Composite Warehouse, er, Wildman

[g.pitts]

Tim just announced on Rocket VLOGs tonight that he's reached an agreement to (essentially) buy Curtis' mandrels, etc. - the rocketry business of CW - and will be offering CW kits. Woot! Curtis/Composite Warehouse has signed a non-compete with Tim, which means he's not in the rocketry business for some period of time (which Tim implied was years). He went on to say that the full integration would "take a few months".

Tim did say that Curtis realizes he has some outstanding orders to fulfill, and said he'd work with Curtis on this. I hope that's good news for those with aged orders...

 

[jd2cylman]

Probably something like 5 years or so for the non-compete.

 

[terryg]

If he routinely steals money for products that he never delivers, what are the odds that he will follow a non-compete agreement?

 

[cwbullet]

Good news for rocketry guys. I think.

 

[Worsaer]

This is good news for the hobby, and a solid business decision. Tim will get more money from me!

 

[firemanup]

If he routinely steals money for products that he never delivers, what are the odds that he will follow a non-compete agreement?

Or actually send all the promised mandrels and equipment?

 

[KenECoyote]

Was that really Tim?

 

[Antares JS]

Very interesting development, but I will be adopting a "wait and see" approach before getting too excited. We'll see what kits go up in the Wildman store and when.

Any word on whether or not Wildman will be offering the CW colored fiberglass?

 

[Pinetree]

He said it would be fiscally irresponsible to stock it, but there's a possibility of doing it on a special run.

 

[Antares JS]

He said it would be fiscally irresponsible to stock it, but there's a possibility of doing it on a special run.

Makes sense.

 

[JoePfeiffer]

This is outstanding news! One question -- what is Rocket VLOGs?

 

[Banzai88]

If he routinely steals money for products that he never delivers, what are the odds that he will follow a non-compete agreement?

He followed it with MadCow. Then it expired and he started buying back the rights to the designs. Then he cut them off from all supply when they wouldn't sell back the entire legacy catalog, and then MC went to Wildman for their fiberglass.

 

[DAllen]

Now if someone could convince someone to bring back Polecat and Dynacom kits

 

[Pinetree]

 

[Antares JS]

what is Rocket VLOGs?

A rocketry YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@RocketVlogs

 

[David Schwantz]

Black Friday, here I come!!!!

 

[rfjustin]

Very interesting development, but I will be adopting a "wait and see" approach before getting too excited. We'll see what kits go up in the Wildman store and when.

Any word on whether or not Wildman will be offering the CW colored fiberglass?

Wait and see is wise, I shall be doing the same and looking forward to seeing what comes next!

 

[terryg]

Any word on whether or not Wildman will be offering the CW colored fiberglass?

They will be a special order item with a longer lead time and an extra charge according to blog.

 

[Banzai88]

They will be a special order item with a longer lead time and an extra charge according to blog.

Seems reasonable. Hopefully something like seasonal offerings, and when it's gone, it's gone until that 'color' or whatever comes back up in rotation again.

 

[MClark]

I have confidence Tim will get production going ASAP, he is a business man and has been losing money for years because of supply chain problems.
I feel this will be good for everyone, Wildman and customers.

 

[terryg]

I assume there are fiberglass winding machines involved in all of this. Are they part of the deal? Just how automated are they? Do they have built in curing ovens? Sounds like there might be a steep leaning curve involved in getting all of this up to speed.

 

[jsdemar]

Filament winding is an art, especially for nosecones.

 

[Capt. Eric]

I assume there are fiberglass winding machines involved in all of this. Are they part of the deal? Just how automated are they? Do they have built in curing ovens? Sounds like there might be a steep leaning curve involved in getting all of this up to speed.

Tim says it will take a couple of months or so to "wrap his head around" all the new equipment. Said he will be picking up a couple of truckloads of equipment and driving it to his shop to set up. Already has cleared away some space it looks like. Watch the video from 32min onward. Pay attention to the short comments here and there for hints and indicators.

And early on he shows off a mini Cherokee that is for sale at a reduced cost with the code he gives.

 

[cbrarick]

he said he'd do colored tubes one off for a premium charge.

Unless he does a full run for some other reason

 

[ljwilley]

This is great!

 

[g.pitts]

And early on he shows off a mini Cherokee that is for sale at a reduced cost with the code he gives.

There's a separate thread on that here.

 

[Voyhager3]

Great news, and I'm glad that some of CW's stuff is being put in good hands.
But I'm still sad to see that the molds are still in his hands, as Curtis has a TON of really cool molds, which I know is the big thing Ken was telling me was a point of contention between them.

But with this deal he may change his mind, and the molds might go back out into the community.

 

[Zman1961]

Seems reasonable. Hopefully something like seasonal offerings, and when it's gone, it's gone until that 'color' or whatever comes back up in rotation again.

Tim hinted some of the Black Saturday specials could be a different special color. He also has a lot of that candy apple red tubing to use up. He said something about driving out to Pennsylvania to pick up all the nose cone and tube mandrels. He also said he won't be doing the molded nose cones for the Nike Smoke kits, but would do them as filament wound (not as much detail). Let's keep our fingers crossed that this all works out, the bank account could be taking a big hit .............. He also said that Ken Allen (Performance Hobbies) could remain as a vendor for the CW kits if he chooses to do so. I think we have a lot of "wait and see" in our rocket future. It is still in the works and no promises are being made.

 

[loujoe]

Cool

 

[2-0turbo]

I would love to pick up one of the two-stage Nike/Terrier or something like that. Does Ken at Performance hobbies make all his own stuff or did he source from CW? I'll see him this weekend, I could ask him. But I was curious. Ken has a lot of kits on his website, but I'm not sure what he makes and what he distributes.