Story of Wingnuts Wings closing

[J5_Adam]

https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11118.msg205513&fbclid=IwAR1xsQl9W957wpxJb-ie8IcTRZZGAa6A-2J0doV8wuXrDL3MfpfMtTmVfkQ#msg205513

[NO.20_W_M_Thomson]

That sucks for all the hobbyists and employees, But I wonder with the advancements of 3D printers getting better and better all the time helped to end the company. I have a cheap 3d printer that actually does pretty good prints for a filament printer, now resign printers have come down in price it would make selling model kits a lot harder. Mind you buying 3d models are not cheap and it take along time to model something as detailed as wingnut wings sells.    

[BornToBattle]

Oh sh*t no! Say it ain’t so!

 

Best WW1 1/32 scale series bar none. Damn.

[DD_Arthur]

1 hour ago, Gambit21 said:

Yet another of the thousands of businesses put down by this "situation" 

 

In this case it would seem more a case of a very wealthy man becoming bored by one of his toys and throwing it away.

[Gambit21]

9 minutes ago, DD_Arthur said:

 

In this case it would seem more a case of a very wealthy man becoming bored by one of his toys and throwing it away.

 

Too bad...I just discovered this little gem with this thread!

Love those little models.

[BornToBattle]

On 5/20/2020 at 7:32 PM, Gambit21 said:

 

Too bad...I just discovered this little gem with this thread!

Love those little models.

They were the best, especially being in 1/32 scale which is my go-to for models even though they hog up quite a bit of display real estate. I have an early Fokker E III kit from them I started but have yet to finish. Got the kit out of playing RoF and using that very cool blip switch. I’m gonna have to dust off that copy and get back into it as I doubt many of those birds will ever make it over to FC which is a shame as I like the WWI birds as much as the WW2 ones. Such distinct personalities.

 

Anyways, I digressed...looked on eBay and those that are aware of their demise are really jacking up the prices now (naturally). Supply and demand.
 

I remember growing up seemed like there were hobby shops in every town just about. In Tucson before we moved, I recall three of them at one time. All are closed now. I can’t think of one hobby shop I used to visit that is open now. Seems like everything has shifted to online which in a way is a shame, but it’s been happening all over to the brick and mortars, and not just the hobby industry either.

Edited May 26, 2020 by BornToBattle

[Guest deleted@83466]

I'm just going to have to ignore some of the callous commentary above which treats the current situation as if it's some kind of joke...I've recently gotten back into scale modeling, and was probably going to buy a WW I bird this week.  I guess they'll still be available for a while.  Stuff sure seems a lot more expensive than when I last was building models.

[Guest deleted@83466]

I hear ya, Cybermat, but I'm going to recommend that you just let it pass this time out of deference to Adam's post which is about Wingnut wings and 1/32 scale modeling. ?  Give 'em a frowny face!

[TheBlackPenguin]

On 5/26/2020 at 9:21 PM, SeaSerpent said:

I'm just going to have to ignore some of the callous commentary above which treats the current situation as if it's some kind of joke...I've recently gotten back into scale modeling, and was probably going to buy a WW I bird this week.  I guess they'll still be available for a while.  Stuff sure seems a lot more expensive than when I last was building models.

 

I highly recommend signing up here for sales:

 

http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/news

 

You'll get a canned message stating that they'll let you know, from there it's just a waiting game. When you get the notice that they're taking orders I suggest hurrying over at light speed as these kits have been flying off the shelves everywhere, unfortunately not all by people who want to build them. 

 

If you're after more WW1 models now, Copper State Models as well as Roden make some. 1/32 is a good scale for these planes :).

 

https://www.copperstatemodels.com/page/start

[Pinball]

I`m just curious about recent development. When i was browsing around https://www.scalemates.com/  today , a brand new fokker dr.1 in 1/32 scala popped up.

And it looks like Meng is going to make a rebox  from wingnut wings cancelled fokker dr1.

 

Now i would most likely get one if the reviews were good, but does anyone know about these recent development. If Meng has acquired the right to produce wingnut wings sets?

At least regarding the dr.1 it looks that way. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Pinball
edit typo

[sallee]

Luckily, I have 16 in the stash which should last the rest of my life. I wonder if any one company can afford all the moulds. Bet they aren't cheap. I imagine that TVAL and the film making going into mothballs can't have helped. Terribly sad news all round.

[Pinball]

I`m not happy either with this development. Wingnut wings kits have a certain professionalism that is hard to avoid.  With Meng, well they dont make any bad kits, but i can`t stop thinking about Meng kids brand (Egg-plane). Well kids love them anyway so who i am to blame. Anyway you are right, it would be a let down if several companies gave out the moulds instead of one company. But it would be worse if the moulds were not released at all.

 

Personally i have four wnw sets at home, but i won`t start with them until my painting skill have improved.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Pinball

[Guest deleted@83466]

8 hours ago, sallee said:

Luckily, I have 16 in the stash which should last the rest of my life. I wonder if any one company can afford all the moulds. Bet they aren't cheap. I imagine that TVAL and the film making going into mothballs can't have helped. Terribly sad news all round.

 

I recently bought about $20 of particular paints that I can only envision using a small portion of for the rest of my days as a scale model maker.  I was debating whether to get a return, because it's just the nickel and diming of the hobby, and I'm like did I really need to buy those colors?

 

But you have 16 unfinished kits?  wow.  I guess I should just keep my $4 1/2 ounce bottle of RLM 70 only for German propeller blades, afterall! ?

Edited June 19, 2020 by SeaSerpent

[sallee]

3 hours ago, SeaSerpent said:

 

I recently bought about $20 of particular paints that I can only envision using a small portion of for the rest of my days as a scale model maker.  I was debating whether to get a return, because it's just the nickel and diming of the hobby, and I'm like did I really need to buy those colors?

 

But you have 16 unfinished kits?  wow.  I guess I should just keep my $4 1/2 ounce bottle of RLM 70 only for German propeller blades, afterall! ?

I'm glad to have alleviated your guilt! Now I need to find someone to alleviate mine!

They tended to go out of production quite quickly, so I tried to snap them up. Got some second-hand bargains as well.

[SeaW0lf]

On 6/18/2020 at 5:18 PM, Pinball said:

I`m just curious about recent development. When i was browsing around https://www.scalemates.com/  today , a brand new fokker dr.1 in 1/32 scala popped up.

And it looks like Meng is going to make a rebox  from wingnut wings cancelled fokker dr1.

 

Now i would most likely get one if the reviews were good, but does anyone know about these recent development. If Meng has acquired the right to produce wingnut wings sets?

At least regarding the dr.1 it looks that way. 

 

According to Scalemates, in the product timeline, it is a rebox from Wingnut Wings. A kit with both the F.I and Dr.I.

[Tyberan]

I thought Meng was the one doing the sprues for them anyway, if Meng has all the tooling anyway it would make sense that they just start making them again. 

 

I'm kicking myself for not getting kits in that huge sale they had last year, i was nearly tempted to get the Felixstowe. I do have the Fokker Dvii though, nice kit.

[Feathered_IV]

Sounds like the Dr1 moulds weren’t fully paid for when Wingnut went belly up and the ownership has reverted to the people making the tools. 

[TheBlackPenguin]

On 6/29/2020 at 6:39 PM, Feathered_IV said:

Sounds like the Dr1 moulds weren’t fully paid for when Wingnut went belly up and the ownership has reverted to the people making the tools. 

 

Speculative, I would have to run that past the forums where former WNW employees would frequent (and still do), but now isn't the time as tings have cooled off. Or you can do it yourself :).

[Feathered_IV]

On a side note. If you are interested in modeling, have a listen to the podcasts; On the Bench from Australia and the Canadian one called Scale Model Podcast.  As well as general interest stuff, there are also recent episodes with lengthy interviews with a WnW staff member and a real world journalist who is covering the wingnut story.  

[Tyberan]

I'll have to check that out. The kiwis went full shut down crazy over there. 

[Cybermat47]

2 hours ago, Tyberan said:

I'll have to check that out. The kiwis went full shut down crazy over there. 

It’s not crazy when it works