You say scale isn't important, but if he's got a huge collection of 1/48 scale stuff you don't want to get 1/72!
As well as SimHQ you may want to take a peek at britmodeller.com and ask there.
It's been a while since I last made a model, but the best manufacturer I found (or rather, could afford) was Hasegawa - in the intervening years I don't know if they've changed their quality?
Good luck
