! Not News , But Still Irritating ...

[1972coronet]

The "corporate-pruning" of Testors Model Masters line from Rustoleum (et alia) is nothing new --- however , the reasons are typical of corporate mentality (esp. over the last 40 years...) . 

I'd learnt a long time ago to take whatever the new owner(s) / ownership representatives say with a tonne of salt ; that whatever they state is going to happen ( or , in their parlance , what's "not going to change" ) , that the opposite is true . To wit ; this is an excerpt from the Model Roundup email newsletter in regard to the whole untidy mess :

" 

 Rustoleum has the worst timing. Right when demand was ramping up, they killed one of the most popular paint lines in modeldum. Rustoleum, indicates they had too many duplicate products and wanted to consolidate to be more profitable. They have indicated a continued commitment to the Testors line. We intend to increase our Testors coverage to replace the Model Master line, but have had a hard time getting any support from the company.   

 

"Too many 'duplicate products' [...] [ consolidation ] to be more profitable ...

"[...] continued commitment to the Testors line...

"[...] hard time getting any support from [Rustoleum]."

 

Sorry-not-sorry , but I have a real hard time believing that kind of trite rhetoric . At whose behest did they conclude that they have "too many duplicate products" ? Some out-of-touch college kid whose modelling experience is equal to my experience in disease research ? Notice that "continued commitment" and "hard time getting support" are , in es . , in the same sentence ? 

Ostensibly , Rustoleum (et alia) is horribly out-of-touch with their consumer base . Just because Rustoleum-branded paints cover , say , 'Gloss Black' , doesn't mean that it covers styrene-specific aerosol paints ! Same goes for bottled 'brush-on' paints --- those are gone , too ! 

Such a capricious and arbitrary move on the part of Rustoleum ---- but , not surprising , either . Certainly , they're not alone in this "consolidation" game ; profits-and-products OVER people is the "new normal" , and I for one am sick of it .

Rant over .   

[Miatatom]

It's all about minimizing costs, maximizing profit and keeping those shareholders happy. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

28 minutes ago, Miatatom said:

It's all about minimizing costs, maximizing profit and keeping those shareholders happy. 

Which has basically been the downfall of much of American business.

In the beginning, the idea was "we want to make good stuff that people want, and we'll figure out a way to make enough money doing it to keep making good stuff that people want".

Today, the idea is primarily "we want to make a ton of money, and we really don't give a rat's rear what kind of garbage we make (or WHERE we make it, or even IF we make ANYTHING), as long as we make a ton of money...

...and we'll spend insane amounts of money on marketing and advertising to make people THINK they want the garbage we sell, rather than making really great stuff that sells itself because we spend real effort on product development to make really great stuff.

Edited August 22, 2020 by Ace-Garageguy

[espo]

39 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

The "corporate-pruning" of Testors Model Masters line from Rustoleum (et alia) is nothing new --- however , the reasons are typical of corporate mentality (esp. over the last 40 years...) . 

I'd learnt a long time ago to take whatever the new owner(s) / ownership representatives say with a tonne of salt ; that whatever they state is going to happen ( or , in their parlance , what's "not going to change" ) , that the opposite is true . To wit ; this is an excerpt from the Model Roundup email newsletter in regard to the whole untidy mess :

" 

 Rustoleum has the worst timing. Right when demand was ramping up, they killed one of the most popular paint lines in modeldum. Rustoleum, indicates they had too many duplicate products and wanted to consolidate to be more profitable. They have indicated a continued commitment to the Testors line. We intend to increase our Testors coverage to replace the Model Master line, but have had a hard time getting any support from the company.   

 

"Too many 'duplicate products' [...] [ consolidation ] to be more profitable ...

"[...] continued commitment to the Testors line...

"[...] hard time getting any support from [Rustoleum]."

 

Sorry-not-sorry , but I have a real hard time believing that kind of trite rhetoric . At whose behest did they conclude that they have "too many duplicate products" ? Some out-of-touch college kid whose modelling experience is equal to my experience in disease research ? Notice that "continued commitment" and "hard time getting support" are , in es . , in the same sentence ? 

Ostensibly , Rustoleum (et alia) is horribly out-of-touch with their consumer base . Just because Rustoleum-branded paints cover , say , 'Gloss Black' , doesn't mean that it covers styrene-specific aerosol paints ! Same goes for bottled 'brush-on' paints --- those are gone , too ! 

Such a capricious and arbitrary move on the part of Rustoleum ---- but , not surprising , either . Certainly , they're not alone in this "consolidation" game ; profits-and-products OVER people is the "new normal" , and I for one am sick of it .

Rant over .   

This and the additional information you have provided just proves how out of touch they really are. Obviously Rustoleum sees no value in the modeling communities purchasing power. I'll be rethinking any future purchases and for myself I'll buy something that I need from a different company in the future. They aren't the only game in town and on the outside chance they really are paying attention to their sales they may find I'm not the only one.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

This is pretty much inevitable when relatively small businesses that cater to niche markets...like modelers...get swallowed up by big corporations that don't have any understanding of the particular niche the small business catered to.

As far as Rustoleum is concerned, any shiny black paint is just shiny black paint, and talent free / skill free bozos who spray runny, drippy messes on their lawn furniture and think it looks great are a helluva lot easier to market to and satisfy than modelers...who are essentially artists.

[misterNNL]

1 hour ago, 1972coronet said:

The "corporate-pruning" of Testors Model Masters line from Rustoleum (et alia) is nothing new --- however , the reasons are typical of corporate mentality (esp. over the last 40 years...) . 

I'd learnt a long time ago to take whatever the new owner(s) / ownership representatives say with a tonne of salt ; that whatever they state is going to happen ( or , in their parlance , what's "not going to change" ) , that the opposite is true . To wit ; this is an excerpt from the Model Roundup email newsletter in regard to the whole untidy mess :

" 

 Rustoleum has the worst timing. Right when demand was ramping up, they killed one of the most popular paint lines in modeldum. Rustoleum, indicates they had too many duplicate products and wanted to consolidate to be more profitable. They have indicated a continued commitment to the Testors line. We intend to increase our Testors coverage to replace the Model Master line, but have had a hard time getting any support from the company.   

 

"Too many 'duplicate products' [...] [ consolidation ] to be more profitable ...

"[...] continued commitment to the Testors line...

"[...] hard time getting any support from [Rustoleum]."

 

Sorry-not-sorry , but I have a real hard time believing that kind of trite rhetoric . At whose behest did they conclude that they have "too many duplicate products" ? Some out-of-touch college kid whose modelling experience is equal to my experience in disease research ? Notice that "continued commitment" and "hard time getting support" are , in es . , in the same sentence ? 

Ostensibly , Rustoleum (et alia) is horribly out-of-touch with their consumer base . Just because Rustoleum-branded paints cover , say , 'Gloss Black' , doesn't mean that it covers styrene-specific aerosol paints ! Same goes for bottled 'brush-on' paints --- those are gone , too ! 

Such a capricious and arbitrary move on the part of Rustoleum ---- but , not surprising , either . Certainly , they're not alone in this "consolidation" game ; profits-and-products OVER people is the "new normal" , and I for one am sick of it .

Rant over .   

What he Said!

[1972coronet]

44 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Which has basically been the downfall of much of American business.

In the beginning, the idea was "we want to make good stuff that people want, and we'll figure out a way to make enough money doing it to keep making good stuff that people want".

Today, the idea is primarily "we want to make a ton of money, and we really don't give a rat's rear what kind of garbage we make (or WHERE we make it, or even IF we make ANYTHING), as long as we make a ton of money...

...and we'll spend insane amounts of money on marketing and advertising to make people THINK they want the garbage we sell, rather than making really great stuff that sells itself because we spend real effort on product development to make really great stuff.

 

35 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

This is pretty much inevitable when relatively small businesses that cater to niche markets...like modelers...get swallowed up by big corporations that don't have any understanding of the particular niche the small business catered to.

As far as Rustoleum is concerned, any shiny black paint is just shiny black paint, and talent free / skill free bozos who spray runny, drippy messes on their lawn furniture and think it looks great are a helluva lot easier to market to and satisfy than modelers...who are essentially artists.

Yes and yes , precisely .   As I've been saying since the late 80's : "Strive for Mediocrity" --- my cynical ,Gen-X , Blank Generation mantra that I've been uttering to a largely inattentive audience since I was 17 (1987) . 

[Dave Van]

Tamiya........

[1972coronet]

2 minutes ago, Dave Van said:

Tamiya........

...has a long-standing , outstanding business model . I really , really wish that Tamiya would seize this opportunity to expand their ( excellent ) paint colour chart ---- I'd buy the "BLAH-BLAH-BLAH" out of any "Big Four" engine colours and body colours that they could offer ! 

I need to write another message to Tamiya , USA... maybe even a 'petition' signed by my fellow enthusiasts whom want for Tamiya to pick up where Testors (et al.) left off ?

[Plowboy]

8 minutes ago, Dave Van said:

Tamiya........

Exactly! I've been phasing out Testors and Model Masters products for a while. Maybe I'll put the remaining paints I have on ebay. That is if the propellant hasn't leaked out.

[El Roberto]

Tamiya makes excellent products but they also have their faults.  I build a lot of model aircraft and armor but Tamiya refuses to offer FS standard colors for these models.  Their color selection is pretty sparse. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by El Roberto

[1972coronet]

47 minutes ago, El Roberto said:

Tamiya makes excellent products but they also have their faults.  I build a lot of model aircraft and armor but Tamiya refuses to offer FS standard colors for these models.  Their color selection is pretty sparse. 

You bring up a valid point : Tamiya's colour chart is lacking . There's a considerable amount of assumption on their part in-respect to the builder of their (excellent) kits , that everyone wants to mix paint to achieve the correct shade of "x" colour . Certainly I'm not alone in not being a fan of mixing two or three colours of paint in order to achieve the requisite results ( I can only imagine that the aircraft and armour builders must be exhausted in this area ) .

Ne'er-the-less , the paints and finishing products that they do offer are fantastic ---- flawless finishes , and easy to work with ; long-lasting , too ( I have a bottle of Tamiya Clear Red that's every bit of 35 years old , and it's just a fresh as the day I opened it ) .

[1972coronet]

1 hour ago, Plowboy said:

Exactly! I've been phasing out Testors and Model Masters products for a while. Maybe I'll put the remaining paints I have on ebay. That is if the propellant hasn't leaked out.

I reluctantly buy Testors aerosols . I only 'acquiesce' when it comes to their (now-defunct) line of American Car Colors ( e.g. , Hemi Orange Metallic , etc. ) , as I'm too lazy to buy from Scale Finishes because of the required thinning / reducing of their (wonderful) automotive colours .

[Plowboy]

1 hour ago, El Roberto said:

Tamiya makes excellent products but they also have their faults.  I build a lot of model aircraft and armor but Tamiya refuses to offer FS standard colors for these models.  Their color selection is pretty sparse. 

I'm not familiar with FS colors. But, they have 32 colors in the AS line and 90 in the XF line.

[mikemodeler]

a couple of thoughts:

1. Testors is not a bad paint, but obviously the sales couldn't justify keeping it around. That said, I saw full racks of them at Hobby Lobby today so not sure how soon they will be gone.

2. ROI and shareholder value are important to a select few, typically the ones in charge. Many times the issue comes down to how profitable a production line is and whether something more profitable is a better use of that space. I work for a large OEM parts manufacturer and we have had to discontinue making certain parts because of limited space despite strong sales demand. Upper management looks at future potential and not past performance. 

3. Company performance and leadership go hand in hand. Many times a cash or stock bonus are tied to certain metrics so a CEO or President will decide on production changes solely on how it affects his paycheck or retirement. I have worked for companies that have "restructured" and fired people only to see executives get financially rewarded for cost cutting moves that helped the company and themselves.

4. Maybe the news that Revell is bringing out a line of paints had something to do with the decision. With very few large retail outlets left for Testors to sell to - Michael's and HL- and more hobby shops closing, they may have felt that they were going to lose business. 

[martinfan5]

FYI- Rustoleum does not own Testors, RPM International owns Rustoleum and Testors, they are brands under RPM Intl.

For me personally, the only Testors/MM products I used are/were the Metalizers, I am going to miss those for a short time till I transition over to Alclad, and I use Testors Dullcote , other than those two products, I have no use for Testors at this point and use Tamiya and Mr Hobby for my brush painting needs.   Since I build automotive subjects, the small depth of the paint line is a none issue for me.  

 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by martinfan5

[Tom Geiger]

Guys it’s a matter of business and decisions are made based on facts and metrics that we are not privy to. 

The paint business is complicated. There are enormous EPA regulations that get tougher all the time and everything that doesn’t leave the plant as product in the can leaves as haz material which is expensive to get rid of. 

The cost of the product itself is nil. It doesn’t matter if it’s the little Testors can or the large Rustoleum can, product cost is about the same. Same for the can. Where the cost comes in is the size of the run. The smaller Testors can costs more to produce than the larger Rustoleum can with more product!

The larger Rustoleum can can be sold at thousands of stores across the country. Walmart, Target, Lowes, Home Depot just for starters. You can set up equipment to run Rustoleum Gloss Black, both the formulation process and packaging line and walk away. Thousands of cans! The economy of scale.

The smaller Testors cans are another story. Small market. Being kind, between Hobby Lobby, Michaels and hobby shops maybe stretching it to a thousand outlets. The runs are shorter. Change out of product in manufacturing is more costly per unit. The fluids between runs to clean out the equipment between colors  are all disposed of as haz.

Then you need to maintain staffing to sell to that smaller market, costs the same to talk to Michael’s to sell paint in small quantities as it does to sell rail cars full to Walmart. 

So in the end it had nothing to do with “serving a market” or that Testors has always sold hobby paint. It’s a matter of how can I maximize the output and profit from my factory. Using their numbers and logic we’d come to the same conclusion.

Now I’m also a believer that if there is a market to serve, there will be a smaller and nimbler company that will jump in to fill that need.   We are seeing that with kits today.   It may get interesting!

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Tom Geiger

[Dave Van]

Tamiya ads colors all the time.....let's hope the end of MM means they look at more colors. 

[1972coronet]

Perhaps I'm just cynical about business practises in general . With the (fleeting) advantage of being in my teens during the great corporate-takeover-of-everything (1980's , ad seq. ) , I saw this --instances such as this , and many more-- coming... gradually at first , then before anyone knew it , fully-engulfed . 

My entire Gen-X career has been of the Blue Collar ( in California no less --- the land of no industry ) , from being a gas jockey to working in dealerships' parts departments . I know how all of the nonsense works ; I know all about the "good old boys club" and all of its greasiness . 

I wish that I could better convey my thoughts here... I recognise that many of you , my fellow modellers , understand where I'm coming from . I've watched the erosion of small businesses , smaller organisations , smaller manufacturers ( "cottage industry" , et alia ) , and just an overall comfortable daily existence . The whole Testors-is-being-liquidated ordeal is but one example of this . 

I suppose that I'm biased against the whole "stock exchange" mentality that's infiltrated every facet of the work force : "performance bonuses" don't mean squat to me , as it's all short-sighted . I loathe the day that I return to the work force --- same play , in a different theatre , with different actors .

Maybe I'm overreacting ; this may come off as hyperbole and hysteria to some . I'm just passionate about the 40 years' coup de grâce I'm witnessing .

While I encourage continued opinions are perspective , I also implore you to keep this discussion non-political . 

Thank you !

[Deuces ll]

I'm sure gonna miss the metalizer paints.... ?

[martinfan5]

1 minute ago, Deuces ll said:

I'm sure gonna miss the metalizer paints.... ?

You and me both?

[Ace-Garageguy]

26 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

Perhaps I'm just cynical about business practises in general...

...Maybe I'm overreacting ; this may come off as hyperbole and hysteria to some . I'm just passionate about the 40 years' coup de grâce I'm witnessing .

Agreed wholeheartedly. I've been in both ends of American business...the dirty-hands hard-tech service end, and the engineering/product development end.

In engineering, I've seen the efficiency of a highly experienced small team with a can-do attitude replaced with bloated staffs of people with little-to-no hands-on experience, reluctant to speak up and primarily focused on blame-spreading, making everything as needlessly complex as they possibly can.

Much the same deterioration has occurred on the service end. If the computer in the vehicle can't tell a tech why the car is sick, they'll usually just keep throwing parts at it until it gets better...at the owner's expense...and a lot of today's "mechanics" don't really have a basic understanding of how engines, transmissions, and brakes actually work.

But hopefully we'll see a return to rationality. It's not political to say that this Covid mess has pointed out the sheer stupidity of relying on China for so much of our manufacturing and goods. 

There's plenty of room for a reemergence of the "cottage industries" that underpinned much of the American economy in days past.

[Ace-Garageguy]

14 minutes ago, martinfan5 said:

You and me both?

Me too...

[martinfan5]

Just now, Ace-Garageguy said:

Me too...

It was such a great product, I used a lot of it.

[Plowboy]

2 hours ago, martinfan5 said:

For me personally, the only Testors/MM products I used are/were the Metalizers, I am going to miss those for a short time till I transition over to Alclad, and I use Testors Dullcote , other than those two products, I have no use for Testors at this point and use Tamiya and Mr Hobby for my brush painting needs.   Since I build automotive subjects, the small depth of the paint line is a none issue for me.  

The only MM Metalizer I used was stainless steel. I bought a can of Dupli Color Stainless Steel that will last me the rest of my time probably. I'm down to my last spritz of Dull Cote. I'll replace it with Tamiya Matte Clear when the time comes.