Faller insolvent

I've just read on another forum that Faller has declared insolvency, citing falling demand for their products. This will be a very great loss to the railway modelling world.

Guys,

I belong to ETE and here is the message that I received from them today. You may want to read these items.

More bad news on the model railways front in Germany.

It looks as though Faller have been declared insolvent - see the following
<www.suedkurier.de/region/schwarzwald-baar-heuberg/guetenbach/Modellbaufirma-Gebrueder-Faller-stellt-Insolvenzantrag;art372519,3919182> (German text)

and
<www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9917> (English translation).

It's not immediately clear however if the company is completely finished (like going bankrupt in the game of Monopoly) or if it has filed for the German equivalent of Chapter 11 insolvency while its financial problems are resolved (like the current situation with Maerklin).

I was at one of the local toy stores/hobby shops in Kaiserslautern.. I mentioned Faller going bankrupt, and they were like Huh? Since when?
Anyway the store has gone through some changes in past couple years..it is half as big as it used to be. But this is going on all over the place. Germans talk of "The Crisis", but things have been going down hill for the longest.

Let's all hope that the hobby weathers the storm and comes out even better than it is now.

Not saying that it isn't good now. Just saying, that it comes out even better than now with even more variety to the point that we are struck silly.

Read in on another forum as well. The general response was "who cares? When was the last time they brought something new out, not the same stuff from the 70's in a different colour?". They did have a point.

Apparantly it is't much better at Kibri or Vollmer.

I am sorry to hear of any manufacturers problems. Out of Faller, Kibri, and Vollmer, Faller is the one who did come out with new Z scale kits in the past year. Kibri an Vollmer recycle the same tooling, but it was Faller who released the line of kits which included a station, engine house, goods shed and factory.



True, all kits are basically the same basic design with different details, but these are VERY good kits. They are fun to build and look great. I have already built the station, goods shed and engine shed. I still have the factory to do. I can't wait!

It is really sad to see the state of the current model railroad economy. A lot of great companies are going through tough times. Even more, we are loosing many exceptional dealers. I only hope get through this period very soon, and for the better. I want my Marklin back... and I want to see companies like Faller continue to develop and release Z kits.

Rob

Havoc wrote:

Read in on another forum as well. The general response was "who cares? When was the last time they brought something new out, not the same stuff from the 70's in a different colour?". They did have a point.

Just to say "who cares" is looking much to short. Even if Faller has some very good kits as Rob wrote, there are others who have even better ones.

The problem I see is that those better kits are also harder to build, especially as they mostly have to be painted which you don't have to do (even if you still can do it) with the kits from Faller, Kibri and Vollmer. And because they are harder to build they are not as perfect as the Faller kits for a newbie in Z-scale.

What I believe to see is that the community of Z-scaler developes into a community of a lot of very skilled people. They have no problem to complete even the most complicated kits. Unfortunately it makes the start into the scale harder because it sets a level of perfection that is hard to reach if one is just starting in the scale, or even in modelrailroading at all.

I believe that we also need the absolute beginners to come into the scale to reach a number of potential customers for all manufacturers. Otherwise we will develop into a group of just a few people who sometimes create a new item for each other and just are living happy on their own, but who will die out within a forseable amount of time. OK, this is just the worst case I can imagine, but I wouldn't want to see that happen.

About the situation at Faller I see it that this happens just at the wrong moment. As we could read here they were just starting to create a new line of kits which are not injection molded but laser cut, which allows for much smaller batches of items produced to repay the investment for the new item. Those should come out at the next toy fair in 2010. So let's hope that Faller can survive the current situation and still work on those new developments.

Uwe,

You are absolutely right. There are better kits on the market. I sell the Luetke Modellbahn line here in the US. I absolutely love their kits! The first kit I built was stunning. But it is definitely not for a beginner. We need the simple to build, but good quality injection molded kits to help folks start out. These kits were my beginnings and the skills I learned building these kits are now allowing me to build the Luetke kits and craftsman kits we are seeing today in the market.

Z needs all manufacturers, and all varieties of kits and kit types. This is important for the growth of the scale. I am really hoping Faller can turn it's self around.

Rob

Hello Rob,
ztrack wrote:

We need the simple to build, but good quality injection molded kits to help folks start out.

The question is, does simple to build and good quality have to go only with injection mold? The main problem I see especially in smaller (in terms of customers) scales are the investment costs for a kit. Injection molds are expensiv to make, and thus more kits are needed to pay for them, or the kits have to cost more.

With laser cutting the investment for a new kit is much less, because you don't have to make the molds (but then that means that my trade toolmaking has to suffer here... ). Now it is just a question of which material you are cutting. The only problem I see in this is with parts of different thickness or no flat surfaces.

Rob & Uwe
I haven't been around much lately, but thought i would offer this comment about both of yall's last posts. I agree that simpler kits are good for beginners to the scale, and i think that the fold-glue style of house that Karin is making with StoneBridgeDesigns are very simple, and great for both the novice and the advanced builder. The details on the kits is great, the full screen acitate windows are very easy to install, and the overall kits are designed with simplisity in mind.

If you have not yet checked them out i suggest you do, there great.

Tony B...
Wasatch Z Club

Hello Tony,
zmon wrote:

i think that the fold-glue style of house that Karin is making with StoneBridgeDesigns are very simple, and great for both the novice and the advanced builder. The details on the kits is great, the full screen acitate windows are very easy to install, and the overall kits are designed with simplisity in mind.

Unfortunately I haven't had one of Karin's kits in hand yet, but besides of the costs and the quality there is a third factor that is nessesary to get more and especially beginners into Z-scale. The items have to be available easily. They have to be in the shops that are well known to the potential beginners. Of course for us who knew about StoneBridgeDesigns it is easy to get them, but what about all those who don't have any idea about their existence. When I started in Z-scale it was because I knew about the existence of Z-scale, because Märklin did have it, and thus my local hobby shop had and still has articles of all big (German) manufacturers for the scale. But I did learn about the existence of MTL and all the small manufacturer through the internet and here especially through the different boards and discussion groups.

ztrack wrote:

Faller is the one who did come out with new Z scale kits in the past year.

Rob

I am happy I got that new factory kit! I have a huge Faller Z Scale kit collection, and I bought them to build and use, but now, they might end up valued in the collector market!

-Robert

Rob #1 & Rob #2,

Is that picture the Faller factory kit? Is that one complete kit or two kits?

Rob #3
In Hemet

Robert,

Yes, this is the complete kit. It is only one kit. Pretty impressive! It is item 282741.

Rob

its like everything else,,, i here puzzle makers are all on their way out,, even the smaller plastic companys can hardly stay out of the red. even mattel has a 12 million dollar loss this year. and its all to do with technology,,plastic was a great medium 20 years ago,, but its going to the wayside to the laser cutter and kit form,, it had to happen!!! if you can bring up an image on a computer, then run off 20,000 copys out of cardboard to wood,, box them up, and get them to the stores,, you ve just saved hundreds in molding, materials, and mostly labour. in another 15 years, i doubt you ll see nothing in a plastic form, it ll be all kits in varous mediums,,and that old plastic roundhouse stall in your garage collecting dust, will be the next collecter.!!!!canada mike