HobbyLink Japan, and myself, are very excited about the opportunity that we've been given to sponsor Modeler Site, and thereby support the fantastic work that Mario and his son, and all the contributors have done for what is surely one of the finest hobby sites on the Internet.

The economics of the Internet have made it extremely difficult for high-quality, free sites to continue to exist. The bandwidth and disk space required cost far more than anyone can support alone. Normally, sites turn to advertisers, but with the global economic downturn, advertising revenue is also very low. Recognizing that neither traditional advertising or charging users for access were realistic alternatives at this time, Mario and I worked out an arrangement where our sponsorship is far beyond a simple banner advertisement. It will help both companies in a much greater way. It includes putting our name all over the place, and providing direct links to many areas of our web site. I'm happy to have HLJ associated in this way with a site of this quality, and I hope that we do nothing to offend Mario and his team by being associated with us!

The Internet is not the only segment of the economy that's weak right now. So is the hobby industry. Young people (and some not so young!) spend more time now playing video games than building models. What's more, the world has become a much more peaceful place (a good thing), and scenes of exciting weapons destroying enemy vehicles on the news are rare. Let's admit it -- wars and conflicts are good for model sales! Also now, the number of WWII survivors dwindle rapidly, and they were some of the world's most avid modelers. These days, many Japanese children don't even know what a Zero, or the Yamato is! 

I'm a traditional aircraft modeler (WWII subjects), and this disappoints me. But it's a reality that we simply cannot fight. People are going to model whatever is dynamic and current, and that's where we have to put our energies. That's why automobile modeling (with new cars being built every year!), and now character modeling have become the most lively parts of the hobby. 

Even before we joined forces, Mario has made a great contribution to the hobby community with Modeler Site's great automobile modeling articles. I hope that HLJ, and the contributors we can recruit, can offer more in the way of character modeling (science-fiction, anime characters, figures and more) than many of the visitors to this site have seen before. Both in terms of information on what's available and how to build it, and also by providing you with a way to purchase these items (hey, we have to earn a living here!). Look for changes along these lines in the month's to come!

I look forward to a long and prosperous partnership. Thank you all!

Scott T. Hards

HLJ President 

November 2002

Over the last months we have been telling our readers and contributors in our editorials as well as on private line about the difficulties we were facing to go on with our Modeler Site project.

But, what is basically Modeler Site? It is for sure a virtual modeling magazine, but at the same time it is a meeting point for beginners and experts who want to share their love for this activity as well as their knowledge or their eagerness to learn.

However, we are now facing a critical moment. The making of MS requires the full-time work of two persons as well as a good quantity of money to face the cost of maintaining such an on line site.

What is HLJ?

It is a web-based mail-order business based in Japan headed by its owner and president, Mr. Scott T. Hards.

How did the relationship between HLJ and MS start?

I first contacted HLJ in 1996 when I was searching for the word Tamiya on Altavista and I was directed to a web-based mail-order business … HLJ. I was really amazed by the variety of products that HLJ offered, I believed that some of them had been discontinued and really ignored the existence of many others. Since that moment, I became a regular customer of HLJ. When we started with the MS project in 2000 I contacted Mr. Hards and asked for his cooperation.

His response was more comprehensive than expected, and we soon forged a very good relationship.
Scott is a businessman, but he is basically an expert in "e-business" … and in addition to it, a lover of modeling. With his vision he supported our project from the very beginning and as MS continued to grow his cooperation became more important until we got to this point, where the MS logo is strongly associated with the one for HLJ.

Which are the basic goals of this project in common?

Through the support given by HLJ, MS will go on existing WITHOUT LIMITATIONS or IMPOSITION as until now … but better.
The basic idea proposed by Scott is to give back to all modelers the support he received from them over the last years and he chose MS for this important task. This event, which make us feel very proud, renews our commitment with all modelers and with our activity and prompts us to produce better issues so that our goal can be reached.

How will all readers benefit from this cooperation?

Better articles, more possibilities for concrete goals, more room for pictures and reviews, the certainty that all back issues will remain on line … the possibility of having free access to the best virtual modeling magazine .. and this is just the beginning.

During the following months you will find more news so that you can better enjoy the new issues of MS.

I want to express my gratitude to Scott T. Hards, for his support to our ideas, but basically for being a firm believer of a free modeling and for his vision; he is always able to see beyond others.

In addition to being the editor of MS, I am also a big fan, so please the next time we read our favorite article on MS, or have room to show our models as they deserve, or look for one of the more than 20000 pictures or one of the 1200 articles/galeries please let's thank HLJ.
Mario Covalski

Modeler Site Editor

November 2002