Model Master, AZTEC, and PACTRA paints discountinued

[mdvle]

Rust-Oleum, who owns the subject brands of paints, has per Model Railroader decided to discontinue those lines of paints and focus on their Testors line of products

 

https://mrr.trains.com/news-reviews/new-products/2020/04/testors-discontinues-model-master-aztek-and-pactra-brands

[F-UnitMad]

This comment by someone on that page possibly rings very true (bold added):- 

"I wonder if they will expand the line to include the colors only found in Model Master paints now? They got rid of Floquil and Polly Scale years ago and absorbed them into the Model Master line. This unfortunately shows a lot of people are not model building as they did years ago and the lack of creativity and production is being felt by various companies."

 

Reminds me of asking at one of the US specialist retailers in the UK about loco detail parts for O Scale. The reply was that detail parts for any scale were now quite rare, as modern R-T-R locos almost have all the required detail on them already.

Plus as prices have risen, I bet less people feel like kit-bashing or re-painting models these days, affecting the demand for paint, and also decals.

Edited May 7, 2020 by F-UnitMad

[mdvle]

56 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

This comment by someone on that page possibly rings very true (bold added):- 

This unfortunately shows a lot of people are not model building as they did years ago and the lack of creativity and production is being felt by various companies."

 

 

There is some truth, but it also is more complicated than that.

 

For example, 3D printing and laser cutting are both growing.  Laser cut kits have been a growth area over the last 20 years, in part because detailed models freed up time (or, another way, they are still model building but just different items).

 

But I suspect a key difference has been the demise of the local model train store combined with the ever increasing problems of shipping paint.  This has resulted in people looking and thus buying alternative sources of paint that are more readily available locally even if they are train specific, with often the added benefit that they don't have the artificial price premium that many model train products seemed to have.

[jukebox]

6 hours ago, mdvle said:

Rust-Oleum, who owns the subject brands of paints, has per Model Railroader decided to discontinue those lines of paints and focus on their Testors line of products

 

https://mrr.trains.com/news-reviews/new-products/2020/04/testors-discontinues-model-master-aztek-and-pactra-brands

 

 

That's quite a blow for us modellers Down Under, as the range was very useful considering the difficulties of getting Railmatch/Phoenix UK based colours over the years...

[daveyb]

Part of their problem is they haven't kept up with modern trends. Almost everyone I know in the modelling and train hobbies are using acrylics from the armour and game specialists like Vallejo, AK, AmmoMIG, Mission Models and Tamiya. Some of them are a bit finicky with thinner but many just use water and clean up is easy.

 

My local model shop has a rack of enamel from the Rustoleum names and no one is buying it!

 

They are a big paint firm and they are concentrating on other markets, using the aging demographic and lack of up take as excuses to concentrate on more profitable lines. 

[Night Train]

I still havent found an acrylic that works well when brush painted.