To borrow a phrase from Futurama…“Good news, everyone!”. It seems that Tom’s Modelworks has purchased White Ensign Models and will have it back up and running soon. A buddy of mine was speaking to Richard Harden of TMW and was told about the purchase… and there is also an announcement on the Tom’s Modelworks Facebook page (that officially makes it news and not a rumor).
I know there were quite a few long faces a while back when the news of the closure was announced, but we can breathe easier now. It was sad to hear that White Ensign was going away, but I’m encouraged to see that other companies are stepping up to keep the hobby going strong.
I know that TMW is based out of Huntington Beach, CA, so I think everything will be US based from here on out (no more exchange rate issues and high shipping costs for US buyers). Below is the bit of text myfriend sent me… it’s from the Facebook announcement:
From the new owner of WEM resin & PE products:
"I am very pleased to announce that Tom’s Modelworks has purchased the inventory and the rights to manufacture White Ensign photo-etch sets, resin kits and accessories. White Ensign has made outstanding products over the years and, being a modeler myself, I am happy to be able to continue to offer them to the modeling community. I am not yet certain how this will operate or exactly when all the WEM products will again be available but I will work to make it sooner rather than later. John Snyder and Dave Carter have graciously been assisting in the transition and I wish to publicly thank them for that.
"Once I am further along with this I will clarify how and where these great products will be available. In the meantime, I ask for your patience.
Sincerely Richard Harden"
…at first it sounded like just the naming rights were purchased, but if I’m reading between the lines correctly, it sounds like he’s trying to bring back most if not all of the product line. Resin parts, etc, are mentioned as well. I’m sure it will take some time to get things situated and up and running…but it’s nice to hear that the whole thing (if not most) will be back soon.
Yeah…I guess this explains the “out of stock” we all saw. I couldn’t imagine a “run” on the entire company inventory unless something like a buyout was going on.
Yeah, my buddy is in Long Beach and actually went over to where Tom’s is located to pick up some Titanic benches. Being from NorCal, I have absolutely NO idea how close HB is to LB or any of the outlying areas. To me, they’re all right next door to each other…seeing that the word “beach” is in the names, they’ve ALL got to be next door to each other, right? Jeez…I love being geographically ignorant.
Long Beach and Huntington Beach are separated by Seal Beach… About 2 miles of pacific coast hwy I can see Long Beach from my corner of Huntington Beach… At least parts of it… but both are good size cities… I googled the address and it is in a residential neighborhood. I am curious if he has a shop here for the manufacturing of PE and Resin, or if he works out of his garage…
They posted on the forums that they were closing. They told us what the final day of business operations was going to be. Then Dave faced a lot of orders coming in (as did the Colourcoats vendors in the US) and he had to stop taking orders, because he had to be able to ship out everything by the end date. (a business being taken down to sell of the parts can’t even do shipments after the cease date)
Then Soveriegn stepped up after the asset sale to announce the paint line had been purchased, then later, Richard announced that Tom’s had purchased the assets involved in the resin and photo etch lines.
The flow of events is still up in place in the various message boards that the postings were put up on. (ie, nothing “fishy” was “pulled” in the disposal of assets they were ordered to do)
Thanks for the info, that’s a bit of a bummer. Will just have to hope someone in Europe will step in to fill the gap. I know other companies sold WEM products, hopefully that will continue.
I have just been looking through the AMP forum and there is good news about the Colourcoats range of paints. They have been bought by a new company based in Scotland called Soverign Hobbies. they don’t seem to have their own website just yet, just a FB page. It appears that they are not planning on selling direct but are looking for distributors.
Thanks for the information, Bish. It’s good to hear about the Colourcoat paint. Hopefully someone will pick them up on this side of the Atlantic, once they start production.
I can see Long Beach from my corner of Huntington Beach… At least parts of it… but both are good size cities… I googled the address and it is in a residential neighborhood. I am curious if he has a shop here for the manufacturing of PE and Resin, or if he works out of his garage…