Incredible, but true – MBK is celebrating its 25th anniversary!
2026 is all about our anniversary and we’ll be hosting exciting new promotions throughout the year to celebrate our birthday.
We’re kicking things off in Phase 1 with a little birthday cake as a gift in every package (while supplies last). And there are 25 fantastic items in our shop with a 25% discount each – never seen before! So check out the shop and take advantage of the great deals!
To round off the anniversary celebrations, we’re taking you on a little journey through the past 25 years. We’ll start with the early years, from 2001 to 2006. Enjoy!
2001 – 2006: How it all began
The year Modellbaukönig was founded is 2001, the year the eBay account “Modellbau-Koenig” was registered. Having previously sold model kits under the name “Karton-Koenig,” we wanted to clearly separate cardboard packaging from model kits. Therefore, we decided to create a second account solely for model kits.
At that time, none of the established wholesalers supplied purely online shops or internet retailers. The general consensus was: “This internet thing will be gone soon.”
So we imported the kits by air freight directly from the USA. Most new releases were available there earlier, since transport times between Asia and the US West Coast were only about two weeks, whereas ships to Europe usually took five or six weeks. Therefore, we were often the first to be able to offer new kits back then.
This marked the beginning of the heyday of Dragon and Trumpeter, who gave the established brands a run for their money with affordable kits and a wealth of content.
In 2003, we decided to leave eBay and set up our own online shop exclusively for model kits. Initially, we worked together with a friend who dealt in model trains, while I focused on the plastic model kits.
We said to ourselves: If we’re going to have an online shop, we’re going to do it right – the way we, as customers, would want it, not like the shops that existed back then. We were the first to have a traffic light indicator in our shop, so customers could see whether we actually had the products in stock. That wasn’t a given back then!
On top of that, there was the fast shipping. As a customer myself, I often had to wait weeks or even months for my orders. I wanted to do things differently. Even in the “pre-Amazon era,” we had a delivery rate of over 90% within 48 hours.
Word of the good availability and fast delivery spread quickly, and Modellbaukönig grew – also because many established, large model retailers had missed the boat on the internet trend (a little luck is always involved).
You can also find a PDF-Version of the flyer.
Phase 2 will start in April
Stay tuned for what we offer you in the next phase of our anniversary celebrations.
But rest assured – it will be sensational and something we’ve never done before!
Best Regards
Nils & the entire Modellbau-Koenig.de-Team
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