Interview with a Vietnamese modelling company

I keep my eyes on the products of an ambitious modelling enterprise for some time now… And as I learnt it is a Vietnamese company whose range includes lots of interesting subjects – among others the Vietnam War. Therefore, I contacted them to make an interview, and Mr. Giang Le was fast to answer my questions.

How and when did it all start? What was your motivation to commence such an enterprise? How difficult was it to start? 

I have been around modeling passion since graduating from my university. At that time, I suddenly found model kits in a bookstore, and fell in love with it. However, the hobby was too expensive for me at the time. Therefore I thought maybe I could make models by myself. After that, I started sculpting and started selling my products in 2014, encouraged by my wife. We started selling via eBay. The first products were a Zombie series in 1/35 and a Vietnam Tank Crew kit.

How many people work with you?

We are an army of two. I am in charge of creativity and design while my wife takes care of finance and customer service. When more customers got to know us, we built a website to sell online. We have been getting more attention since joining many Model Shows in Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan and also getting great support from the modeling community. It has been our pleasure and joy to run Paracel Miniatures.

1:16 figures from the Indochina Wars

Your products cover the Vietnam war as well as WWII, modern conflicts, even post-apocalypse, military and civilian, human and animal figures plus accessories, including some really rare subjects like male and female elephants, video game characters or African militia members. How did you select these subjects?

My creativity for figures sometimes comes from my ideas as a modeler first, sometimes  from my sources such as orders from customers. I love finding the topic, creating its story and poses, gestures of the characters. Sometimes I use references from history pictures and add my ideas. Therefore, you will feel familiar with my figures but with a fresh look. I always want to challenge myself with some of my favorite topics such as WWII, modern conflicts, post-apocalypse, etc. Whenever I am interested in any topic, I start my research, estimate market demand, but also some advice from modelers and our customers help me a lot in selecting the topic. I highly appreciate it. I love doing the rare topics to fill in the blanks in the market. My regular subject is Vietnam or the rare topics such as Africa and modern warfare. However, I hope that I can balance all topics and serve the modelers the best I can.

Animals. Once again, not a very common topic in scale models.

What is the process of making up a new kit? How long does it take to sculpt and paint a figure? What sources do you use while planning a new product?

It takes me a lot of time to make an idea come true. After defining the idea, it takes a few weeks to sculpt and making the molds. Currently I use 3D sculpting and printing to save time. Then I will make the box art. Sometimes I outsource it to some artists to reduce my workload.

In the workshop

How did the audience respond to your products? What feedback do you get from fellow modelers and reviewers?

Most of them respond well to our products and I appreciated all the feedback. I also got advice, suggestion to improve on some items which are invaluable to me. It has been 10 years now and I got many good friends who originally were my customers from all over the world. They used our products as a part of their great work. That is a big reward and encouragement to me.

Captain Price from 'Call of Duty – Modern Warfare'.
Available in multiple scales. 

Which products are you the proudest of and why? Which are the most popular ones?

The Vietnam-related subjects, of course, which make up the most recognized topic of Paracel Miniatures.

US soldiers from the Vietnam War

What future products are you planning?

Many and not identified yet because I need research time and do the pending projects. Sometimes I am in the middle of this topic but tomorrow I will get on another topic. I like this flexibility and so I am under less pressure.

Warriors from war-torn Africa

What do you think about Vietnam-related models produced by other manufacturers in general?

I think overall, they are great. There is no competition, their kits and ranges supplement each other because one individual manufacturer cannot cover everything, of course. It also means there are more and more people who know about Vietnam, not only about the past but about the present and future. 

Newsmen, zombies, children, survivors...

We know a few things about Vietnam, but what about scale modeling there? How popular is the hobby in your country? Is it a hobby for the children or rather for the adults? What are the most popular subjects?

Today modeling is more popular in Vietnam and attracts more and more people. At the same time, it is still considered too expensive for the majority. It is a hobby for adults while children prefer LEGO. The popular subjects here are Vietnam, Russia, the US and World War II.

World War II is as popular a subject in Vietnam as everywhere else

Do you have time left to build your own models?

Sometimes I spend a little time doing some of my favorite models but the work and the expansion of manufacturing takes a lot of my time. I still have the inspiration to complete it but will be in the long time.

Figures from modern conflicts

Your figures and a huge diorama about the battle of Quang Tri '72 appeared in the 'Urban' issue of The Weathering Magazine. An inspirational, 14-page long article with tons of photos and different building techniques. Not to mention Imad Bouantoun's Syrian diorama for which you painted the figures... That must have been quite some recognition being featured in this magazine, and a long, arduous work, right?

Yes. I am working on many huge dioramas even now, including a more than 2 meter-long dio. I am inspired by true events and I need a long time to do some research. And when I make figures for a diorama, some of them will become Paracel's products… 

Some pages of 'The Hive', the Quang Tri urban diorama
from The Weathering Magazine

For the sake of the readers, do you have a webpage? How about an official European and American distributor? 

You can find us at our page ( www.paracelminiatures.com) and at our Facebook page (www.fb.com/Paracelminiatures). For distributors, we have The Exter Company in Germany (www.exter-company.com) for Europe,  Rodney's Dimestore Gallery (www.rodneysdimestoregallery.com) in the USA, BNA Model (https://www.bnamodelworld.com) in Australia, MS. Models (www.msmodelswebshop.jp) in Japan and Hobby Easy (www.hobbyeasy.com) in Hong Kong. If you are interested in distributing our products, please contact us at paracelminiatures@gmail.com. 

Plans coming true...

Any chance to meet you someplace other than Asia? Do you plan to travel to America or Europe? 

That is our dream, to travel to America and Europe for model shows, but not now. We may visit in the near future, however.

The Paracel stand at a modelling show

Thank you for the interview (special thanks to Lucy), and keep up the good work.

If you want to read another interview with the founder of another modelling enterprise, BRAVO-6, click here.