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The VLS Corporation, The Middle Years
- Thread starter bob letterman
- Start date
Thanks, Jef and I go back a long ways. He's a great guy and possibly THE best pattern maker in the business. I stay in touch with him as well as Willy Peeters. Both were long time members of the VLS-Verlinden Production team and both extremely talented people.
Bob
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I thank you guys for sharing your tricks of the trade. The VLS days is what really got me back into modeling. Still have all the old VLS books and magazines and still use them for references. Thanks again and keep the posts coming!
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@l brooks Welcome aboard, pull up a chair and share with us what you've built and maybe give us an intro.
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No, sadly, our 15 year partnership didn't end amicably. Francois and I always got along well, but a member of his family and I could never see eye to eye. Lewis Pruneau remained our mutual friend for years until he passed away in September. The Verlindens moved to Florida after closing their production company. I understand that he no longer models and has lost interest in the hobby. The last photo I have seen of him was when he was closing up the VP facility. It was all such a pity, him and I were once great friends as well as business partners, but, I have learned that too many partnerships end this way.
First let me differentiate the two companies. Once, one company, but after the split in 1999, The VLS Corporation, (Mine), that was the mail order/distributing company which distributed 30,000 products from 400 manufacturers, split from Verlinden Productions/Verlinden Publications, (his). At that time, Verlinden and I split the number of Pruneau dioramas we had purchased together. I took 22 and he kept 22. After the split, I bought Warriors in California and Custom Dioramics in Canada. Then I started up another 14 production/publishing companies under the VLS banner. to create a substitute for no longer having a production entity On January 1st, 2007, I sold the VLS Corporation to a conglomerate that owned MMD/Squadron, and I was no longer associated with it. My wife, Susan and I retired. Some of our employees went to MMD in Dallas, we helped a few others find work.
Verlinden productions had been courted by MMD at the same time as VLS, but, for whatever reasons, they decided against buying that company. A couple of years ago, Verlinden shut down Verlinden Productions altogether, sold their building and moved to Florida. I only saw photos supplied by one of their former employees. They show the molds and masters being thrown into dumpsters. You will also notice Verlinden's son, Wim, tossing one of Pruneau's dioramas into the dumpster as well. That is the extent of my knowledge about their situation. Here are the photos I was sent.
Below are mold cases, the forms to create the molds from production masters that apparently went into the dumpsters.
Here are some in the dumpster.
Francois' helping with the vacating the building.
The son, Wim with one of Lewis' Dioramas, a 120mm Panzer III Diorama.
And, in it goes.Imagine how many people would have loved to have had those!
Empty Shelving.
No Idea how many of these were filled, but, there it goes!
Once again, It is sad for me to see these photos and all the waste, but, I had nothing to do with it..
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
That is so sad. Would have been worth bribing the dumpster driver to haul it someplace to unload.
Yes, a real shame in so many different ways Chris, but, as they say, water under the bridge.
When the company was moved to America back in 1996, I heard it was much the same. Local modelers were coming around, rummaging through the dumpster finding all sorts of useful items. Two ex-employees told me that to discourage that, buckets of paint were thrown in the dumpster, ruining anything of value? I wasn't there so I only have their word?