As I said, it's a real shame. It's difficult to recover from a loss of quality and experience in many fields, but even more so in ship modeling.

I was deeply saddened by the fate of the German brands "Robbe" and "Graupner." Sadness.

I hope the Italian companies that still make quality ship modeling will endure for a long time to come.
Currently, the world-renowned Italian ship modeling companies are:
"Amati" of Turin;
"Mantua Model" from the province of Mantua (which has absorbed the products of the "Sergal" and "Panart" brands);
"Corel" from Milan.
Then there are two niche brands, small, hyper-specialized companies: one makes only high-performance dynamic boats (electric and internal combustion), "Tempest RC Boats" [a tempting subject for Jumpugly], and the other makes only RC sailboats and submarines, "AMON (Nonsolovele)".
I could also add "Italeri," which also makes plastic model kits of ships that can be made RC.

I've analyzed some aspects, and (at least for now) there are many reasons and assumptions that give me hope.
1) First of all, the quality is generally very high and the selection is very wide; but this factor alone would not be enough for survival, as has unfortunately been seen in many cases.
2) The quality-price ratio is very favorable.
3) These companies offer a wide range of products. There are complete kits, drawings and plans only, and individual materials for the modeler who doesn't follow kits (wood, metals, plastics, and all types of accessories).
What's important to keep in mind is that the dynamic part of the product range is a minority, so competition in this area doesn't threaten the company's entire distribution.
Static materials and kits still face no competition from Chinese companies, and there are no real alternatives online to the products offered by these historic companies, neither in terms of quantity, quality, nor cost.
Even a beginner modeler like me doesn't put these companies at risk because I turn exclusively to them (this type of company) for many materials and accessories.
Unfortunately, companies that focus solely or primarily on dynamic RC models face strong competition. It's easy to understand why: you can find cheap electric motors, ESCs, servos, drive shafts, propellers, joints, etc. online.
Furthermore, these models have a plastic hull that's easily reproduced with 3D printers, even by companies that aren't very specialized or high-quality.

I try to buy from model shops in my city; for the static side of this hobby, there's still affordability and quality, but for RC and electronics, the internet offers more options at much lower prices.

P.S. A separate mention goes to the Milanese company "Mamoli," which had a beautiful and extensive catalog. Unfortunately, a devastating fire there in 2014 caused the company's collapse.

It's very sad. I hope their products will be produced in the future.

This is sad news.I love to scratch build boats from plans and have built a good number of them.
Dumas was my go to kit as I have two on the go and five finished.
For me there kits needed a little bit of knowledge on how to tweak the build but all of builds for me have turned out well
SO SAD
Rick

What a shame!

Hello everyone,
Who's surprised? One shop after another is closing down.
Nowadays, with lasers and 3D printers, it's possible to make quite a lot yourself.
Do you remember which ones there were in Europe alone back then?
To mention the biggest ones:
Graupner, Robbe, Steingraeber, Mamoli, Lindberg and all the small unknown manufacturers...
Times are changing, most of them are now only on TikTok and other sickening platforms.
I feel sick when I think about the future of our youth.
What a shame, just a shame!

Your Michel-C.

Cash! I wonder as well. At the very least Model Expo would be smart to continue the Dumas Chris Craft line of kits, as well as the tugs. imho.

A good case in point is Atlantis. They have done quite well buying all the plastic molds (i.e. Revell, Monogram, Aurora) they can get their hands on and doing very selective re-releases. They've got people (myself included) screaming for more. Their re-issue of the Red Baron Show car is a hit.

We shall see.👍

I saw a thread on RCgroups and I think if I read the comment correctly that once Dumas closed their remaining stock goes to Model Expo. Now Model Expo brought back some of the Midwest line, wonder if they’ll do the same with Dumas?

Wow! So sad. The end of and era

Like others I’m sorry they are closing. However I also agree with Cash & jump that their quality earlier on was abysmal.Several years ago when I became involved with RC boating I built their 1947 racing runabout. Even as a novice builder I could see the lack of quality. Looked like their dies used for wood cutting were in bad need of sharpening. The build turned out alright but not without Pat Mathew’s book MAHOGANY IN SCALE. I most certainly would have botched it otherwise.
That said, I do like their dog bone couplers. Much quieter than the cardan type. Their quality of their brass props was good but not inexpensive when compared to other quality props.
Net,net, I am not a kit builder; Dumas’s lack of quality was one reason for that. I have heard their quality did improve greatly when they switched to laser cutting.
Still, very saddened by their closing.

I'm with you Cash!
I just ditched my Coast Guard Utility boat in a trade because the instructions were awful, the wood was bone dry and twisted. The instructions for the Pay n Pak (my current build) were the worst I've ever seen in a large kit and the wood was brutal in everyway.
It's a miracle that I got it just reasonably straight.

Great bunch of folks to deal with when you needed a part, but their biggest mistake, imho, was almost never making full sized plans to match what you were building. You'd think they'd learn by watching Sterling's plans and instructions. But, every now and again they'd hit a home run, like with the Chris Craft runabouts and the shovel-nose hydros, but then they'd falter elsewhere. Their inconsistency was maddening!

No matter what, I'll grab something before they blow the place up. Probably a shovel-nose for old times sake or their new Great Lakes freighter, maybe a tug. IDK
Just still bummed about it despite their problems. Damn!

I think Dumas had a bad rep from their older kits from say 20 years ago. I’ve built a few of their more recent kits and I can tell you the quality has come way up, I’d say almost to Billings level at the least. I think they’re the las major US supplier of rc scale boat kits. It’s a sad day indeed. However, we still have kits from across the pond, there’s 3D files for printing boats, and there’s always plans, wood, plastic and foam. Still hurts though.

I have some money from selling off a few of my boats that I’m not in love with, nice boats but I had more fun building them than sailing them. Just spent most of that on a Lackawanna tug kit from Dumas, as I had almost bought one several times, but something else would show up on the radar, and I figured Dumas would be around after I’m dead and gone. If there’s something they have y’all like, I’d pull the trigger now.
Cash

I got the same email.
It IS a sad day.
One less supplier to the Model Boat folks.
I toured their facility last year.
They're a great bunch of folks.
I guess it's a sign of the times.
Dave B

Wow that is too bad