# Model Power going out of business?



## wiley2012 (Dec 8, 2012)

I heard from someone on another train forum who heard from a dealer that Model Power is going to go out of business.
I actually can't believe this. I am hoping something good will happen with the Mantua line, as they were one of THE best-known original HO train makers (along with Tyco being spun off from them in the late '50s.)
They also rebranded many older Pola structures (like "Ma's Place" and some of the houses), including several that AHM and Tyco have offered in the 1970s. I imagine someone else will pick these up, but who? (Atlas may be likely.)

But anyways, this is rather surprising to me. Model Power does have some good stuff; aside the aforementioned Mantua Classics, they also have their nice MetalTrain products (might get one of their metal F7A locomotives soon), along with some decent supplies like wire, smoke fluid, various light bulbs, etc.

Any comments/opinions?


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## The New Guy (Mar 11, 2012)

wiley2012 said:


> I heard from someone on another train forum who heard from a dealer that Model Power is going to go out of business...
> 
> Any comments/opinions?


Google is void of any comment. 

I'd expect some chatter "out there" if even a rumor were being spread, so for now M8B says no.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

The New Guy said:


> Google is void of any comment.
> 
> I'd expect some chatter "out there" if even a rumor were being spread, so for now M8B says no.



You didn't check with Snopes? :dunno:


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Unless I was dreaming I remember reading somewhere that Walthers was
buying them out. They are dropping their figures (someone else is taking them).
I think Walthers will sell most of what Model Power sold.


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## The New Guy (Mar 11, 2012)

big ed said:


> You didn't check with Snopes? :dunno:


On questions of speculation I trust the unfailing M8B. Magic 8 Ball.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

The New Guy said:


> On questions of speculation I trust the unfailing M8B. Magic 8 Ball.


A Ouija board is more reliable then the Magic ball.


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

Ed and New Guy, 
You're both wrong. My wife's hairdressers second cousins boyfriends uncle ex-wife brother who once rode on a train 17 years ago says this is bunk.
Now who you going to believe? A magic 8 ball? Ouija board? Or a guy who once rode on a train 17 years ago?


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

JackC said:


> Ed and New Guy,
> You're both wrong. My wife's hairdressers second cousins boyfriends uncle ex-wife brother who once rode on a train 17 years ago says this is bunk.
> Now who you going to believe? A magic 8 ball? Ouija board? Or a guy who once rode on a train 17 years ago?


Still the Ouija board.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

That was a rumor in 2010, apparently it's still alive. 

HAS MODEL POWER GONE "TOES UP"?

The advice in that thread to call them directly seems appropriate.


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## The New Guy (Mar 11, 2012)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> The advice in that thread to call them directly seems appropriate.


killjoy.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Heaven forbid we should actually have to start building the stash of kits we all accumulate as modelers, or..._gasp_...actually try to build a model of a loco we want _with our own skill set!_ Golly...we might actually have to be...._oh the agony of the thought_...*modelers again*...._shudder_...

Oh BTW, if you click on the link in the article, you find a dead site...try this one>>> http://www.modelpower.com

I am so glad I crochet as a second hobby, I just don't know what I'd do with my time....:laugh::thumbsup:


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Well, apparently the rumors were true. 

http://www.modelpower.com/

From the home page.



> Dear Model Power Customers,
> 
> After nearly 50 years serving the hobby industry, our 3rd generation family business will closing effective immediately.
> 
> ...


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Well, apparently the rumors were true.
> 
> http://www.modelpower.com/
> 
> From the home page.


Did you run that by Snopes?


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## Davidfd85 (Jul 4, 2011)

I got that same e-mail sent to me from Hobbylinc this morning. They also said what they have in stock is all they will have, they will place no orders if not in stock at this time.


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## The New Guy (Mar 11, 2012)

I can't believe M8B let us all down. Businesses open and close, moderators come and go, but M8B is the all seeing unflappable voice of reason in an otherwise topsy turvy world.

Where shall we go? To whom shall we turn?

All is lost.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Oh well.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Oh well...guess I'll have to learn how to scratchbuild.




Oh wait...










:smilie_daumenpos::smilie_daumenpos:


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Dang it.......


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## The New Guy (Mar 11, 2012)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Oh well.


"SWING AND A DRIVE...WAAAYYY BACKKKK...GAWNEEE!"

Tom Hamilton

:appl:


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

I fear I mat appear too haughty and mocking...I don't mean to be. I started this hobby at a time when it was approaching its zenith, while still being a highly craft oriented hobby. I've seen many greater names go belly up, and many great cottage model works come and go. 

I don't sit with bated breath waiting for the latest news from the trenches. I started modeling with a straight edge razor and a scale ruler cut from a magazine, using paper matches torn from a matchbook as paint brushes--I'm not kidding. My hobby lives and breaths thru me, not the other way around. Any apocalyptic tidings of ill regarding it are all taken with a grain of salt on my end.

The old adage, _"The best way to make a small fortune in the model railroad business is to start with a large one."_ claims yet another victim. It costs well north of $250000 to tool up a new model for an average customer demand of less than 50000 units. The odds will eventually catch up...

It's not that I don't care, it's just part of the game...


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## wiley2012 (Dec 8, 2012)

It's still sad. I am hoping someone will pick up the Mantua line. Walthers will probably be a likely candidate, along with the Pola-made structures (AHM, Tyco and IHC also offered them at one time, too.)


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## MudbugnTX (Dec 28, 2009)

I am sad to see another model train company out of business. It just shows that if you do not have enough support no matter how well you talk about a company they will go under. My guess is they owed their lenders money that was not being repaid fast enough and the lenders cut the chord on them. Model train business is rough and very unforgiving.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

My guess is that the economy had a lot to do with it. People would rather feed, clothe and house their families than buy more and more new railroad items. I know that I"m very limited in what I'm able to buy. Even $20 for a new freight car is money that I can apply to utility bills, vehicle gas, or lunch meat. Model railroad hobbyists have demanded more and more detail, so the companies have been supplying that...at added cost. Higher prices equal fewer sales, at least among those of us on fixed incomes.

I have a lot of rolling stock from years past...I'll be doing a lot of remodeling and updating by craftsmanship, as Shaygetz said. It just gets down to inventiveness.


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

Sad,,

From their web site:
Dear Model Power Customers,

After nearly 50 years serving the hobby industry, our 3rd generation family business will closing effective immediately.

In 2007, our banks began an aggressive deleveraging process. They no longer approved of a profitable and paying client such as ours, which had been reliant on inventory. This is why one of the industry's most extensive lines, had begun to see much of its products unavailable on the market. Now it will no longer be seen at all.

During these past 7 years, we had made changes to the business in order to accommodate and adjust to the changing nature of the business relationship with our lenders. We had offered multiple solutions to our lenders in order to "fix" our situation, all were rejected, came with different restrictions, or offered to little too late. In all our efforts, no arrangements by our lenders would allow for Model Power to arrive at a position in which we could get back to fill our customer needs.

We would like to take the time to thank all of those whom we have worked with the past 50 years. To our customers and competitors within the industry, we thank you.

Sincerely,
The Model Power Family


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

JackC said:


> From their web site:


Must be an echo in here.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Hello.....Hello.....Hello.....Hello.....

:laugh:


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## briangcc (Oct 11, 2012)

Fire21 said:


> My guess is that the economy had a lot to do with it. People would rather feed, clothe and house their families than buy more and more new railroad items. I know that I"m very limited in what I'm able to buy. Even $20 for a new freight car is money that I can apply to utility bills, vehicle gas, or lunch meat. Model railroad hobbyists have demanded more and more detail, so the companies have been supplying that...at added cost. Higher prices equal fewer sales, at least among those of us on fixed incomes.
> 
> I have a lot of rolling stock from years past...I'll be doing a lot of remodeling and updating by craftsmanship, as Shaygetz said. It just gets down to inventiveness.


Not even fixed incomes. Look at the younger generations as well - they're getting squeezed out of this hobby. 10 years ago, you could walk into a hobbyshop and buy a blue box Athearn locomotive for between $20-30 or a blue box kit (tankcar/flatcar/etc) for $5-15. Try that today. To get into the hobby you either have to buy used or have a parent that has enough disposable income to afford the new fangled Athearn/Kato/LifeLike/etc at $200+ a pop for a loco alone. And its instant gratification - you shell out $200+ have superb details, good paint scheme, and it looks just like the one your friend bought. No craftsmanship whatsoever. 

It's the way this hobby is going - for better or worse. At some point, maybe another generation will produce some serious modelers again but until that time, I'd expect the limited runs at high costs to be the norm and don't go looking for anything in your hobby shop unless you decided to pre-order it.

My father was telling me about the woes he's having getting parts out of Athearn. All he wanted were a couple RS-3 frames. Website says parts are available but during checkout - backorder. Call Horizons and they can't find the parts they say they have in stock. We have dealt with Athearn in the past, no muss-no fuss. But this was pre-Horizons ownership. Now, looks like they're more in the production business and not in the parts business to support their product after the fact.

Sad times.


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## morrjr (Dec 20, 2012)

It's obvious to me Athearn does NOT want to be in the parts business. About a year ago I needed a replacement pilot for a Genesis 2-8-2. The part was available at Athearn for $5.00, but there was a $10.00 processing fee. I reluctantly paid the $15.00, but I will not be doing that again.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

shaygetz said:


> I don't sit with bated breath waiting for the latest news from the trenches. I started modeling with a straight edge razor and a scale ruler cut from a magazine, using paper matches torn from a matchbook as paint brushes--I'm not kidding. My hobby lives and breaths thru me, not the other way around. Any apocalyptic tidings of ill regarding it are all taken with a grain of salt on my end.


Matches as paint brushes? 
I can see you sitting at the desk painting the trains with matches. :thumbsup:


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

big ed said:


> Matches as paint brushes?
> I can see you sitting at the desk painting the trains with matches. :thumbsup:



Yup...hard to believe I actually miss those daze, I did some pretty awesome stuff from a single photograph and a few guesstimates...my scale lumber was wooden matchsticks split to size...:thumbsup:


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## wingnut163 (Jan 3, 2013)

shaygets:

there are a lot of people that dont realize how bad this hobby was back in the early 50's.
a few loco kits, very few car kits and they were just a block of wood,card sids and some under carriage pieces. a roof walk. mantua couplers an trucks, if thats what they called them.
tool were what you could make or use from real (1x1) work.
buildings were even fewer. i think the first one i remember was a coal ramp to unload with a small house, 6 pieces made up the house.
only brass track.

ah for the good old times???


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## briangcc (Oct 11, 2012)

Actually its getting bad again now.

Herald King - defunct
Model Power - defunct
Floquil - defunct

Heck I remember when Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman were thick magazines. Now they're mostly advertising. There used to be gobs of superdetailing parts from Details Associates, Details West, etc - that selection has really shrunk.

I'm sure there are others that have come and gone since I took a hiatus from the hobby.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

wingnut163 said:


> shaygets:
> 
> there are a lot of people that dont realize how bad this hobby was back in the early 50's.
> a few loco kits, very few car kits and they were just a block of wood,card sids and some under carriage pieces. a roof walk. mantua couplers an trucks, if thats what they called them.
> ...


I realize all of that, but painting with matchbook matches is a new one on me. :thumbsup:
I am surprised that you didn't use some rabbits feet for the larger painting jobs.


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## wiley2012 (Dec 8, 2012)

wingnut163 said:


> shaygets:
> 
> there are a lot of people that dont realize how bad this hobby was back in the early 50's.
> a few loco kits, very few car kits and they were just a block of wood,card sids and some under carriage pieces. a roof walk. mantua couplers an trucks, if thats what they called them.
> ...


I actually read about something like that in the HO Model Railroading Handbook (formerly the TYCO Model Railroading Manual, it was then updated in 1983, 1992 and 1998.)

I think it was around the 1960s when the hobby really took off. To stay with the connection, Mantua also helped make it possible in the late 1950s/early 1960s when they introduced the TYCO brand of ready-to-run trains. Those TYCO trains of the 1960s and early 1970s were pretty good (in many cases they were simply Mantua products branded by TYCO), but then when Mantua sold TYCO to the Consolidated Foods Company in the mid-1970s, that's when their locomotives pretty much went downhill, though they still had a lot of nice buildings and accessories (even if a number of them seemed to be imitating Lionel's products.)
TYCO's train line demise in 1993 was partly due to dwindling interest in the hobby from kids, and because rival companies like Bachmann, Life-Like and Model Power were stealing their thunder in the consumer market. (Hard to believe, in the 1970s and 1980s Bachmann was a lot like TYCO in terms of quality, and look at them now!)

I just moved up to DCC this week, and it really does show how model railroading has come a long way.


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## wiley2012 (Dec 8, 2012)

A big update, and worth the thread bump:
MODEL POWER IS BACK! ... sort of.

It turns out the Model Power business has been sold to MRC.
http://www.modelrectifier.com/model-power/index.asp

Their inventory is kind of small right now, and they all say "out of stock," but I guess they have not actually received the items for selling yet. They're even bringing back the Mantua Classics line, though it's currently not much yet...


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## Howard1975 (Jan 6, 2014)

That is good news, that Model Power (and Mantua Classics) will be available thru Model Rectifier Corporation.


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