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DMW Website Status Updates

Status Update: 18 January 2012

Many of you, our customers, knew my father, Don Bennett, either from face-to-face meetings at model shows and conventions, or from discussions of aircraft and model-building by telephone or email. I am sorry to report that Dad died in September, 2011, after a year-long fight with cancer. I've recently put up a memorial page for him here on this website that we built together, with a brief biography and some photos of Dad. If you haven't seen it yet, please take a moment to do so.

I am Chuck Bennett, Don's son, and I built and maintained this website for Dad, and also helped him with making Wings Models kits and with packing and shipping orders. I am now the owner of Wings Models LLC and the Don's Model Works website. I intend to continue both operations, but with a few necessary changes:

Operating this business part-time and without Dad's help, I know that I cannot meet our regular goal of shipping current orders every 4 or 5 days. My plan now is to ship current orders every two weeks. If you order (and pay!) right before my shipping day, you will get your order very quickly. If you order right after my shipping day, it may be up to two weeks before I ship your order. If two weeks have passed since your order and you haven't received any notice of shipment (generally either through PayPal or USPS email notices), please email me.
We have a lot of aircraft model kits on the shelves that we overstocked and haven't sold, even at our usual discounted prices. I am having a CLEARANCE SALE to move these slow-selling items, marked down from 30% to 65%, many even below our cost. Kits on sale include much of our aircraft model and armor model inventory, in all scales. I would especially like to clear out all of the 1:32 scale aircraft kits, and have marked all of these down at least 40%, many of them 50% or more. If you like building big aircraft models, you'd better jump on these, because for most of these 1:32 scale kits I only have one kit in stock, and I won't be restocking them.
On our Wings Models kits, on the other hand, I have raised prices on almost every kit. This was necessary due to a re-evaluation of how much time it actually takes me to make these kits and put them on the shelf, ready to sell. Dad enhanced many of our kits in the past few years with added cast resin detail parts, and those are very time-consuming to make. I want to keep our Wings Models kits on the market because this has always been the heart of Dad's business, and I know that many of our kits are the only kit available for some aircraft, but I really can't afford to make these for less.
Collection Sale: Dad had a huge collection of model aircraft kits that are not included in our regular inventory. These were kits that he bought for reference or inspiration or just because he liked that particular aircraft. Now that Dad is gone, I will be selling these kits, but I do not have time to photograph and weigh and write descriptions of all of them as would be needed to add them to our regular inventory database. Instead I will be listing them on this page. If you would like to receive notice when I add more collection kits to this list, please email me.

Dad's Work-in-Progress

Status updates on some of the projects Dad left unfinished will go here.

1:48 and 1:72 X-1/XS-1 and X-1A/B and X-1E
The 1:48 and 1:72 X-1/XS-1 and X-1A/B kits that we received when my Dad bought the Eagles Talon company were incomplete or incorrect or otherwise not satisfactory to my Dad in some respect, and he worked for several years on completely redoing and making new masters for those kits, and on creating new kits for the X-1E in both 1:48 and 1:72. Unfortunately, he was too sick in the past year to work on those, and died without finishing them. I do not have Dad's modeling skills, but I have the work that he did on these and will need to go over them carefully and see how close they are to being ready for making new production molds, and whether I can possibly get someone else to finish Dad's work on these. Dad put a lot of time and effort into these kits, and I hope to put these kits into production someday, but don't know yet when that will be.

1:144 XC-99 Conversion Kit
Dad worked for several years on a conversion kit to turn a 1:144 B-36B into a 1:144 XC-99 cargo aircraft. He collected data on the XC-99, travelled to Randolph AFB to photograph the XC-99, made plans for the kit, and even started a rough prototype for the fuselage part, but then injured his hand and never finished the kit. There is not enough work completed on this that I could ever hope to put it into production.

Wings Models Kits Not Currently In Production

Status updates on Wings Models kits not currently in production will go here.

WM72013 Heinkel He-51 A/B - 1:72 - Wings Models
I found the vacuform molds for this kit, but that is all. No plansheet, no detail parts. i may put it back in production as a bare-bones vacuform-only kit, leaving the modeler to scratch-build the rest.

WM72037 Consolidated TBU-1/TBY-1 SeaWolf - 1:72 - Wings Models
We took this kit out of production when we ran out of metal detail parts for it. I have the master parts, so I just need to make a production mold to make the detail parts in cast resin in place of the metal parts.

WM72059 Aichi B7A GRACE - 1:72 - Wings Models
I have not been able to find a mold for the vacuform parts for this kit.

WM72060 Nakajima B6N JILL - 1:72 - Wings Models
I have not been able to find a mold for the vacuform parts for this kit.

WM72064 Curtiss F9C SparrowHawk - 1:72 - Wings Models
We took this kit out of production due to some damage to the vacuform mold. It will stay out of production until I can get that mold repaired or make a new mold.

WM72066 Ryan FR-1 FireBall - 1:72 - Wings Models
I have not been able to find a mold for the vacuform parts for this kit.

WM72067 Ryan XF2R-1 DarkShark - 1:72 - Wings Models
I have not been able to find a mold for the vacuform parts for this kit.

WM72069 Northrop XN-1M Flying Wing - 1:72 - Wings Models
We have never had this kit in production, and so far I have not been able to find any molds or plans or parts or anything for this kit. Dad's notes say that it is supposed to be a complete cast resin kit. If I find the necessary molds etc I will put it into production; if not, then I won't be able to do anything with it.

WM72073 Northrop M2F2/M2F3 - 1:72 - Wings Models
We took this kit out of production due to some damage to the vacuform mold. It will stay out of production until I can get that mold repaired or make a new mold.

WM72074 Northrop HL-10 - 1:72 - Wings Models
We took this kit out of production due to some damage to the vacuform mold. It will stay out of production until I can get that mold repaired or make a new mold.

WM72075 Boeing X-20 DynaSoar Lifting Body - 1:72 - Wings Models
We have never had this kit in production. I found the mold for the vacuform parts, and also found the masters for the plansheet, but I did not find any canopies or any of the cast resin detail parts that are listed in the plansheet, nor did I find a canopy mold or any molds for the detail parts. I don't see how I can put this kit into production in the same form as the old Eagles Talon kit, because I don't have the molds or any master parts to make new molds. I may offer it as a vacuform only kit, so the modeler can use the vac parts (wings and fuselage) as a starting point and scratch-build the rest.

WM72079 Commonwealth CA-15 Kangaroo fighter - 1:72 - Wings Models
We took this kit out of production due to some damage to the mold for the wings. It will stay out of production until I can get that mold repaired or make a new mold.

WM72080 USSR Yak-25 multi-jet fighter - 1:72 - Wings Models
We took this kit out of production when we ran out of cast resin detail parts for it, because we do not have any production molds for the resin parts. I have the master parts, so I just need to make a production mold.

WM72081 XAD-1 experimental (oblique-wing) attack plane - 1:72 - Wings Models
We have never had this kit in production, but I found a "make-it" box for it that seems to include everything needed, except that there are no production molds for the cast resin detail parts. I can probably put this kit back in limited production with resin parts on hand, reserving a few good sets as masters to make new production molds.

WM72092 XB-43 - 1:72 - Wings Models
We have never had this kit in production. I found molds that Dad made for cast resin detail parts for this kit, but no vacuform mold for the major parts of the aircraft, and no plansheet.

WM72093 Bell X-1/XS-1 research aircraft - 1:72 - Wings Models
WM72094 Bell X-1A/B research aircraft - 1:72 - Wings Models
WM72095 Bell X-1E research aircraft - 1:72 - Wings Models
We have never had any of these kits in production, although Dad worked for years on making new masters to put them into production. See Dad's Work-in-Progress above for more details and production plans.

WM48006 IL-2 Shturmovik - 1:48 - Wings Models
WM48007 IL-2m3 Shturmovik - 1:48 - Wings Models
These two kits are both out of production due to damage to the mold for a vacuform wing part that is common to both kits. I know that Dad was working on making a new mold for that part, but I have not been able to find it and may need to make a new one myself. Not a high priority, as I believe there are now multiple kits available for both of these aircraft from other companies.

WM48014 Bell X-2 research aircraft - 1:40 - Wings Models
As far as I can tell, we have everything needed to put this kit back into production. I do not know why we never produced it, except that Dad wanted to remake it with new molds as a 1:48 kit rather than 1:40. I will probably have the 1:40 kit back in production soon.

WM48028 PZL-46 SUM - 1:48 - Wings Models
We have never had a mold for the vacuform parts for this kit; did not receive molds or any vac parts when Dad bought Wings 48. Dad watched eBay for years hoping to buy one of these that had been made by the previous owner of Wings 48, but never found one. If I can get one of the old kits, I could make a new mold for the vac parts and put this kit back into production.

WM48029 WACO UIC/UKC/UC-72 - 1:48 - Wings Models
The vacuform mold is damaged. I have masters to make a new mold, so this kit will eventually be back in production.

WM48031 Ki-46 III Dinah - 1:48 - Wings Models
Everything appears to be complete for this kit, except that there are no production molds for the cast resin detail parts. I can probably put this kit back in limited production with resin parts on hand, reserving a few good sets as masters to make new production molds.

WM48032 Nakajima J1N1 Irving - 1:48 - Wings Models
Everything appears to be complete for this kit, except that there are no production molds for the cast resin detail parts. I can probably put this kit back in limited production with resin parts on hand, reserving a few good sets as masters to make new production molds.

WM48046 North American P-51H - 1:48 - Wings Models
Everything appears to be complete for this kit, except that there are no production molds for the cast resin detail parts. I can probably put this kit back in limited production with resin parts on hand, reserving a few good sets as masters to make new production molds.

WM48047 North American F-86D - 1:48 - Wings Models
Everything appears to be complete for this kit, except that there are no production molds for the cast resin detail parts. I can probably put this kit back in limited production with resin parts on hand, reserving a few good sets as masters to make new production molds.

WM48049 Bell X-1/XS-1 research aircraft - 1:48 - Wings Models
WM48050 Bell X-1A/B research aircraft - 1:48 - Wings Models
WM48051 Bell X-1E research aircraft - 1:48 - Wings Models
We have never had any of these kits in production, although Dad worked for years on making new masters to put them into production. See Dad's Work-in-Progress above for more details and production plans.

WM48052 North American F-86 A/E (Conversion) - 1:48 - Wings Models
I cannot find any parts or molds for this kit, so I am afraid that it will remain out of production.

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