Boy, how good we had it when Modelhaus was in business.

[GMP440]

Hindsight is 20/20.  It's interesting how good we had it when Modelhaus was in business all those years.  I bought a few things from then over the years.  Even got to meet them at the NNL East.

I wished I would have bought more.  Anyone else feel the same.  Now, I see alot of people looking for parts for those old kits.  Parts that used to be available from Modelhaus  and now no more.

Modelhaus was a great parts opportunity, but like anything else, it comes to an end.   What is everyone's take on this?

 

[Rusty92]

Never got a chance to get anything. I got on the hobby train moments before they announced no more orders. So I sat and saw some cool subjects. Like the D100 kit. And I missed out on the sale they had a while back. Makes me jealous. Also has made me realize that with resin stuff, I buy it when I can. Might not be there in a year or tomorrow. 

[Snake45]

Aint it the truth! I just picked up a couple great projects that would be easy builds if I could get new bumpers & grilles for them. Without Modelhaus, I'll have to improvise, adapt, and overcome. 

[ChrisBcritter]

A lot of small cottage industries have started to take up the slack with a few bits here and a few bits there; also many of us here have started casting rare parts on our own and sharing them with friends. I've done it here.

[CapSat 6]

Agreed- other casters seem to be filling in with rare parts production here and there. 

Harts Parts comes to mind- I have seen more replacement hoods and bumpers on their site. Also- there's a caster on eBay ("Kittypurrs?") who seems to be doing more by way of replacement hoods, bumpers & taillights & other replacement parts for Mopars lately.

Still - it was nice to have a one-stop shop where you could get nicely chromed bumpers for old cars. The Modelhaus really did fully enable the part of the hobby that restored old built kits, as otherwise, it will be nearly impossible to hunt down some of the parts that they offered. This is where the Old Kit Breakers on eBay are stepping in and, while offering some bumpers & such for $20 a piece (!!!), they're the only game in town for some subjects.    

Another unkind cut to all of this was that Chrome Tech went out soon after. It seems that Chrome Tech got the bulk of their business from the Modelhaus, so, once MH went out, Chrome Tech hung it all up, too. I used to occasionally send orders to Chrome Tech, as they would take parts in any condition, and charge depending on how much prep they had to do (untouched, stripped, or stripped/ mounted). I preferred to strip and clean them up myself, and leave the mounting to them. I'm not sure there is another model chroming operation out there who will take un-mounted parts right now, & I still have some stuff I want chromed. 

 

[Greg Myers]

Accurate Miniatures, another one gone, RIP

[Snake45]

5 minutes ago, Greg Myers said:

Accurate Miniatures, another one gone, RIP

Most of the Accurate Miniatures molds live on under other names. 

[Junkman]

One would think the 3D printing technology could solve a lot of the problems created by the demise of The Modelhaus.
Another pressing questions is who is going to fill the gap left by Bob Shebilske's retirement?

[Greg Myers]

22 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Most of the Accurate Miniatures molds live on under other names. 

Looking for a few. Where do i look ?

[Mike999]

35 minutes ago, Greg Myers said:

Looking for a few. Where do i look ?

The Accurate Miniatures 1/48 scale Avenger and Dauntless have turned up in Italeri and Academy/Minicraft boxes.

Revell bought up the remaining 1/24 scale Corvette Grand Sport kits in a warehouse deal a few years ago.  They put the parts in a Revell box and sold them at a good price. $20 in my local Los Angeles hobby shop at the time.  AFAIK, Revell does not have the molds for the Grand Sport or any other AM car kits and I wonder who does. 

For swap meet/eBay research, here's what the Grand Sport box looks like.

[Greg Myers]

I meant to say "Mini Exotics"

Edited August 10, 2019 by Greg Myers

[Mark]

33 minutes ago, Mike999 said:

 

Revell bought up the remaining 1/24 scale Corvette Grand Sport kits in a warehouse deal a few years ago.  They put the parts in a Revell box and sold them at a good price. $20 in my local Los Angeles hobby shop at the time.  AFAIK, Revell does not have the molds for the Grand Sport or any other AM car kits and I wonder who does. 

For swap meet/eBay research, here's what the Grand Sport box looks like.

I believe Academy displayed one or more of the Grand Sport kits at a trade show or IPMS convention earlier this year, which would indicate that they have the tool for those kits.

[Greg Myers]

Wonder how far AM got on their 289 Roadster project, if there are any molds?

[Toner283]

On 2019-08-09 at 11:53 AM, Junkman said:

Another pressing questions is who is going to fill the gap left by Bob Shebilske's retirement?

 

Maybe a dumb question but who is Bob Shebilske?

[Mark]

1 minute ago, Toner283 said:

 

Maybe a dumb question but who is Bob Shebilske?

 Chrome-Tech 

[Toner283]

Just now, Mark said:

 Chrome-Tech 

Thanks.

[Snake45]

On 8/9/2019 at 1:09 AM, ChrisBcritter said:

A lot of small cottage industries have started to take up the slack with a few bits here and a few bits there; also many of us here have started casting rare parts on our own and sharing them with friends. I've done it here.

Chris, I have an idea that might interest you. Drop me an email at SnakeACP45 at aol dot com. 

[Tom Geiger]

On 8/8/2019 at 10:09 PM, ChrisBcritter said:

A lot of small cottage industries have started to take up the slack with a few bits here and a few bits there; also many of us here have started casting rare parts on our own and sharing them with friends. I've done it here.

The Modelhaus concept of providing parts for obsolete kits is wide open. Just cut 1000 molds that may sell 5-10 copies a year. As in, you may need a hood for a 69 Chevy, but how many can one sell?

If it was a gold mine someone would’ve copied it by now.

[CapSat 6]

On ‎8‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 12:43 AM, Tom Geiger said:

The Modelhaus concept of providing parts for obsolete kits is wide open. Just cut 1000 molds that may sell 5-10 copies a year. As in, you may need a hood for a 69 Chevy, but how many can one sell?

If it was a gold mine someone would’ve copied it by now.

Now Tom- you probably know as well as I do that almost every slightly distressed '63-'65 Valiant promo & kit out there is missing it's taillights and rear bumper, so, at least for those parts, there is a decent market

Still- there would be no reason to repop some parts that were in their catalog...like for instance, AMT '63 Corvette parts, since that kit has been in almost constant production since the '60's. The Modelhaus' catalog did have a few things in there that there seemed to be no real need for. 

Edited August 15, 2019 by CapSat 6
more...

[junkyardjeff]

I doubt I will pick up any restoration projects that are missing parts now that they are gone,I was given a 63 Chevy II convertible promo that was missing the hood and steering wheel that they supplied the needed parts so no more.

[Dave Van]

On 8/10/2019 at 11:57 AM, Greg Myers said:

Wonder how far AM got on their 289 Roadster project, if there are any molds?

Never got to the tooling stage. R&D work had been done but never got any further. My brother in law was the art director and helped with R&D at AM II in Concord. If you have their B-25 I packaged it!!!

The AM NASCAR Taurus tooling was completed....but by the time it was done the bubble had busted. 

See it here:https://public.fotki.com/DaveVan51/accurate-miniatures/

BACK ON topic....while cleaning the model room I found two bags of wheels and tires I bought from Don but had misplaced!! It was like Christmas!

[misterNNL]

I have been friends with the Holthaus' for years and Don told me there were a few people interested in buying them out until they would need to willing to work 10 to 12 hours a day to produce everything needed to fill their orders. Don often worked 16 to 18 hours a day. That type of dedication to anything is unheard of these days. That's what happened to their business.

[MrObsessive]

Tom, that's what I had heard too among other things.

It's no small feat to do what they did......and for all those years! The last time I saw Don and Carol (Toledo NNL in 2015), I could tell that it was wearing on them. Glad to see that they can finally take it easy, although I heard Don is still casting some things, but nowhere near spending the amount of time that he once did.

[Xingu]

What happened with Modelhaus can happen with any of the other companies. If you see something you need, you might want to buy it. It might not be available tomorrow.

[misterNNL]

The rule of resin is simple.."see it,like it,buy it"