SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - Wingnut Wings

[MikeC]

From Hannants website this morning: "We have just listed a selection of Wingnut Wings we have on the way to us. They will not arrive for a few weeks so we recommend you Backorder them which will reserve any that you may want. These are all new kits bought direct from Wingnut Wings in New Zealand. We will only have the kits that we list. No others sorry."

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=362422&code=&product_type_id=&scale_id=&keyword_search=&setPerPage=25&currency_id=

 

 

[Zola25]

1 hour ago, thierry laurent said:

Even if they are only selling stored kits and not new batches, it is obvious to me they are organizing the distribution to limit the availability in order to maximize the speed of sale and ensure the reseller will get the proposed batch as the holy grail, without any discussion. Even in that zombie state the behavior of that company stays quite surprising...

 

Could it not be that they are simply trying to make the remaining kits available to as many modellers as possible by spreading them across the globe? - Why is it that we should assume that there is a great conspiracy behind what all model companies or distributors do? - WnW was afterall founded by people who had airplane modelling close to heart. If it was purely for making money they werre clearly (and sadly) not very good at it 

 

It is clear to me that any remaining stock of WnW kits was destined to be sold at record speed no matter how it was organized..

 

PS - MBK in Germany have announced that "their" container will be sold from January and only as "limited editions" - max 3 kits pr. costumer.

 

/Niels

[thierry laurent]

51 minutes ago, Zola25 said:

 

Could it not be that they are simply trying to make the remaining kits available to as many modellers as possible by spreading them across the globe? - Why is it that we should assume that there is a great conspiracy behind what all model companies or distributors do? - WnW was afterall founded by people who had airplane modelling close to heart. If it was purely for making money they werre clearly (and sadly) not very good at it 

 

It is clear to me that any remaining stock of WnW kits was destined to be sold at record speed no matter how it was organized..

 

PS - MBK in Germany have announced that "their" container will be sold from January and only as "limited editions" - max 3 kits pr. costumer.

 

/Niels

No problem to spread all over the globe. This is also the best way to get quick sales. This is not my main point. What looks at least suspect to me is the fact I'm sure this is at least the third time's they 'found' a remaining stock of kits somewhere... ! I didn't know they had so many wharehouses full of boxes in which kits are hidden here and there... Remember the Raiders of the lost ark final scene... I would not name this a 'conspiracy', to me this just looks like a commercial strategy! How much time are we going to wait up to the next discovery of a forgotten stock...? I'm betting end of 2023 at the latest but wait and see...

[vince14]

Or, y'know, they're just taking their time selling off the remaining assets...

[Christa]

Hey Paul

 

Paralyser Bookends?  Hardly Simon & Garfunkel buddy.

 

Chris

[thierry laurent]

5 hours ago, vince14 said:

Or, y'know, they're just taking their time selling off the remaining assets...

That is my point. I think this is a deliberate commercial strategy. Actually a clever one based on the effect the perceived rarity has on the product demand. Each time we got the message they just release some hundreds of boxes as the very last ones available. Who knows how many ones are still available? None? Dozens? Hundreds? As nobody knows, buyers (and possibly some speculators) are jumping on the kits.

[vince14]

I don’t think they’re playing some sort of commercial 3D chess, it’s simply taking them time to go through selling off the assets. The previous ‘last ones’ might just have been selling of the stock held in foreign warehouses that were accumulating excessive storage charges, whereas this lot might just be selling off what’s left in New Zealand. There may well be legal or other issues we’re unaware of that has delayed the selling off of this load of stock.

 

There’s no benefit to WNW to keep releasing these lots ad hoc - they don’t benefit from having stock sitting in warehouses, they can only sell the remaking kits at stock prices and it only costs them money for storage. I think this is just the result of a gradual wind-down of the company by the accountant left in charge.

 

Also, it’s worth noting that it isn’t WNW who declare that these are the ‘last kits’ - that’s just the retailers telling their customers that they believe any given lot are the last ones. WNW and PJ have said diddly-squat about their situation since 2020.

Edited November 16, 2022 by vince14

[Archimedes]

5 hours ago, Christa said:

Hey Paul

 

Paralyser Bookends?  Hardly Simon & Garfunkel buddy.

 

Chris

I cannot argue with that @Christa! Yet, it would give a WWI display a certain balance showing both the Gotha G.IV and a HP O/400 as representative of development from the two sides.  Perhaps that is a better way to put it! 

 

Best regards,

Paul

[thierry laurent]

4 hours ago, vince14 said:

I don’t think they’re playing some sort of commercial 3D chess, it’s simply taking them time to go through selling off the assets. The previous ‘last ones’ might just have been selling of the stock held in foreign warehouses that were accumulating excessive storage charges, whereas this lot might just be selling off what’s left in New Zealand. There may well be legal or other issues we’re unaware of that has delayed the selling off of this load of stock.

 

There’s no benefit to WNW to keep releasing these lots ad hoc - they don’t benefit from having stock sitting in warehouses, they can only sell the remaking kits at stock prices and it only costs them money for storage. I think this is just the result of a gradual wind-down of the company by the accountant left in charge.

 

Also, it’s worth noting that it isn’t WNW who declare that these are the ‘last kits’ - that’s just the retailers telling their customers that they believe any given lot are the last ones. WNW and PJ have said diddly-squat about their situation since 2020.

Possible but weird for various reasons. First, as far as I know, they put all the components they received from foreign subcontractors in boxes to get the final products in NZ. Then, they stored them locally to sell them directly or send them to big resellers. WnW was not a large international company with foreign warehouses. This was actually a small business relying on subcontractors for close to everything except project management and quality control. Even the design relied on freelancers. So, how is it possible that an accountant finds remaining stocks every six months for at least two years...?!? Moreover, I don't think resellers would convey this rarity message to their consumers without basing that on inputs from the company. We can only make assumptions but to me saying that situation is uncommon is an understatement...

[Tony T]

That's another assumption: they might just as easily been boxing what they have lying around, so there's always the possibility of another wave of job-lot decals, plastic trees without instructions, and so forth.

 

The crucial thing is who has the tooling. Sadly, I suspect the ones I missed out on (Albatros, Pfalz, SE5a, the only ones that tempted me) are probably destined for steel objet d'art office decoration for Sir PJ.

 

I don't have £ burning a hole in my pocket and my next year's spending is already allocated to six kits on the horizon or due for re-release, all jets. But it's nice to know the good old stuff is still around: gives one a warm, fuzzy feeling.

 

Tony 

[smokeriderdon]

It always amazes me how people make it out that a company does things to maximize their profits is some evil empire strategy. Dude, a company is SUPPOSED to make money. Pretty sure that, even though these were folks who were modelers at heart, they werent doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. 

 

How about be happy there are some out there to be had and not at 300 a pop. 

[Kagemusha]

I think it's laudable that Hannants have them with a 10% pre-order offer, and at their original price.

[thierry laurent]

7 hours ago, smokeriderdon said:

It always amazes me how people make it out that a company does things to maximize their profits is some evil empire strategy. Dude, a company is SUPPOSED to make money. Pretty sure that, even though these were folks who were modelers at heart, they werent doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. 

 

How about be happy there are some out there to be had and not at 300 a pop. 

For sure but there is still a difference between just making profit and possibly communicating an alleged rarity. I have my own company and need profit to stay afloat. Nonetheless I'm not playing with the expectations of my customers as, at least to me, business is also based on trust. For sure as well, I'm just making assumptions without evidence. However, it is possible the accountants do not care about that trust. It stays their strategy in the modelling arena is uncommon to say the least and if there is another way to explain it seriously, I'm curious to get it!

[dutik]

I don't see someone playing with the expectations of the customers. If there are still some leftofver WNW stocks, there are some leftover stocks, for whatever reason. The sale is annonced by wellknown and reliable vendors. So there will be a good number of WNW kits available when time has come. Win-win for WNW, the vendors and the customers/modellers. Thats fine with me.

 

Regards

- dutik

[dutik]

BTW, Modellbau Koenig has a list of the kits to be delivered for the sale:

 

1. wnw32021 Fokker E.1 (Early)
2. wnw32023 Rumpler C.IV early
3. wnw32026 Roland C.II
4. wnw32029 Fokker E.IV
5. wnw32034 AEG G.IV (Early)
6. wnw32035 AMC DH.9
7. wnw32036 Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 (early)
8. wnw32037 Rumpler C.IV late
9. wnw32038 Salmson 2-A2 / Otsu 1
10. wnw32040 DFW C.V – mid production
11. wnw32041 Roland C.IIa (late)
12. wnw32042 AEG G.IV (late)
13. wnw32045 Gotha G.1
14. wnw32046 Albatros B.II (Early)
15. wnw32049 Halberstadt Cl.II (Early)
16. wnw32050 Felixstowe F.2a (Early)
17. wnw32053 Gotha UWD
18. wnw32055 Sopwith Pup “Gnome”
19. wnw32057 DFW C.V – late production
20. wnw32058 Jeannin Stahltaube (1914)
21. wnw32059 Salmson 2-A2 ‚USAS‘
22. wnw32060 Bristol F.2b Fighter (Post War)
23. wnw32061 DH.9a „NINAK“ (Post War)
24. wnw32062 Halberstadt Cl.II (Late)
25. wnw32065 Junkers D.1
26. wnw32066 Felixstowe F.2a (Late)
27. wnw32067 Fokker D.VII early
28. wnw32070 Sopwith F.1 Camel „BR.1“
29. wnw32071 Sopwith F.1 Camel „Le Rhone“
30. wnw32072 Sopwith F.1 Camel „USAS“
31. wnw32073 Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin
32. wnw32079 Hannover Cl.II (Early)
33. wnw32603 Fokker E.II “Max Immelmann”
34. wnw32605 Fokker D.VII F “Hermann Göring”
35. wnw32606 AMC DH.2 “Lanoe Hawker”
36. wnw32607 Sopwith Triplane “Raymond Collishaw”
37. wnw32608 Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe “William Barker”
38. wnw32801 Felixstowe F.2a & Hansa-Brandenburg W.29
39. wnw32803 Sopwith F.1 Camel & LVG C.VI
40. wnw32804 Halberstadt Cl.II & RE.8 “Harry Tate” Duellist

Also an explanation for this unexpected sale: The kits were still stored at a warehose elsewhere in NZ. Now recovered, crated in an shipped to the vendors. And maybe some of the boxes are damaged due to long storage time. At least Modellbau Koenig will check every box if parts are complete and undamaged before the will put them online for sale. 3 of one kit only per person. But you may buy more than 3 different kits, as stock lasts.

 

Regards

- dutik