Wingnuts releases for 2013 ??

[Chris Johnson]

Thanks Des and Dave for the clarification. I'm not troubled any longer by WnW apparent lack of support here. Maintain your independence Des!

Cheers,

Chris

[lcarroll]

I third the motion - bring on the Junkers!!!!!

Steve

Now that would be sweet; "Giddy Up" WNW!!!
Cheers,
Lance

[pepperman42]

...and hurrah for all you WNW Snipers!!!

Steve

[kinnies]

A very interesting discussion. I'm grateful to have such a forum and grateful to have WNW producing such brilliant kits. (My wallet is not so grateful).

In the meantime, here is my wishlist:

Avro 504
Sopwith Baby
Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter.

Oh, like Steve, I'd like a Pfalz Pfartzen too. Not holding my breath though ...
And, yes, cheers to all the guttersnipes out there.

John

[pepperman42]

There was an attempt by Pfalz to enclose the cockpit on the Pfarzten but for obvious reasons they dropped the idea.

Steve

[kinnies]

From what I understand, it was the first attempt at gas warfare.

[Dave W]

There is an interesting thread elsewhere today asking what subjects Wingnut still has to do.

The most interesting response was from respected hobby industry figure Roy Sutherland, he of 21st Century Toys fame. His views are especially worth repeating here:

"There are plenty of subjects, no doubt, but how many are left that will get enough people to dig deep into their pockets to pay 75 bucks to have.

I'm sure this is a question that is of great interest at WNW. At the present rate of releases, I'd say they have a year, maybe two before subjects start getting to that tipping point of being obscure enough that a good percentage of customers will take a pass on that subject.

Where they go from that point will be interesting to watch. "

Roy raises a really interesting point- Wingnut is heavily targeting mainstream ( non WW1 modellers) but at what point will they baulk at buying subjects they have never heard of ? It will come down to what looks 'sexy' and of course there's all the competition from other mainstream model companies.

WW1 modellers see endless subject potential, but are these subjects commercially viable? And don't say Wingnuts are not interested in profit- at the very least they want to cover costs. They are a business folks, and they charge a fair price for an excellent product. The recent increase in kit prices was made for business reasons, and rightly so.

Dave Wilson
Gold Coast
Australia
 

[Des]

Very interesting comments by Roy, and what he said has a lot of truth in it. There are only so many kits Wingnuts can produce that will attract paying customers, sure, all the obscure types would be great but only a very small handful of people would buy them, not enough to cover the enormous cost to produce a kit. The 50 kits that Wingnuts have said they have in development pose a very serious question, how many of them are actual WW1 aircraft and how many are post war. I can count on one hand the kits which would be good sellers, a few of them have been mentioned in this topic, and I'm sure that Wingnuts will have these kits on their priority list, but the other 45 kits in development, well, it's anyones guess. I, like a lot of other guys, have a fairly lengthy wish list, but I'm afraid that is all it is, wishes.

Thanks David for posting the comments Roy made, they make a lot of sense.

Des.

[James]

Des, you think it is realistic thinking that Wingnut Wings or any other "mainstream" model company would ever do a 1/32 Farman, Caudron, Voison, A.E.G. G.IV, Friedrichshafen G.III, or a Hanriot? Just wondering if I'm wishing and waiting for one of these nothing?

James S.

[Des]

Nice choice of aeroplanes James, they would all be great kits. Wingnuts are a very dedicated WW1 company and love to produce 1:32 scale kits of these wonderful aircraft, but they are also a business, they need to make money like any other business. It costs an enormous amount of money to research, develop and produce a kit, then they have to market it, they (Wingnuts) would have a break even figure, X amount of kits would have to be sold before they realise a profit. Wingnuts, or any other manufacturer, are facing an uphill battle to produce a kit then try and sell it to the modeling world. We have to remember that WW1 aircraft models is only a very small niche market, it is a specialised field not only in kit manufacturing but kit building, this is the reason few modelers will venture into WW1 bi-planes. We would all love to see a multitude of new kits hit the market every month or so, but this will never happen. Wingnuts now dominate the large scale WW1 aeroplane market which has scared most other manufacturers away from ever producing new subjects, this is such a shame

Your list of models you would like is great, I would like to see all those aeroplanes made as kits in 1:32 scale, but realistically, they may just be a pipe dream, I hope not.

Des.

[James]

Nice choice of aeroplanes James, they would all be great kits. Wingnuts are a very dedicated WW1 company and love to produce 1:32 scale kits of these wonderful aircraft, but they are also a business, they need to make money like any other business. It costs an enormous amount of money to research, develop and produce a kit, then they have to market it, they (Wingnuts) would have a break even figure, X amount of kits would have to be sold before they realise a profit. Wingnuts, or any other manufacturer, are facing an uphill battle to produce a kit then try and sell it to the modeling world. We have to remember that WW1 aircraft models is only a very small niche market, it is a specialised field not only in kit manufacturing but kit building, this is the reason few modelers will venture into WW1 bi-planes. We would all love to see a multitude of new kits hit the market every month or so, but this will never happen. Wingnuts now dominate the large scale WW1 aeroplane market which has scared most other manufacturers away from ever producing new subjects, this is such a shame

Your list of models you would like is great, I would like to see all those aeroplanes made as kits in 1:32 scale, but realistically, they may just be a pipe dream, I hope not.

Des.

Thanks for the honest reply, Des. You are right in that Wingnut wants to make money and the amount ofd fesearch for these kits would be who knows how much, but not cheap. With WW I being such a small market, I'm with you in that these kits will probably never see the light of day. It is a shame though that some of these important early War aircraft will never be done. Though I do think Wingnut Wings could do a Hanriot Hd.1, as I would think that it would be a good seller.

James S.

[Chris Johnson]

I'd be pleased to see WnW release several U.S. Navy Yellow Wing biplanes at some point. There are some great marking schemes there.

Cheers,

Chris

[rowan broadbent]

Hmmm. This is a bit of a marathon, but please bear with me....

Des, I know you have this view that Wingnuts are scaring off other manufacturers but really I don't think it holds water. If Roden were, as you seem to believe, "scared off" by Wingnut Wings quality, so much the better. They produced a few reasonable 32nd scale kits but they were getting worse with every new release; their distributors - particularly in the UK - were hell-bent on screwing the maximum from the customer. I know that you did a great job on some Roden kits, particularly the DH2, but that's because you are talented enough to get those results from sub-par kits. Have you seen the Wingnuts DH2? the Roden one is a 48% kit and the other a 95%+ one - the difference is that marked. I also think you aren't giving WNW their due; with both the DH2 and the Sopwith Triplane they let Roden have a go at the market first and held up their kits in the process. With the latest tranche of releases, we now have more 32nd scale WWI subjects than we could have dreamed possible before WNW arrived on the scene. And what beautiful things they are!

Gloom and doom seem to be the order of the day on this thread - OK, it's dressed up as business savvy, feet on the ground, grown up thinking but honestly,  can't we give the Chicken Little act a rest? Many of the subjects that WNW will produce in the future will be virtually unknown to all but a minority of modellers, but they'll sell. Quality always does and let's be honest, Wingnuts as an enterprise is as much about education and recognition of the bravery and sacrifice of the early aviators as anything else. It is no coincidence that the same man's vision also drives the Vintage Aviator (probably a far more money-hungry beast). Do we see them only building replicas of the well-known aircraft? do people wail and gnash their teeth because they "must make money" and no one is buying FE2b repros.... OK a bit extreme but you get my drift, I'm sure.

I'm willing to bet that we will still be seeing fabulous releases of "obscure" types from WNW in another four years time. No one has mentioned the DFW C.V yet. The what? I hear you cry, the most produced single aeroplane type in the German arsenal, that's all. Far better that we hear about and learn about that, than have yet another kit of a slow and ineffective aeronautical blind alley that was produced in tiny numbers and was obsolete almost as soon as it entered service but just happened to be painted red and flown by a blue-eyed boy of the German home front newspapers. Just because Triplanes "sell". Pah!

Seriously though, can't we cheer up and enjoy what these folks are giving us? Dream on! Really! Dream! There will be Handley Page O/400s and AEG J.IIs and French and Italian and Austro-Hungarian and Russian aeroplanes. I believe in all honesty, that we ain't seen nothing yet. Far from running out of subjects, Wingnut Wings are only just getting going!

Strolls away whistling "always look on the bright side of life".........

[petrov27]

I am not sure that money is the only consideration for WNW in what they decide to produce? They do have something that most companies wish for - an extremely wealthy enthusiast benefactor....

I am sure they don't want to take losses either, but if it was all about money only I would have thought their first releases would have been things like a Fokker DrI, Sopwith Camel, etc. instead of a Junkers, HB29, etc.?

So while they are doing some popular subjects that no doubt will sell big (Fok DVII) they are doing some that I doubt would be big sellers (I cant imagine the Salmson will be a cash-cow?)

Just my 2cents...

[drdave]

I don't think we have anything to worry about for the next few years. Even if NZ sank under a mega tsunami (hope not) once the Internet was on again, people would be posting about how long it took for their kit to arrive.
Ergo
The rest of the plastic manufacturers would step up. Maybe airfix or a european company rather  than trumpeter, but demand leads supply. That is limited by our ages. There are no new ww1 modellers. We are a clique within a niche within a microcosm.
I don't think we will see early ww1 stuff coming out. I suspect late war to post war is where we will be heading. This market could easily switch to yellow or silver wings stuff if wnw are so inclined and I for one would be delighted.