Model Power officially out of business


Never been a huge fan of their stuff, but that is none the less a bummer. They actually made some decent affordable products that help keep our hobby alive. What a shame.
 
I kinda saw it coming, they never were a major force in HO. The 1:87 cars were neat though, but what is going to happen to the Mantua line now??
 
While I didn't buy much of their rolling stock, their working equipment, crossing gates & flashers, etc, was nice. Too bad!
 
What do you think the chances are that Kader/Bachmann will come in and pick up the pieces?
 
That is going to leave a hole, especially in N-scale accessories and vehicles. Crap.

I'd been eyeing a C&O 4-6-2 they made and this was sufficient incentive to get on over to MB Klein and buy their last one :-/
 
I really enjoyed my E-units and FA units in the old days. Roco manufacture and the biggest can motors I've seen then or since. Nice models too. I hate to see model makers dissappear.
 
You know, this news will probably cause a run on anything left at LHS! Yeah, it would be nice if Bachman or some outfit picks up their remaining inventory and tooling or foreign contracts. But, hamltnblue is right, that doesn't help the employees that are out of jobs. Danged shame! Too much of that going on all over.
 
Their HO scale automobiles were great! Like the '55 Chevy in this photo. I bought a few for around 5 bucks each. Also a Caddy from the same era. HOMES-4-SMALL.jpg
 
Cjcrescent said:
Referring to the problem with the banks, how is now supposed to be better for business?
Click to expand...
Several years ago, the bank I dealt with decided to close on Saturdays, in addition to Sundays, Wednesday afternoons, and of course all Federal and bank holidays.
The notice they put on the door was priceless:
"In order to better serve our customers, we will no longer be open Saturdays".
Huh?
 
The "fad" in recent years has been to switch inventory systems to "just in time". I worked for a Beechcraft aircraft distributor about 15 years ago. Beechcraft was headed in that direction and things went bad for them and us. "JIT" = No stock with long lead times. It wasn't supposed to be that way, but that's what happens when you have people in charge that are clueless about how distribution systems really work. The whole objective of JIT is to provide the customer with the product shortly after it's ordered, thereby freeing up $$ that was previously invested in inventory.

My guess is that the banks wanted Model Power to do business the "new" way and not the old-fashioned way of, you know, actually having inventory.
 
Sad indeed. The problem the banks and lenders have created makes it extremely hard for companies like this to stay afloat. We can only hope that another company will buy the molds and plans from them to keep some of the lines going. I think it would take a company like Walthers or Horizon to do it though.
 
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