Sheperd Paine

Paine had a broad knowledge of military history (particularly uniforms and equipment) with proficiency in the American Civil War, Napoleonic Wars, and the two World Wars. For thirty years he was an active collector of military antiques, specializing in the Victorian and Napoleonic periods. He was a director of the Napoleonic Historical Society, and had been a member of the Company of Military Historians since 1972, being elected a fellow of that organization in 1980. He remained active with the Military Miniature Society of Illinois (MMSI), a Chicago-area club devoted to the miniatures hobby and many other aspects of military history, until his sudden death from a stroke in 2015.

Most modelers and miniaturists first became aware of Paine's work through the series of "How to Build a Diorama" tip sheets included with Monogram models of tanks, military vehicles, and airplanes in the 1970s and '80s. He later did dioramas that were included in the catalogs published by Tamiya models, as well as a few projects for Dragon Models.

Paine also is well known for his box dioramas or shadow boxes, scratchbuilt scenes (usually with figures 100mm tall) set inside a box, which enabled him to control the viewpoint and set the mood via internal lighting and occasionally special effects such as mirrors. His boxes include "In the Turret of the Monitor, 1862"; "The Gun Deck of the HMS Victory at Trafalgar, 1805"; "Napoleon at the Tomb of Frederick the Great, 1806"; "The Remnants of an Army, 1812"; "To a Fair Wind... and Victory! Nelson on the Eve of Copenhagen, 1801," and "Rembrandt's Night Watch."