Greg Krasel Memorial

As a kid, I was never content with out-of-the-box decals. I didn't want to build the exact same aircraft that some other kid was building down the street. In those days I had to be content with either using decals from other kits or doing the markings by hand.

As an adult, this obsession only became worse. I wanted options, and then one day there were options. A new entity entered our hobby world with the notion that we could buy whatever markings we'd like for our prized projects. This entity was known as Microscale. Not only did Microscale provide accurate and colorful markings for most of the available aircraft kits at the time, they also established a higher standard for instructions and diagrams to place those colorful decals! The quality and detail of kit instructions we take for granted today are due in no small part to the standards that Greg Krasel established with Microscale.

In the model drought of the late 1980s, new kit releases were few and far between. One of the few things that kept us modelers going were the latest decal releases from Microscale. Regardless of how many Monogram Skyhawks or
Super Sabres I built, whenever Greg released a new set of colorful decals, I started still another Scooter or Hun. One day there were other decal manufacturers. Then resin conversion parts started appearing at the hobby shops, and photo-etched detail sets followed. The growth in aftermarket products helped to get the kit manufacturers moving again. One day Microscale split into two entities - Microscale, which continued with aftermarket decals for the model railroad industry, and Superscale, which continues the development of quality scale aircraft decals.

The news of Greg Krasel's passing was a sad note for me as well as for the modeling community in general. Microscale was one of the first pioneers in aftermarket products for scale modelers. The target-rich hobby industry that we enjoy today is due in no small part to Greg's vision and contributions. We will miss him.

Respectfully,

Michael Benolkin