September 23, 2017

Product Spotlight: Forces of Valor’s 88 – Pitted, Peeled and Ready to Serve the Desert Fox

 

Forces of Valor’s German 88mm Flak 36/37 Anti-Aircraft Gun with Trailer – Deutsches Afrika Korps, North Africa, 1942

“The peril of the hour moved the British to tremendous exertions, just as always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which had previously been thought impossible. Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.”

– Generalfeldmarschal Erwin Rommel

At long last, Waltersons, the new owners of the Forces of Valor brand, has begun to draw back the curtains on some of the 1:32 scale military vehicles collectors can expect to lay their mitts on this holiday season. The first vehicle they have lassoed from the dressing room is the venerable 88mm FLaK gun, this time around painted in the desert scheme colors of the Deutsches Afrika Korps. As you can see by the close-up image, no detail has been left out, including a pitted gun shield and kill tally, as well as a dual display mode, so collectors can show the gun in either a transported mode or ready to do battle atop its cruciform mount. While the accompanying figures were omitted from these test shots, the DAK version will include 8 figures – seven crewmen to serve the weapon and the Desert Fox himself, Erwin Rommel. We’re getting close to a release date, which will hopefully make it available around Turkey Day.

Observe the pitted marks on the gun shield and some of the kill markings on the lower portion of the gun barrel signifying this gun has seen its fair share of battle.

No doubt a Sd.Kfz.7 prime mover, adorned in the desert colors of the DAK, will follow suit, so collectors can proudly display in the gun in a towed mode with the crew seated within the vehicle\s passenger compartment.

The wheel assemblies can be detached enabling collectors to display their gun in either a transport or action mode. Notice too the burnished barrel indicating lots of wear and tear and heavy usage on the battlefield.
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Wings of the Great War: Amiens or Bust

Wings of the Great War’s 1:72 scale British Mk. A “Whippet” Light Tank then attached to B Company, 3rd Tank Brigade, Amiens, France, August 17th, 1918

The Battle of Amiens, France, fought in August 1918 near the tail end of the Great War, has always held special significance for my family since a German regiment, taking its name from a distant relative, was virtually destroyed by advancing Allied armor, specifically two Mark V tanks. So, when Wings of the Great War announced plans to offer a British Whippet light tank that saw action at the same battle, we obviously sat up and took notice.

Whippet’s were first employed in 1917, designed to operate in conjunction with some of their heavier counterparts.

Expected some time in October, the British Mk. A “Whippet” light tank (WW10209) shown here, known as “Firefly”, was attached to the British Army’s B Company, 3rd Tank Brigade, and is now on display at  the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels, Belgium, still showing the damage it took on August 17th, 2018. The Whippet actually saw service for the first time a year prior, when a light tank called the Mark A was ready to be used on the Western Front. Nicknamed the Whippet, it was faster than previous tanks, particularly the ponderous Mark IV, but was still unreliable and vulnerable to artillery fire. Weighing in at 18 tons, it could traverse ground at nearly double the speed of its heavier counterpart, clocking in at a blistering 6 mph.

For more information on the Battle of Amiens, feel free to click on the following link:

https://books.google.com/books?id=B_KBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT786&lpg=PT786&dq=Composite+Regiment+Dultz&source=bl&ots=90U93uZz9A&sig=50uuBuK-C3q7ro7g6AdagJ80yKs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib5N-xkLvWAhVHQSYKHUH6BDQQ6AEITjAJ#v=onepage&q=Composite%20Regiment%20Dultz&f=false

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