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WNW website news update


Gazzas

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Sad news from New Zealand today indicates Wingnut Wings has been closed down permanently and its assets are to be sold off.

Details are yet to be publicly disclosed but it’s understood staff have been informed they no longer have jobs at Wingnuts, and all assets- the moulds etc- are to be disposed of.

Wingnuts, which was begun by Sir Peter Jackson in 2009, has like many NZ businesses been locked down recently due to the coronavirus shutdowns there.

The business issues affecting the decision to close the business permanently are not yet known but are not thought to be entirely due to the Covid 19 issue.

The Forum contacted Wingnuts’ General Manager, Richard Alexander yesterday and sought comment. He responded that an official statement would be forthcoming.

When we approached him today on this matter, the email diverted to a message referring all future Wingnut Wings matters to Clare Olssen and Kate Leppard.

Clare Olssen is Chief Executive Officer of WingNut Films and Kate Leppard is the company’s Chief Financial Officer.

We sought official comment from Clare Olssen and Kate Leppard. We asked about the status of the Wingnut Wings business, the employment status of staff and the situation re pending mail orders in their system.

There has been no response from the designated contacts for Wingnut Wings. Significantly Richard’s name now no longer appears on replies from his official email address.

Update: late today Richard Alexander confirmed to the Forum that he is no longer at Wingnut Wings. Asked about the situation there he said "I am not able to comment at this time".

The Wingnuts website is still active and accepting online orders however due to the uncertainty about the company’s status now, it is suggested Forum members consider whether to place any further orders with their online store until the company officially clarifies the status of its current pending orders.

It’s understood there are also major job cuts at the Vintage Aviator (TVAL) too with all aircraft production stopped, most staff made redundant and the company retrenched to a maintenance team for the existing aircraft collection.

Sir Peter Jackson has made no comment on the closure decisions.

More details will be posted when they are known.

Dave Wilson
Gold Coast
Australia

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So sad on so many levels!
 

I have been patiently waiting for the release of their Lanc and Dr.1 but I guess that won’t be happening now.

 

Worst of all, of course, is the loss of the jobs associated with the entire WnWs operations. “Unfortunate” is an extreme understatement! I wish everyone who was there the very best as they cope with a difficult new reality!

 

Cheers,

Wolf

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This is indeed a sad day for the entire modelling community, let alone the specialised niche that Wingnut Wings served so valiantly for the past 10 years. There's clearly a lot more to the story than we've been presented with so far, but I think our shared hope as modellers is that a worthy successor picks up the moulds and carries on. Not many of the incumbent manufacturers could probably afford them as a job lot, so I could see them being broken up among a few players. My hot tip for the most likely candidate: Eduard.

 

My condolences to Richard and his team at Wingnut Wings. Here's hoping that this is only a temporary personal setback for you guys.

 

Kev

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Holy crap.

 

My thoughts are with the former employees at WNW.

 

Quote

"all assets- the moulds etc- are to be disposed of"

 

I assume this is some sort of insolvency sell-off, so the moulds, intellectual property, etc will be purchased by the highest bidder, which could be interesting to put it mildly.

 

I wouldn't rule out PJ buying them - depends upon a whole load of criteria, but not impossible, albeit not probable.

 

HK's Lancaster's will be more in demand now.

 

So we have the obvious question to mull over -

 

Who Is Buying The Moulds????

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They are being ‘disposed of’ Assume they won’t end up in a dumpster. Maybe they’ll keep the intellectual property. It’s the basis of a great model company.
Not sure of the logic of him buying his own moulds- how does that work?

Also what will become of current stock? It says ordering through site is not recommended 

Edited by Pup7309
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8 minutes ago, Pup7309 said:

They are being ‘disposed of’ Assume they won’t end up in a dumpster. Maybe they’ll keep the intellectual property. It’s the basis of a great model company.
Not sure of the logic of him buying his own moulds- how does that work?

Also what will become of current stock? It says ordering through site is not recommended 

I assume WNW is some sort of Limited Company, so any losses , debts, obligations, etc are kept in the company & written off.

 

So PJ & WNW are two seperate legal entities. He'd not be buying them off himself, he'd be buying from WNW.

 

If it's being wound up, they can't keep the intellectual property. 

 

Personally, I would not buy anything from the WNW site. If you have to - and you're in the UK - use a credit card & spend over £100.

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41 minutes ago, DeanKB said:

I assume WNW is some sort of Limited Company, so any losses , debts, obligations, etc are kept in the company & written off.

 

So PJ & WNW are two seperate legal entities. He'd not be buying them off himself, he'd be buying from WNW.

 

If it's being wound up, they can't keep the intellectual property. 

 

Personally, I would not buy anything from the WNW site. If you have to - and you're in the UK - use a credit card & spend over £100.

If that’s the case I imagine  he’ll make a bid for some or all of them.

He could set WNW up again?

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