UH-Oh. Floquil and PollyS are going away

[C855B]

Wow... my fubar, guys. Sorry.    I somehow had it firmly in my head that Floquil was some old-school traditional founder-and-family operation and that the RPM acquisition was moderately recent. Chalk-up my "business plan" thing to soreness about my own corporate-life experiences and total ignorance about the topic at hand.

I do, however, share the concerns that the low-quality product is the survivor of the shakeout. Makes no sense. Even if there are changes to the palette to include railroad colors I can't see for a minute that I would risk my good airbrush to the in-a-pinch dreck I generally used my cheapest brushes with.

... Creating product for weathering and scenery has been more of the focus as train cars have moved to pre-decorated. ...

Which begs the question... what about the emerging trend in factory weathering?

Anyway, they contend that fewer people paint (and decal) their own railroad models any more. I dunno... that might be a valid point. We're demanding more finish and lettering quality from the RTR manufacturers, and they have stepped up to the plate, generally speaking. Leaves minority-line modelers out in the cold, but as mentioned previously so does the reduction in variety from Microscale. I know that I would be very hard pressed to get the same level of quality out of my own painting and decaling as is now available store-bought.

[Hyperion]

There's absolutely no doubt that Testors makes infinitely more revenue on its Model Master line than its PollyScale and Floquil lines.  By an extremely large order of magnitude.

But, I can tell you as someone very active in the 1/35-1/350 model communities, the MM line which was once far and away the dominant force in scale modeling, is dying a rapid death.  Testors itself used to be about the only option at the entry level -- entry level items are virtually non-existent with the decision of Wal-Mart to drop models a few years back, and now entry-level basic Testors items are mostly only found at Michael's/Hobby Lobby, and rarely found in 'proper' hobby shops.  The Model Master line was the step-up for those who took modeling 'seriously'. 

However, the last 10 years as seen many, many new entrants and expansions of existing ones.  Additionally, recent new popular weathering techniques have often been oil-based, and can be done straight over Acrylics without any issues.  Using a MM paint meant a necessary acrylic sealant coat -- an unnecessary hassle, when an ever-growing number of new entrants were providing superior acrylic paints.  And, what's more, doing it as part of an overall full lineup of finishing products:  note the official Testors comment above on their expansion into a new weathering lineup -- a HUGE market for scale modeling now that have made lines like MiG and AK-Interactive tons of money and massive product expansions in extremely short amounts of time.

Walk into any big hobby shop with a focus on scale modeling, and you'll find a ton of new paint racks that aren't MM.  And often the Model Master rack is disorganized, often due to simply FAR FAR too many colors that were often redundant with one another and no shop could ever hope to hold them all, so they ended up stacked on top of the rack haphazardly.  And, over the years, a noted increase in the dust on said bottles.

New paint lines from Andrea, AK-Interactive, MiG, and Scale75, and expanded lines from LifeColor, Vallejo, and Humbrol, all of which were acrylic, makes it clear where the market is going.  And it's somewhere Testors simply is not at..  They simply do not have a good acrylic lineup for scale modelers -- the horrible Acryl line is an insult to scale modelers.  Even Tamiya can absolutely still claim to have a superior acrylic product, though I'm certain it's also losing significant share to the above (and hurt by years of production issues of its own as well).

So, all the above, to get to my point...

If I were a betting man, I would bet the real issue is really that Testors core market has been decimated in the past several years, as the market has rapidly moved to Acrylics.  And, what's more, acrylic's sold as a full package solution.  Almost all the new lines I mentioned above, sell their product as entire 'theme' packages (i.e. buying a box set of all colors to paint a German tank in common yellow camo, etc).  Additionally, most sell them as part of a cohesive full finishing solution with various weathering items as well (oils, chipping fluids, washes, filters, etc).  So you make it easy as people don't worry about what is going to be 'compatible' with what.  You stick with one lineup for all your products.  You buy their books, their DVDs, their magazines -- all dedicated to selling you more of their product via beautiful examples of models created with their products (by superb experts who could do that with a box of crayons, but that's another thing altogether).  The market is moving towards people that want "all-in-one" solutions.  And Testors was left in the dust.

Faced with that reality, they've likely decided to put their resources into a single product.  And they decided to stick with what they know and what they think will stick around.  They probably feel more likely to succeed in something they're more familiar with, and they seem to think that ready-to-run and the almost complete demise of Undecorated means an ever-shrinking, if not completely dissapearing, market for MRRing in the long-run.    I can see their logic there.  But I can also see the point of perhaps sticking with the one market you're not getting your a$$ handed to you at quite yet.

[up1950s]

So now we paint
CB&Q .............. Ferrari Red
UP diesels ....... School Bus Yellow
Steam Locos ... Rubber Tire Black
PFE ................. Pumpkin Orange
CR .................. Smurf Blue

[randgust]

The irony here is that with the emergence of rapid prototyping, the entire world becomes undecorated again.

And the paint forumulation is critical.  FUD is not completely friendly to everything.  Ya gotta learn to paint.

[Lemosteam]

And learn to mix paint!

[Catt]

Fired off a email to Testors at 11:45 PM last night.Got this reply at 12:04 AM this morning.

Hi John, thank you for your email.  Decisions such as these are never easy.  Trends in model railroading have changed over time.  Creating product for weathering and scenery has been more of the focus as train cars have moved to pre-decorated.  The good news is that the same great products for weathering and scenery can be found in Testor's CreateFX line that is available now.  Please check your local hobby shop or www.testors.com for information regarding this product line.
 
We appreciate your passion for our business.  We look forward to introducing you to this exciting new product line that is great for today's modeler as well as future generations.
 
Thanks, Kristin

[DKS]

Fired off a email to Testors at 11:45 PM last night.Got this reply at 12:04 AM this morning.

Hi John, thank you for your email.  Decisions such as these are never easy.  Trends in model railroading have changed over time.  Creating product for weathering and scenery has been more of the focus as train cars have moved to pre-decorated.  The good news is that the same great products for weathering and scenery can be found in Testor's CreateFX line that is available now.  Please check your local hobby shop or www.testors.com for information regarding this product line.
 
We appreciate your passion for our business.  We look forward to introducing you to this exciting new product line that is great for today's modeler as well as future generations.
 
Thanks, Kristin

Can we say 'form letter'?

After reading all of this, I stand by my initial assessment.

[asarge]

Loved the initial assessment, short , sweet, no sugar coating.

So now change is coming in a hobby where change is not a very welcome word. But change is coming. Tbe questions are now; how does this affect the manufacturers? What's left and how extensive is their portfolio?

[rogergperkins]

I like the Polly Scale paints.
It is still unclear to me if Testor's is simply reducing the number of brand names they currently have for hobby paints,
NOT eliminating the actual type of paint.

I checked their Facebook page, but so far have yet to learn whether my favorite paints will no longer be available
or if it is only the bottles with that Polly Scale brand.
By the by, MODEL COLOR offers a great line of acrylic paints that seem to be big in the military model market. 

[Hyperion]

I like the Polly Scale paints.
It is still unclear to me if Testor's is simply reducing the number of brand names they currently have for hobby paints,
NOT eliminating the actual type of paint.

I'm sure if they were just eliminating the brand, and not the actual paint, they'd have made it clear pretty early on.  Something "don't worry, you'll still be able to find your favorite paints, but now they'll be branded under the [insert a bunch of self-aggrandizing superlatives] Testors Model Master lineup!".  Instead of the "So sorry.  Have you looked into our new line of weathering products?" line that they're giving out now as their form response.

[kalbert]

Fired off a email to Testors at 11:45 PM last night.Got this reply at 12:04 AM this morning.

Hi John, thank you for your email.  Decisions such as these are never easy.  Trends in model railroading have changed over time.  Creating product for weathering and scenery has been more of the focus as train cars have moved to pre-decorated.  The good news is that the same great products for weathering and scenery can be found in Testor's CreateFX line that is available now.  Please check your local hobby shop or www.testors.com for information regarding this product line.
 
We appreciate your passion for our business.  We look forward to introducing you to this exciting new product line that is great for today's modeler as well as future generations.
 
Thanks, Kristin

Has anybody looked at the CreateFX line?
http://www.testors.com/category/667494/CreateFX

Looks like it's just new branding for the same old crummy enamel paint and crummy accessories from the square bottle basic line. They're going after the arts & crafts segment, but without investing in any new products designed to meet specific needs of the customer, just flashy new packaging with more appeal.

Some of the other products are still there. These textured paints used to come in a Floquil can, but the little train logo on the wrapper probably didn't identify with scrapbookers  the way FX!!!! does.
http://www.testors.com/category/667790/Enamel_Texture_Paints

Here's your Floquil rail weathering pen kit in the new improved FX!!!! line:
http://www.testors.com/products/667499

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I never understood what those old Testors enamels were good for. Did any of you use them for anything beyonds "arts and crafts" time?

[C855B]

I never understood what those old Testors enamels were good for. Did any of you use them for anything beyonds "arts and crafts" time?

Beyond my pre-teen model planes? Nothing really. Never used them on trains. Last thing I used them for was color-coding assembly parts on an electronics project - nothing more than a dot with a Q-tip. Pretty much the limit of its usefulness.

[VonRyan]

I'm diverting my money to invest in much needed polyscale and floquil colors, and once they are no more to be had I will not buy another testors product... even dullcoat.

Possibly drastic to say the least, but I will be letting testors know exactly what i've said here.



-Cody F.

[DKS]

I never understood what those old Testors enamels were good for. Did any of you use them for anything beyonds "arts and crafts" time?

Sure. I have a small collection of them I use mostly for touch-ups, like putting a dab of flat black on the top of a smoke jack, or using their "rubber" color to repair a small spot where the rust patina on, say, a bridge girder got chipped off. Another thing I use them for is structure interior detailing, where the finish isn't critical; I'll use 4-5 different colors for things like bookshelves or whatever. It cuts down on the opening and closing of my "good" paints.

I'm diverting my money to invest in much needed polyscale and floquil colors, and once they are no more to be had I will not buy another testors product... even dullcoat.

Possibly drastic to say the least, but I will be letting testors know exactly what i've said here.

Unfortunately, this may make you feel a little better, but it will have exactly zero effect on Testors. Remember... with very rare exception, boycotts never work.

Besides... Dull Cote is still one of the best flat finishes out there.