Grandt Line shutting down

[Ray Dunakin]

I just got word that Grandt Line is closing shop. They hope to be completely closed by June.

[Mr Potato Head]

What will we DO
Will Keith Wiseman come through like Mighty Mouse to save the day!
MPH

[finescalerr]

I'm surprised the hobby side of Grandt's business has lasted until now. The medical side may stay afloat. Cliff was the main reason Grandt Line continued. When he was gone nobody really cared much about it and we all know how the tooling wore out. Of course, fewer hobbyists are around and a much smaller fraction wants to build. Even so, its closure will be an enormous loss to modelers. Unfortunately 3-D printing seems too immature to take its place.

Prediction: Hobbies gradually will revert to how they were in the late 1940s to mid/late 1950s. We'll have to scratchbuild more of what we want. One man part-time businesses will provide more of what we want. Technology will help us produce higher quality parts but the more sophisticated of us probably will have to rely much more on helping one another because many of us have particular expertise in a specialized area. I might provide printed artwork or help with CAD; Ed Traxler may help design 3-D printed parts; Helmut might help with machining ... that kind of thing. Personally, it may make hobbies more fun (eliminating businesses) and possibly improve the overall quality of serious modeling for those few of us who remain. I sure hope so.

Russ

[Design-HSB]

I've never bought anything at Grandt Line or comparable stores here in Germany. My hobby is to make my own models and not to buy oneself. As long as I can buy tools, colors and raw material, I will continue to enjoy my hobby. I'm sure you know that Frithjof, Volker and I help and support each other. I think that's the future of our hobby. Of course, we also give parts for 3D printing and let us pour out parts. I also have a friend who has a professional etching company who sends my CAD data and gets the etched back sheet. If there is something ready to buy, which helps me, I do not have to do it myself , Again and again I dream of being able to produce one or the other for a model myself better. Every Monday evening, a modeler comes here from close to me and we build together on our models.

For me, modeling is about building itself, that's crucial to my hobby. I was just at a model making meeting, there was a group that operated their model trains partly on raw undeveloped segments. This group is almost exclusively about driving. My models all have to work reliably and excellently. Only when this condition is reached do I like to show it on a show, but at home I only use my model train for a test. If it works, I have an idea again what I would like to build new and a game with the train would only stop me from building. The worst part is, I still have a lot more ideas for models like models in my life still can build myself.

[detail_stymied]

I always thought their styrene castings were quite nice.

[lab-dad]

Sad but not a surprise...

Helmut posted exactly my philosophy when I switched to 1/16th scale.
By making the change i have to make nearly everything.

I have been helped GREATLY by Chuck, Volker, Ed and Unc. and many others.
If anyone ever want help - please just ask.
I'm glad to do whatever i can as a mediocre machinist and a very green 3D drafter...

Marty

[Lawton Maner]

I hope that Tichy can pickup some of the slack.

[Barney]

 Grandt Line closing  - I Have used Grandt bits for well over 30years but it has become obvious that there standards have dropped especially the last few years - many discontinued items / the lower the part number the the worse the quality (Due to age) but no signs of starting again to improve the finish of the part - small parts/ nuts /bolts and rivets being the worst !! - Most kit producers often state "now with new moulds " because of the age of the kit or the bits - while others just sit there and take the money ! - I know the size of the company goes a long way and investing in stuff now days is a risky game - but there is nothing wrong in cutting back and concentrating on the stuff that sells and being interested in your business  it goes a long way to please the punter - there is still some very nice Grandt
products / casting and I can only hope that some one will take it on but introduce a new range of nuts /bolts and rivets
Barney
Russ - whats the "Medical side of Grandt Line Products ?   

[finescalerr]

As I understand it, Grandt produced plastic parts for the "medical field". I know nothing more than that. Whatever the parts are or were, they provided the family's income and covered overhead for producing the modeling parts. It makes perfect sense when you consider how few small businesses actually do better than break even in the hobby industry. -- Russ

[Mobilgas]

Sad  I for one DONT want to have to scratch build EVERYTHING  on a project I'm doing.....and 3D is nice....I don't know how to do it and don't want to put in tons of TIME to learn how to use it at my age 63  Grant Line made lots of stuff for O scale narrow gauge and to be able to just BUY what I wanted was NICE a hell of a lot better than making it yourself or in my case PAYING someone to do the cad work for me.....I tried it once on doing some 1/2 inch stuff years ago on my gas station build.....it was costly. So with all the company's dropping  like FLY'S I believe it makes things harder on all of us 

[detail_stymied]

could we at least, if not agree, acknowledge that we're losing a piece of "hobby history"?

if you have a friend that dies, will someone stand at their grave and say "you guys can go out and make another friend".

just like Ken Kidder, Rollins House Miniatures, and many, too many, more, the Hobby has lost a contributing member.

Grandt Line RIP - and Thank You for all the great things you've done for the Modeler.

[Ray Dunakin]

Grandt Line RIP - and Thank You for all the great things you've done for the Modeler.

Yep, end of an era. They did a lot for the hobby, especially narrow gauge.

[finescalerr]

I definitely understand why Craig feels as he does. I'm not crazy about scratchbuilding absolutely everything, either. Here's an interim idea:

I was talking to Jeff Saxton earlier, a professional modeler with whom I've been friends since I first began publishing. He was a frequent contributor to my magazines and created some of large scale railroading's most inspirational early models. When I told him about Grandt he said something about having used a laser to create large scale NBWs. I guess I'll get more details from him tomorrow but it seems it would be possible to create those parts with a laser by cutting circles and squares, each with a hole through the center and then stacking one over the other and sticking a round or square rod through the holes. It might be a little fussy but you'd have an NBW feasible for the larger scales.

If Jeff could do that twenty years ago, somebody now may come up with a way to provide the details we need using whatever technology is currently available. Or someone else might tool up for limited production injection molded parts. While I also miss Ken Kidder, Grandt, et al., and while nobody lasts forever (including me), substitutes usually appear.

Russ

[detail_stymied]

apparently the "military guys" have shunned GL for years since the molds aged and their detail became soft. I've seen great reviews of these: http://inscale.org/public/?p=10160

of course there'll be up and coming new players, but it doesn't minimize the loss of a Leader.

[Lawton Maner]

Some of the newer parts such as the Russian made rivets are fine for those working in larger scales, but those of us working in smaller scales will not have what we are used to.  I guess eventually I will revert to making rivets from dress pins as I did as a teenager.