WnW newsletter

[Fran]

Hi guys!!

 

WnW newletter was sent today....  not very good news, excepted the new available sprues and the restock of the special deals and Liberty engine V12...

 

but the main thing is this statement:

"Due to increasing costs and the continued low value of the US$ we will reluctantly need to increase the price of many of our models next month"

"Continued low value of the US$." - Now here is where I got totally lost.... I really dont understand this statement... Consedering the back in 2009, 1€ was 1,50$, today, (via xe.com) 1€ is 1,11$....also saw some Aussie modeller telling the Aussie$ was on flat floor against US$, a quite different scenery from 2009 they say... I pay much more for a WnW model kit now that back in 2009, even if the price were the same...

So for Europe, and Australia (for example) the US$ is much strong that our local currency, I really don`t understand WnW Statement... but something is really missing me and I dont understand much of Financial or Exchange market...

 

Fran

 

 

ohh. by the way, here´s the newsletter:

 

 

Hi,

A small update on what is happening at Wingnut Wings.

New;
132E0001 200-230hp Benz Bz.IV engine and Parabellum machine gun sprues US$14
This is the engine & Parabellum machine gun sprues from 32001 Junkers J.1, 32002 LVG C.VI and 32040 & 32057 DFW C.V. 

132E0021 100-120hp Daimler-Mercedes D.1/D.II engine & accessory sprue US$17
This is the engine sprue and wheel, radiator and armament sprue from 32046 Albatros B.II (Early). 

Re-stock;
132E0008 400hp Liberty V12 engine sprue US$14
This is the engine sprue from 32007 & 32061 DH9a “Ninak”

32003+90003 SE.5a 'Hisso' + SE5/SE5a Squadrons book special deal US$69 (value = US$97)
32014+90001 FE.2b (Early) + The FE.2b Flies Again! Book special deal US$99 (value = US$131) 
32025+90001 FE.2b (Late) + The FE.2b Flies Again! Book special deal US$99 (value = US$131) 

2016 Wingnut Wings catalogue;
Updated PDF catalogue (3.4MB) is now available to download from our website.

http://www.wingnutwings.com

Upcoming price changes;
Due to increasing costs and the continued low value of the US$ we will reluctantly need to increase the price of many of our models next month. While the US$ has regained some of it's value in the last year or so (but still not risen to anywhere near where it was when we released our first 4 models nearly 7 years ago) we can no longer absorb these extra costs. These price changes will take effect from 1 March 2016 (NZ time). 

Scale Model Expo & The Vintage Aviator Ltd flying weekend 23 & 24 April 2016;
We will be attending Scale Models Expo in Upper Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. If you are coming to New Zealand's largest scale model show we look forward to having a chat and hopefully showing test shots of our upcoming highly anticipated Sopwith F.1 Camel model. Additional to Scale Models Expo, The Vintage Aviator will be holding a flying weekend in Masterton, about one hour drive (north) from the Scale Models Expo venue. This presents a good opportunity to combine two great events.

http://scalemodelswellington.org.nz/expo
http://thevintageaviator.co.nz/airshows/flying-weekends

Also about one hours drive (south) from Scale Models Expo is the Great War Exhibition and Gallipoli, The Scale of our War in Wellington city. Two exhibitions well worth visiting if you are in the area and have the time. 

http://www.greatwarexhibition.nz
http://www.gallipoli.tepapa.govt.nz

ANZAC Day;
The Monday following Scale Models Expo is ANZAC day and there will be numerous events around the city to commemorate this national day of remembrance.

Regards,

Richard Alexander
Coordinator 
richard@wingnutwings.com 
Wingnut Wings Ltd, PO Box 15-319, Miramar, Wellington 6022, New Zealand.

[nichenson]

Inflation and shipping.  Say you take one of their kits in 2009 that sold for $69.  If you account for inflation even though it has only been a little over 6 years, that same kit should sell for $76.23.  That shows a 10.48% increase in price, but since they haven't raised the price, it represents a 9.48% in loss of revenue.  Shipping over the last six years has increased dramatically.  It is almost impossible to see what they are loosing on shipping.  Oil prices went dramatically up several years ago and as a result so did shipping.  Prices have not seen a drop due to oil prices as is something that could possibly take years before it goes from the price of a barrel of oil to the cost related to shipping.  That is only a small portion of it though.  Since the widespread increase in internet sales there has been an ever increasing demand for shipping.  This has created additional costs for shippers worldwide to keep up with demand and attempt to stay at the same level of service.  You can thank places like eBay and Amazon as well as countless others for that increase.  Now also lets consider PayPal.  Almost all of their transactions are done through PayPal.  Now this adds up considerably, but let's just say that is 4% on average off the top of their profits right there.  So with that being said, if a model kit does not sale out almost instantaneously then they are loosing money every year.  The gap on a return gets ever increasing as every year passes.

 

Now for the dollar.  Over the last decade several countries have taken a pretty hard economic hit.  Australia, Europe, Japan, and America have all taken a huge dive.  Those in Europe can thank Greece for the majority of their problems with the Euro.  Japan of course was mainly due to the tsunami.  Japan has also kept their Yen at a lower level to help those in the country recoup much quicker although that hasn't been the case due to the global economy.  Australia's main hit was the world economy overall.  However, you have to look at how quickly these countries can recover.  America has for us here recovered at a better rate than the others.  This has lead to the dollar increasing in value compared to other countries.  The economy overall though has still been slow to fully recover.  In essence what I am saying is that comparing one currency to another is not a true indicator of a currencies worth.  It is a relative worth, but if both currencies have fallen then it is only a measure of how quickly economies are recovering.  The main goal of maintaining currency value is to decrease inflation to 0.  As you can see from above, the amount of inflation over 6 years is quite a lot.

 

I know that WnW is very secretive of where they source materials.  We all do know that they get decals from Italy though.  I would suspect that they are molding the kits in Asia which most of those places prefer US$.  One place that hasn't been hit as hard as most others is China.  I won't go into much detail as to why as most of it is speculative, but their economy has been steamrolling along until the last year or so.  With their economy going a little south, it wouldn't surprise me that they are also increasing manufacturer costs.  If that is true don't just look for your WnW kit to go up but look for a lot of other kit manufacturers to start increasing, too.

 

Until WnW makes their finances public (which they won't) then that is just a theory, but it all boils down to how much do you want to pay for a kit, can you really expect them to keep prices the same over 6 plus years, and for those outside the US, how much can you tolerate your tariffs?

[Iceman]

Why I stocked up on WnW kits over the past few years.  They were a bargain as far as I am concerned, and with the pricing increases, the kits still offer a great value compared to price.

[Fran]

And there you go!!!

Prices go up to 10$ in some single seaters..

20$ for some single seaters (roland, pfalz DIX and Alb DV OAW) and for some two seaters (roland).

30$ for the Rest of the two seaters...

The new Post war Ninak pass from 119$ to 139$ and the Alb. B.II pass to 129$.

The Gotha is the most high up of all: 189$. Just go up 40$.

 

 

Not good news.. Sorry!

[FarEast]

Just checked the domestic pricing of Wingnut Wings here in Japan and the pricing is now equal. However as I have to pay exchange rates and PP fees when buying from the WnW website and that I get 10% in loyalty points from my local store I will now be buying locally for the time being.

[Fran]

Really was a punch in the wallet.... :(  

[krow113]

Still pretty decent , postage is prolly the real reason for the increase. The kits are outstanding , going up in value when they are discontinued. No reason for tears!