As the person who wrote some of the Wingnut Wings feature articles often referred to in threads about what WNW said or did not say, I have reviewed my interview notes with Richard Alexander and the remarks sent by Sir Peter Jackson and nowhere did either gentleman say anything about Wingnut Wings kits having a short-ish run and then special editions. Nor have I seen that remark in any other published article.
Wingnuts have never disclosed their production runs for commercial-in-confidence reasons, nor do they disclose sales figures for the same reason. They have said that when kits sell out they won't be reissued in that form ( that said this remark pre-dates the return of the Hansa Brandenburg W.29 in the new Duellists set).
The special editions remark was in the context of when kits sell out, they will reappear at some future time as a special edition kit with extra photo etch, more decals, figures etc.
Although this has not yet happened there is a photo with my 2010 feature on Hyperscale showing one of the Wingnuts staff with his computer screen showing the photo etch extras for the Albatros D.V special edition. Another photo shows another staffer with a computer screen showing the LVG special edition instruction renders. These images have been published so the special edition kits are real- just not released yet. There were also images of some of the resin figures, also not yet available.
As the earlier articles have not been updated, some people are taking information from them and assuming they refer to the state of play in 2014. Not so. For example early in the piece Wingnuts said they were not doing a Sopwith Camel but a year or so back they confirmed a Camel is in development.
The earlier articles were accurate for their time but Richard Alexander also said "never say never" in regard to possible future kit selections.
That said there's been a lot of speculation on various forums about whether WNW is doing a BE2c or a Fokker DVIII or a whatever. The facts are Wingnuts has never said they are doing these kits. We want them to, but they have never been confirmed by WNW and online speculation needs to be read in that context- just a guess.
As for the remarks that Wingnuts are producing kits for fun, that's a stretch of the imagination. Sir Peter Jackson in the 2010 feature said "We are not driven by market forces and profit". That said I'm sure the company which has Sir Peter's financial backing, is not doing it to make a loss either.
Dave Wilson
Gold Coast
Australia