Monday, January 04, 2010 - 03:38 AM UTC
Joe Bakanovic of TMD has decided to close down his company in it's present stae and will relaunch a different company making high end products some time in the future.
Here is the message Joe posted on the TMD site:
I hope Santa was good to you this Christmas, and that you had a safe New Year’s celebration. With luck, you got most of the things you wanted, but more than this, I hope you were able to make some cherished memories with your family and friends. After all, those are the little treasures that really stay with us. Without the ones we love, what good is all that “stuff,” anyway? And, if you happen to be serving abroad, thank you for your service and Semper Fi!
Now, since the New Year is here and our celebrations are behind us, I have something I’ve been waiting to share with you. For many of you, this may come as a surprise, but my closest friends and advisers have known it was coming for a couple years. I consider myself a blessed man. For some 8 years now, I have actually made my living running a model company when most of my peers have had to settle for running their companies as a sideline to their “real” job. I’ve had some good times, and some bad ones. I’ve had some pretty sweet successes, and I’ve made some colossal blunders. I’ve made new friends along the way, and I’ve left some hard feelings behind me. I’ve learned a lot about myself: about what I can do when I really try, and - more importantly - what I can’t do. But there’s been a price I’ve had to pay for all of this, and it’s a price I’m no longer willing to keep paying. So, it is with a heavy heart and more than a bit of trepidation that I am announcing:
TMD IS CLOSING – FOREVER!
I know TMD has been through something like this before, so I wouldn’t blame you if the first thing you ask is what makes this time different. Well, this time it is for good. When I see our accountant this January, I will direct him to dissolve the corporation. TMD will ship its last order no later than March 31. After that date, I will no longer work under the TMD label. You should also know that, unlike last time, this change is not driven by business pressures. TMD is actually pretty healthy right now. 2009 was good to us. I am closing TMD for strictly personal reasons.
I also want you to know this is not a ploy to generate sales. I’m not going to pretend I am leaving the industry. Making kits for you guys is in my blood now and I love it. I just need to do things differently, to make a new start, and shutting down TMD is the best way for me to do this. I honestly don’t know what I will do next, but I’m thinking hard about starting a new, direct market company under a very familiar but very different label. I want to start a company offering a wider variety of VERY high-end products: the kind of products I’ve always wanted to make but couldn’t because they simply don’t lend themselves to mass production (if you think you’ve seen nice casting from us up until now, trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet – we just couldn’t mass produce our best work, so we never released it). If I go in the direction I am currently considering, it will mean a total re-work of the entire TMD line – and additions you’d never have dreamt of seeing TMD produce. So, if you want to wait, you should still be able to find your favorite TMD products when I get things going again. I just want to make it clear: the current product line will not be exactly the same as it is now. It could also take a while to get it all back on the market.
And there’s one more piece of business: Mike Sills’ Matilda conversions. Mike has already told me he will be staying on for whatever I do next (as will Karl). But I made a promise to Mike, and I intend to honor it. We will complete his series of Matilda conversions and updates THIS MONTH! These will be the last new products TMD will ever make. They will not be in production very long. You can decide for yourself whether or not you want to order them under the TMD label, or wait until they come out under whatever label I start next.
Finally, I want to stress that this is being driven by changes in my personal life. Honestly, it’s a little more than just being burned out, but I’d rather not go into it. All I’ll say is this has nothing to do with my health or finances. I just hope you’ll understand. If not, then I pray you’ll at least accept this as the truth and stick with me in the years to come.
And so, that’s it: the end of a road that started with of a challenge from Craig Petermann almost 9 years ago. Craig, I don’t know if you ever listen to Toby Keith, but I suddenly find myself wondering: “How do you like me now?”
-- Joe Bakanovic
I hope Santa was good to you this Christmas, and that you had a safe New Year’s celebration. With luck, you got most of the things you wanted, but more than this, I hope you were able to make some cherished memories with your family and friends. After all, those are the little treasures that really stay with us. Without the ones we love, what good is all that “stuff,” anyway? And, if you happen to be serving abroad, thank you for your service and Semper Fi!
Now, since the New Year is here and our celebrations are behind us, I have something I’ve been waiting to share with you. For many of you, this may come as a surprise, but my closest friends and advisers have known it was coming for a couple years. I consider myself a blessed man. For some 8 years now, I have actually made my living running a model company when most of my peers have had to settle for running their companies as a sideline to their “real” job. I’ve had some good times, and some bad ones. I’ve had some pretty sweet successes, and I’ve made some colossal blunders. I’ve made new friends along the way, and I’ve left some hard feelings behind me. I’ve learned a lot about myself: about what I can do when I really try, and - more importantly - what I can’t do. But there’s been a price I’ve had to pay for all of this, and it’s a price I’m no longer willing to keep paying. So, it is with a heavy heart and more than a bit of trepidation that I am announcing:
TMD IS CLOSING – FOREVER!
I know TMD has been through something like this before, so I wouldn’t blame you if the first thing you ask is what makes this time different. Well, this time it is for good. When I see our accountant this January, I will direct him to dissolve the corporation. TMD will ship its last order no later than March 31. After that date, I will no longer work under the TMD label. You should also know that, unlike last time, this change is not driven by business pressures. TMD is actually pretty healthy right now. 2009 was good to us. I am closing TMD for strictly personal reasons.
I also want you to know this is not a ploy to generate sales. I’m not going to pretend I am leaving the industry. Making kits for you guys is in my blood now and I love it. I just need to do things differently, to make a new start, and shutting down TMD is the best way for me to do this. I honestly don’t know what I will do next, but I’m thinking hard about starting a new, direct market company under a very familiar but very different label. I want to start a company offering a wider variety of VERY high-end products: the kind of products I’ve always wanted to make but couldn’t because they simply don’t lend themselves to mass production (if you think you’ve seen nice casting from us up until now, trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet – we just couldn’t mass produce our best work, so we never released it). If I go in the direction I am currently considering, it will mean a total re-work of the entire TMD line – and additions you’d never have dreamt of seeing TMD produce. So, if you want to wait, you should still be able to find your favorite TMD products when I get things going again. I just want to make it clear: the current product line will not be exactly the same as it is now. It could also take a while to get it all back on the market.
And there’s one more piece of business: Mike Sills’ Matilda conversions. Mike has already told me he will be staying on for whatever I do next (as will Karl). But I made a promise to Mike, and I intend to honor it. We will complete his series of Matilda conversions and updates THIS MONTH! These will be the last new products TMD will ever make. They will not be in production very long. You can decide for yourself whether or not you want to order them under the TMD label, or wait until they come out under whatever label I start next.
Finally, I want to stress that this is being driven by changes in my personal life. Honestly, it’s a little more than just being burned out, but I’d rather not go into it. All I’ll say is this has nothing to do with my health or finances. I just hope you’ll understand. If not, then I pray you’ll at least accept this as the truth and stick with me in the years to come.
And so, that’s it: the end of a road that started with of a challenge from Craig Petermann almost 9 years ago. Craig, I don’t know if you ever listen to Toby Keith, but I suddenly find myself wondering: “How do you like me now?”
-- Joe Bakanovic
Click Star to Rate
No one has rated this yet.
THIS STORY HAS BEEN READ 10,815 TIMES.
| Tiger Model Designs Reviews | MORE |
Sd.Kfz 234 F Pattern Tires Late Hubs  by Robert Beebe | of 1 ratings, 100% found this helpful | |
| M3 'US Marines' Stuart Interior by Jim Lewis | of 4 ratings, 100% found this helpful | |
| M3 Corrected Upper & Lower Hull by Jim Lewis | of 1 ratings, 100% found this helpful | |
| 1/35 SdKfz 234 Civilian Pattern Replacement Wheels by | |
WEB HOSTING BY
Copyright ©2021 Armorama and Kitmaker Network, a subsidiary of Silver Star Enterprises
All Rights Reserved. Please read our Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
All Rights Reserved. Please read our Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
Comments