Williams Brothers Model Products

11/23/2024

Made a little progress. Shipped out 48 Wasp kits to a major distributor.🙂 I'd like to push completing all the airplane kits I have boxes and decals for, then work on other parts. All part time effort, so not a lot of bandwidth. But, I am thinking hard on how to proceed and transform. Same issue most small model companies are facing these days. An interesting challenge for sure.
Wheels will need some new research, as it appears EPA must have banned MEK, which I used to weld the ABS hubs together. Need to find a quality alternate.

04/27/2024

The Williams Brothers made a line of 23 different HO Scale cars. Very cool to see who enjoys them on their layout.

06/21/2023

More to follow....

06/09/2021

Some interesting news, finally. After a bit over a year, I was finally able to secure and receive 1500 lbs of polystyrene! The Houston distributor finally came through. I guess he was feeling bad for me too; because, he shipped it to me without the usual payment up front. I sent a check off right away, to show my good Faith and build Trust.
Now, I need to build a new cooling system for the machines. After the water company put up the new water tower a couple years ago, the water changed, or got more chlorine, and ruined my cooling Tower outside. A rust bucket now. Caused two leaks in the house at kitchen and bath faucets too. Anyway, I got a new pump, small water tank, and will reuse the fan off the old tower, with a truck radiator, and build a closed loop system. I'll be able to control water quality that way.
First item I am going to produce is the P&W Wasp kit, to make P&W happy on my contract.
I still need to get rubber for tires, but, that will be awhile, and I want to focus all machines on one plastic for now. I have to limit my production time as I work a full time job.
The big challenge will be to figure out what else can the company do, to grow into a success that can flex with the times. So, I'm thinking.

06/03/2020

We have seen some hard times this last couple years for sure. Yet, I'm still here, and "we" are reduced to a one man shop. I have to take the attitude as if starting a new business. Inventory got wiped out pretty good, and with the current situation, I couldn't even buy plastic nor rubber, which meant I could not make
things.

Yes, my communications are shot, as I don't have the bandwidth to handle worldwide inquiries.

I put a stake in the ground on the last few orders, and ground up existing parts to make needed parts. I had to go get a "real" job to cover expenses, and start climbing out of the financial pit. We only owe credit cards, as I made a one year cash supply last three years, hoping things would turn around.

I almost went for the free money, but, couldn't push the button; because, I wasn't raised that way, and as long as I have two hands and a brain, I know I can work.

I can order up plastic now, but, have to take 1500 lbs minimum, which is a lot, but that's ok. Rubber, I'm waiting to hear.

With around 260 molds, I can't run them all at once, especially working part time, and not enough cash and time to train up somebody right now.

The plan is to sort molds by plastic type, color, and machine and run a sequence of long runs per mold. I'll have to stay quiet for a few months, and focus on making parts. I want to make each mold put out a 5 to 10 year supply ideally. I have some OEM types I need to support, so that is in the mix too.

Somewhere along the way, we'll have enough stuff to hire a part timer to handle the sales and shipping. It'll take some time to see how things go.
People need this product and I don't want to let them down! Just need to rethink the strategy. The Challenge is upon us.

"Never give up, never surrender" :)

04/10/2020

Forgot my personal anniversary again! April 4th, 2005 is my official date of incorporation with Williams Brothers in Texas.
Hard to believe 15 years already!

03/15/2020

As I put it, "We run the boat fine, but, the river is going dry".
The recent commotion with virus scares, supply chain interruptions, low sales, and just plain low inventory, we need to take this opportunity of being 'grounded' to pull off the cowling, and take a look at the operation!! The books are still trailing, the machines can use some overhauls, a few molds need polishing, and the shop could use a good cleaning too. Slow downs are the best time to groom the Factory!

Currently, we have a nice pile of ABS and Clear Polystyrene (GPPS), very little rubber, and very little HIPS polystyrene.

So, with little material at hand, we are turning off the sales for 6 weeks from March 13 to April 26 for Reorganization and Resupply.

I believe we have what we need to clear out all orders as they stand today, and they are in progress.

A very detailed inventory will be taken during this period as well. Any items found extra, beyond current orders, will go back online at set quantity.
We can not do the "Just In Time" manufacturing without material; and, low inventory makes running the 260+ molds in a short time to ramp up and meet orders impossible.

This will be as if we are starting all over again!
Production will need to take a hard line of plastic type, color, and molds the rest of this year to get our inventory back to decent levels. In tune with that, we plan to avoid 'made to order' and, will match up inventory with 'quantity available' in this online store, and eBay store. That insures much faster delivery to get us on a good track. Painful, but necessary.
I learned long ago, in the hobby business, Inventory is King; and, when Inventory is in control, everything runs smoothly.
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Please, do not send emails and calls asking when items will become available. I hope to have the production schedule published at the end of this 6 week overhaul. I'll be also using this time to catch up on emails already behind.

03/09/2020

Someone pointed out Rod Stewart's model train layout, that he worked on for 23 years now, has what appears to be our HO Scale automobiles! Sure looks like all of them are, in this cropped photo.
Photo credited to Steve Crise/ Railway Modeler magazine.

03/09/2020

If you are into HO Scale railroads, I just kicked off 10 of our scale automobiles on our eBay store. I am posting this link to one. Then you can go to the "seller's information" and click on "visit store" or "see other items" to find everything currently in our eBay store.

HO Scale (1/87), Limited Production, Re-Released Kit. Williams Brothers Model Products is 60 years old in 2020! Injection molded plastic kit to produce one model. Photos of built model is one example of how the kit may look when properly built and painted.

03/04/2020

We had a pretty rough thunderstorm last night. Haven't seen one that intense for a long timr. Booms overlapping booms! So, naturally, we lost electricity for a bit during the wee hours. This morning, we have no internet, no phone (because it's all cable). So, quick stop at the coffee shop to send this out, and then, go build wheels until communications return.

Another issue heating up is supply. My plastic supplier vanished three weeks ago, and after many calls and emails, I found a company that sells 'small quantities', but, now they are not responding. Argg! So, I will need to "turn off" several items online, as I don's want to take money and not know a delivery date. Rubber is still short but, trickles in. I wonder if production moved overseas with the new guys.

Lots of clear plastic and ABS on hand, so, I am moving 2 machines over to wheel building, and run until it's gone. That will beef up hubs for wheels, and allow me to focus on getting the HO Scale automobiles (molded in clear) into production on 1 machine for re-issue and put us in another market.

This year, it will be like I'm starting all over again. I need to drive production, and stop letting production drive me, as low inventory, and too many molds (256), can't keep up with 'just in time' manufacturing. So, like Dad would say, "this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you". However, we should come out with a much stronger inventory stance, which makes for faster delivery.

For 2020, I have four more commits in process to insure this happens. I like backup plans. More on those later.

It's no secret, the industry has made a major shift this last few years; and, I'm working to adapt and overcome. Folks out there still need these products!

"Never give up, Never surrender" ;)

02/20/2020

We were selected to be part of 'Retail Revival' by eBay for Texas. Our first item just went up today on the new eBay store under our seller name wmbrosmp! My hope is that this will lift our model kit line sales and improve marketing.

Williams Brothers Model Products is 60 years old in 2020! Injection molded plastic kit to produce one model. 1/32 Scale, Limited Production, Re-Released Kit. This kit is a re-release of the original kit (1980's), Updated for Box, Decals, and Instructions in 2012.