Intervista con Peter Wingfield di PLM Studio

I montatori americani non sono molto conosciuti in Europa e alcuni di essi possono vantare una buona tradizione. Fra questi vi è Peter Wingfield di PLM Studio, che ha concesso al blog una breve intervista su alcuni aspetti del suo lavoro e del mercato degli speciali. Pubblichiamo il testo originale inglese con alcune immagini dei suoi montaggi più recenti (l'uso di alcune foto è stato gentilmente concesso da Mike McCormick di Miniwerks).

Could you briefly tell PLM Studio's story?

PLM-Studio is a result of many years of production model building under the marque Pro Line Models [aka Pro Line Racing Miniatures]. Too many problems maintaining quality control and dealing with multiple vendors caused me to lose my passion for the hobby. I took a few years hiatus and slowly started building one off models for some of my long standing clients. Working on these one off models revived my passion and I decided to start building again but at the same time scale down substantially and continue to focus on higher end small series hand builds and one off models. ScaleAutoArt is my current marque and the reaction has been favorable. As I move forward I will continue to keep my work load modest so I am able to give my clients the best possible workmanship and desirable models.

Who are the masters you admire the most?

André-Marie Ruf, Vincenzo Bosica ,Fred Suber, Akihiro Kamimura and the earlier Barnett. Here in the US I have two builders I admire...one is my good friend James Wood. He is quite talented and has created his own special niche with fantasy cars. The other is Buzz Lockwood...a true master here in the States.

What do you think about today's high-end models market?

I think that today's high end hand built models have evolved into some of the best and most detailed models I have ever seen. Back in the early days there were only a handful of builders that I respected. Vincenzo Bosica (in my opinion) set the stage for what we see today in terms of detail and accuracy. Today's builders are much more prolific than in the past and thanks to the web we have access to many upcoming "master" builders.

Do you believe there's a future for handbuilt models?

Today is the future of hand built models. My hope is that the work will continue to be respected as an art form and not an effort to use technology to mass produce so called "hand built models". I refer to these as "glorified diecast". Many of the mainstream models are simply hand assembled. Many of the computer generated masters lack the artistic eye of masters like AMR and currently by makers such as Esprit43 and Paddock. My focus is on maintaining the art form of truly hand built models in the classic old school form.

Do you see any differences in the main markets (Europe, US, Japan)?

Personally I prefer the work coming out of Europe. The US doesn't lend itself to the same cottage industry as Europe does. Europe has always been the most prolific country for 1/43 scale models in my opinion. Japan has been an interesting development in the market with Make Up Co. leading the way. If I were asked to pick the best main stream 1/43 company it would be Make Up. I have always been impressed with what they have done for the hobby. They are the only production models I collect.

And what about new possible markets (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc.)?

From what I have seen so far from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong,etc. I have not seen anything in the hand built market that approaches what I consider an art form, more of a technical expression. There are builders I respect from the region and I am always blown away by the attention to absolute perfection but therein lies the problem. Art should not be the pursuit of perfection or it is no longer true art in my opinion.