September 2016

Air Force 1 Pays a Visit to the Smithsonian

 

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We are thrilled to report the arrival of the first set of aircraft in Air Force 1’s all-new Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Aircraft of Our Time series. While the marque could use some pruning, these multi-scale warbirds pay homage to many of the most iconic aircraft in the US inventory, from the venerable B-25 Mitchell medium bomber to the super-sleek, super-fast SR-17 Blackbird, all of which have been replicated previously in larger scale formats. Affordably priced and attractively packaged, these aircraft make wonderful gifts for the holidays and a great way for new collectors to gain a foothold in the hobby.

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Eaglemoss Fires Off a Spread of Star Trek Stuff

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The Trek Collective, a fantastic web site that covers all of the latest comings and goings in the Star Trek universe, shed light on some of the latest new offerings Trekkies can expect from Eaglemoss:

“At this weekend’s Star Trek Mission: New York convention Eaglemoss ran a panel on Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, in which series manager Ben Robinson announced loads of new ships,and other news. Continue below for a round-up of what we learnt:

The big news is that once again the collection has been granted an extension, and will now run for at least 130 issues (plus specials and other additional issues), which is almost twice the originally planned 70 issue run!

Ben announced a whole load of new ships during the panel, but by far the most exciting to me was confirmation that the USS Titan issue will be coming, off the back of the petition to find support for it championed right here on The Trek Collective. And better yet, Ben also confirmed the USS Aventine will be released too! Both ships are due out in 2017.

When asked about other non-canon ships Ben was less keen, noting he did not expect to do a USS Enterprise-F. However also noted such decisions will depend largely on how well the Titan and Aventine do. As noted previously, Eaglemoss need to be able to sell at least 5000 of a ship to make it viable. So if you really want to see the Enterprise-F, or other Online and book ships to follow, then you need to make sure you snap up the Titan and Aventine, as well as petitioning for the ships you want.

The next special issue, the Jellyfish, due out later this year was revealed. TrekCore have posted a bunch of photos of the impressively huge looking model.Ben announced a run of four new special issues (oversized models outside the regular fortnightly releases), which will be coming out next year. The first of these will be the USS Franklin and a swarm ship from Star Trek Beyond – These haven’t come as close to the film’s release as initially hoped, because the designs kept changing throughout the production of the film, making it difficult for Eaglemoss to keep up with the final designs in time to release sooner.

Following will be the Kelvin timeline Klingon battlecruiser, as seen in the Kobayashi Maru simulation in the first nuTrek movie. And then Deep Space Station K-7 (only the second station in the collection so far), which may feature an article by The Trouble with Tribbles writer David Gerrold.

Ben also announced a whole new run of ships which will be convention and subscriber exclusives. The first of those will be the SS Yorktown, the originally proposed name of the ship that became the USS Enterprise when TOS was in development, released this year to mark the 50th anniversaries (I assume this will be a repaint of the regular Constitution class model, but it could be one of the Jefferies concept designs, I’m sure Ben will clarify soon).

This will be followed next year by the USS Enterprise design created for the unmade film Planet of the Titans, created by Ken Adams and illustrated by Ralph McQuarrie. This design is of course the inspiration of the USS Discovery, so will be a timely release alongside the new TV series. There were two distinct study models created of the design, which have appear on-screen as background ships, and Eaglemoss plan to release both, one as a regular issue, and the other as one of these new subscriber exclusives releases.

Ben also announced several new regular issues! Issue ninety will be the USS Saratoga, the first variant class design in the series, following the original USS Reliant Miranda class release much earlier. That will be followed by the Medusan ship seen in the remastered version of Is There in Truth No Beauty? Issue ninety-three will be a Suliban cell ship, and another Enterprise ship follows that, the ECS Horizon.

And then issue ninety-five with by the New Orleans class USS Kyushu, the first of the unique designs seen in the wreckage of the Battle of Wolf 359 – Renderings of this ship have previously been released. Ben also noted that with the series expanded to 130 issues we can now expect to see all the Wolf 359 ships featured (see previous reports to see rare photos of all those designs). And still there’s more! Ben also revealed the line-up of the second set of shuttles will be: The Enterprise-era shuttlepod, the TNG type 15 shuttlepod, the early TNG shuttle (type 7 I presume), and the executive shuttle form The Undiscovered Country. On top of that Ben is already seeing what designs he might compile into a third set.”

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If it Doesn’t Fit, Force it!

New FOV Logo

Information seems to be trickling out from the new owners of the Forces of Valor line, which cuts across all of their individual brands, product segments and areas of interest. Here’s what we know thus far from their Facebook page:

  • The manufacturer has begin production on their late 2016 product introductions. Eleven 1:32 scale military vehicles are slated for reintroduction later this year, hopefully before the holidays, making them ideal gifts. Although the vehicles will be based upon previously released vehicles from Unimax, the re-introductions will purportedly feature better painting and the tracked vehicles will sport individual tracks linked together rather than a single rubber band like track. A couple of fixed and rotary wing aircraft are also being produced, as are most of their 1:700 scale warships. The warships will come with nicer display stands, making them suitable for desktop displays
  • The manufacturer has begun production on reintroducing their 1:24 scale radio controlled military vehicles range. The R/C line will be feature rich and more robust, making them ideal for competitions or solo play
  • The manufacturer has acknowledged that they will once again be offering the limited edition 1:16 scale Extreme Metal series in 2017, although no word as yet as to which vehicles will be built, price, production run, etc. To preserve the value of previously released products, the manufacturer has indicated that they have no plans to reintroduce the same versions, and will more likely look at other schemes or variants to carry the series forward. Does that mean we may one day see a 1:16 scale replica of “Fury”, the Sherman tank Brad Pitt commanded in the movie of the same name? It’s entirely possible, and would certainly be a smart marketing move on their part provided the licensing fees weren’t exorbitant
  • The manufacturer has hinted that they are already looking at new 1:32 scale vehicle builds for 2017, which could include a T-34/76 medium tank and a M4A3E8 medium tank. Other subjects are still being considered
  • A new web site is currently under construction which will likely feature product released under the former owner’s stewardship as well as all of the new products slated for release and/or scheduled for 2017
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