White Ensign Models (WEM) Closing

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S

stona

Major
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Mar 28, 2009
As per the title. White Ensign Models announced on it's website that it will be closing it's doors for the last time on 28th of this month.

I have been using their Colourcoat paints for several years and very good they are too. I'm an old school enamel user and these have sprayed better than any others I've used. Looks like I'll be looking for something else

The consequences for naval modellers may be more significant.

It's a bad day for the hobby when a major online supplier goes for whatever reason. They were very upbeat at Telford recently and have just revamped the website which makes the news all the more surprising.

Cheers

Steve
 
Darn! I was just about to order some of their enamel paints too. I've heard nothing but praise for their paint range, and I'm sick of the still on-going Humbrol saga.
A very sad day indeed, and as you say Steve, especially for Naval / ship modellers.
 
It's a bit pointless at the moment, but I have been using their paints for several years,absolutely loved them, and would heartily recommend them.

As an old school enamel user I found them to spray better than the others. There were issues with some of their colours, the same can be said of any manufacturer, but I'll be sorry to see them go, if that's what does happen.

Their RAF colours always seemed spot on to me as did almost all their RLM range. The few USAAF colours I used also seemed very good. I can't speak for the others.

Cheers

Steve
 
Went to the website to see if I could pick up any paints that I might have missing from their various WW2 aircraft lines and everything is Out Of Stock. Just an FYI to save you some time. Anyone know what happened exactly?
 
Too much money out, not enough in, according to one of the proprietors.

It must be possible that someone will pick up some of WEM's product lines. This is what happened with A2Zee models recently.

Cheers

Steve
 
It would be nice if Hannant's, for example, took over the product lines, especially the paints from my personal point of view, and the naval stuff for the many keen ship modellers out there.
 
Hannants already do Xtracrylix and Xtracolor. The WEM Colourcoats were a better enamel than the latter in my opinion (and that's all it is) but whether Hannants would carry another line of enamels I don't know.

Cheers

Steve
 
Those are my thoughts too Steve. I use Xtracolor enamels now and then, and in general they are very good, although better when sprayed, as brush application sometimes results in air bubbles on the dried surface.
But they do have a slight disadvantage, taking some time to dry fully. Also, as they are gloss (apart from matt interior colours), designed to be 'decal ready', this can be a bit of a nuisance when using various washes, pastels or other 'weathering' effects.
That said, with the still-present inconsistency of the once superb Humbrol range, I'll have to order via internet sources in future, and will probably use Xtracolor, and maybe some Model Master (although I'm not keen on their bottles, rather than tinlets), if the WEM range does disappear.
 
Just visited their website and this was posted:

WHITE ENSIGN MODELS WILL LIVE ON! WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT TOM'S MODELWORKS HAS PURCHASED THE ENTIRE STOCK OF WEM KITS, PHOTOETCH, AND RESIN PARTS, PLUS THE RIGHT TO CONTINUE PRODUCTION, AND THE WHITE ENSIGN MODELS NAME. WHITE ENSIGN KITS, PARTS, AND PHOTOETCH WILL BE AVAILABLE AGAIN SOON, SO WATCH THIS SPACE.
 
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