At the risk of exposing my ignorance about decal production, how is it that decal manufacturers such as Data Decals (Soviet WWII markings), and Americal Griffon go out of production without anyone else aquiring the rights and the information to continue to produce the art? This is vital information. Obviously a fair amount of research went into their production, so why has it not been transfered to another printer? Was it not put up for for sale?
I build 1/32nd scale aircraft kits. In 2010 I have too much to build, and of higher quality than I could have dreamt of even two years ago. Thank you,Rowen,Wingnuts,Oh,Roden et al. I just hate the idea of losing decal artwork knowledge we already had.
Is it recoverable?
Wingwalker

Good question. I'm not an expert in any field related to this topic other than being an awesome consumer...

I would assume that if a company goes broke, it's probably a good sign that their products had limited appeal or cost more to produce than it stood to make in sales. As another business looking to buy Intellectual Property I would avoid the majority of out of business company's stock as you could assume the market research has already been done and was not favourable to the products.

My $0.02
Damo

Although on reading that back, the acquiring business should make a saving on the original R&D and therefore should have a better chance of turning a profit if there is any reasonable demand for the products.

In the case of Americal the profit was not the driving force of the business. DR. Merrills Love of, and research into the aircraft markings of WW1 were the mainstay! The business did not go "Broke". He quit for personal reasons and chose not to sell his research and artwork. It was a sad loss for us modelers, but Dr. Merril did what he needed to for personal reasons. This is just paraphrasing what I have heard of the Demise of Americal/Gryphon.
RAGIII