KiwiZac Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 (edited) Hi all, This weekend is the first of New Zealand's two big airshows this year, Wings Over Wairarapa. The host airfield is home to The Vintage Aviator Limited's (Sir Peter Jackson) flying WW1 fleet. A few minutes ago this popped up on TVAL's Facebook page: I'm at the show on Saturday so I'll be taking photos and asking questions, fingers crossed they can shed some light on the future...or at least some hints! Edited February 28, 2021 by KiwiZac Amended title Johnny Cloud, Anthony in NZ, Out2gtcha and 13 others 14 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 For some reason the link doesn't work for me, so for anyone else experiencing similar MikeC, Jan_G, ivanmoe and 4 others 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vince14 Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 The word is they’re selling off the last remaining stock held in the NZ warehouse. scvrobeson, MikeC, LSP_K2 and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssculptor Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 "Tis possible that when they shut down the other year they were just taking a break and were waiting for things, in general, to simply calm down. Or maybe waiting until finances came back up, or one of a zillion possible reasons. Who knows? I sure don't. Or to take a pessimistic point of view perhaps they were waiting for the right time to empty their warehouse, especially now that prices of their old stock have risen so high. Hey, if I had the ability to read peoples' minds I'd be a multimillionaire. Royboy, scvrobeson and Rick Griewski 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Williams Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 I doubt this is anything except them cleaning out (or liquidation of) warehouse stock, and I seriously doubt they’ll be charging “current” prices. Probably just their normal pre-shutting down prices. I don’t see this as any indication that they are coming back. They’re done. Time to stick a fork in it and move on, I think. scvrobeson, Gary Needham, vince14 and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber Command nut Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 I guess we will have to wait for our members down there to report back after the show . . . . RLWP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Needham Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 I am sure it will simply be to clear remaining stock from the warehouse so I am sure our NZ friends will get some good bargains on the day. The complete absence of (any) official statement or rebuttal of total closure during the past 10 months or so by this high profile model company tells its own story. Also, I understand the entire (highly skilled and dedicated) WNW staff were made redundant when the closure saga was in its infancy and will now doubtless have other jobs and so, how is PJ going to "Get the band back together again" even if he wanted to? The loss of trust amongst former staff given how they were (allegedly) treated must also make any of them seriously question whether to come back even if he did. Gary Babelfish Steve, Paul in Napier, esarmstrong and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Looks like they'll start off-loading stuff at the airshow, the rest of it will probably be put up on the website afterwards. Might be able to grab the last few gaps in my stash. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confusionreigns178 Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 "To our overseas friends, we haven't forgotten you..." If WNW are about to disappear forever, this is a rather snide and deceitful sentence to tag on to their release, isn't it? Having said that, WNW allegedly fired all their staff with just two days notice. So, who knows? Chris. Paul in Napier and Babelfish Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radub Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 I have said it before and I was called names and had my sanity questioned. I will say it again: WNW can continue to operate with zero staff. Everything that is needed is done and ready to go. Whoever is looking after the Wingnuts portfolio (which goes beyond plastic kits) only needs to call the producers who make the plastic, boxes, instructions and decals and order a rerun then wait for the shipment to arrive. They can even make arrangements for the kits to go from the producer straight to distributors. There is no need for a giant team or a huge headquarters. You MUST keep in mind that the staff in Miramar, which was less than a dozen people, were only involved in design. Only one person was in charge of shipping and distribution. The creative staff was dismissed, which means no new products (for the time-being). The WNW website clearly says that they hope to resume selling soon. All they need is one person in charge of selling and distribution, and that person can be an existing staff member of the team looking after Wingnuts portfolio. I am not saying this to be a contrarian. I have been directly involved, as a plastic model kit designer, in the creation of plastic model kits for the last six years. Before that I have been involved as a member of various design teams, at various level, in the production of plastic model kits since 2010. I know precisely how this industry works. I cannot see any reason why WNW could not continue to operate. They say on their website that the disruptions are caused by Covid, and I have no reason disagree. Radu D.B. Andrus, mpk, Bob MDC and 17 others 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonH Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 I bet Meng will be p1ssed if WNW start selling a Fokker triplane... 3 minutes ago, Radub said: I have said it before and I was called names and had my sanity questioned. I will say it again: WNW can continue to operate with zero staff. Everything that is needed is done and ready to go. Whoever is looking after the Wingnuts portfolio (which goes beyond plastic kits) only needs to call the producers who make the plastic, boxes, instructions and decals and order a rerun then wait for the shipment to arrive. They can even make arrangements for the kits to go from the producer straight to distributors. There is no need for a giant team or a huge headquarters. You MUST keep in mind that the staff in Miramar, which was less than a dozen people, were only involved in design. Only one person was in charge of shipping and distribution. The creative staff was dismissed, which means no new products (for the time-being). The WNW website clearly says that they hope to resume selling soon. All they need is one person in charge of selling and distribution, and that person can be an existing staff member of the team looking after Wingnuts portfolio. I am not saying this to be a contrarian. I have been directly involved, as a plastic model kit designer, in the creation of plastic model kits for the last six years. Before that I have been involved as a member of various design teams, at various level, in the production of plastic model kits since 2010. I know precisely how this industry works. I cannot see any reason why WNW could not continue to operate. They say on their website that the disruptions are caused by Covid, and I have no reason disagree. Radu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radub Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 (edited) 30 minutes ago, DonH said: I bet Meng will be p1ssed if WNW start selling a Fokker triplane... I doubt that WNW will ever sell the Triplane kit - that is unless they make a whole new mold. By the looks of it, the existing Triplane tooling is MENG property now. But all the other previous toolings that belong to WNW can be reissued by WNW without any impediment. Radu Edited February 23, 2021 by Radub BiggTim, mpk, Bomber Command nut and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vince14 Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 I think we'll just have to continue agreeing to disagree here Radu. It's true that production of the kits could be restarted with minimum effort, but so far there doesn't seem to be any intention to do so by the owner of the company. Babelfish Steve and Gary Needham 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radub Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 1 minute ago, vince14 said: I think we'll just have to continue agreeing to disagree here Radu. It's true that production of the kits could be restarted with minimum effort, but so far there doesn't seem to be any intention to do so by the owner of the company. WNW states very clearly on their official website that the disruptions are caused by Covid and that they plan to resume sales. I have no reason to disagree with the official statement from WNW. Radu mpk, BiggTim, Johnny Cloud and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Indeed. The production itself is the lowest cost of the full process. A company selling highly valored models can rely on its existing catalogue for years. I was guessing such a possibility months ago when I saw the website staying active but wait and see. esarmstrong and europapete 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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