I was reading Testors Facebook page and see they are now confirming they are no longer going to produce Model Master paints or products. I know last time we hear this it was just a rumor, but now they are saying it is so. I also emailed Testors and wait for the their response. Here is their response on Facebook, you can read it under visitors comments.
Testors Thank you for reaching out. As a manufacturer of paint products, we have a long history of producing hobby kits and supplies. To that, we are evolving our strategy to focus more keenly on Testors, our flagship brand and are discontinuing our Pactra, Aztek, and Model Master Brands as the demand for these products continue to decline.
It was bound to happen. Their quality has been declining for some time. I hate to see them go, but at least there are plenty of alternatives available.
Yeah, I hardly use them anymore. I still love the way they spray though.
They are still making enamel paints, however. They just are no longer making specific military colors. They have actually brought out some new metal tones.
I always had a problem with adhesion using MM, Hate to see anyone go but there are so many better ones out there now.
Aztek- good riddance. Probably turned off more first time a/b users that brought on board.
Yers I will miss MM but it’s an opportunity for others to step in.
Yes, they expanded their square bottle line of enamels quite a bit a couple years ago. But mostly in colors useless to military modelers. At least those enamels will still be around. I do hope that they continue to make their enamel airbrush thinner. That is good stuff.
The hobby market has an embarrassment of riches as far as paint lines goes these days.Testors/Model Master had their time in the sun, but they failed to evolve and grow with the changing market. There will be some die hards that are unable to adapt or are unwilling to put any effort into learning something else that will lament over this. The rest of us already moved on.
Oh Oh!
I knew it was coming. This is what I never understood about American Companies. Keep pulling selection and desireability and lower quality to save money and eventually create a negative market, then kill a product!
This has happened so many times in our corporate sectors, our business model is a joke in other parts of the world. Did Toyota or Samsung or Honda or Mitsubishi, make a bad product when they got us on board! NO!
Oh! sure there were duds. That’s bound to happen in any human endevour. But why do we always gain a great Market following, then Shoot ourselves in the foot?
All this Tree-Hugging Water-Saving Hype about Acrylics is just that, B.S. If you look closely at the product listing it tells you that Water Based acrylics are bad for the environments!
Now color selection. Okay, they missed some Humbrol had, like a real good looking Deck,Bleached Teak. Great for Shipmodelers! I could let Testors M.M. gas out by the bottle for say three days,and I had the greatest texturing paint I ever saw!
Going back to Acrylics for a minuts. M.M. Acrylic Glosses , " Bad Paint " Lousy brushability and cleanability. Tamiya, well all of a sudden they have their own thinner and brush cleaner. Still lousy brushability out of the bottle! Then I read folks are using Lacquer thinner on Acrylic Lacquer. Wasn’t Acrylic supposed to mean easy clean up with water ?
I give up. I guess now, I will just grab what works for me on a project and never mind brand loyalty ever again. Gosh, that’s sad too. Testors has made from me, both as a business man and a modeler, thousands of dollars going all the way back to the Fifies… Multiply that by all the Modelers who started and stayed with them, Guess they don’t need the money ,HuH??
MJames70;
Hi, I don’t belittle you your feelings. But what you fail to see is this. I am a retired Model-Builder. I still get calls to retouch or change a model I have already built. Do you really expect me to spend time trying to make the surfaces accept a new and different product and hope the color will match?
That is one of the things I liked over the years about this product. I can still take a Very old bottle of Yellow( Quite transluscent, it is!) and they match.
I had quite a mix of products in the shop, still do. But, my go to base for Client builds was Testors Model Master. Ease of use , Ease of Clean-up, Durability and Matchability and Mixability. These are reasons one holds to a certain brand for a certain job.
House-painters who,ve used Sherwin-Williams brand for exterior paint on a house, don’t suddenly switch to Joe-Mart Brand because it is cheaper. They stay with a product that has changed but consistently provided a superior product. That was, for my company the reason for the brand loyalty. Now, in the lead article the writer mentions Pactra. When in forty years have you ever seen or heard of Pactra Paint? It’s been gone since I came back from " The Nam"
quote user=“Tanker-Builder”]This is what I never understood about American Companies. Keep pulling selection and desireability and lower quality to save money and eventually create a negative market, then kill a product! This has happened so many times in our corporate sectors,our business model is a joke in other parts of the world. Did Toyota or Samsung or Honda or Mitsubishi, make a bad product when they got us on board! NO! Oh! sure there were duds. That’s bound to happen in any human endevour. But why do we always gain a great Market following, then Shoot ourselves in the foot?
[/quote]
Wow–great dissertation. I whole heartedly agree TB.
The big problem with these new acrylics is each brand requires their own support system. Some hand brush well, some do not, some require additives for thinning, flow enhancers, retarders, etc. some do not. And there does not seem to be much interoperational capability with these various brands.
These paint folks need to remember the K.I.S.S. principle. If a paint brand requires all sorts of additional steps and additives to get best results, I’m gonna pass.
Sad to see them go for sure. I used them exclusively for a while but once I sprayed Vallejo Model Air, I never looked back.
Man ain’t that the truth!
I do like their Luftwaffe colors. I currenrly have a good supply of those. I have been using Tamiya paint recently. I have been modelling so many years that severl companies are not around way back when I started. So I addapt. But MM paints worked very well for me. I’ll miss them also.
Don, Testors wrote me back and they are only making Testors line of Enamels, no Model Master products what so ever.
It’s too bad, as I grew up on Model Master, but like many others, I’ve moved on. I now use Tamiya exclusively. They are great for airbrushing and with a drop of retarder, they brush just fine. Colour selection is fine for me and I use Scalefinishes paint for car bodies. All I need.
I found the quality dropped with modelmaster. After opening, they would tend to dry up. Also, I was tired of never knowing what colours are currently available, as they were constantly discontinuing colours, etc.
Old school, I discovered Pactra military matte paints that were superior to Testors flat paints. Testors always seemed more of a “satin” than flat and their dark olive was better than Testors olive green. Remember, this was back in the dime bottle days.
But yes, I grew up with Model Masters in the 1990s and into the 2000s. I’ve gotten back to the point where “close enough” is good enough for me color shade wise.
Their 200 shades of aircraft gray and armor greens was probably their downfall.
I think that in this particular case, you have it backwards. Demand fell first, and they responded by gradually scaling back the product, until finally taking the decision to discontinue the product. I suspect that Model Master’s core customer base is made up of older American modelers in their 50s or older, and that base is dying off.
Old habits. I have been using acrylics for last three of my builds due to head aches I get with enamels , I guess this old dog can do new tricks live long and Prosper