Model Power Going Out of Business

[CBQ Fan]

No loss on my layout.  I haven't bought anything of theirs  since the early 90's.  I could not justify spending the money they were asking to see if they were any good when they were too far off from what I was modeling.  I see this as more increased market place for other manufacturers to fill with better and mor popular products.

[mmagliaro]

To answer a previous question, MP stated they were working on a metal bodied SW1500 years ago. Nothing ever came of this and now we have the MTL unit right around the corner. I was curious how far along in the tooling they got before shelving the idea.

Pola has been out of business for some time, and I think that may have affected MP's inventory of buildings. Not all of their buildings were made by Pola; their residential structures came from a different supplier. I believe they may have originated from the Lima/PMI days.

Their recent engines were made by Ajin. I actually wrote an article on how to improve the steam engines. Once tweaked, these were some of the best running engines you could buy. My traction tire equipped 4-4-0 has to be one of the finest running engines I have ever owned. It has none of the stiffness that plague Bachmann's engines and I would put the performance even above Kato's Mike. What a gem!

...

Yep.  Agreed.  The MP 4-4-0 has a better motor than the Kato Mikado, and better, lower gearing.  Traction tire + upgraded tender pickup should make it run better than the Mikado.


 

[VonRyan]

I believe the packaging states that they were made by Ajin of Korea. I am not sure whether or not they still hold the tooling.

Yea. They were made by Ajin.

-Cody F.

[peteski]

True, but that is like tooling a crisply molded part and covering it with 2" thick paint. The drivetrain is nice, but it's hard to get power to it.

Daniel's post sums things up nicely.  These can be really well running models once few small issues are addressed.

[towl1996]

Anyone remember the steamguy "review" from the A board?

[dougnelson]

Their PRR P70 coaches and PBM70 combines are excellent kitbashing bases for PRR passenger cars. But with the same decades-old Lima cars still readily available, i'm sure the Model Power cars will be easy to find for years to come.

Doug.

[John]

I've bought a bunch of these ..

[peteski]

Anyone remember the steamguy "review" from the A board?

A-board should still be online and searchable....

[OldEastRR]

Their PRR P70 coaches and PBM70 combines are excellent kitbashing bases for PRR passenger cars.

[peteski]

[im g width=801 height=600]http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/as142/bm70004_zpsed380dea.jpg[/im g]

Hey - you figured out how to post pictures! 

[brokemoto]

.........not much for me to type that ain't already been typed.  They and Bachmann were the only ones that were working on small to average sized N scale steam.  For that reason, alone, I am sad to see them go. 

They had the runnability part down.  The detailing was improving.  The major failing was a failure to heed Miranda's Maxim as explained by ke:  The poor performance of many N scale steam locomotives is almost always attributable to poor electrical contact.  Put a Bachpersonn SPECTRUM or Kato USRA Standard tender behind one of those things, and you have an excellent locomotive. 

The mogul, with an all wheels live tender would pull fifteen loaded MT gondolas and an MT wood caboose up a one per cent grade at ten SMPH.  Fifteen loaded cars was the most that I tried.  It showed no sign of slipping, which means that it probably will pull more.  MP had it down:  a decent motor, good gearing, a traction tyre (on the 2-6-0, at least.  Supposedly, they issued pacifics and mikados with the tyres, but I never saw one) and a metal boiler for weight.  Too bad about the poor electrical contact.

Maybe someone will now offer USRA light mikados and pacifics with the flaws in the MPs corrected.

That FP-7 was a good candidate for the 'entry level F-unit' of much song and story.

Their corrugated cars make nice trailer cars for the B-mann doodlebug.

Their other offerings made good donors for bashing.

I will miss them.  I wish the best to the Tagers and thank them for their service to the hobby.

[JMaurer1]

Before they started doing steam they were at best a side note or joke in the industry (just like Bachmann). Once they started doing the different steam engines, they became much better and upped their credibility...I have several (at least 8-10) of their steam engines. If you wanted a modern 4-4-0 or 2-6-0, they were the only game in town and the engines were pretty good. Of course, they really haven't done much in the past few years, probably because of the banking issues. A look at their website shows that they have next to no inventory left so they knew this was coming. I will miss them, mostly because of their steam. If they didn't step up when they did, we would still be crying for decient running small steam locomotives (other than Atlas's old timer 4-4-0).

BTW, where can I find the article about installing a traction tire onto a 4-4-0?

[Mark5]

Hopefully someone will pick up the mostly Pola structures that they sold (marketed by Atlas and AHM back in the 70s).

These are good for people getting into the hobby.

[GaryHinshaw]

Time for me to stock up on brown cows.  My condolences to the steam-heads here though.

Would anyone be shocked if there was actually more to the story?  My guess is that the bank's version would be different.

+1.

[peteski]

Time for me to stock up on brown cows. 

How now brown cow?   

You bring up another good MP product which will be missed: Their N scale figures were not only affordably priced, but they were also of decent quality.