Copper State Models 1/32 Nieuport N. 17

[Bill Cross]

Vive la France!! At last, someone doing French biplanes.

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by Bill Cross

[BiggTim]

And why are they Copper State Models, when they are in Latvia?

[rjones726]

1 hour ago, BiggTim said:

And why are they Copper State Models, when they are in Latvia?

Hi Tim

 As I understand it, the founder of CSM lived in Arizona. When he retired, the company was sold to someone from Latvia.

v/r,

Rob

[EvilCarrot]

The original company was US based I believe but it was sold once or twice

[ziggyfoos]

2 hours ago, BiggTim said:

And why are they Copper State Models, when they are in Latvia?

 

Their history is detailed in the "about us" page on their website (http://www.copperstatemodels.com/)

The history of Copper State Models (the word from the founder, Mr Eric R. Hight)

In 1996 my parents decided that they were ready to retire from the family business. Since I was ready to do something else for a living, we sold the company. I had recently got back building models after a 25+ plus year hiatus and decided to try that for a business. I chose the name Copper State Models (CSM) because Arizona is also known as the “Copper State”. The logo is the state’s outline with the state flag inset into it and a Fokker D.VII.

At first I tried building for hire but soon discovered that I was too slow of a builder to make that work! A friend of mine named Bob owned The Model Car Garage (high end model car details) and was doing well with it. He became my mentor in starting CSM. I picked WWI a/c because not everyone and his cousin was doing that subject and I had a real interest in it. This was the beginning of the golden age of WWI a/c modeling. You had Eduard and Toko doing quality plastic kits so I saw a place for high quality details and put CSM in that direction.

The hardest part of getting started was finding the vendors I needed to make the things I couldn’t make myself. Bob from MCG put me in touch with Tim for the PE (Photo-Etched parts- I.S.) artwork. We hit it off real well and he started drawing for me. PEC also came from Bob and for me they are the best PE producer in the business.

Microscale has been doing quality decals for a very long time. They were close, good and willing to work with a small outfit like CSM. Laura and Vickie were absolute jewels to work with.

Marty’s claim to fame was his magnificent hand carved wood props. I was buying props and corresponding with Marty by snail mail (no email then). Marty’s written English was in its learning stages and a friendship developed. When I told Marty about starting CSM, I had in mind selling his props as part of my line. He was agreeable and asked if I would be interested in kit masters. I said “absolutely” and he sent me the Do. D.I kit and that was the beginning of the CSM kit line.

I started advertising in Windsock magazine very early. Ray and I became friends. He reviewed CSM’s products fairly and this was a huge boost to the company. He is one of the greatest supporters of WWI a/c modeling.

Marty and I chose kits together based on interest and available documentation. We tried to pick kits that the “mainstream” model companies wouldn’t do. There was such a wealth of WWI a/c that has never been kitted in 1/48TH scale before for us to choose from. Float/flying boats and 2 seaters were our mainstay.

I enjoyed my time setting up and running CSM. It was a great way to earn a living. With the passing of my parents I decided to retire and sell CSM.

I would like to thank all the great vendors I worked with and my great customers all of whom I enjoyed dealing with. I would especially like to thanks my parents for their help and encouragement without which it never would have happened.

I wish Ilya and Slava good hunting, God’s speed and all the success in the world. I hope they enjoy CSM as much as I did in their new venture. My advice would be to produce a quality product and charge a fair price and you will do well.

Eric R. Hight Copper State Models Founder and Former President

[BiggTim]

I have also been a customer of Bob at Model Car Garage for some time, and was interested to see that Eric and Bob were good friends! 

[LSP_Ray]

Yup, bought some parts from CSM (mostly PE) while they were in AZ. They were good to deal with. I have a pre-order into the Latvian version so we will see how it goes. 

[petrov27]

Received my pre-ordered kits today - going through them real quick they sure look brilliant - very crisp details in things like the cowling rivets, engine spark-plugs, wing rib stitching, etc. Excellent stout box with inner lid, nice detailed instruction book, and a nice glossy print of the cover art, decals by Cartograf etc

 

I am super impressed with everything I see

 

[Edgar]

We have some great news for you, folks. Finally, all the pre-ordered Nieuports has been sent like we promised (November). We are sorry to keep all our clients waiting for their orders, that were made in November, they had been sent today as well. 
This was a bit of a surprise for us, your pre-orders were coming and coming, thank you very much. So it took us more time then we planned. Our company is not that big (Only 3  employees, including company accountant) so it took us a while to prepare it all. Thank you for your support and patience and we hope our models would be a joy to build)

[LSP_Ray]

Just got my pre-ordered kit on Wed! Good service! The post office was not kind to the box, but the kit came through without damage. Beautiful looking kit!

[vince14]

My kits arrived yesterday, and I must say I'm very impressed. CSM have really put a lot of thought and effort into them, right down to the presentation of the instructions and the packaging. Are they WNW quality? Not quite, but they're really not very far off at all.

 

So it's good news, people. A company who are approaching WNW quality and appear to be happy to tackle some of the areas WNW are neglecting. I'll certainly be buying any future WWI kits in 1/32 that CSM produce.

[Jasta 14 addict]

Nice to see CSM give us really interesting W.W.1 kit's. Something we can't say lately of WNW but that's a personal opinion. 

[Out2gtcha]

Excellent news for sure! 

[LSP_K2]

I'll be looking forward to seeing some reviews.

[Out2gtcha]

I'm really looking forward to seeing the first WIP on one of these. I'd really like to see how they build up.