MakeMyModels - what happened?

[ljudice]

Anyone know why they seemed to stop adding to their catalog in March??

The vehicles were chunky, but I thought they had a lot of promise...

[Pray59]

I bought a lot of the MMM stuff, and found it a hassle to paint, a hassle to cleanup the wax residue, and too easy to break, so after dumping a few hundred dollars on their stuff, I stopped buying RP. Same with Searails RP stuff, just too much work to clean, and paint, and too fragile.

I wonder if other people are having the same issues an are giving them feedback?

-Robert

[ljudice]

I agree - in one case I had a very strange situation where a model I painted simply never dried. 

What I don't understand is why they put effort into stuff other people had already done in plastic - instead of really unique things - for example, maintenance of way equipment (which usually does not have a lot of compound curves, which introduced the aliasing flaws in their models). I am sure there are a lot of other examples...

[DKS]

Same with Searails RP stuff, just too much work to clean, and paint, and too fragile...

Searails is on my do-not-buy list. With a few exceptions, most of their stuff is so crude it's almost embarrassing. Worse, they ship their fragile items in tiny paperboard boxes that easily get crushed in the mail. I had placed an order for a backhoe, a bulldozer, a Chevy and two tractor-trailers. The first time, they shipped the backhoe and the two tractor-trailers, and everything was broken. I told them to re-ship in better packing materials, and I'd pay extra for it, but they shipped the order again (this time sending me a backhoe, two tractor trailers, plus a trailer-train I never ordered) in the same packing materials as before. Guess what? It was crushed again (amazingly the backhoe survived, but nothing else did). I emailed them about this, and I never heard from them again. They still owe me everything but the backhoe, but now I really don't care anymore.

I must also agree about what a pain it is prepping and painting these models. These laser-fused-acetate guys seem to think they can do anything with this technology, but the truth is, it's not the case. RP (rapid prototyping) technology was developed for prototyping and analyzing mechanical parts or creating architectural representations, not producing finished deliverable model products. You can maybe get away with making small scenic detail items where the finish work is not critical, like the culverts and the water main valves MMM sells, but vehicles? Leave this to the spin-cast-metal and injected-plastic folks, please.

[ljudice]

David, I agree, I saw those culvert sections and thought - this is perfect for them, since the texturing is probably about right.

I have managed to get a couple of their truck mounted cranes into nice shape, but I remounted them onto modifed Atlas trucks. Lots and lots of tedius and careful sanding - and one ended up in the trashbin.

Lou

[Chris333]

M4's stuff is a little bit better than Searails and MMM. I don't understand the Searails car club at all. The first order from them said 4 1955 Chevy's on the label, but there was only one inside. They did re-send the other 3 (with the same trail-train?)

The 49' mercs are nice, but still too fragile. One had half the bumper missing and all have problems at the back side skirt. Like I said before I don't need detail under the model.

[Mark5]

M4's stuff is really good.

The other stuff above looks like crap in the pix I've seen. 

[DKS]

M4's stuff is really good.

Yes, M4's is the best of the lot. Trouble is, there is so little of it. This is not a criticism of Mark, by any means, just the reality.

[tom mann]

What kind of RP machine does Mark have compared to the others'?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

My guess: a better one.

[ljudice]

Don't quote me on this - but I believe most of these people use a machines that costs in the $10k ORDER OF MAGNITUDE - while M4's is more in the $50-100K range. This is not based on anything I was told directly, just a survey of what is out there and some knowledge about which machines are in use...

[Catt]

I bought one MMM truck.Nice enough looking but a pain in the a$$ to paint.I emaled him and asked how to take them apart so I could detail it some.He asked me why.Then I suggested he offer his trucks as kits and he wanted to know why.I haven't wasted any more money on him.I keep waiting for Mark to produce the vehicle items he was planning to make.Hope he does while I'm still able to use them.  ;D

Yes,I know he had problems with the fellas that shipped his stuff to NZ.

[sirenwerks]

Am I missing something? The only "vehicle" M4 has listed in N scale is a replacement dump bed, in N on their web site. Do they have other vehicles not listed on their site?

[3rdrail]

Am I missing something? The only "vehicle" M4 has listed in N scale is a replacement dump bed, in N on their web site. Do they have other vehicles not listed on their site?

No, there have been discussions of other models, locomotives, freight cars, and road and off road vehicles, some even reached the three dimensional drawing stage, AFAIK. But, they are not available, yet.

[sirenwerks]

I remember seeing drawings of a bulk cement trailer, which I've been pining for. I guess the shell industry's not financing future developments or M4's just too busy in the money making side of their business to get the talked about model stuff out?