But I think the pedigree and portfolio of WnW stands alone, on its own merits without the yet to be produced kits. It just seems odd to me that everything has been “stopped”, without efforts at liquidation. That implies there’s more afoot here than we see, and my belief is either it’s already been decided, or there’s a legal issue to overcome, or, there’s just plain lack of competence (or knowledge) at some level of management.

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But I think the pedigree and portfolio of WnW stands alone, on its own merits without the yet to be produced kits. It just seems odd to me that everything has been “stopped”, without efforts at liquidation. That implies there’s more afoot here than we see, and my belief is either it’s already been decided, or there’s a legal issue to overcome, or, there’s just plain lack of competence (or knowledge) at some level of management.

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It reminds me a bit of the demise of Classic Airframes, which was also abrupt and accompanied by anger on the part of the owner. You will also recall that some of the last kits were quite exotic Italian aircraft, IIRR.

I suspect that the Jackson empire is in deep deep trouble financially so that he just shut down all the "hobby" businesses to stop the bleeding. One hopes he's not so bitter that he destroys everything, including the molds. Surely they are worth something to a business like CSM.

Stephen,
I think the Academy/Italeri 1/32 Nieuport 17 is just fine, and I’ve built several, But it’s just not as fine as the CSM kit, however, there’s a big difference in price too. The Academy Camel on the other hand, is inaccurate and “clumsy“ in many areas, including the fuselage, wings and cockpit details, whereas the Hobbycraft kit has much more “finess” in these areas. Many folks get the two kits mixed up, because early-on, Hobbycraft boxed the Academy kit, before re-tooling their own much better effort In an “Aces” boxing that was unfortunately short lived. In fact, there was a lawsuit between HC and Academy over this and other kits Academy manufactured (and may have pirated) for HC. Here are articles I’ve written below on the Academy Nieuport 17 and Hobbycraft Camels (in which I explain some of the “genesis” of the Hobbycraft “Aces“ Camel kit):

https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=3162

https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=3147

VR, Russ

Stephen,
Glad you found the links handy. I agree, I would not pay crazy prices for WnW kits right now. But that’s part of the issue I think— it’s hard for any company nowadays to be one-dimensional in producing just one high quality product at a high cost to the consumer. And that’s what WnW did, their quality was unsurpassed anywhere in the modeling world. But the high cost of their kits, and lack of diversity, put them into a very narrow “niche”. It’s hard for any model company to survive nowadays that way. When kits approach $100USD, you begin to eliminate a whole lot of consumers. I managed to snag a good number of their kits since 2009 because I let family know that’s all I wanted for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas. My two daughters would often go in together on just one two-seater that way. My wife concentrated on single seaters. But I guess they'll go back to shirts, socks and ties now!
VR, Russ

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Stephen,
Glad you found the links handy. I agree, I would not pay crazy prices for WnW kits right now. But that’s part of the issue I think— it’s hard for any company nowadays to be one-dimensional in producing just one high quality product at a high cost to the consumer. And that’s what WnW did, their quality was unsurpassed anywhere in the modeling world. But the high cost of their kits, and lack of diversity, put them into a very narrow “niche”. It’s hard for any model company to survive nowadays that way. When kits approach $100USD, you begin to eliminate a whole lot of consumers. I managed to snag a good number of their kits since 2009 because I let family know that’s all I wanted for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas. My two daughters would often go in together on just one two-seater that way. My wife concentrated on single seaters. But I guess they'll go back to shirts, socks and ties now!
VR, Russ

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Russ,

Why give up altogether?

https://www.zazzle.com/sopwith_camel_and_pilot_tie-151190574959923918?rf=238840279726397180&tc=EAIaIQobChMI85D4-c_H6QIVh4bACh3QRwvJEAQYAiABEgKx8fD_BwE&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=us_shopping&utm_term=z151190574959923918&ca_chid=2001810&ca_source=gaw&ca_ace=&ca_nw=g&ca_dev=c&ca_pl=&ca_pos=&ca_cid=382210327120&ca_agid=82099083310&ca_caid=6501140345&ca_adid=382210327120&ca_kwt=&ca_mt=&ca_fid=&ca_tid=pla-539552244179&ca_lp=9029017&ca_li=&ca_devm=&ca_plt=&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI85D4-c_H6QIVh4bACh3QRwvJEAQYAiABEgKx8fD_BwE

Michael

I Was just wondering what will happen to their excellent website and all the “hints“ and vintage photos. That would be a real loss if it went away. It’s something which doesn’t come in the kit box.
VR, Russ