Bigwing

Bigwing
Dabble Duck Estate
Shildon
County Durham
May 23, 2006


George Conway is the originator of the Brass Spitfire kitset. George is an engineer and his father is a watchmaker which goes part way to explaining how the whole idea of brass aircraft came about!

George’s wife, Pauline, helps out not only with moral support but also as the lead sales person at the various shows they attend around the UK. George and Pauline are Bigwing.

I bought one of George’s early kit-sets and was so impressed with it’s uniqueness and stunning good looks that I determined then and there that I would contact George and see if he was interested in having me help market the product in New Zealand and Europe. The rest is history as they say and we’ve made several enjoyable visits to work out a marketing strategy for these markets.

My first experience selling the Spitfire was at the Warbirds Over Wanaka Air show where the finished model generated considerable interest. At this show one of the most frequently asked questions was ‘What and when will be the next kitset in the series?’

The main reason for our latest visit to George was to answer this question.

As you can probably imagine putting one of these kit-sets together is quite a task. And as most of the metal work has been outsourced it’s been a very time consuming process moving from a cardboard cut-out to precision cut brass parts. As a consequence George has had to defer the next aircraft – a Hawker Hurricane – several times. As a further consequence he has decided to invest in a milling machine and lathe, which will help to speed up the development work.

So the answer to the question is:

Model Target Release Date

Hurricane August 2006

Mustang January 2007

Bf 109 June 2007

Beyond then several options are under consideration for a decision towards the end of this year.

Finally, George takes a very close and personal interest in all of his Customers who are encouraged to contact him with comments, suggestions or just to talk about building brass Spitfires.

So please visit his website at http://www.bigwing.biz and if you happen to visit any shows he is attending make a point of saying hello.