This morning, while surfing my usual haunts on the Interwebs, I came across a post that announced the passing of Robert Reder, founder of Monogram Models. My modeling career may have started with a Revell kit, but it most certainly was honed on Monogram's products. From the Snap-Tite kit of the L'il Red Baron, to the actual Red Baron show car, and through their line of 1/48 scale World War Two aircraft kits, Monogram Models kept me occupied for many an hour as a youngster.
Another recent passing that I've learned of is that of George Toteff, long time employee of Aluminum Model Toys (you know them as AMT) and later as the founder of Model Products Corporation (MPC). One of George's lasting contributions to the hobby is slide molding, since a car body could be molded in one piece. Before that, bodies were multiple pieces that had to be assembled–fine for kits, but for promotionals, not so much.
And, while not confirmed per se, another thread has announced that Accurate Miniatures is again gone. When the first iteration of AM hit the scene, their new kits of previously kitted subjects (SBD Dauntless, TBF/M Avenger, early B-25 Mitchell, all in 1/48 scale) were head and shoulders above the previous kits of those subjects, and they also introduced new kits of others (Allison-engined P-51's in 1/48 scale, McLaren M8B, and Grand Sport Corvettes in 1/25 scale). While there were issues–mainly releases of kits many months or years after they were initially announced–the kits were then and continue to be quite good. The original company, according to the Wikipedia article, ran into some trouble and became insolvent. The company was bought and while high hopes spread, the simple fact is that nothing truly new was produced. They released the SB2U Vindicators that the original firm had done the tooling for, and they also released some Monogram kits (1/72 scale P6E, P-51, P-40, and F-4C and F-4J; 1/48 SB2C Helldiver), none of the new owner's announced new tool kits–or even modifications of the existing kits–came to fruition. What a shame…although someone will probably pick up the pieces and start again.
Thanks for reading. Save a thought for the Reder and Toteff families and the employees of Accurate Miniatures, be good to one another, and as always, I bid you Peace.