I had a long talk with Bob Batdorf last night and if he had folded two months ago, I could have bought the entire ID inventory. Hell, I'm selling over $1,000 worth of stuff on EvilBay, but I doubt the money will come in before someone else picks them up. Since Bob and I still want to work together in the future, it would have been nice to keep everything from the ID line together. Currently, my budget will not allow this purchase, and I can't afford another divorce.....
If no one buys the ID masters in a couple of months, I will have the money. At that point, I can make a final decision. I have always wanted to get involved in the model industry (or the replica fighter industry
), so this would not be the most bizarre thing I've done. If the timing works out, and I can use my own models sold on eBay to finance this, I will do it to preserve the ID line intact. Beyond that, I can't say.
Bob did not go into why ID went into the diagonal dimension diver. Basically, his partner provided the start-up money for materials and equipment, so he owns the equipment and possibly the molds too, though Bob is selling them, so perhaps Bob did get them back. At any rate, the partner, having provided the start-up funds, saw it as his right to take out money for his own purposes, and that is what he did, instead of re-investing in the business. As a result, ID now is stalled completely. There is now no money to replace worn out molds or make new molds, or to buy resin to produce either existing kits or new ones. So, Bob has no way to continue, and he has no facilities in which to put the casting equipment anyway. he can make masters, and loves doing that, so he plans to continue, and I am supplying him with research material as needed, plus the usual BS and effluvia to cheer him up.....
If it is at all possible, I will try to work out an afterlife for the ID resin line. Selling the line would be the best short-term solution, BUT it HAS to be to an established company, not another garage outfit that might go under, leaving the masters to end up in the trash. We will see what we can do. Neither of us really wants to see ID vanish - it's greatness thrust upon us.....
