SIG Manufacturing, climbing back.

[Steve Thompson]

I asked here a year ago if SIG was still shipping.  I gave it a shot and reported that I had no problems getting a few items they had listed as IN STOCK on their website, including dope paint.  Three different orders all delivered fine.

They didn't have White or Lite Coat at that time, and I asked here about compatibility of Brodak white in an otherwise all SIG paint system.  Seemed to work and no problems.

I recently saw that they listed White and Lite Coat in stock, and I placed an order.  Received it just fine right before Christmas with no delay or problems.  I am set for next time to use all SIG dope.

I encourage you to check their website.  They are trying to climb back in a tough current hobby environment. 

I imagine CL kits won't be their first priority, but what CL kit should be their first to bring back?

Should they stick to the traditional kits, or modernize?

Should they add changes to enable electric power systems?

IMHO a Fancherized Twister might be a good place to start.  With unmuffled FOX 35s falling from grace, I don't think many get built per plan in the last 30 years.  Starting with a modern fuse would make sense.

Any ideas?

[Dan McEntee]

  In Jay Smith's column in this month's Model Aviation, he has a really short paragraph about visiting SIG while in Chicago recently and there is a picture of the sign in front for Plastruct and Evergreen Plastics. These are parent companies, like I have been mentioning all along. so they are obviously the bottom head on the totem pole and that will keep things progressing at a snail's pace, if at all.  He must not have seen anything worth reporting because it's only 3 or 4 sentences. Time will tell..
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[spare_parts]

The fact that the owner has managed to keep plastruct and evergeen going since their bankruptcy is a good sign. What becomes of the Sig product line is yet to be seen. You have to be realistic about what will eventually be offered. The market is nothing like it was 20 years ago, let alone 50.

[Dan McEntee]

The fact that the owner has managed to keep plastruct and evergeen going since their bankruptcy is a good sign. What becomes of the Sig product line is yet to be seen. You have to be realistic about what will eventually be offered. The market is nothing like it was 20 years ago, let alone 50.

    Back when they moved, and as soon as I saw an address, I started to look things up on the internet. The address sounded familiar, and that's because I had seen it so many time restocking Everygreen and Plastuct displays at the hobby shop I was working at. I looked up both companies on Dunn and Bradstreet and it shows two different CEOs and principles of each company, but they are under the same roof. Herb Rizzo has been the face of the SIG relocation and resurrection efforts, but I never saw his name on either of the other two company listings. It really is kind of a strange situation and arrangement, and makes me think there is some one else at the very top of the pyramid. Rizzo was a previous owner of SIG with two other guys from the Chicago area many years ago, and they sold SIG after they couldn't make a go of things, so I don't have a whole lot of confidence in a big resurgence. The two plastic companies have a wider market I think, than SIG does and could be the financial support for SIG, and I think that makes SIG the bottom feeder of the three businesses. It's now 2025and this all started back in 2019 or 2020 if I remember correctly, so a five year span getting to this point in time tells me that cash flow is still a major problem and that will hinder any regrowth efforts. I think they still have along, long way to go to regain any confidence the market may have had in the brand name. They are in a business where volume sales is what drive profits, and will they ever regain all those lost sales?
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[Steve Helmick]

I always thought it was very strange that SIG bought Kavan and Graupner and then went out of business themselves. That is typically a sign of cash flow shortages and heavy debt.

As a local example, we had a grocery chain called Hagan's. They decided to buy Safeway...maybe Albertson's also...not sure about Albertson's. Anyway, it appears that Hagan's did buy Safeway but then went Tango Utah. I looked up Hagan's and found out they only had THREE stores. The Hagan's chain is gone now, but Safeway survived. Why the HELL would a 3 store chain decide they could buy out a mega store chain? Seems stupid to me!

Another local example, we had a local pharmacy chain called Bartell's. Some years ago, Rite Aid opened a bunch of stores, and then purchased Bartell's, followed by Rite Aid going bankrupt and closing down all their stores. Hmmm. Bartell's is still in existence, with fewer stores and the ones still open have a lot of empty shelves....indicating lack of cash/credit for inventory. Pretty sad; Bartell's are our favorite pharmacies.   

I THINK that all three cases (including SIG, Kavan & Graupner) were cases of big loans and lack of cash flow. I wonder if maybe the banks involved...or lawyers...who were orchestrating the failures for some nefarious reasons or just not caring about their customers solvency and long term wellbeing. I guess if the bank makes out ok, they're happy. They often sell off debt to other lending institutions, so I could see that happening in these cases.  Steve

[Brett Buck]

I always thought it was very strange that SIG bought Kavan and Graupner and then went out of business themselves. That is typically a sign of cash flow shortages and heavy debt.

    I think it is a lot simpler - all three were run out of business by the collapse of the modeling hobby, just like Tower/Great Plains. I think a lot of have underestimated the degree to which the entire modeling industry - every facet of it aside from buy-and-flies - has collapsed. Anything having to do with building models (plastic/static, RC, CL, FF) is either dead, dying, or running on old stock. Even the simplest things for plastic models are just about unavailable or have to be ordered from Japan.

     I spent the better part of two days looking for seam filler/putty for a plastic model. No store in the entire 4-ish million population of the Bay Area had anything like it, and what I did find for even plastic models were clearly NOS and heavily discounted to clear it out. Turns out Bondo makes a perfectly good air-drying glazing compound that is available at any OReilly's (much like Nitro-Stan). But that's what it has come to, as an industry, outside of Japan, apparently, is dead, it no longer exists.

       Brett