Wingnut Wings Gotha - How Much?

[vince14]

5 hours ago, AlbertD said:

Will the market drop out if Meng starts pressing kits with the WNW molds? I've noticed the the price of the Meng Dr. I is already dropping somewhat.

Meng doesn't have any of the other WNW molds, only the Dr.I, and the chances of anyone re-popping the remaining WNW kits in the foreseeable future is remote.

 

As an aside, the seller managed to find someone to buy the kit for £850...however, someone is now trying to flog one for £1,100!

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-32-Wingnut-Wings-Gotha-G-IV-32005/293830961787?hash=item4469b0aa7b:g:ZPYAAOSwnNtfrvXG

Edited November 22, 2020 by vince14

[MikeC]

Some sellers do set high prices: I've just been looking at Revell 109 G-10s on eBay.  There are two asking over £50! Perhaps I should let mine go ...

[mozart]

There’s also a Silver Wings Fairey Flycatcher on eBay, currently £240 with 3 hours remaining. Admittedly it’s accompanied by the excellent MMP Orange series book about the type, but even so! 17 bids but only two blokes bidding, they must really want it. I don’t have a Flycatcher in my SW collection, if I did I’d sell it! 

Edited November 22, 2020 by mozart

[monthebiff]

I just cannot understand what some people will pay for plastic, I had a spare WnW Fokker D.VII OAW sprue which I put on ebay and it sold for £130 which I just found ridiculous. 

 

Regards. Andy 

[Rick Griewski]

1 hour ago, monthebiff said:

I just cannot understand what some people will pay for plastic, I had a spare WnW Fokker D.VII OAW sprue which I put on ebay and it sold for £130 which I just found ridiculous. 

 

Regards. Andy 

Giggles at the bank I bet.  Give the people what they want 

[LSP_Mike]

So Andy, did you refuse the money?

[monthebiff]

25 minutes ago, LSP_Mike said:

So Andy, did you refuse the money?

Obviously not Mike but what i mean is it amazes me what price people will pay for WnW stuff. 

 

Regards. Andy 

[SimonCornes]

On 11/20/2020 at 8:15 PM, Gary Needham said:

I think in all the years of attending model shows here in the UK and also in the EU, I have only ever seen 3 of these magnificent Gotha kits built so I assume far more will exist unbuilt still than have ever been built  - just like the old 'Monogram' 4 engine heavies in 1/48 which are notorious shelf sitters . The main issue here is the sheer amount of space needed to display it after it is built and so, I rather suspect that kits like this Gotha and the Felixstowe's etc. will, for the foreseeable future, just get exchanged between 'connoisseurs' like fine wines are. Moving forward, the main interest with mainstream modellers in second hand WNW kits will come with the small and iconic single seaters like the Camels, Albs, DVII and Se5a's etc. which will always enjoy a healthy demand and interest in the hobby and more importantly, actually get built.

 

As mentioned elsewhere of course in this thread, 99.999% of the rest of the population have no interest or idea in what these things ('toys' to them) are worth or their desirability within the hobby and I can only wonder in the years ahead how many will end up at charity shops donated by unwitting family members - or -  get snaffled up by the house clearance spiv with his rusty van telling your still grieving other half ..."I'm a fool to myself taking all these WNW kits off you Mrs X as kids are only interested in computers these days...but you seem a nice old lady so I shall tell you what i'll do; I will give you £50.00  if it helps you out so hows that sound?"

 

"What, £50.00 for just one of these WNW thingy kits?"

 

"No dear...THE WHOLE LOT OF THEM".

 

"errr...well, they are no good to me are they....Sold!"

 

Gary 

 

 

There's more than a ring of truth about that I'm afraid! Plans should be made!! Have a codicil added to your will!

 

[monthebiff]

Not sure if laughing boy will sell at a grand as we have a new kid on the street with a little more of a realistic starting price!!

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wingnut-Wings-1-32-Gotha-G-IV-model-kit/203192335232?hash=item2f4f34fb80:g:K~4AAOSw-wZftVD~

 

Regards.Andy 

[Pup7309]

On 11/21/2020 at 3:52 AM, RadBaron said:

I cant help but think the Gotha, in particular, is one of those kits that is such an enormous and daunting project that the vast majority of them will only ever be shuffled between people like this. Each new 'caretaker' will as a bit more aftermarket, then pass it on to the next person. Each seeing its value not as a kit, but an object of "limited" release whos value is only to those who see it in the same light as anything more than nicely shaped chunks of plastic. 

 

I imagine, in 10-20 years time, these kits will start showing up in estate sales completely untouched, and loaded with all the accessories, ready to be enjoyed the way Sir PJ intended

Spot on. 

[Pup7309]

12 hours ago, monthebiff said:

Obviously not Mike but what i mean is it amazes me what price people will pay for WnW stuff. 

 

Regards. Andy 

If I had 10 sprues I could buy that Gotha 

[LSP_Mike]

Andy, I am sure you took the money, who wouldn't? The same is true of many things. When I went to gunshows in the 80s, one could find SMLE rifles easily. .303 was cheap.  Now, when I go to a show, I might see 3-4 total; clean ones are rare. A decent No. I MkIII? As rare as penguin teeth.

My display case is big enough for my Gotha and my Felixstowe, so I plan to build them.

[Gigant]

Rare Plane Detective (a used model kit dealer) listed one on eBay that ended this last weekend for the opening bid price of $777.00 and nobody bid on it!

And his motto is "New kit prices have gone crazy" to attract you to his "previously owned" inventory! LOL

Honestly, I quit buying his "fully inspected kits" long ago when I kept getting kits that were missing clear parts, landing gear struts, or the decals were already partly used for another kit the previous owner built.

Similarly, others list for over $1,000, and they are just sitting there.

And frankly, because of the G.IV's history of the gas tanks catching on fire because they directly sat on the lower wing, if I were to pay any serious $$'s for one, I would prefer the improved G.V.

I understand that because the engines' enclosures sit on the lower wings instead of struts, that that makes it easier to build then the G.V, but Aurora conquered that problem years ago when I originally built their 1/48th scale release. Their kit simply went together with minimal hassle.

And since I have both the original Aurora and the later K&B G.V kits in my stash, I can see investing in any after-market mods necessary to make it more accurate then literally spending hundreds more for a product that being made from "soft plastic" needs the typical after-market white metal landing gear strut sets from the very start!

And after you are done, it would best be donated to a museum somewhere because of its size.

 

With their soft plastic, struts and attachment details so "historically perfect" that you would need special jigs to keep the alignment between the wings and struts, both huge size and price-tags keeps me from ever wanting it to travel from their hobby shelves to mine in my house.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by Gigant
Clarification

[Pup7309]

1 hour ago, Gigant said:

Rare Plane Detective (a used model kit dealer) listed one on eBay that ended this last weekend for the opening bid price of $777.00 and nobody bid on it!

And his motto is "New kit prices have gone crazy" to attract you to his "previously owned" inventory! LOL

Honestly, I quit buying his "fully inspected kits" long ago when I kept getting kits that were missing clear parts, landing gear struts, or the decals were already partly used for another kit the previous owner built.

Similarly, others list for over $1,000, and they are just sitting there.

And frankly, because of the G.IV's history of the gas tanks catching on fire because they directly sat on the lower wing, if I were to pay any serious $$'s for one, I would prefer the improved G.V.

I understand that because the engines' enclosures sit on the lower wings instead of struts, that that makes it easier to build then the G.V, but Aurora conquered that problem years ago when I originally built their 1/48th scale release. Their kit simply went together with minimal hassle.

And since I have both the original Aurora and the later K&B G.V kits in my stash, I can see investing in any after-market mods necessary to make it more accurate then literally spending hundreds more for a product that being made from "soft plastic" needs the typical after-market white metal landing gear strut sets from the very start!

And after you are done, it would best be donated to a museum somewhere because of its size.

 

With their soft plastic, struts and attachment details so "historically perfect" that you would need special jigs to keep the alignment between the wings and struts, both huge size and price-tags keeps me from ever wanting it to travel from their hobby shelves to mine in my house.

 

 

 

 

Probably why a lot of folks stayed away, even at RRP. 
 

An AM guy might come to the rescue with struts in a metal that isn’t white, needed on a few kits not just the more exotic ones

[Gigant]

11 hours ago, Pup7309 said:

Probably why a lot of folks stayed away, even at RRP. 
 

An AM guy might come to the rescue with struts in a metal that isn’t white, needed on a few kits not just the more exotic ones

As I understand, starting with their Salmson biplane, practically all of WnW's kits have weak landing gear struts, wing sag, etc., which is the result of trying to make tiny detailed things like struts and wing attachment points exactly to scale out of soft plastic.

Although I have bought a couple of their kits, the one that really scares me is their Bristol F2b. After building the old Aurora kit with the stubby fuselage stand-off struts for the lower wing attachment, I simply would not want the pain of figuring what type of fixture it would take to get a soft plastic WnW fuselage to not try to rotate on me while standing in them while the glue is setting up, in addition to the worry as to how substantial it will be for me to finish getting the upper wing with all of it's eight inter-plane struts and cabane struts to behave.

 

Frankly, I see this trend as a "cop-out", where under the "true to exact scale drawings" caveat, they obviously do not take time to test-fit the parts to see how practical it would be for the average builder to assemble their kits without heavily investing in buying or making special jigs and fixtures, that have very limited use beyond a single build or two.

 

IMHO, that is the main reason why most WnW's kits are still sitting around here and there unbuilt in their boxes, popping up on eBay and Amazon instead of showing up a built projects on model airplane websites.