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Modelhaus website shut down ( temporary )


louie

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Very shortsighted of them. They should at least be in a position to accept new orders, however long may be the delay. They'll only get buried again later until they either shut the business down or sell it. Or they'll decide to carry on and not retire, in which case sales will return to "normal" levels. For now they are highly regarded and customers will seek to hoard while they can.

Edited by Bernard Kron
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Interesting.

 

In the meantime, modelers in the Southwest can plan to be at DESERT SCALE CLASSIC on April 9, 2016 in Phoenix.  

Bob Zetterman, a long-time dealer for Modelhaus will be at DSC12 with a substantial inventory of Modelhaus components, parts, and kits for sale.  

 

 

 

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Very shortsighted of them. They should at least be in a position to accept new orders, however long may be the delay.

No, Don wants to do the right thing.  I spoke to him a few weeks ago and he said that they are literally swamped, and no matter how many hours they work they aren't catching up.  They have been able to maintain the delivery time they've promised, and no doubt would rather hold off on taking new orders a bit so they can continue at that service level.

Most of us understand the situation, and are happy to wait as long as it takes to get a Modelhaus order.  But there are a few idiots who complain, and they ruin it for the rest of us.

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No, Don wants to do the right thing.  I spoke to him a few weeks ago and he said that they are literally swamped, and no matter how many hours they work they aren't catching up.  They have been able to maintain the delivery time they've promised, and no doubt would rather hold off on taking new orders a bit so they can continue at that service level.

Most of us understand the situation, and are happy to wait as long as it takes to get a Modelhaus order.  But there are a few idiots who complain, and they ruin it for the rest of us.

Spot on Tom. When I was at the NNL Nationals last Fall Some jerk and his wife were being so rude in front of me that they had me flustered. I told Carol  the wrong year at first. then I had to correct what I said and told her it was my fault and said to Carol you need a break it is only plastic. 

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I don't blame Don and Carol at all for shutting down the site for a spell. I saw them when I was at the Toledo NNL this past October, and I could tell that the fast pace and "rush-rush" of things was taking its toll. Don particularly looked really worn out. And yes, Carol does her best to keep things together, but I thought she was getting a bit flustered at times with the sheer amount of folks wanting something.

With all that's happened to their son this past year, and the crush of the business, I can't fault them at all!

 

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I just went to the Modelhaus website and it says that they are shut down temporary until they get caught up and that looks to be quite a while. Sorry, I don't know how to post here what is on their website. Thank you.    Jeff 

The Modelhaus Website is down temporarily.

Due to the overwhelming number and size of orders we are receiving, we must again shut the web site down for a period of time. As of today, 2/13/16, we have 15 weeks of orders in house and are now asking customers to allow up to 20-24 weeks for delivery. We are distressed over the great delay in shipping orders, but that is the reality of the monster we have created by announcing our retirement for May of 2017. We appreciate you, our customers, and ask for your patience. The site WILL open again, we just don't know when.

We will not be attending the NNL in New Jersey. We will most likely attend the Toledo Toy Show in Sylvania, OH, but we will not be taking pre-orders, nor will we have our bins at the show for sales. We hope to have a minimal number of one new kit for sale at that show. Posted 2/13/16.

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Well I guess I must be The Idiot for what I wrote, LOL... But really they are so highly regarded, their products so well appreciated, that surely there's a sizable and important business to be sold to a serious professional to supply Modelhaus products to the hobby, and hopefully provide the Holthauses with a tidy retirement kitty. Certainly the past several years have been increasingly difficult for them and they are no doubt at the point of exhaustion. Their 2/13 message that Jeff posted above clearly shows how they feel and it must be respected. Fingers crossed for the hobby that they make it through the difficult months to come and that somebody steps up to take up what they so successfully created. If someone does it will no doubt be a great relief to them.

Unfortunately, we can inevitably anticipate similar situations with other highly regarded aftermarket specialists. So let's support them and enjoy them while we all can.

Edited by Bernard Kron
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Well I guess I must be The Idiot for what I wrote, LOL... But really they are so highly regarded, their products so well appreciated, that surely there's a sizable and important business to be sold to a serious professional to supply Modelhaus products to the hobby, and hopefully provide the Holthauses with a tidy retirement kitty. Certainly the past several years have been increasingly difficult for them and they are no doubt at the point of exhaustion. Their 2/13 message that Jeff posted above clearly shows how they feel and it must be respected. Fingers crossed for the hobby that they make it through the difficult months to come and that somebody steps up to take up what they so successfully created. If someone does it will no doubt be a great relief to them.

Unfortunately, we can inevitably anticipate similar situations with other highly regarded aftermarket specialists. So let's support them and enjoy them while we all can.

I am very surprised that selling is not an option, or it seems to be that way. One would think that they have a good deal  of masters that would be a good investment to a resin caster. 

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I am very surprised that selling is not an option, or it seems to be that way. One would think that they have a good deal  of masters that would be a good investment to a resin caster. 

I get the impression that the Holthauses are being very deliberate and linear in the way they are approaching things. Facing the fact that they were getting burned out after so many years of creative and commercial importance and success to a culture and hobby to which they have had such a strong connection, they chose to continue on in the way they always have and then end it. I have no way of knowing, but perhaps they were relying on a family member or close friend to take over the business, but that certainly isn't the case now. What has been obvious all along is that they concentrated almost all activities between the two of them. Delegation  and expansion was not part of their business plan, at least in the few years I've been in this hobby. For a small business this can be a wise course to take because growth of plant and staff increases overhead and risk and too often can lead to bankruptcy. In fairness to their customers and to their culture they announced their closing well in advance. If they do sell the business, I suspect it's something they will deal with late in the process. Right now their approach is to remain focused on operating in the manner they have always done and dealing with "the monster" they have created by announcing their impending retirement. I'm guessing negotiating for the sale of the business would just get in the way at this point. They have all they can handle just filling the ever-growing backlog of orders as the market hoards their products in anticipation of their disappearance.

Another issue to consider is that the Modelhaus catalog is enormous and probably largely maintained and operated on a "personal knowledge" basis. Unless the Holthauses were retained as consultants during a transition it would be a daunting task to take it over. It will take a true professional to get value out of what they created. Hopefully good fortune will smile on both the Holthauses and our hobby and such a professional owner will materialize.

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I do not think they are doing anything wrong currently. Putting a value on something like this would be hard to do.  For many reasons but most are just my opinion so I will leave that to the professionals. Anyway 2017  is getting closer and we will find out what the ending will be.  Just remember we have lost two big resin casters already in the last few years and they were all friends through the hobby.

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It wouldn't surprise me if the Holthaus's don't take any more orders ever. They're lookin' to RETIRE, and when does this madness of people who want to "stock up" on Modelhaus products ever end??? To they need to work day and night to please some greedy modelers who order so much stuff that they'll never use it all, or are those modelers planning on selling some of their purchases later on? They should retire on THEIR terms and not on their customer's terms.

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It wouldn't surprise me if the Holthaus's don't take any more orders ever. They're lookin' to RETIRE, and when does this madness of people who want to "stock up" on Modelhaus products ever end??? To they need to work day and night to please some greedy modelers who order so much stuff that they'll never use it all, or are those modelers planning on selling some of their purchases later on? They should retire on THEIR terms and not on their customer's terms.

aren't we forgetting it's the ME generation? after all, every hobbyist needs more and more and more boxes of unused/ unbuilt parts/ kits on their shelves so the "look at my stash" picture threads can continue.cheesh...

Edited by fog cutter
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aren't we forgetting it's the ME generation? after all, every hobbyist needs more and more and more boxes of unused/ unbuilt parts/ kits on their shelves so the "look at my stash" picture threads can continue.cheesh...

So true. I actually have never purchased anything from the Modelhaus. I was going to for the first time put an order in for a car that I have wanted to build for a while and figured now was a good time to do it and that is when I saw that there website was down. I only wanted 1 ,no more no less just to build when it arrived. I have seen on this site many people saying that they will be placing orders that will last them a lifetime  ( really great for the rest of us ) but then again thank God it's a free country. Still, I agree with your statement 100 %. We will just have to wait and see what happens when and if they reopen. They do say that they will be reopening and I believe that 1000 % .     Thank you.      Jeff 

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