Eastern Seaboard Models' Bryan Busséy (who had conversed with Matt Gaudynski during the 2018 NSE Convention) posted on June 23 that Fox Valley has acquired most of the tooling that was formerly owned by Deluxe Innovations. While the tooling for the 40' boxcar, the containers, the container chassis, the woodchip hoppers, and some of the other models was appropriated, the tools for the 53' DuraPlate, Platewell, and RoadRailer Trailers, the Maxi-Stack IV, and the Vintage by Deluxe (ex V-Line) PS2 2-Bay Covered Hopper were reported to be unrecoverable and are now lost. Neville Trains N Scale™
So now who's going to step up and do a Maxi-IV? That's mostly what you see running today since all but oceanic have gone 53'. And don't say Kato, they're garbage. The DI were great but needed tweaking to run well. And unfortunately they never got to the second run which would've had the swoosh... And I know FVM is doing the stand-alone 53, also much needed...I built some from N Scale Kits, but not happy with them - my fault, I'm sure.
I have tried calling Deluxe Innovations as well as email over the last three weeks with no response. I am looking for a handful of their Woodchip cars. Is Dave Ferrari still around that anyone knows of?
I was happy to have Matt and his family pick up the deLuxe tooling, as he has shown forward thinking and good reaction to the market's desires. I have offered him whatever help I can be to restoring the tooling and the resources that made it. All of the tooling that can be recovered is being recovered. There are some of the tools that Dave lost when the Sanda Kan/Kader purge occurred, which is truly unfortunate, as one of the mold bases carried the 53' family of models. Perhaps Matt will remake these models from all of the information he has. He does have the Twinstack tooling, the container tools, and the Maxi 3 still exists. If an arrangement can be made on the LoPac with Paul and the new owners of the Grandt Line tools, it can also come back. The Maxi 4 is in dispute as to ownership, due to some legacy financial cloudiness from Dave, but at least the tool does exist, so there is hope for this important model. I wish Matt and Fox Valley all the best in their future development of this important group- of products. George Johnsen Founder and Fan of deLuxe
Dave has been dead in the water for a long time sadly. I doubt he has any product, most of that was handled with the help of Intermountian
I get the feeling the whole story would make an interesting 300 page book. Very sad to see Deluxe Innovations go, but glad to see the models in FVM' s very capable hands. I hope the Maxi IV makes a quick comeback.
I was waiting for nearly two years for Dave to send me some fix-it kits for my Maxi IVs, but they never materialized... Then I discovered the real solution was to replace the end wheelsets with low-profile, fine-flange FVM 33" metal wheelsets -- voila, no more flange-scraping issues, they roll freely now! Now it's FVM's move to make some more low-profile, fine-flange wheelsets!
The past couple of years have been an interesting time for N scale: 2016: BLMA production sold to Atlas 2018: Walthers N scale locos/rolling stock production sold to Atlas; Deluxe Innovations production sold to Fox Valley Models.
Matt is in California with his youngest son, prepping for the son's 4th open heart surgery. He will likely be hard to reach for the next month or two at least.
Cool. I know he is trying to keep up, but sometimes there are more important things he has to deal with.
With the D I tooling Fox Valley acquired has Matt thought what he’ll do next, once his son is back up on his own feet and healthy. Tom
In SLC, Matt had two BN wood chip cars on his table, with a sign that read " more news coming soon" I hope he re-runs wood chip cars, I just can't seem to get enough of them
I hope Dave was able to get something for Delux...from the start he seemed to be struggling. Best wishes to him, hope he pops up elsewhere in the industry.