Today I received my order from Champ. This is the note that was on my invoice:
CHAMP WILL BE CLOSING IT'S DOORS SOMETIME IN 2010. Check the website www.championdecal.com for a list of items and click on link for pictures. My hope is that someone will continue on, if not, I thank you for these 47 years since Rich purchased it from Max Gray. I have been here for 27 of those years and feel it is time to retire. Connie
I hope someone buys the business and keeps the doors open as Champ fills a big void in the market and I will be printing my own decals for some things if they go out of business.
Jeff
jrbernierThere are still lots of specialty decal manufactures around like Oddballs. You just have to dig them out on the Internet.
Another good decal manufacturer is Highabll Graphics, located in New Hampshire. They do mostly New England road decals, but also have a line of acessory decals including locomotive numberboards and lettering.
http://www.mgdecals.com/homepage.htm
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Your time line pretty well sums up the history. The decal 'plant' was in the old Soo Line depot building in Minot for many years. I ordered over $100+ worth of Champ decals a few years ago because I knew this day would come. The actual 'store' was in Rich's basement - This is where the plates were kept, and the finshed decals were trimed and stuffed into those small envelopes. The last time I saw Rich was at a TLR convention in Minot, and he was talking about 'retiring' at that time.
The inventory stuffed into that area was immense, and the dollar value has to be high. I have seen a LHS here in Rochester just close about a year after the owner died They could not find a buyer with the money to buy out the inventory. Microscale survives as they do lots of other decals - aircraft, trucks, & military. There are still lots of specialty decal manufactures around like Oddballs. You just have to dig them out on the Internet.
Jim Bernier
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
BillD53A wrote:
Some of us were here long before you hobby-ploppers came along and we will still be here when you have whined off into the sunset.
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Yup,I seen my fare share come and go over the years..Seen a lot come and go on this and that other forum as well.Hot today and long gone tomorrow.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
If I remember my history lessons correctly, the man who owned Champ had cancer. The lease on their manufacturing plant was coming due, and he decided not to renew the lease, and retire while he still could. He decided to sell off whatever inventory remained, then close the doors. If someone came along who was interested in buying the company at his price, he would sell. Otherwise the company would just go out of existence. The company moved out of the plant and he got to enjoy about 4 months of retirement before he passed away.
His wife and daughter continued to sell off the inventory. I don't know what became of the wife but the daughter says this is her last year in the business. If a buyer comes along, fine. If not, so be it.
If you want to buy the company, do so. If you dont want to buy it, dont. But stop whining about it.
If Champ passes into the history books, another decal maker will replace it. It has always been thus.
There are plenty of craftsman kit makers out there. And there are more and more every day. New manufacturers have come along to replace the old. It has always been thus.
I don't mind if you don't have the talent to function in this hobby. Why do you berate those of us who do?
Think I'll go to the other forum and see what new $37 foobies were anounced at last weekend's train show.
Hi...from Belgium
Well, I see all these sad news from a very far eye, but anyway when a small or a great company dissappear from the market it's a sad news for us, the modelers.
I see the same problems here in Europe, because retirement or because of the cost, some company are gone.
Unfortunately such small companies are often making very specialized products which we are looking for.
I don't speak about the bankrupcy of so many big dealers in the European train industry, which reflect the bad condition of the sector here in Europe.
About the craftsman kits, I agree since the born of the laser cutting table, we see a lot of new company making magnificient structures kit.
And the best news in Europe is the growing of makers of craftsman kits,because of the laser CNC machine.
You are lucky in USA to have such kits since so many years, It's a new kit approach in Europe which didn't have exist here or only in a very rare contribution.
On the other side hobby shop dissappear also whith a regular speed of nearly one per year here in Belgium......
Hope Champ will find a good issue.....
Marc
I need to look into Rail Graphics...
For me, I'm one of the frustrated artists who are easily discouraged. That said, when things do work out, I do enjoy it, and I'm looking forward to being able to decal a few more cars for the Gearge Washington. But, if it comes down to someone doing the same car, they're gonna do a better job than I can, and I'm going that route.
I wonder, how Microscale is doing. Not for buying-purposes, but for market comparisons. Walthers would have been a nice iea to pick up the Champ stuff, but besides the price, I can't see them as picking up a supply just to liquidate it.
-Morgan
dknelsonAt one time I would have predicted that dry transfers would virtually eliminate wet decals but there too the firms that first had model freight car and locomotive dry transfers with full lines dropped away and the method itself has some challenges that are not easily addressed. I continue to think that a carefully applied dry transfer is the most sensible method for renumbering freight cars so that you can have multiple examples of the same car but with differing numbers, almost a necessity for most car routing operations. But obviously the market disagrees.
Dave, being a freelance modeler I paint and letter a lot of equipment to my own private roadname. And, I have been in the hobby since the mid 60's. I remember the "dry transfer" craze, tried them, didn't care for them. Never had any luck with them on anything but a perfectly smooth surface, and they are way too fragile until you get a clear coat on them. You can hardly turn the model over to do the other side without damaging them. The uneven surface thing is what kills them in my view.
I suspect "model building" as it relates to rolling stock may make a comeback at some point, but no doubt that aspect of the hobby has changed quite a bit.
I use custom decals from Rail Graphics for my home road stuff, but still letter stuff for other roads, and stocked up on sme Champ items a few years ago.
Hope someone will give it a go. If I had a few less irons in a few less fires, I might consider it.
Sheldon
Welll .... craftsman car kits and craftsman structure kits are two different kettles of fish, to my way of thinking, and laser cut structure kits, while they do take (and reward) careful and meticulous work are probably more within the range of skills of an advanced beginner than a Westerfield car kit. Having said that, a laser cut television antenna kit I assembled was like trying to take a spider web apart and put it back together again. My age 57+ eyesight was not up to it.
The most logical buyer for the Champ decal art work and inventory would have been Walthers at one time, but Walthers started to lose interest in decals not long after Bill Walthers himself died in the 1960s (when he retired the only part of the operation he held onto personally was the decal printing business). Older modelers remember when Walthers was much less a presence at the local hobby shop than it is now. Back then it was standard passenger cars (and some electrics) and decals, plus the old reliable Goo, and decals -- mostly decals.
Of course in the early days of the hobby everybody handpainted or decaled their lettering. Decals had had a revival of interest in teh 50s after Athearn introduced undecorated car kits (and the first F7s only came undecorated and unpowered). Champ held on to its full line much longer than most, but as with Walthers, a lot of the art work dated from the 1950s so their investment was limited to raw materials and the time to print and package. If you go back to the early 1960s and look at the Walthers and Champ decal catalogs it is amazing what variety and scope there was. Both firms published very handy lettering books.
At one time I would have predicted that dry transfers would virtually eliminate wet decals but there too the firms that first had model freight car and locomotive dry transfers with full lines dropped away and the method itself has some challenges that are not easily addressed. I continue to think that a carefully applied dry transfer is the most sensible method for renumbering freight cars so that you can have multiple examples of the same car but with differing numbers, almost a necessity for most car routing operations. But obviously the market disagrees.
Dave Nelson
BRAKIE Even more of a disheartening situation is that Westerfield may possibly experience a similar fate in the very near future. CNJ831 ----------------------- That doesn't surprise me since those are Craftsmen kits and I'm surprise one can still buy Craftman structure kits.. I suppose the Craftsman kits will slowly disappear in the coming years.
Even more of a disheartening situation is that Westerfield may possibly experience a similar fate in the very near future.
CNJ831
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That doesn't surprise me since those are Craftsmen kits and I'm surprise one can still buy Craftman structure kits..
I suppose the Craftsman kits will slowly disappear in the coming years.
Quite to the contrary, Larry, craftsman structure kit companies are more successful and numerous today the at any time in the hobby's entire 80 year history! What with the availability of laser cutting machine time leasing for specific projects, it seems that every few months I see some new company of this sort popping up with an impressive first new kit.
The key is that one needs to read the magazines that are centered around the craftsman aspects of the hobby, or participate in many of the craftsman model railroading forums, to appreciate the ongoing revolution in this area. On the other hand, in the more general magazines and similar forums, the wide diversity of craftsman kits and craftsman modeling is all but invisible and one pretty much gets the impression that the hobby is all about RTR.
If you want an illustration of just how many craftsman kit manufacturers there current are out there, just check out the website for Valley Model Trains. In HO, alone, Pat lists 50+ such companies that he handles, and he probably lists even more than that in O scale! I think those who attended Springfield will echo this, as well, after seeing the broad selection of craftsman kits presented there.
Indeed, the original owner past away some time ago and the family has kept the company going on a temporary basis. Champ has indicated that, unless it finds a buyer soon, it will indeed close its doors for good later this year.
As some are aware, the company has been on the market for a while now but has not sold. From what I hear, the asking price is well above what the business is actually worth, especially in a day and age when most newer hobbyists (currently the hobby's big spenders) lack the talent, or desire, to paint and decal models themselves, instead limiting their purchases to only prepainted and lettered RTR cars.
Flashwave, thanks for the heads up.
I bought some N&W decals from them last year. I had a nice conversation with the owner's widow. She told me at that time that she had a boatload of decals and was going to stay open as long as she had movement on the inventory.
She was also somewhat upset about others apparently spreading rumors that the company was dead and gone, and were apparently buying decals from her at the retail price and reselling on Ebay for quite a bit more.
<edit> Just took a look at the site - obviously things have changed since I spoke to her (as far my comment in the first paragraph)
Matt Goodman,
Columbus Ohio
CTValleyRR It's a privately owned company. Sounds like the present owner is ready to retire, not that the company is going under. It's not uncommon for a small business like that, when the owner / operator is ready to retire, to just close the doors and sell off the assets for some additional cash if a buyer for the company can't be found.
It's a privately owned company. Sounds like the present owner is ready to retire, not that the company is going under. It's not uncommon for a small business like that, when the owner / operator is ready to retire, to just close the doors and sell off the assets for some additional cash if a buyer for the company can't be found.
I believe the owner passed away a few years ago and the family is still running it just selling off the inventory. It would be nice if someone could take it over. Wonder what its worth?
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
(may be old news)
Guys, we need to buy decals now from them if you want them. accordign to their homepage, They want a buyer, o they're gonna close the doors. I hate to see all those lovely decals pitched, maybe they could ebay entire lots just to keep them from beign wasted. I know I for one will miss them.
http://www.minot.com/champ/