Plastruct bought by Evergreen?

[Kentuckian]

Word around the steel mill modelers campfire is that Plastruct has been bought by Evergreen. I’m not sure what this means for the market, if anything. I’m hoping someone has more information if there is any.

[MetroRedLine]

Word around the steel mill modelers campfire is that Plastruct has been bought by Evergreen. I’m not sure what this means for the market, if anything. I’m hoping someone has more information it there is any.

This is confirmed. The new address/contact info for Plastruct listed on their website is the same as Evergreen Scale Models.

[nickelplate759]

This is a popup on the Plastruct website:

[peteski]

I hope that this doesn't mean drastic cuts in the product lines from either , or both companies.  Going by past history of company mergers and acquisitions, I don't have good feelings about that.  Many of Plastruct offerings were made from ABS (not plain Polystyrene).  I wonder if those will be discontinued.

[johnb]

this might not be so bad, we might see more uniform materials

[peteski]

this might not be so bad, we might see more uniform materials

Uniform?  What do you mean?  I prefer a variety and lots of choices.  I smell consolidation and reduction ov availabel range of products.

This happened when K&S acquired Special Shapes Co.  They killed off most of those "special shapes" Special Shapes was good for.  I used to get lots of brass thin wall tubing, rod, and shapes from SSC, but those are now gone!

[johnb]

Uniform?  What do you mean?  I prefer a variety and lots of choices.  I smell consolidation and reduction ov availabel range of products.

This happened when K&S acquired Special Shapes Co.  They killed off most of those "special shapes" Special Shapes was good for.  I used to get lots of brass thin wall tubing, rod, and shapes from SSC, but those are now gone!

one type of plastic..

[Angus Shops]

Wow, Plastruct has a huge catalogue! They list n scale people figures, n scale Spanish tile roof sheets, an n scale refinery among a bunch of other stuff. And if you happen to need an O scale  wall urinal, or G scale hot tub, this is the place.
I’ve always used Evergreen styrene sheets and strips, for no particular reason. Evergreens smaller strip sizes appear to be cut from larger sheets; if you look really closely at the narrow edge of their strips you can see what appear to be *tiny* saw marks. God knows how they do this…
I’ve always been a bit suspicious that Plastruct extrudes their strip material and that the corners of the strips are ever so slightly rounded. It doesn’t make much difference until you get down to the smallest sizes. Evergreen’s .010 x .010 is really square in cross section, while I think Plastruct’s is slightly rounded. Maybe - could be my imagination…

[peteski]

I’ve always been a bit suspicious that Plastruct extrudes their strip material and that the corners of the strips are ever so slightly rounded. It doesn’t make much difference until you get down to the smallest sizes. Evergreen’s .010 x .010 is really square in cross section, while I think Plastruct’s is slightly rounded. Maybe - could be my imagination…

I also observed the same thing:  Evergreen strips are cut from a solid sheet (you can see the saw blade marks on the side surfaces).  I bought my strip styrene from Evergreen and I mostly bougth the ABS shapes and tubes from Plastruct. I also bought my liquid cements from Plastruct.

[StarCruiser]

Everyone needs to remember that Plastruct's products were originally intended for architectural use - office buildings, shopping centers -  designing chemical/refinery plants and the like...

Now, pretty much all of that is being done with 3D modeling and printing, the market's been drying up for years. The model/model railroad side of it was just a sideline over the years and had become increasingly important to them as the rest of the market slowly shrank. Not surprised that they got bought out by another brand that had its start mainly on the modeling side.

Evergreen's a good company too - let's give the benefit of a doubt.

[nkalanaga]

Most of Plastruct's "N Scale" products used to be, and may still be, 1:200 scale.  Building details, landscaping, and structural shapes don't matter, but the vehicles and figures were noticeably too small.