Model Forum / General / Railroads / October 2008

FROM:

****Frank A. Rosenbaum    Apr 13 1999, 3:00 am

Let me tell you a story. Along time ago, in a city called Beacon,
there lived a store called Hobbies for Men. This was a big store, that
ordered lots and lots of train stuff. At some point in the life of
this store, some one ordered a lot of Magnuson kits. When the invoice
came, it was either ignored, or thrown out, or there wasn't enough
money to pay it. Magnuson needed the money to survive (don't we all?)
and Walthers loaned them the money that was needed.  Some time later,
Hobbies for Men was shut down for many reasons that the sheriff posted
on the door. Magnuson got in line to collect on the invoice, but
didn't get enough to repay Walthers. Magnuson defaulted on the loan,
so Walthers ended up with the rights to Magnuson Models.

FROM:

****BondoBill1          Apr 14 1999, 3:00 am

All wrong Frank..sorry. About a year after Bob Lunde named a building
after me, HFM found out they were short on cash and could not
continue. MM took a little road trip, visiting both Magnuson, and PFM.
In both cases, MM bought up the entire stock of both companies and
then in his full page ads, listed PFM engines and Mangnuson kits to
the public at prices much, much lower directly to the public, than
stores could buy it for, and some kits were offered to the public ,
BELOW distributor prices. Within a month of the ads appearing all
orders from stores and  distributors stopped...Magnuson was boycotted
by the entire retail level, as was PFM. Almost a year later, Magnuson
came up with the styrene kit idea.using a new  molding technique and
moving away from resin kits. That innovation was what the hobby
needed. Sadly, MM did not have the casf flow to produce these new
kits, so they approached Walthers for a loan against opening orders. I
used to do that, I would need say $20,000 and I would offer Phil,
hrough Bill Wischer a deal, another 10 to 15% off of DN if they sent
me money. Walthers did give MM upfront money, but for some reasons not
made public, and infact, without rumors, they could not meet the
initial order. To bail MM out, WKW not only bought the MM line, but
offered both Bob and his Wife JOBS.....very positive move...****

ALL WRONG, BILL, SORRY!  (And yes, Frank, you too.)

First of all, allow me to introduce myself:  my name is Kirsten - as
in Kirsten's Corner Cafe - Bob & Lynn's daughter.  I was wandering
around the hobby area of Google's news groups and stumbled upon this.
I nearly choked.  Now, I realize this thread is nearly 10 years old,
but NEITHER post contains enough TRUTH or FACT to fill an N Scale
boxcar!  I simply could not and will not let it slide.  (Where *did*
you guys get your information?!)

Yes, this is just a news group, but - as evidenced by folks thanking
Bill for "setting the record straight" - people will take what they
read as gospel, whether or not it contains an iota of truth.  Alas,
news groups offer the perfect venue for folks to hold forth on topics
they really know very little about.  ;-p

In fact, I was amused/shocked/miffed enough to call my folks.  They
will be posting at some point over the next several days with actual
information; not hearsay, rumors and fairy tales.  (They're a pretty
swamped right now with Lunde Studios, but they, too, feel strongly
enough about the wild tales spun here to speak up.)

Yes, that's right.  You'll be getting the TRUE HISTORY from the
horses' mouths.  :D

Sláinte ~ Kirsten (Lunde) McAdam (as in Lunde Studios' McAdam
Building)

(Original thread:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.models.railroad/browse_thread/thread/7e677d30
c526bf69/816d7fe413835e90?q=bob+lunde&lnk=ol&)