Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Wow, what an a amazing endeavor, too bad someone can't set up something like that today. I'd have a massive display for them if they did! LOL! 
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The Museum Redo
- Thread starter bob letterman
- Start date
Brokeneagle
Master at Arms
Love to see a photo when you get a chance, Bob.
I had to learn a lesson about museums the hard way. It was absolutely awesome to see, and we advertised in newspapers, on TV ads, every chance possible with press coverage in all sorts of periodicals. The model magazine editors came and all did articles, Fine Scale Modeler, Military Modeling from England,Verlinden magazine of course, Military Miniatures in Review, Tamiya, and so on.The modelers came by the droves. And they came from countries you wouldn't think had modelers. That was no problem and more than we expected.Wow, what an a amazing endeavor, too bad someone can't set up something like that today. I'd have a massive display for them if they did! LOL!
The problem was financial. The museum itself, in it's purpose, was a success. However, the modeling community in comparison to the mass market, is tiny., microscopic! I had the insight to locate it in a tourist town, and, during the season, from late April to early September, they came and filled the museum. As soon as school started, it went quiet. I had managed to get the city to buy the building, and invest a half million dollars in turning it into a beautiful museum, but, they demanded in return the museum stayed open all year. I couldn't blame them for that.
That killed it. It couldn't produce sufficient income in those four months to pay expenses year round. Insurance, salaries, benefits, utilities, advertising, maintenance, and on and on. The last three years, I ended up subsidizing it to the tune of about $30K a year out of my own pocket. I was so proud of it, I couldn't accept that it could never pay expenses, let alone turn a profit, and a business that doesn't turn a profit can not continue. I assumed, wrongly, that the general public would turn out. They did to a degree in the summer, but, otherwise, I learned an axiom. "Locals do not go to their own attractions". When the tourists stopped coming, there were days when not a single person came through the door except for the occasional modeler.
To me, it was tragic. I knew if I let it fail, it could never be reproduced. Only in a year around tourist location, Las Vegas?, could something like that exist. I moved it to the VLS warehouse in 2001 where it stayed until I sold VLS to the company in Dallas that no longer exists. In the end, each partner took their third of the exhibits and it was gone.
When I am finished redoing my private museum, I'm hoping to make a narrated video tour and get it on this forum. I have many video clips that TV stations did back then. Maybe I can do the same with those. At least that way, viewers can take a visual tour.
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Thats the plan Ian, both stills and a video. Stay tuned!
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
I understand Bob. It could possibly fly out here in Anaheim, possibly San Diego too, as long as it was set up close enough to attractions like Disney, the USS Iowa or the USS Midway. Unfortunately nobody I know has the funds or drive to set it up. And like you said, if it doesn't make a profit it cannot last and isn't worth it. And now with so many of the great diorama builders of your day gone; it would not be well stocked. On other idea would be if IPMS USA were to arrange for George Lee Best of Show winners from passed modelers to be put on display, along with many of their other models then there could be something to fill it out. Alas, no one in that organization thinks that way anyway.
It really makes me pretty sad that something like this isn't possible. I just wish I had the space and funds to get a loft somewhere to do something similar to what you're doing but I'm not that blessed.
I am looking forward to the pics and videos.
It really makes me pretty sad that something like this isn't possible. I just wish I had the space and funds to get a loft somewhere to do something similar to what you're doing but I'm not that blessed.
I am looking forward to the pics and videos.
Yeah Mark, A typical tourist trap, like Vegas or a touristy town. Another problem of a model and diorama museum is the mind set of the general public, They do not see what we do as art. When they hear models, they picture that ugly little car or plane they or their friend built when they were 8 years old. When that type actually came into the museum and saw all those sprawling dioramas, it was like they were dumbfounded. A typical reaction was, "OMG, I never had any idea, I assumed these were little airplanes like I built as a kid. These displays are incredible!"
There was that reaction despite all the advertising and promotional events we initiated. When most people hear the word "Model", they think "Toy"! I always thought that Miniature World should have been called Diorama World, but them, a lot of people don't know what a diorama is.
JSteinman
Master at Arms
But of course, the Natual History Museum in NYC is filled with Dioramas - 1:1 scale... I think the best way to go forward with this type of idea is to join forces with an established military museum like the new one in Stowe Mass. That would cover the military stuff, the non-military could join up with the Ford Museum or other types museums. Stand-alone - I don't see any path forward.
Hey John,
I should have said, a lot of people think of a diorama as a scene in a museum. You're probably right about an established military museum. David Harper worked with the New Marine Museum in Quantico and Bill Chilstrum actually made a few Marine related dioramas for ti. I have had some of my dioramas in museums for a period of time, but, I never wanted to have them stay there permanently. Now, I'm moving toward that possibility. We'll see where that goes, if anywhere. Joining forces with an established 1 to 1 scale museum is easier said than done.
I should have said, a lot of people think of a diorama as a scene in a museum. You're probably right about an established military museum. David Harper worked with the New Marine Museum in Quantico and Bill Chilstrum actually made a few Marine related dioramas for ti. I have had some of my dioramas in museums for a period of time, but, I never wanted to have them stay there permanently. Now, I'm moving toward that possibility. We'll see where that goes, if anywhere. Joining forces with an established 1 to 1 scale museum is easier said than done.
Speaking of the Museum, the building in Old St. Charles, Missouri that it occupied in the 1990s, became a restaurant after it was closed. The name? "Tony's On Main Street", an Italian restaurant that is very popular today. We visited the St. Louis area in early December with our daughter and son-in-law to celebrate Gail's birthday. We had dinner in the restaurant. While waiting on a table, a guy in his 40s heard me talking about where this and that were located inside, asked me If I had anything to do with the miniature museum that was there. I told him I owned it and he began relating how he spent his summers running errands and doing various tasks given to him by the manager, Tom O'Dell for a dollar or two. That he got to spend a lot of time there and how much he loved the museum. That was kinda cool. I got a photo of one of the dining rooms, (There are several), that used to be the gift/hobby shop and entrance. Lots of great memories! The building was built during The Civil War as a 12.000 square foot hardware and wagon equipment store for those traveling west. We stripped the drywall off the wall to expose the centuries old brick construction when we were laying out the gift shop. This room still had the original decorative tin ceilings.
Small world...no pun intended.. That's so cool you just happened up on a guy who had connections back to the museum.
There's a thought!
That's funny, we had those TV spots where the reporter came out, interviews and panned the museum so many times. In almost every one, they began with, "It's a small world after all, isn't it"! When they do that, they always sent me a VHS tape of it. I have boxes of those things. A matter of fact, after I wrap up my little museum, redo I'm thinking I'll make a narrated video to post here, or on You Tube and post a link. At any rate, once I see how that is done, I may post some of those old videos from the "Real" museum. Trust me it was incredible and any modeler's dream.
Something else. Get ready for a long winded post! How the museum came to be. There was a really old guy, about my age now.
He had bought Lewis Pruneau's scratched 1/35th "Dora" for $10K. He was a regular at the Shep Paine's Military Miniatures of Illinois show in Chicago. Previously he collected model cannons from all eras. He had guys in countries all over the world making them for him. They were metal and actually worked. He also collected small arms in miniature. Some were solid silver with diamond encrusted grips, they had tiny cartridges and loaded like a real one in clips. His collection ran into the millions of dollars. He made his fortune by inventing the magnetic dip stick. Used mostly in semi over the road trucks. They attracted the metal fragments from the oil and made the engines last longer. He made millions from that.He had a figure collection as well and had almost all of Shep's shadow boxes. He had some of every figure painter with a name as well. So, he started commissioning Lewis to make railroad guns. He was a cannon freak and had written books on cannons. His name was Ralph Koebbeman and he lived in Rockford, Illinois. His house was in a walled compound, his sons and daughters houses were as well. His collection was so huge, he had excavators dig a gigantic basement in his back yard of 5000 square feet. Then he had it poured and a concrete "roof' over the entire thing. He had double doors from his walk out basement into it and then covered over with dirt and had it sodded. It was incredible! Here's Ralph Koenneman and Shep Paine at Mastercon III at the podium of the grand opening of the museum at VLS in O'Fallon, Mo. .
Anyway, through Lewis I got to know him. Then he wanted my 4' X 8' Winds of War diorama. He got really pushy and ragged me for a couple of years before I finally gave in. He called one day and I was kinda annoyed and shot him a price that I thought was absurd just to shut him up. there was silence and he said, "Well Bob, I finally talked you into it". I couldn't believe he accepted the offer. He made me promise I would never tell anybody what he paid for it, but, I bought Susan a new luxury car with the money. We soon became friends and Lewis made his living making and selling his work to Ralph. Then Ralph began attending Mastercon. His dream was to create a museum. By that time I had a relatively extensive collection of dioramas myself. He began discussing a museum that we would open together.
We finally agreed to put it in the VLS building in Lone Star industrial Park. When finished, It was cool looking. but, being in an industrial Park it had no possibility of foot traffic. The grand opening of the Museum in the VLS facility.The mayor, aldermen, police and fire chiefs in attendance. The mayor cut the ribbon using one of Ralph's working cannons
The original museum in the VLS building.
Ralph went to a board meeting of the St, Charles Board of Alderman. He brought it up and, later they came to VLS to see it. Immediately they jumped pn it and wanted to put it on Main Street of "Old Town". They bought a building and began renovation. They brought in a museum consultant from California and did it up right. We created a non-profit corporation we called "The Kole Foundation" that owned it. KO for Koebbeman and Le for Letterman. We hired a curator, Tom O'Dell and several employees to run and maintain it.
You guys know the rest of the story, I just thought you might like to know how it all came about. Ralph moved his collection back to Rockford when I finally closed it down in 2001. He continued coming to Mastercon until he was 96. He always drove himself and the last time, he got lost and found himself in the Ghetto of St, Louis. It scared the hell out of him and he never came back. We kept in touch by phone until he died. Since he passed away, in 2010, we have lost contact with him. His wife died a couple of years later at 102. Lewis tried to learn where Ralph's collection was, but never made contact with Ralph's sons. that gigantic collection is out there somewhere.
His wife, Rosemarie, a well know artist in her own right, had painted portraits of me, Ralph and Verlinden for the museum. She later painted a portrait of my Doberman, Southern Star and Susan's Yorkie, Cagney. Here is the painting she made of me with legacies in the background. Cut me some slack, OK? it was painted 30 years ago!
It now hangs over Susan's computer desk!And here are the pups.
That's all Folks!
Looks like Ralph wrote a book about his collection.
Actually he wrote more than one. The others were technical and probably not for the mass market. Those cannons were incredible. He had several craftsmen in Russia. They created them out of metal, bored out and operated exactly like the real thing. They were engraved and gorgeous in appearance. I would estimate he had over a hundred of them. He paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 to 30K each. His collection was valued at more than $3 million. He had one, the cannon and limber all in 1'12th scale, made of sterling silver. He had a pair of .45 automatics. One of 14 ct gold, the other of sterling silver and both with diamond encrusted grips. Both worked just like the real things. He had at least a hundred different pistols, Colt Peacemakers to modern Lugers. He had dozens of miniature rifles that worked. Then he had a collection of ancient projectile weapons, trebuchets and catapults. It was an amazing collection. He even had several real full size Civil War and from the Napoleonic war cannons. All the time it was in my possession, I was praying somebody didn't break in and steal them. They were priceless and irreplaceable.Looks like Ralph wrote a book about his collection.
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Wow, I remember that name! I had heard it some decades ago and for some reason it stuck with me. I never knew anything about him; at least not to this extent. Amazing! You are truly blessed to have known so many Big Names in the Hobby!
You know Mark, It's the old story of being at the right place at the right time, Like so much else in life!
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Yeah, that is something I so rarely experience! At least I can experience it vicariously through you!
I've never got into vicarious Mark. Neither should you! Go for it!!! Grab it and run!Yeah, that is something I so rarely experience! At least I can experience it vicariously through you!