Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 76F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..
Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 76F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
On display at the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, “Junk Yard Jewel” features a 1:24 scale model of a 1960s Chevy Pickup. (TMTM/Michael Muscarello)
On display at the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, “Junk Yard Jewel” features a 1:24 scale model of a 1960s Chevy Pickup. (TMTM/Michael Muscarello)
The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures wasn’t open for very long when its director and curators were invited to Jim Roark’s house to see his collection.
It was 2010 and they were immediately impressed.
“It was just a packed studio filled with so many pieces,” said Lisa Hastreiter-Lamb, the previous executive director of the museum and the curator of Roark’s latest exhibition, “Jim Roark’s Metal Monsters.” The exhibition runs through Sept. 11.
She was also impressed because he was doing something different than most model builders, something that was not a trend at the time though it has since started to grow in popularity. His miniatures — a large collection of model cars — were not pristine, shiny recreations of their larger cousins in brand-new condition. Rather, his models were weathered, beaten-up, rusted, the ghosts of their former selves.
“Jim loved cars, but he had taken a very different approach to think about these cars, as if time passed,” Hastreiter-Lamb said. She said he thought about what the cars that aren’t on the road anymore would look like if they were left in a field or a garage, if no one took care of them and they were forgotten. They would become weathered, worn, rusted-out and dilapidated. “He decided that was going to be his approach to creating the models,” she said.
They were impressed then with the quality of the workmanship and held a large exhibition of his work in 2011 with 45-50 pieces on display. Hastreiter-Lamb said it was their first real, temporary exhibit where they brought in pieces from outside their collection. While the event was exciting, the museum was still very new and not a lot of people were yet aware of them. They didn’t get the crowds that Hastreiter-Lamb felt the show deserved.
However, they kept in touch with Roark over the years and he would stop by every so often. Then, his wife passed away and he decided he needed to downsize. He contacted Hastreiter-Lamb and said he would like to donate some pieces to the museum.
“We were just thrilled to be able to have a gift from him,” Hastreiter-Lamb said. “We went over and selected some pieces from what he had remaining. Our intention was that some would go into the collection and others we would use for purposes to support the museum through sales.”
From those selections, which they received about the time the pandemic was beginning, they put together an exhibit which is now on display. It is a scaled-down exhibit from what they did before with only seven pieces.
“It’s quite a nice sampling of the work that he does,” Hastreiter-Lamb said.
Roark’s father introduced him to model building. He was a fan of building old-time model ships and got his son involved even before he could read plans. The young Roark started making model cars, trucks, ships and military miniatures.
Having an affinity for art, he studied advertising design at The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where he earned a Bachelor of Professional Arts in 1963. He studied fine art, architecture, graphic design and offset printing.
For 30 years, he worked as a graphic designer, printer, engineer and creative designer. But he never gave up building miniature models.
In the 1980s, his modeling took a turn.
According to the museum’s biography, Roark asked himself, “What would this car look like if it had been abandoned in the desert for the past 30 years, full of grease, dirt, dust, rust, broken windows, flat tires and lots of dents?”
To answer his question, he started making models using a process he described as building the kit backward, “planning all the way to destroy it and see how it would look all bright, shiny and new and then make it dirty, abused and distressed.”
He spent hundreds of hours on these rusted relics, figuring out how to make the decay as authentic and realistic as possible. He worked with 1:24 scale plastic model kits and aged the contents with paint and homemade rust. He also used 1:32 scale die-cast model cars and tore them apart to antique them with paint and other materials until they were in a dilapidated state.
“He had a little jar that he showed us of rust that he was making,” Hastreiter-Lamb said. “He made rust to apply to the vehicle, so he was trying to be really authentic. He talked about how he took parts out of the kit and didn’t use them all. He came up with his own replacement parts, particularly for the glass because he had to have it shattered in certain ways. It was really fascinating to see that approach, which was so different and unique from what you typically see with model-built or scratch-built cars.”
He retired from one career in 1992 to focus on creating these weathered models. In addition to the cars, he created the landscape in which the vehicles have been abandoned.
Hastreiter-Lamb has watched how his work resonates with visitors to the museum, something she thinks is a combination of nostalgia and a response to everything people have been through recently.
“When you see something like that which was a prized possession, something that is iconically American, and then it’s presented in a way that it’s been sort of forgotten and lost, it’s perishing — I think we can all relate to that,” Hastreiter-Lamb said. “We always think of ourselves as being on top of the world. America has been through a lot of troubled times recently, so I think we’re probably kind of reacting to that.”
Guests often talk about how much they remember cars similar to those in the exhibit and how much they are in awe of the work.
Another feature of the exhibition Hastreiter-Lamb highlights is how it serves as a reminder that there are many talented people in Tucson making art for local museums and galleries.
“We have nationally recognized artisans here,” Hastreiter-Lamb said. “There are so many great things about Tucson. I’m glad that we are another unique aspect that contributes to the community. There are only a few museums of miniatures in the country and not too many more in the world that are strictly dedicated to this type of arts.”
What: Jim Roark’s Metal Monsters
Where: The Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures, 4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive, Tucson
When: Now through Sept. 11, Tuesday through Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tickets: Free with membership; $11.50, seniors and military $9.50, students and youth $8
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