The below is from Steve. He says the hulls on order are being made right now and will not be affected by the sale. Swampworks has been for sale for a couple years. I'm just the messenger, contact Steve if you're interested. To all Model Ship builders and Model Ship kit, parts, and equipment manufacturers and sellers..... The Model Ship kit manufacturing business known as SWAMPWORKS MFG. Is going to be put up for Sale-Auction in the very near future. SWAMPWORKS MFG. has been in existence since 1988 to serve the needs of the R/C Model Warship Combat hobby. All kits are based on 1/144 scale WWI and WWII military vessels. Several national clubs with numerous local chapters have regular competitions and weekend battles each year throughout the US and Canada. The Sale of Swampworks Mfg. Will include the business name, the website, all hard assets (Molds, masters, tooling, jigs, patterns, some remaining inventory, etc.), vendor lists, and much intellectual material. As many of you already know, Swampworks has been out of business for the last 3 years. This was because in 2005 I came across a much more lucrative business opportunity and had to jump in that direction. I was simply unable to run both businesses and the Swampworks model business was made dormant at the end of 2005. At this time I'm really in need of more workshop space for expansion of my current business and need to get out from under all the old model ship molds, parts, jigs, inventory, etc..... I either have to sell it, or have it moved to a storage unit somewhere and pay rent just to get it out of the way. I'd much prefer to sell it outright to somebody who will want to get it up and running again to service the hobby of R/C Model Warship Combat. For those who might be interested in taking on a model kit making enterprise you can E-mail me at swampy@swampworks.com . If you ask, I'll E-mail you Word files with a full breakdown of what is involved with the business, a full inventory of hard assets and intellectual material that would go with the sale. The Swampworks Mfg. "For Sale Auction" page can be located at www.swampworks.com I am trying to spread the word about this impending Sale to as many people in the Model Ship hobby and manufacturing realm as possible. I would ask that anyone reading this.... EVEN IF YOU YOURSELF ARE NOT INTERESTING IN ACQUIRING THE BUSINESS..... but who would like to see Swampworks line of products being made available again to PLEASE forward this message and-or post it on any other forums, club lists, etc, that you might belong to. The more people that know about the coming sale, the more likely that I can sell it and the products will be made available again to the buying public... Many Thanks and best to all, Steve "Swampy" Milholland
RE: Swampworks for Sale It'll be interesting to see the opening price. Last time it was for sale, it was in the 5-figure range.
RE: Swampworks for Sale I don't understand why he doesn't sell it piece by piece. He would probably get a better total selling price than he would get with just one buyer.
RE: Swampworks for Sale I mentioned the same thing but was told it was an "all included single lot". Also, the asking price is still in the five-figure area.
RE: Swampworks for Sale I've thought the same thing. I don't see a single buyer who could afford all this. After three years of failed sale attempts, why not try to sell pieces to whoever is interested? My guess is Swampy is afraid a bunch of stuff will be left over that no one wants to buy.
RE: Swampworks for Sale There is a significant amount of time involved in doing something like that piecemeal. I really doubt that he is willing to invest the time to do that. In addition, the name, IP and "good will" pretty much evaporate when you can't sell it as a package. Our club took a serious hit in 2001 when the dot com bubble burst. True, some of our members were IT types (myself for one) but only a few. We haven't had the same level of interest since then which has come to be my own economic indicator. I can't see a possibility of a sale and re-starting of the business at this point when it didn't happen when things were much more positive on the economic front. It will be interesting to see if a strong desire for space drives a parting out. I guessing it won't so status quo will reign.
RE: Swampworks for Sale I'm frankly shocked. I hope that it goes through, and that the new owner(s), whoever they are, get Swampy's molds back into production.
RE: Swampworks for Sale I agree with you Tug. He had some hulls I'd really like to see back in circulation.
RE: Swampworks for Sale We will have to see if it was a true bid, or if someone was jerking his chain or not. $36K seems to be pretty high for a business that you can't make a living off of.
RE: Swampworks for Sale Well, when a man wont budge, he wont budge. Give it time, those molds, and stuff wont just disappear, he'll have to get rid of them, or start again.
RE: Swampworks for Sale In time it may not matter. I dont know the entire mix of hull molds he has but many of them may have been duplicated. In some of those cases the competition has made a better hull according to reviews. I did a quick check and there are 22 hull molds for sale and 13 of those hulls (the most popular) have been duplicated by other vendors. I have a feeling that given a choice between buying an North Carolina from BC or from a new vendor that BC will get the business. With the word-of-mouth and strong following of BC, I think it will be hard for anyone to make their money back on this at almost any price. It seems that the new owners would have to tap new markets to survive and I only hear of 1 or 2 new members coming along in fast gun each month. I wish them luck.
RE: Swampworks for Sale I would have to agree that with so many of swampy's being duplicated by other vendors it will be hard the buyer to compete unless it is someone we know and or already has a reputation.
RE: Swampworks for Sale Anyone have any idea what's going on with this situation? The sale page hasn't changed in weeks. http://www.swampworks.com/SwampworksSalePage-1.html
RE: Swampworks for Sale They have 60 days to finalize the sale so that would give them up to June 6th to finalize the sale. OR its already finalized and he isnt going to bother with the page.
RE: Swampworks for Sale Maybe the bidder is having as hard a time getting financing as the family trying to buy the Chicago Cubs!
RE: Swampworks for Sale Auction page now says the Sale is finalized. Hopefully they will be back in production soon.
