Has anyone heard anything from Minuteman Models? I have an order I have been waiting on since September. I have called and gotten him once on the phone around Oct/Nov time frame. He said he was a one man show and that his resin was on National back order. but would get what he had shipped out to me. I have heard or seen nothing from him since. I have sent emails and those have gone unanswered. Now his website site is gone, minutmanscalemodels.com Does anyone know anything about whats going on? Thanks Shawn
This issue has come up on the Atlas Rescue Forum too. https://atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/10208/minuteman-scale-models They haven't figured it out either, but some have noted Minuteman was absent from recent train shows.
I had a similar experience with an Etsy shop selling resin prints. Luckily I was only into it for $32 but same thing - just up and gone one day. Would be funny if it was the same guy.
It hurts the Model community though, the whole Rustoleum/Floquil, Polly Scale debacle. Just because they could.
I've not. A hobby shop I sometimes visit has some old inventory of Scalecoat II that is still quite usable. I bought several bottles recently. The owner is well informed and he's not mentioned anything. Who knows though.
This was posted on another forum. "It has already been posted on Facebook that a father and son team have purchased the line. The guys name is AJ Mansur". No other info yet I am aware of.
The last I heard on another forum: "The phone number for Minuteman Scale Models has been disconnected, and their web site minutemanscalemodels.com is unreachable. Any orders that had been placed have gone unfilled" This is sad news as I've been using Scalecoat II since the brand was produced by Weaver models. In my opinion, their Scalecoat II Wash Away is one of the best paint removers available today. The only other product I've had better luck with was, Chameleon Model Paint Stripper, but sadly Custom Hobbyist Inc. went by the wayside as well. Now I know some folks will tell you they have great luck with XYZ rattle cans they purchase at the local home improvement store and I say great. My problem is, what color is Conrail Blue? What color is Roof Brown or Rust. I'm not color blind, but I do have a hard time picking the correct color off the shelf and that is why I liked Scalecoat II and Poly Scale paints. There was no guess work, I didn't have to try and figure out if the yellow paint I was holding was EL yellow, UP yellow or Railbox yellow, the bottle told me what yellow was in the bottle. Plan and simple, I'm a model railroader not an artist. I'm not knocking folks who are artist, but choosing paint colors is not in my wheel house. And just when it looked like Rust-Oleum was going to start releasing railroad colors in the Model Master line, they've now discontinued that line as well. I guess it's a double edged sword, less people are painting and decaling models now, than in the past. But there is hope, as Tru-Color Paint has been adding to their Railroad Colors catalog.
I've pretty much given up on all the old stand-bys........the availability of paint has somewhat put my spray painting on hold. The only reliable source seems to be tru color paints, especially in terms of RR colors.
Scalecoat had the best BN Cascade green out there, glad I got a couple bottles in my stash. I have enough SCLCT to keep me going for a while. Has anybody heard or seen the Mansur's on line? I am not on Facebook.
Check out Reaper Miniature's paint line. They have a service that lets you use a picture to color match their paint. Their stuff is excellent and US produced.
The following maybe of some help. It was put out by Joe Fugate of MRH back when Floquil was no longer available. It might help someone yet today. 58. MRH14-12-Dec2014 (testors.com)
