While much has been made of Waltersons redesigning their 1:700 scale warship and 1:32 scale military vehicle lines, little has thus far been discussed concerning their sometimes maligned 1:72 scale aircraft range. When compared with other manufacturers’ products, the FOV aircraft have always suffered their bumps and bruises from a critics point of view, constantly lambasted for their lack of authenticity and detail. “Not so, anymore,” says, Vincent Tang, Managing Director for Waltersons’ entire Forces of Valor product portfolio. According to Tang, they are taking all of the old molds in their 1:72 scale military aircraft range and reintroducing them to the public as a “Budget” line, meaning they will be sold as is but can now be purchased for around $50-$60, making them more affordable as compared with the competition. But, in an effort to bring them up to speed and make them more appealing to hard-core hobbyists, a second upscale line will be offered, whereby each aircraft will be stripped down and reworked from the ground up so that they can be proudly set alongside a competing product by the likes of Hobby Master, Century Wings and Calibre Wings. In fact, the Company has gone out and hired several experts in the field for this very purpose, with a mandate to bring the series up to a higher standard. According to Tang, each “Enthusiast” version will come with an accessory, such as a section of aircraft carrier deck, to further heighten the experience and make them a bit more desirable in the eyes of the hobbyist.
Work has already begun on both sets of aircraft, with the hope of bringing them to market this October, right after the first batch of 1:32 scale vehicles has rolled out the door. The series will include the usual suspects: the F-14 Tomcat fleet defense fighter, F-15E Strike Eagle strike aircraft, F/A-18 Hornet Multirole strike fighter, F-22 Air Dominance Fighter, F-4 Phantom II fighter-bomber and MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, as well as the General Dynamics F-16 Flying Falcon, a model that was supposed to be released by Unimax, the former owners of the brand, but never finalized before they closed their doors. New aircraft types will likely be delayed until next year, since the Company is forced to split up its current resources among many different areas just to get segments of the entire FOV range up and running.
In summation, Waltersons’ release schedule for the balance of 2017 is as follows: eight (8) warships, nine (9) 1:32 scale military vehicles, seven (7) 1:72 scale modern era military aircraft (available in either a budget or enthusiast version), one (1) 1:16 scale Extreme Metal mid production Tiger I tank, and finally seven (7) additional 1:32 scale military vehicles. We will likely see their 2018 release schedule at the upcoming Nuremberg Toy Fair held each February. We are also going to assume that the following segments of the Forces of Valor brand will be addressed in 2018: 1:32 scale modern era military vehicles, 1:32 scale dioramas, 1:72 scale military vehicles, 1:32 scale World War II era military aircraft, 1:72 scale World War II era aircraft, 1:72 and 1:48 scale military helicopters, 1:18 scale Bravo Team series and their multiple figure series. These will likely be integrated into the mix alongside any new molds Waltersons plan on introducing.