#ThrowBackThursday: Talented Phillip turns junk into gems

With Christmas around the corner, being thrifty has become a necessity. Reuse, reprocess and recycle are some of the ways people recreate masterpieces.

Phillip Jacobs has transcended his handicap and gave new life to the word recycling. Read his story here:

Born with a birth defect of the hip and right leg, and medically unfit to work, Phillip Jacobs began building scale models to keep himself busy.

With cardboard, glue, pen refills and craft paint, Phillip transforms simple components into spectacular recreations of classic cars, trains, motorcycles and planes. Phillip’s models are his way of linking back to easier economic times.

Read the full story here: He is building planes, trains and automobiles

Phillip fondly remembered the first model, which he sold for R5. More than four decades on, his passion has brought some reward.

“I have sold model craft to German, Zimbabwean and Kenyan clients. I had a guy buy four trains from me once.”

Phillip’s finest work is an 18th scale model of a 1965 Norton Commando 850, crafted by hand down to the smallest detail.

He was so proud of the model motorcycle, he had it sealed inside a display box.

For model cars, Phillip relies on pictures from an old Brandwag magazine, replicated on thick cardboard he purchases in large sheets.

“I don’t build ships because there is too much small detail. I’m more of a trains, planes and automobiles type.”

Among the most technical of Phillip’s creations was a working crane for a relative, complete with a working boom and hoist.

Philip has also amassed a small collection of model vehicles, ranging in size to as large as a 24th scale.