New York attacks sting NZ model maker

By SCOTT MacLEOD transport reporter

An Auckland firm that makes model jets for international airlines has been hit by September's terror attacks.

Scalecraft Models is one of the four main firms in the world making a range of replicas for airline boardrooms and the front windows of travel shops.

Two years ago, managing director David Antonievich employed seven permanent and nine part-time workers in his Henderson workshop. But now there are just two people working full-time and two part-time.

Mr Antonievich said orders started growing this year after a downturn in the aviation industry. Then the terrorists struck, forcing airlines to slash costs.

The first thing they cut was non-core expenditure - such as model purchases.

Two weeks after the September 11 attacks, a European airline shelved a major order that would have kept the workshop busy for four months.

A couple of other airlines that were expected to place orders also backed out.

"Airlines tend to panic," Mr Antonievich said. "The bean-counters tighten things, and we're the first to go."

Media reports have been packed with stories of tourist, catering and entertainment firms suffering from the aviation crisis, but nobody seems to have thought of modellers.

Mr Antonievich said: "This bombing has affected the common man world-wide. When was the last time that happened - the Second World War or the Great Depression?"

The Scalecraft workshop was scattered with dozens of models in various stages of completion when the Herald visited yesterday. They bore the livery of Air New Zealand, Qantas, Continental, Air Niugini, JMC and Corsair - some of the 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the world's top 400 airlines that Scalecraft has worked for in the past 24 years.

Scalecraft workers make 30 aircraft types in three main sizes, ranging from 15cm to 1.5m. Some of the smaller ones are injection-moulded solid plastic, but the big ones have fibreglass bodies with high-density polyurethane foam wings and engines.

Workers sand any rough edges, apply automotive-grade paint and use screen-printed decals for features such as windows and logos.

Prices range from $20 to $3500.

Soon, Scalecraft workers may be spending as much time working on hulls and cabins as they do on wings and fuselages - Mr Antonievich is hoping to branch into model boat-building to make up for the lack of aircraft orders.

Already, Scalecraft has made a cruise liner for a British firm and is sending a model of a Salthouse Marine launch to a boat show in the United States.

Yesterday, some bad news for the European airline that shelved its four-month order shaped up as possible good news for Scalecraft.

The airline rang to say it had been forced to ground 20 per cent of its aircraft due to lack of business, and was changing its name. It was likely to repaint its aircraft in new colours while they were sitting idle.

That meant it would need to replace its models - maybe soon.

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