Author Topic: Last of the WNW?  (Read 7624 times)

Online macsporran

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #15 on: November 16, 2022, 07:43:21 PM »
OK, so we now know that Sprue Brothers, Andy's, Hannants and MBK are all awaiting shipments containing the last of the NZ WNW warehouse stock.

After a long period of dormancy, apart from a few kits sold at an NZ airshow, this would appear to be the bean-counters at WNW finally addressing what to do with the carcass of the once-beautiful Wingnuts dream - ie clearing the decks.

This would be a good time to make sure you've downloaded everything you might want from the WNW website. It is a goldmine of info, pictures, techniques etc but likely to be superfluous to the money-men's business plan going forward.

Sandy
« Last Edit: November 16, 2022, 08:42:23 PM by macsporran »

Offline loopyloop

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #16 on: November 16, 2022, 08:07:16 PM »
Just ordered some from the big H who along with everyone else shows a list of available kits but looking at the WnW's available list they list the brown box series which does not appear on any traders. Has anyone got any ideas?

Offline pepperman42

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #17 on: November 17, 2022, 12:16:43 AM »
Thank you for the clarification Dave and good point Sandy.

Steve

Offline LT1962

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #18 on: November 17, 2022, 06:41:29 AM »
So nothing near Australia with reasonable postage rates. Pity.

Offline rhwinter

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #19 on: November 17, 2022, 04:42:07 PM »
Just ordered some from the big H who along with everyone else shows a list of available kits but looking at the WnW's available list they list the brown box series which does not appear on any traders. Has anyone got any ideas?

I have no ideas, but the same question.

Offline PrzemoL

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #20 on: November 17, 2022, 06:18:05 PM »
Just ordered some from the big H who along with everyone else shows a list of available kits but looking at the WnW's available list they list the brown box series which does not appear on any traders. Has anyone got any ideas?

Many possibilities there.
1. The info in WNW page about their availability is outdated.
2. The kits might have been sold at the event in NZ.
3. The batch of them might be so small that not worthy dispatching.
4. They keep these for the Christmas gifts next year.
5. The model shops might have decided not to venture into the sales of these kits for unknown reasons.
6. Sir PJ took all of them planning to build dioramas with a/c from each Jasta.

...just to name a few... ;)

Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatuluk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

Offline Pup7309

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #21 on: November 17, 2022, 11:18:36 PM »
So nothing near Australia with reasonable postage rates. Pity.

Yes afraid so. Shame BNA or someone else didn’t get a look in
‘Not all who wander are lost‘

Offline Pup7309

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #22 on: November 17, 2022, 11:20:11 PM »
Just ordered some from the big H who along with everyone else shows a list of available kits but looking at the WnW's available list they list the brown box series which does not appear on any traders. Has anyone got any ideas?

I have no ideas, but the same question.

Also the spare sprues and decals - did they get chucked?
‘Not all who wander are lost‘

Offline Pup7309

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #23 on: November 17, 2022, 11:20:53 PM »
So far:

Modellbau König (Germany)
Sprue Brothers (USA)
Andy's Hobby Headquarters (USA)
Hannants (UK),

Mike

And apparently a place in Canada
‘Not all who wander are lost‘

Offline lcarroll

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #24 on: November 18, 2022, 07:12:45 AM »


And apparently a place in Canada
[/quote]

Yes, Sunward Hobbies in Toronto.

https://www.sunwardhobbies.ca

Cheers,
Lance

Offline Dave W

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #25 on: November 18, 2022, 09:18:30 AM »
It's interesting that the last of the NZ warehouse stock is being shared around retailers in the Northern Hemisphere, but apparently none has been set aside for Australian or NZ model retailers.

This may change but none of our major hobby stores has made any announcements about incoming WnW stock, which means Aussie and Kiwi modellers will be hit with the double whammy of exchange rates and postage costs if we buy from the USA, German, Canadian or British sources.

Dave Wilson
Gold Coast
Australia
Owner and Administrator of ww1aircraftmodels.com and forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com

Offline rhwinter

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #26 on: November 18, 2022, 10:27:01 PM »
Has there been word about what has happened to those last „brown-box“-issues of late WnW?

Offline Pup7309

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #27 on: November 19, 2022, 09:35:40 PM »
It's interesting that the last of the NZ warehouse stock is being shared around retailers in the Northern Hemisphere, but apparently none has been set aside for Australian or NZ model retailers.

This may change but none of our major hobby stores has made any announcements about incoming WnW stock, which means Aussie and Kiwi modellers will be hit with the double whammy of exchange rates and postage costs if we buy from the USA, German, Canadian or British sources.

Dave Wilson
Gold Coast
Australia

So true Dave, the final bill after exchange rate, exchange interest and GST is a killer for us antipodeans.
Neither of us got a look in after they closed either, or HLJ which may have worked out slightly cheaper.
‘Not all who wander are lost‘

Offline Pup7309

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #28 on: November 19, 2022, 09:38:01 PM »
Has there been word about what has happened to those last „brown-box“-issues of late WnW?

Not sure. I think some did turn up at one of the stores during lockdown but went quickly
Have they all gone ? Not sure but so far no one is listing them
‘Not all who wander are lost‘

Offline fruibal

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Re: Last of the WNW?
« Reply #29 on: November 24, 2022, 09:45:53 AM »
As I understand it what we are seeing is the clearance of warehouse stocks from the NZ warehouse. Wingnuts planned to do online sales themselves but someone chucked it into the 'too hard' basket and the stock was instead sold off to international model retailers.

Naturally this has spawned theories about Wingnuts reviving the business. Not happening, all of the WnW staff now work elsewhere and while the Wingnuts company still exists, there's nobody there to design or make kits. What we are seeing is the last hurrah and from here on in the Wingnut kits will largely be condemned to circulate in the ether as collector items at stupid prices.

Those who fantasise that Sir Peter Jackson will sell the tooling of the WnW kits to another manufacturer lose sight of the fact that he's not the sort of businessman who gives away valuable assets to rivals. The tooling (which is housed in China and South Korea) will go into storage, like the full sized Lancaster replicas he made for the Dambusters movie that never happened.

The Meng Fokker Dr.1s and Border Lancaster happened because Wingnuts had not completed payments to the toolmakers, and the tooling was forfeited. Wingnuts did apparently complete payments for the Handley Page O/100 and O/400 kits, which is why they have not been grabbed by another manufacturer.

So all in all the last appearance of these kits at retail prices is a bittersweet moment and a sad ending to a company that revolutionised the WW1 hobby.

Dave Wilson
Gold Coast
Australia

Such a pitty that Sir Peter Jackson would prefer keeping those tooling molds stored in warehouses collecting dust, instead of giving/selling  them to some manufacturer to continue production in a gesture of goodwill to WWI modellers, if he's done with it and WNW business is over, for god's sake it must be given away, otherwise it seems like greed and bitterness supersedes his personality, afterall he's not such a  nice "Sir"
« Last Edit: November 24, 2022, 11:53:56 AM by fruibal »