There is a new aftermarket company starting. "ScaleQuest" has recently come on the scene with news of their first product for Tamiya's 1/48 "Drop Flap Thunderbolt" kit. While the lion's share of resin aftermarket business clearly is done in 1/48, LSP tracked down ScaleQuest's founder Gregg Cooper to see if there are any large scale plans in their future.

Large Scale Planes: First off thanks for taking the time from your new business to talk with us Gregg, I'm sure you have lots to do.

Gregg Cooper: Never enough time in the day!

LSP: Can you give us a little background on yourself and how ScaleQuest has come to be?

GC: Well, I have been a scale modeler since I was seven years old, when my Grandfather bought me an Aurora P-40 and a tube of Testors non-toxic glue. I was hooked, building Revell and Monogram kits one after the other. My favorites were the Revell 1/32 scale series. I built them all, and then like any good kid, destroyed them when I got bored with them. (I preferred to methodically blow them apart with well-placed shots from my Daisy Red Rider.) I was given a Binks Wren airbrush for my 10th birthday, and started to shoot them with paint instead. The first really good model that I remember finishing was Revell s 1/32 AVG P-40 with a terrific airbrushed paintjob that I built during the 5th grade. I never out-grew the hobby, got better and better at it, and eventually made a semi-career at McDonnell Douglas/Boeing working in the Development Model & Mock-up Shop in Huntington Beach, California. In my spare time and to supplement my income, I had begun making master patterns for Teknics and Cutting Edge. Inevitably, after 15 years of service, the lay-off notice finally came from Boeing. I had decided to have a try at running my own development model shop and picking up some of the out-sourced work from the aerospace industry when Jerry and Judy Crandall contacted me about making patterns and casting resin parts for the EagleParts line from Eagle Editions. Now, 18 months later, I am still managing to make a living at it, and it looks like I've settled into that field. My decision to enter the after-market with my own range of resin parts was based on my love of accuracy and detail, and the desire to correct some items in certain kits that just BUG ME. Also, I feel that there is always a good market available for accurate, quality resin products especially when combined with simple parts installation and specific subjects that NEED to be done. Tamiya s 1/48 P-47 kit is VERY nice, and its release was very inspirational to me, but being the anal, detail oriented, walking-talking mini encyclopedia of WW2 airplanes, and true model-geek that I really am, I couldn't t help but notice some things that just NEEDED attention. In my mind the kit was unfinished, and I wanted to add the extras that Tamiya missed. So I made the parts to satisfy myself first, and, since I have the capability to make the patterns, make the molds, and cast the parts, I decided that I might as well market them while I m at it. Now we ll see where things go from here. I m not finished with the Tamiya Jug yet!

LSP: Having done some brilliant work for Eagle Editions' EagleParts 1/32 offerings with resin updates for Hasagawa's Bf109G series, a big question that's burning here at LSP is what does ScaleQuest have planned for the larger scales?

GC: Good question! Apparently, the industry in general has quite a bit planned for the larger scales! First, let me say that I will continue to work for Eagle Editions and EagleParts. Jerry has some really great ideas and reference material that he would like to see manufactured into detail parts. I am going to help Jerry bring these to market in the very near future, many of them in 1/32 scale. ScaleQuest is going to branch out into automotive and armor parts as well, and I will not exclude any scale or subject, as long as it NEEDS enhancement. 1/32 and 1/24 scale aircraft models are coming alive right now, and I will probably address each kit as it comes out. Honestly, I would rather put ScaleQuest s efforts into enhancing new kits rather than older ones simply because I truly believe that the industry will overtake the styrene dinosaurs stacked in our to-do piles, and not make the effort to fix older kits worth wile from a business point of view. I will always welcome suggestions from the modeling community, so send me your ideas!

LSP: On that topic, do you think that Trumpeter's recent and planned energy into 1/32 and 1/24 will catch on with the Japanese companies? Do you think they will respond?

GC: They already have! In fact, Tamiya and Hasegawa started the trend back to 1/32 with the big jets, the Zero, the BF 109G, and now Hasegawa s new FW 190D. I think that the other Asian manufacturers are the ones responding to the Japanese manufacturer s recent successes in that scale. The difference is that Tamiya and Hasegawa put a tremendous amount of research and detail into their molds. They are both very proud of their products, and bring decades of experience into the manufacture of their kits and it shows, even to the point of admitting mistakes, and actually correcting the problem at tremendous expense before the kit is even released, and sometimes afterward. The time and effort it takes for Tamiya and Hasegawa to bring a quality kit to the market is tremendous. Other Asian manufacturers like Trumpeter and Panda are on the right track, releasing new subjects like crazy, but they need more experience to know what the entire worldwide modeling community expects of their products. The recent problems with Trumpeter s 1/32 Wildcat come to mind. Great subject, excellent market anticipation, nice details, but when the kit was reviewed recently on Hyperscale, some serious outline errors were pointed out and Trumpeter took some serious flak about it. The big 1/24 Mustang had some questionable attributes in the nose area as well. I understand that Trumpeter is going to re-issue the Wildcat kit later with corrected parts. I applaud them for that, but I hope that they can learn from their mistakes and make an effort to provide better quality rather than quantity. Having seen the excellent reviews for the 1/24 Spitfire, I am optimistic that Trumpeter will have a huge impact on the market in a positive way. I have heard that the new Academy 1/32 F-18 kit is a winner as well. I say keep it up! We modelers will profit from the stiff competition.

LSP: Will ScaleQuest be seeking distribution partners both on the web and in store fronts? And are their plans to distribute internationally?

GC: Initially, ScaleQuest will take orders from our website which is still in development. http://scalequest.com Orders from retail dealers will be accepted and I encourage them to contact us via e-mail for the time being. Corsair13@compuall.net Initially, we have no plans for selling to any distributors, domestic or international. However, we can take orders for and ship our product just about anywhere globally.

LSP: Can you give us a reader's digest version of what's involved in making a resin replacement set?

GC: The process begins with the targeted kit being analyzed for any potential fixes . To a resin manufacturer, this process is rather like a feeding frenzy, drooling all over the donor model s parts, (hopefully a pre-production sample in order to make a timely marketing entrance with the new parts&) weighing the ideas for new parts against the prospect of difficulty in producing the resin replacements, deciding just how far to go with the set, and then changing the parts count daily up or down depending on the circumstance. When everything is finally decided, the new parts are either scratch-built entirely, or based upon the original donor parts. No material or method is overlooked in the production of the new parts. Experience with scratch building and various materials are a must for pattern making. During the production of the patterns, I take great pains to make sure that the final product will fit into the correct position without any hassle. When making parts meant to be cast, the pattern maker must always consider the method of manufacture and the principles involved with casting the parts. Undercuts, release from the mold, pour direction, shrinkage, and other things must be considered. The mold making itself can take several days depending on the parts, and the set-up time of the mold material. Some parts may require multi-part molds, which takes even more time to produce. Once the molds are finished, the resin pouring process is figured out. Every mold has a different personality and that personality must be learned through trial and error. With experience comes intuition, and hopefully only a brief time is spent working out the mold s quirks. When resin parts are finally made, I test fit a sample to the targeted kit and make sure that everything fits OK. I really, really, want everything to fit OK&..If I am satisfied, the set is packaged, and shipped-off to market.

LSP: What considerations go into choosing content for a product?

GC: Like I said above, each kit is carefully analyzed for things the manufacturer missed or just didn't get right. Usually, it s a new kit, or one that I have had in the back of my mind for some time that needs fixing. Sometimes it takes an expert (rivet counter) to step up and ask for a fix of his favorite model. Sometimes, it s pure marketing that drives a set s release, but mostly it s a desire to fix something that just needs fixing.

LSP: Does ScaleQuest have any plans to do full resin kits?

GC: No, not at this time.

LSP: Your initial product (exterior detail set for Tamiya's new 1/48 Thunderbolt) looks fantastic, excellent detail and the fit looks to be superb. In your opinion what are the most critical issues to get right in a resin replacement?

GC: Thank you for the compliment! More than anything, the RESIN replacement part has to FIT. Next, it has to surpass the detail of the original part in some outstanding way, or provide something that was never there, like internal ducting for intakes or vents. It is one thing to make a pattern fit, but sometimes the very properties of the resin and the casting process can cause fit problems with the final product. Knowing how to deal with this issue is a big hurdle. And of course, there is the market potential for the final product. Will it be worth the effort?

LSP: Gregg, thanks again for taking the time out to gab with us, we wish you and ScaleQuest a smooth start and a busy future. Keep in touch and feel free to swing by here and talk large scale!

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