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Pup7309

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The below quote struck me as rather final...

 

Quote

Since the shock news, hobby forums have been awash with reports and counter claims on whether Wingnuts is just hibernating due to Covid-19 or gone forever. The management has maintained a solid silence with no official comments made. Approaches from the Forum for comment from the management and Sir Peter Jackson personally have drawn no response.

So could the place just be in hibernation?

“No, not at all. Clare stated that Wingnut Wings is permanently closed and assets are to be sold/disposed of,” one of the redundant staff confirms.

 

It is my understanding based on the quote by a former staff member that wishes to remain anonymous, that WnW is done, kerput, OOB.... never to see the light of day again.  Asset disposition TBD.

 

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As the person who wrote the Wingnuts article which has sparked this thread I would just like to note that it was written for the WW1 aircraft models forum and  an LSP member linked it to this site. Reading all the posts it has generated here it seems I have some haters judging by some of the remarks,  which is unfortunate because I'm also a member of LSP and have always held this site in the highest regard. I believed- mistakenly it seems- that we should always try to be supportive of one another. 

I am sorry the article seems to have outraged some people. It concerned me that the closure of Wingnuts seemed to just generate a stampede of hysterical Wingnut kit buyers and the people who created these model kits seemed to have been ignored. 

Also, Wingnuts has enjoyed a loyal customer base for 11 years and generated a fan base that is still mystified as to why the business suddenly closed down.

As a matter of interest NZ's leading online news website Stuff.co has today published an article stating Wingnuts has closed and refers to my article.

To the Moderators frustrated about WNW threads - I have not generated any of them and am only responding now to address the negativity. 

Dave Wilson

Gold Coast

Australia

 

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There will most likely never be anything officially released as is the case with most businesses the close up shop.  The only time “official” announcements are made is when said entity is public, files for bankruptcy protection (or whatever it’s called in any given country), or they’re having a “going out of business” sale.

 

The analogy between a criminal witness recounting a crime and a former employee of a defunct company still bound by a confidentiality agreement is flawed based on the burden of proof required and the basic nature of criminal law in most countries with some form of democratic government; the accused having the right to face their accuser. News articles proven to be completely accurate are commonly started by anonymous sources.  Why anonymous?  They’re either part of it or legally bound by such documents as the confidentially agreement.

 

I choose to believe the account related in the referenced article is genuine.

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51 minutes ago, Juggernut said:

 

The analogy between a criminal witness recounting a crime and a former employee of a defunct company still bound by a confidentiality agreement is flawed based on the burden of proof required and the basic nature of criminal law in most countries with some form of democratic government; the accused having the right to face their accuser. News articles proven to be completely accurate are commonly started by anonymous sources.  Why anonymous?  They’re either part of it or legally bound by such documents as the confidentially agreement.

 


To be fair, anonymity does not guarantee accuracy.  There have also been news articles started by anonymous sources that have been wrong too.  Not being a lawyer, I don’t know for sure whether a signed confidentiality agreement is still binding if the company closes, but I would wager that it is under circumstances like this which are business related, and by telling their story, even anonymously, people may still be liable.  But, that’s for courts to decide.

 

Regarding the Stuff.co.nz article, I’ll present it here, without comment.  Make of it what you will.

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121537116/sir-peter-jacksons-wingnut-wings-model-company-shuts

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If the reports are correct, then it's yet another sad day in commercial history.  WNW made the best WW1 kits and it's been great that Jackson's interest in them has resulted in such fine kits.  Again, if the reports are correct, then Jackson is to be severely castigated for the way in which the company has closed and the apparently dishonest treatment of it's staff.  He and his wife are the only directors of the company and it's up to them to ensure policy is fair, reasonable and compliant with corporate law and also company executives deport themselves in a manner according to that policy.  It's called corporate governance.  It's up to them to regulate the behaviour of their senior executives and from reading these articles, it appears that the CEO and CFO may have trouble lying straight in bed.  This sort of behaviour makes me furious.

 

It's true that "customers have enjoyed the ride", but that shouldn't apply to staff, who's livelyhood depend on the actions of company executives and directors.  If Jackson wants to wind up his company, that is his right, but he could have done so in a much more careful manner and with appropriate diligence towards the welfare of those he employed.

 

Strong stuff??  Well, moderators are free to delete this if they want, but I won't apologise to anyone for saying so.

 

 

Michael

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Just to clarify one thing about the Fokker Dr. 1 and Lancaster: there is a very high probability the kits will appear. There were test shots and you cannot have them without molds. This does not mean the kits will be fine-tuned as WnW would have done. However, I'm ready to bet my shirt they will finally be released. As I already wrote this has always been the case in the scale model market. By the way, it is not the case in the toy market where molds regularly disappear. Do not ask me why there is that difference. Frankly I do not know but looking at the destiny of molds made for the last seventy years, I can tell you a model company even keep molds of kits superseded by more recent toolings. They can still produce small anniversary batches for nostalgic collectors! Too bad for WnW as a company but the positive side-effect is a full opening of the market for CSM and no competition for their next release. Hopefully, this will also have a positive impact on HKM Lancaster sales. Wait and see but this is not the end of the story! 

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Well, here is a suggestion: why not make a separate forum section called, I don't know, "News about the fate of WNW company" or something like that, dedicated exclusively to nothing but the fate of WNW. That way the forum can coral such repetitive threads into one place. This way, the people who need their "daily fix" of WNW speculation can find all they need in one place. The other people who do not want or care to read the same thing told in many different ways can avoid it. To regulate matters, appoint one of these insistent people who keep bringing this subject to the fore as moderators for that section of the forum only. That way they cannot shout any longer that "moderators" deny them their "right to express opinion". Let them scratch that itch until they hit raw bone! :) 

Radu 

 

 

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I do need my daily fix of WNW rumors, speculations, assumptions etc. as much as I need my daily dose of Prozac and almost as much

as my daily dose of muscle car talk, both have become tiring. Actually, I don't need any of that, but then again, nobody forces me to read it  :).

Lothar

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33 minutes ago, Pup7309 said:

Just for the record I put up the link as info sharing, nothing else.
Read Dave’s article or not, it’s up to you. Same with stuff.NZ news article.

 

Why didn't you just add it to the existing topic which was running out of steam?

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/84639-wow-wnw-gone/

Might have got it back on topic?

Why start yet another topic when it has been requested to keep things in one place ?

 

 

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The big question that never seems to be answered is, why now?  All of the things stated against WNW being a money making business have been there for quite a while (a lot of esoteric subjects, subjects seeming selected on personal whims, etc.), so this isn’t anything new.  I’m sure that the corporate suits have always known this, and it’s been tolerated most likely because it was a pet project of Sir Peter Jackson.  If it is true that they are closed permanently, it’s almost certainly because Sir Peter stopped supporting it all of a sudden.  Why?  People can opine that problems at TVAL caused it, but it wouldn’t seem to be the sole cause. Guy loved WW1 airplanes and was willing to spend lots of money on making plastic model kits.  Can’t believe he suddenly ran out of money or stopped loving WW1 airplanes.

 

The articles seem to be focused on how it was done, and the fact that it was maybe handled poorly, but even if the article is 100% accurate, the “what went wrong” still hasn’t been answered.  My two cents.

Edited by Dave Williams
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Steve McQueen was an avid racer, no one thought he would ever stop driving in competition(unless something tragic happened, of course). However, after the ordeal of making the film Le Mans he quit racing forever. Apparently, making the film gave him all he wanted out of racing.

 

It happens, even when you think it never would.

 

Oorah!!  On to the next objective!

 

Cheers,

Damian

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