A master of small-scale steam dioramas
Introduction
Sonny Wizelman has been building dioramas since he was a teenager. Growing up, he lived near a hobby shop which is where he first found steam railroad kits, igniting what would become his lifelong interest in the hobby. He soon began building HO scale locomotives and cars. But, then came school, girls, work, sports and all the rest of life.
In 1984, after his children were born, he went back to the hobby. He had always been interested in live steam model trains and by coincidence went with a friend he worked with to Allied Model Trains in West Los Angeles. While looking around, he saw a brochure from Aster, a Japanese company that was making cash registers. The owner was interested in model trains and looking to transform the business into small-scale live steam locomotives. They advertised their kits as being already milled and welded, all you had to do was assemble it. Ever since, Sonny has been deep into the hobby having built locomotives, cars, buildings and so much more.
An important aspect of the hobby is the community. Sonny says, “The live steam hobby is like a fraternity, and we all have different skills. If you have an issue there is someone in the group who can help you work it out.” He has even built a steam tractor and a steamboat for some of his steam buddies, saying, “I get a lot of pleasure and satisfaction out of the building process.”
Now 85 years old, he has been a small-scale live steam hobbyist for almost 40 years. He was involved in a publication about the hobby called Steam in the Garden where he was an advertising salesperson for over 10 years. His work had also been featured on the cover seven times over the course of its 30-year run. He has also not only attended the National SteamUp event every summer in Northern California for the past 25 years but has been helping to organize and run it for the last 14.
In addition to his pieces here at the MECM, he also has had a number of pieces on display at the Lois Lambert Gallery in Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA. This opportunity came about when he and his wife received an interesting gift from the gallery. Upon going there to see what it was all about, he later took one of his projects to the gallery where they decided to have his work in a show. The show had 13 of his pieces and ran for about 6 months.
