T. Michael Baker, Jr. is a formally trained artist & designer. Graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Savannah College of Art & Design, he has been able to use this background to create highly detailed models. At the age of 15 he got his first job at a local hobby store in New Castle, Delaware. He worked there steadily, through high school, breaks from college and after college, for the next 10 years. While away at college in Savannah he also worked part time for a downtown hobby store in that city. His first job after graduating college was working for a local engineering firm, where his responsibilities included developing custom graphics and fabricating engineering and topographical models for various engineering and architectural firms.
That artistic background, experience in the model railroading and hobby industry, plus a life long love of building and creating models led to the founding of TMB Custom Models in 1992. One of the first projects was custom painting and detailing a series of HO scale SW1500’s in the Norfolk Southern River Street Rambler series for Bull Street Station in Savannah, Georgia. Since then over a thousand different models, in various scales, have been completed for private collectors, model railroaders, industry and museums. While the subject and scale of models has varied the one constant has been the consistent quality of the models.
The hobby store background gives TMB Custom Models an edge to understanding what our customers are looking for. The knowledge of what types of products are available and a diverse chain of suppliers aids in using just the correct details. By careful listening and paying attention to the littlest details we are able to assess what will be required for a project. The artistic and design background provides the tools and training to create that really special piece for any collection.
