www.papermodelstore.com

[Gman93643]

www.papermodelstore.com

Are they down or no longer in business?

[The Orange]

Probably some site issues, I doubt they're out of business, as I had just contacted Krys via email last week or 2 ago.

[Gman93643]

just wondering. It is still down today...

[KCStephens]

Appears that it's still down :(

[RAFleischman]

I've been wondering what's going on, there hasn't been any new products listed on the website in a very long time.

[Gman93643]

me too, still down...

[Darwin]

I have the strong feeling that on this side of the world, eBay is the only source of printed kits....and even there, it is getting downright difficult to purchase a legitimate, non-pirated kit. And, regardless of what they might say, the European vendors are decidedly not friendly to North American customers.

[SJPONeill]

Never had a problem ordering from European paper model retailers, apart from my first modele-hobby order where their confirmatory email went straight into my spam box and I didn't find it for a week or so...

[RAFleischman]

I take exception to the comment "European vendors are decidedly not friendly to North American customers". I received my first order from "Der Kartonmodellshop" at the beginning of the year and it was great...fast delivery (at a reasonable cost) and great communication. I was so pleased with it, I wrote it up in the "freshly unpacked" section.

Russ

[eatcrow2]

Nothing but prompt and courteous service on all my transactions with overseas vendors... GPM.. Orlik.. Modelik...

[The Orange]

Ah, still no word. Does anyone have personal connections with Krys? It's really sad to see a US Based Papermodel Vendor go under (The last US one huh? At least for physical, pre-printed kits?)

As for Kartonmodelleshop, I just ordered from them, and they are extremely great to deal with. All my experiences with European vendors are excellent as well - though the shipping of course costs an arm sometimes. (I found Kartonmodelleshop charged pretty low shipping as compared to others, however, their kit pricing is kinda up there).

[wag]

I just checked a moment ago, papermodelstore.com is back up.
Wayne

[Darwin]

The site is back up, but shows no activity in the way of new merchandise. For a while there, I was in hopes that maybe the site was down to update it for added stock.....not to be, I guess.

[ARMORMAN]

I have been emailing or on the phone with various U.S. vendors for the last week or so. One of the reasons there is no updates with paper model store is because no one has been buying his stock (something I will shortly be rectifying on my end) and as it is a bit pricey to import more when no one seems interested....

[Fraa]

One of the reasons there is no updates with paper model store is because no one has been buying his stock

That is actually quite interesting. I can think of quite a few reasons of this.
I think a simple truth works here: if one doesn't update his wares, it's hard to lure customers to shop at all. I suspect, a lot of PMS old customers turned to European retailers to buy any new releases. The economic climate may play a role as well.

There is also another reason, it seems. Much more profound. It's my personal conclusion based on observation of English paper modeling forums for the last few years.
It's quite fascinating to observe a proliferation of easy and quick designs available in a digital form. There would be nothing wrong with that by itself, if that would translate in more interest for more advanced designs, which are usually offered by pre-printed kits. A natural (at least to me) progression from simple kits (let's be honest, such are most of the digital ones with maybe one exception - GreMir models) to more advanced (pre-printed) is broken, at least in North America. There is this culture of paper models being relaxing and fun toys rather than true scale models. As a community, we don't really care if people new to the hobby advance in their craft. Even more experienced modelers seem not to care much about their own progression in skills. One doesn't have to be even a decent paper modeler to enter a prestigious realm of paper designers <rolling eyes>.
Frankly, as much as this saddens me, in the long run there is no place for Krys' store. His base of customers doesn't get any bigger, only smaller.

[RAFleischman]

Here's my 2 cents...I e-mailed Papermodelstore before I placed my order to Germany to see if he could get the kits I was interested in. I never even received a response! Customer service counts for something!

Russ

[SJPONeill]

Have just emailed about placing and order so will see what comes of it...

[Fraa]

Here's my 2 cents...I e-mailed Papermodelstore I never even received a response! Customer service counts for something!

You're right of course, Russ.
The older PMS customers know that Krys is pretty bad at "customer service". This is part of the folklore of this place, LOL. That's said, I've never had any problems with my orders. If for some reason Krys didn't have particular kit I ordered I always received a prompt refund. The kits always arrived safely packed, and delivery was fast.

[yshr]

sent email at 6PM today and got response in hour,Kris wrote store is working. I placed order and got email confirmation.

[Gil]

I order from Krys often and have always had a positive experience...,

+Gil

[SJPONeill]

OK then - I didn't receive a response to my inquiry at the same time but will look at proceeding with an order and see what happens...

[ARMORMAN]

Got my order I put in in about a week.

[GunnerGreg]

There is also another reason, it seems. Much more profound. It's my personal conclusion based on observation of English paper modeling forums for the last few years.
It's quite fascinating to observe a proliferation of easy and quick designs available in a digital form. There would be nothing wrong with that by itself, if that would translate in more interest for more advanced designs, which are usually offered by pre-printed kits. A natural (at least to me) progression from simple kits (let's be honest, such are most of the digital ones with maybe one exception - GreMir models) to more advanced (pre-printed) is broken, at least in North America. There is this culture of paper models being relaxing and fun toys rather than true scale models. As a community, we don't really care if people new to the hobby advance in their craft. Even more experienced modelers seem not to care much about their own progression in skills. One doesn't have to be even a decent paper modeler to enter a prestigious realm of paper designers <rolling eyes>.
Frankly, as much as this saddens me, in the long run there is no place for Krys' store. His base of customers doesn't get any bigger, only smaller.

I have to respectfully disagree. Having purchased a fair number of European printed kits (and a fair number of digital ones as well), I would say that the quality of the digital models being produced here in the USA is at least on par, if not better than, many of the "professional" kits being printed in Europe.

Also, the quality of finished work that I'm seeing from modelers on this side of the Atlantic is pretty damn good.

[ARMORMAN]

Fraa,

...digital simpler? really? Let me show you a few of my "simple" models (all digital files, BTW)...just because something is printed does not make it better; nor is a digital file the be all and end all. The modeler behind it is what makes it shine or fail.

What is great is that the medium has opened up for people who have always wanted a specific subject in a tactile medium but have not had access to oh....say an injection molding machine...now have the ability to create their dream kit in paper as complex or simple as they want. I encourage digital designers because as they continue to design, hopefully their designs will improve and they will try to make an even better representation of the subject they are making.

I would be interested to see some of the models you have designed/built as you are a fellow Resident in the North American Continent. Until then, here's some of mine...

[Wyvern]

Just wanted to throw in my support of Krys and PMS, as well- I've been ordering from him once or twice a year for five years; my orders always arrive within five days on my placing them, securely packaged, and he's personally emailed responses to questions I've had about kit quality. As far as my experiences with him goes, he's a 5-Star vendor.

I've only ordered from Europe once, from GPM in Poland. The order arrived in six days (Poland to Florida, USA) and GPM refunded part of what their ecommerce system had charged me in postage, stating that their system had over-charged me. Again, no complaints on their service from me. I'll buy through them again.

Wyvern

[Zathros]

There seems to be a complete lack of knowledge of how magazines are produced. These models are designed digitally using expensive software. I know many of these artists internationally. Some of these posts are naive and lacking in knowledge!

[Fraa]

I see it took a while for my message to sink in....

GunnerGreg and Armorman,
I used a generalization, which always carries a risk of finding examples to the contrary. That doesn't make it false. Sure, there are simple and poorly designed pre-printed kits just like there are great kits available as a download which trumps many "analog" ones. As I said, I don't have any numbers to back it up, just my subjective observation.
I frequently visit Polish modeling sites (who doesn't? ;-) ) and my impression is that they treat the hobby differently than we do here. It's not just a fun pastime for them. I see modelers spearheading the hobby who are expecting from a model nothing less than a true scale representation of the real object. I see a competition between the publishers to make more accurate and detailed models (Halinski, Model-Hobby, KW Model, some GPM or Orlik kits). I see that presented on the forums models are frequently if not always a subject of critique, sometimes very harsh. That honest feedback motivates people to do better, improve and advance. These online forums are the brewing stew of new ideas, techniques and designs which often conclude in a new kit being released.
Here, things look a bit differently. Honest feedback is missing replaced by kind of political correctness stemming maybe from a false obligation of keeping PM-dot-com community together. We really don't strive to do better ourselves and to challenge ourselves. Hey, it's supposed to be just fun! I rarely see on the forums any constructive critique, even very crappy models with fuzzy photos get ovations and congratulations. Somehow in a real life we are not awarded for doing poor job, why here than? How we can expect that a such environment can be a fertile soil to grow our own brilliant modelers and designers (these two things go together IMHO)? Again, in general I don't see many of us trying to advance beyond simple models and definitely I don't see any kind of expectation from the community toward individual modelers/designers to do better.

There seems to be a complete lack of knowledge of how magazines are produced. These models are designed digitally using expensive software. I know many of these artists internationally. Some of these posts are naive and lacking in knowledge!
I'm not that stupid as you try to portrait me. I was referring to how kits are offered to a modeler (carrier) and not how they are designed and produced.

[Texman]

This discussion has deviated from its original intended discussion, and I see the posturing begin to raise its head.

The original postings have run their course, Krys is still running his site, and that is what it was about.

Thread closed.

[ARMORMAN]

Part of the reason the Polish community is much like many plastic communities is that until the collapse of communism, plastic kits were relatively rare, expensive (and pretty crappy in regards to quality of material and accuracy of subject matter).

Here, with the ease and (until recent times) relative cheapness of plastic kits, paper was relegated to the nether regions of hobbydom. So in a sense, we are playing catchup. Anyone who is trying their hand at designing a kit deserves kudos. Hopefully, they will continue to improve as they design more. I have asked for input on various aspects of my models. I may or may not use the suggestions given, but I do consider them.

Another problem is the short attention span given to most hobbies by a new generation of video gaming "want it now, I deserve it" kids. In the plastic realm, I have never seen such slap together-quick build kits as are on the shelves today. Even the Snap-tite line of the 70's and early 80's were more complex. So giving a kid say....a Fiddler's Green kit that can be built in 2-3 hours may inspire them to go on to more complex models. So all have their place.