John Hathaway...Any Background on him?

[Warren61]

I know he's been mentioned before on the site,but how many remember John Hathaway? I ordered my first card models from him in 1975.I know he passed some years ago but know little else about him.I'd be interested if any members know more about him and his work.

Cheers,
Douglas

[bhath]

i dont know him but we have the same last name and would like to see if im related to him

[dto]

John Hathaway's store was in San Pedro, California (the port of Los Angeles). I never dealt with Mr. Hathaway, but Jim Nunn did. Maybe he will provide some recollections.

I recall Louis Dausse (formerly of Paper Models International) mentioning that he and Hathaway had a "gentleman's agreement" -- Lou went to the gift trade shows and sold directly to retailers, while John handled mail orders only. About a year after John passed away, his widow asked Lou to take over the still-unfulfilled orders. That's how PMI became a mail-order business. The PMI catalog was basically an updated version of Hathaway's original publication.

Not only did John Hathaway sell paper models, he also designed a couple. By today's standards, his hand-drafted Hindenberg and USS Macon dirigibles are somewhat dated, but still very impressive given the production limitations of the time. And talented modelers have recolored and superdetailed them into stunning replicas. Hathaway's 1:24 scale Curtiss JN4-D "Jenny" still remains a classic kit after all these years.

Another paper model designer in the Southern California area around that same time was H. G. Watkins. I'd love to learn more about that gentleman, too.


David T. Okamura

[whulsey]

Didn't know about him when I lived in SoCal. But did come up with having his 'Jenny' in a collection I bought years ago before I got into paper modeling. Now that I have a halfway decent scanner, may scan it and have a go at it someday.

[papermodelfan]

I corresponded with John Hathaway as a kid, and got all my paper models from him. His catalogs and correspondence were quirky and fun. I think he worked at Northrop for a while, and had something to do with the YB-49 flying wing. One of the models that HG Watkins designed and Hathaway marketed was a big YB 49. Makes me think that they knew each other. Hathaway was also the only source I ever heard of HG Watkin's Waterline Warships series.

[Warren61]

Thank you for the responses everyone.I used to have the John's Hindenburg kit (way back in 1978.)For me,and possibly many others John's ad in magazines like Scale Modeler was my first exposure to the world of card modelling.

Cheers,
Douglas

[Jim Nunn]

I guess I I'm one of the few paper modelers still around that meet John Hathaway this was around 1961 or 62. The store (if you could call it that) was on the second floor of an older building. John would open up at odd times as he had no set business hours. I remember little of John's appearance but he struck me as being old (that's from a 16 year olds point of view) and not tall something like 5'2. But what I do remember was a twinkle in his eye when we talked about the various paper models. On my first visit I purchased the Bismarck and John gave me a couple of small ships and said "try these first" which was good advise. As for the shop it was small about the size of a bedroom and cluttered with kits on shelves and as I remember a large wood desk. I visited the shop a couple of times you had to be persistent to catch John when he was open. Around 1964 was the last time I visited the shop when I joined the Navy.

Jim Nunn

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Still have a few of his publications on my site zeistbouwplaten.nl

[John Wagenseil]

http://www.ipmc-info.org/PMI_Vance-Dausse.pdf
and
In the beginning
The "Train Life" link give the address of Mr Hathaway's old store, the Google Maps coordinates are on BloomOhio's post. The building on the corner of 6th and Mesa that his store was in still appears to be there, though you will have to guess which was his window. I bet rents are higher than they were back in his day. The site is only a few blocks away from the LA Maritime Museum, which I remember as being an interesting place years ago. There is a ship modelling club in southern California that used to a yearly show of their members models there. It is also not far from the Food and Beverage Museum. The park on Point Fermin used to be nice, there was a Korean friendship memorial on the ocean overlook. Don't know what it is like now.

[Don Boose]

John - Thanks for that Lou Dausse-Matt Vance article. Sure brought back memories.

Do you or any of the others have any information about Carfomation? The paper-modeling newsletter?

Don