Name Brandon Lum aka BAZ
Occupation Banker
About
My interest in models started in 1992 at the age of 10 under the influence of my dad. Back then, I was mainly keen on car models and movie series batmobiles in the 1/24 scale and some aircraft carriers in 1/700 scale. However at that age, modeling to me was just assemble & spray the paint from an air can, not knowing the complexities of producing a fine model. At some stage, my dad however did buy me 1 military model, though I can’t remember which one, but that it was a WWII subject. I remember that I didn’t know how to handle it and just assembled it without any paint, just plain green plastic.

This hobby continued throughout my growing up years, but it wasn’t such a strong interest till I got enlisted in the army and was posted to armour division in 1999. It was only then did I start appreciating the craftsmanship on military models.

From then onwards, the interest in scale modeling turned into a passion, where I started to change my focus towards military subjects. I started reading up on how to approach the subjects, however, there wasn’t much progress, until one day in 2004, after graduation and while looking out for a full time job, I took a part time job at Miniature Hobby, and with some pointers from Nigel Chiam, I managed to grasp certain concepts such as proper dry-brushing, post shading, washes, etc. and started to progress faster. Along the way, I met Bernard Cher, creator of M Workshop; I remember first coming across M Workshop’s existence via the internet and was rather impressed by it, so decided to pay them a visit.

From then onwards I've learnt quite a lot from Bernard and was also inspired by his passion and commitment to bring this hobby to greater heights. To continuously improve, I usually try to read a lot from websites, modelling magazines/books to enrich myself with the various techniques & of course exchanging pointers with fellow modelers as I believe in modeling, you cannot stop learning.

Currently with a 5-day week full time job, my weekends are usually kept aside for modeling, and as far as possible, I’ll squeeze in about 1-2 hrs after work to be at the workbench.