absolutely! I'd like to think that I share my passion with other, like-minded people. There's almost always

an exchange of ideas, and the hope that what I do will somehow inspire someone else to embrace their

own talent. So many people have written to me over the years to thank me simply for working on a

particular project, and if only for that I am eternally grateful.

*****************

16.

boinger:

Does model making suit certain kinds of people? Angry loners, like me?

John Moscato / Captain America:

Are you really an angry loner? *smiles*
Model making is art, it's creativity manifest. Everyone is creative in some way,

it's simply a matter of discovering the potential inside you and there are many doors

through which this potential expresses itself. If modeling brings you joy, then model!

It's much more therapeutic than people realize.

*****************

17.

boinger:

Which part of the process do you enjoy / find least satisfying for model production?

John Moscato / Captain America:

Everything is satisfying, though some parts come with more tension than others.

For example, I tend to be more tense when pouring a large mold because of the

complexities involved, or when pouring a large cast because I know what can go wrong.

That having been said, despite the tension and sometimes frayed nerves, when it

succeeds, it's that much more rewarding personally.

*****************

Edited November 2, 2013 by boinger

[boinger]

18.

boinger:

How do you get through the rough times in the middle of production?

John Moscato / Captain America:

I wouldn't say rough, I think that messy is the operative word in most cases as far as I'm concerned.

There are days when I don't see time go by, and then suddenly realize that it's 2am and I'm covered

in dust and gooey putty... But then I take my shower and all is right with the world!

*****************

19.

boinger:

What is the most difficult / easy part of model-making?

John Moscato / Captain America:

There's nothing universally difficult or easy, it's a case by case basis.

*****************

20.

boinger:

What do you think of this new-fangled 3D model printing, such as Shapeways?

John Moscato / Captain America:

It's a very interesting technology, I must admit! I'm really an old-school kind of guy,

preferring to build by hand, but there are time when them fancy gizmos really come

in handy! In fact, I was working on this one project late last year and realized that

hand-sculpting just wasn't going to cut it, so I had to completely start over!

Thankfully, a fellow Macrossworld member was instrumental in helping me bring

my creation to life virtually. In this particular case, 3D printing brought a level of

precision and consistency that simply couldn't be achieved by hand. I look at it as

a tool: it has its strengths and weaknesses just like any other tool. It's also a tool

that is evolving in capability, so what it might do poorly today, it may do very well

in a few years. Fundamentally, the end result depends more on the user's ability

to exploit its strengths.

*****************

21.

boinger:

Are there future modeling projects you would like to do?

John Moscato / Captain America:

My life is a never-ending series of model projects! *laughs*

I'd like to think that my greatest accomplishment is yet to come.

*****************

[boinger]

22.

boinger:

Have you looked into movie production design like W.M. Cheng?

John Moscato / Captain America:

See question 9. I might be willing to re-visit working on films,

but there are some conditions that would need to be met first.

*****************

23.

boinger:

What are your thoughts on CGI modeling and model craft in the movies?

John Moscato / Captain America:

Just like 3D printing, I see it as merely another tool, neither good nor bad.

CGI had allowed certain films to be brought to life that would otherwise have

sucked camel nuts had they relied purely on conventional stop-motion, props

and guys in rubber suits! I think it has really given the film industry new wings

in terms of creative potential and as a result, has given us many fantastic films

and T.V. series. I wouldn't say that it has completely overshadowed the use of

models though. Just look at the most recent Star Wars trilogy and how many

ships and robots were actually physical models.

*****************

****************

I have five more email interview questions / answers with John Moscato

for posting on the forum, but I am taking a little rest break for the

next 20 minutes.

I'll be right back.

[boinger]

24.

boinger:

Are there school courses you took to be skilled in model production?

John Moscato / Captain America:

None whatsoever. Everything that I know in my craft, be it sculpting,

machining, mold-making, casting, composite laminating... Everything

that I can do, I taught myself how to do via my own trials and errors.

*****************

25.

boinger:

Would you consider model-making a good business to get into?

John Moscato / Captain America:

There are too many variables to adequately answer that question.

I would offer this, however: if model-making is something you truly

enjoy, something that inspires you, something that makes you feel

alive and when you do it, time just flies-by at warp speed, then I

would certainly look into how you could earn a living from it. Do

you know that "technically" I retired back in 1997?

Let me explain...

Do you remember when you were a kid back in grade school, and

on Friday afternoon the teacher would instruct you to put your books

away and pull out the colored construction paper, glue, glitter sprinkles

and styrofoam balls so that you could do arts & crafts? Well that's what

I do five days a week, but with fancier supplies, and

I get PAID to do it, bro!!

Sorry, that ghetto comment just slipped-out!

*****************

26.

boinger:

Didn't you have a website call "Renaissance Models"?

John Moscato / Captain America:

Renaissance Art Models. That was well over a decade ago...

*****************

27.

boinger:

How were you a participant in the Samurai Monkey website and forum?

John Moscato / Captain America:

I was a kind of "guest of honor" on Samurai Monkey. I didn't actually run

or work on the site. In fact, if there's anyone to thank for all the Macross

models I've built over the years, it would be Rob: he's the guy that got me started!

*****************

[boinger]

28.

boinger:

What kind of work / projects / commissions have you done or currently do?

John Moscato / Captain America:

I do a variety of things at the moment, but most of them involve modeling in some way.

Right now I'm working on designing some medical devices/ training devices,

and trying to work the bugs out of my luxury watch project.

*****************

29. Bonus Question:

boinger:

What makes a good model great?

John Moscato / Captain America:

I just can't deal with these amateurish questions! *Rolls his eyes and storms-off in an artistic hissy-fit*

...


...

I kid! I kid!

*****************

[boinger]

And that's all this week for the John Moscato Interview!

We will be back in 3 weeks to do a final interview session,

in which John would be happy to answer most any questions

you can come up with.

You can post your questions / comments / suggestions in this thread.

The Moscato Model Retrospective Collection will likely be posted

as a bittorrent tomorrow morning Sunday.

Thank you very much to all the guys who have helped to get this interview working!

And considering my current interview skills, I can only improve from here on.

Edited November 2, 2013 by boinger

[HWR MKII]

This is awesome!. I wish i hadnt fallen on difficult times when he started getting into more of the zentradi and other unusual subjects...