German Heinkel He-111s medium bombers appear above the British coast in search of their targets
Word from Hollywood is that acclaimed director, Ridley Scott, has signed on to directing a new take on the pivotal Battle of Britain. Written by Matthew Orton, a British screenwriter, the film portrays the RAF’s desperate defense of the British Isles against the might of the Luftwaffe, thrown at the island bastion as a potential prelude to a sea and airborne invasion by the German Wehrmacht. The original feature length film of the same name aired way back in 1969 and used real aircraft from both sides of the battle to depict the air-to-air conflict, largely fought between June and September of 1940. Its not clear if the new film will make use of any aircraft still in flyable condition or more likely rely upon computer generated imagery (CGI) and mock ups for the aerial battles.
Amercom’s Ships of War 1:1000 scale rendition of the battleship, USS Massachusetts
There was a time, not too long ago, when model makers seemed to steer clear of pre-assembled warships in favor of pumping out military vehicles, aircraft and helicopters. Now, it appears as if everyone is jumping on the maritime bandwagon, recognizing the success of some series, importance of replicating warships from a historical stand point, and perhaps taking a page from today’s headlines, as more and more nations are rearming, particularly on the high seas.
A partworks series, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the collection will eventually be picked up by a North American distributor and thus make these fabulous models available to North American collectors
Amercom is the latest player in the diecast military warship space, offering a partworks series of World War II-themed ships from amongst all the world’s navies. Unlike the Eaglemoss series, which essentially offers 1:1250 scale Japanese-centric ships that are paired with full-color magazines written in Japanese, the all-new Polish-based Amercom series features a more proportional range of warships from around the world rendered in a slightly larger 1:1000 scale, and are accompanied with beautifully illustrated magazines written for the English-speaking market. Thus far, the series is available from news agents in both Australia/New Zealand and the United Kingdom, but it shouldn’t be too long before the collection makes its way over to the much larger North American market.
Note: As of this writing (May 1st, 2017), seventeen warships have been announced and we anticipate the series could grow to as many as 60 ships or more, depending upon the success of the series.
