Just when you thought you had things figured out comes word that one of our newest manufacturers seems to be headed down an unexpected road. Earlier today, Calibre Wings posted a titillating teaser on their Facebook page which indicated, in rather unabashed form, that they will soon be offering Robotech-related merchandise.
Robotech is a science fiction franchise that began with an 85-episode science fiction anime television series cartoon adaptation produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production and first released in the United States in 1985. It was adapted from three original and unrelated – though visually similar – Japanese anime television series (Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada) to make a series suitable for syndication.
In the series, Robotechnology refers to the scientific advances discovered in an alien starship that crashed on a South Pacific island. With this technology, Earth developed robotic technologies, such as transformable mecha, to fight three successive extraterrestrial invasions. (courtesy Wikipedia)
Presently, we have no idea as to what they plan to offer, although the image does hint that more information is forthcoming at the soon-to-debut Comic Con Convention being held in San Diego from July 20th-23rd.
Unveiled at the San Diego Comic Con on July 21st, Calibre Wings’ first pair of Robotech F-14s are shown here.
The Iraqi Air Defense Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25PDS “Foxbat-A” Interceptor that was piloted by Lt. Zuhair Dawood of the 84th Squadron, January 1991
“I’m telling you right now, don’t believe what you’re being told. It was that MiG that shot Spike down.” – A pilot on the same mission as downed pilot, LCDR Scott Speicher, January 17th, 1991
Ordinarily, I’m rather loathe to pointing a spotlight at an adversarial aircraft that shot down one of our own, however, in the case of this particular incident I’ll make an exception due to its wide public nature at the time. Way back on January 17th, 1991, during the opening stages of Operation Desert Storm, Iraqi pilot, Lt. Zuhair Dawood, flying a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25PDS “Foxbat-A” interceptor, successfully downed a Coalition pilot by the name of LCDR Scott Speicher. LCDR Scott Speicher was flying an F/A-18 Hornet fighter, BuNo. 163484, from VFA-81 “Sunliners”, when he was shot down 100 miles west of Baghdad, on the first night of Operation Desert Storm. His plane crashed in a remote, uninhabited wasteland known as Tulul ad Dulaym. He was the first combat casualty for American forces in the war.
The U.S. Navy maintained in a 1997 document that Speicher was downed by a surface-to-air missile. A pilot on the same mission stated: “I’m telling you right now, don’t believe what you’re being told. It was that MiG that shot Spike down.” Subsequently, in an unclassified summary of a 2001 CIA report suggests that Speicher’s aircraft was shot down by a missile fired from an Iraqi aircraft, most likely a MiG-25, flown by Lieutenant Zuhair Dawood, attached to the 84th squadron of the Iraqi Air Force. Speicher was at 28,000 feet and travelling at 0.92 Mach (540 Knots) when the front of the aircraft suffered a catastrophic event. The impact from the R-40 missile threw the aircraft laterally off its flight path between fifty and sixty degrees with a resulting 6 g minimum load.
LCDR Speicher was initially listed as a probable MIA but later changed to KIA, on May 22nd, 1991, several months after the end of the Gulf War. Sadly, Speicher’s status was changed to Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered (KIA/BNR). Navy Commander Buddy Harris, who was a friend and fellow naval aviator of Speicher’s, became a strong advocate for searching for Speicher, often meeting with U.S. officials. On August 2nd, 2009, some 18 years following his status change, the Navy reported that Speicher’s remains were found in Iraq by United States Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines belonging to Multi National Force-West’s Task Force Military Police and Marines from Marine Wing Support Squadron 271 belonging to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. His jawbone was used to identify him after study at the Charles C. Carson Center for Military Affairs at Dover Air Force Base. According to local civilians, Speicher was buried by Bedoiuns after his plane was shot down. Senator Nelson attributed the delayed finding to the culture of the locality: “These Bedouins roam around in the desert, they don’t stay in one place, and it just took this time to find the specific site.”
Hobby Master’s second Sukhoi Su-35S “Flanker-E” multirole fighter was “blooded in battle” over the skies of war-ravaged Syria
We’ve been waiting for more versions of their soon-to-be-released Sukhoi Su-35S multirole fighter to be added to Hobby Master’s inventory, and now we finally have one. The second “Flanker-E” scheduled to hit the market is based upon one of four aircraft dispatched by Russia to Syria to help bolster the Assad regime in 2016. Formerly attached to the 23rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, 303rd Guards Composite Air Division, 11th Army Air Force, “Red 6” represents a warplane that operated out of the Russian-built Khmeimim Air Base, near Latakia, Syria, during 2016 (HA5702). Painted in a sky-blue camouflage scheme and wearing Russian markings and insignia, we anticipate their latest Su-35S to do quite well at retail, since it is one of the first Flankers to be “blooded” in battle, and thereupon analyzed by Western intelligence agencies to see how it would stack up against current fourth- and fifth generation aircraft in service with NATO forces.
Note: A second version of HA5702 has been announced, hereupon referred to as HA5702, which will come with a set of decals so collectors can portray any of the Russian Su-35 Flankers currently seeing action in Syria.
The “F/A-18XT” and “Block 3 Super Hornet,” Boeing’s Advanced Super Hornet is an upgrade of the company’s current F/A-18E/F fighter jets.
The US Navy can’t be faulted for resting on their laurels. Planners are currently mulling over ways to bring their active duty warships up to Trump’s 350-ship goal, which include dusting off several mothballed Oliver Hazard Perry class destroyers to active service. Meanwhile, as a means of closing the fighter gap that exists until more F-35Cs can be brought online, they have also given Boeing the green light to produce what has been coined as the Advanced Super Hornet, also known as the as the “F/A-18XT” or “Block 3 Super Hornet.” According to Fox Business, “Boeing’s Advanced Super Hornet is an upgrade of the company’s current F/A-18E/F fighter jets. Among other improvements, the new design features “advanced network architecture” and “advanced cockpit displays” on the inside, and conformal fuel tanks — adding 100 to 120 nautical miles to the plane’s range, and providing a stealthier radar profile — on the outside. The new design is not as stealthy as a Lockheed Martin F-35C. But at a mooted price of $79 million, the Advanced Super Hornet is also a heckuvalot cheaper than the $122 million price tag that Lockheed hangs on an F-35C.”
Judging by a recent posting on their Facebook page, it would appear as if ModelCollect will soon be offering a litany of pre-painted and pre-posed military figures. Shown alongside a 1:72 scale tank, the first set of figures look to represent Russian infantry, complete with gear and weaponry. If so, this marks another departure for this Chinese model maker, who has steadily built an impressive array of pre-built as well as model kits cutting across a number of eras. No further information was posted on their site, so we are guessing actual SKUs, pricing and dates of availability will be disseminated shortly.
Announced way back in 2016, it would appear as if TSM Model Wings has finally put their stamp of approval on their long awaited range of 1:72 scale aircraft carrier deck, vehicles and launch team personnel that completes their Top Gun collection.
Needless to say, these very same products are designed to work in conjunction with any type of 1:72 scale US naval aircraft, making them versatile in their own right and an excellent means of displaying aircraft in their launch mode being prepped for takeoff. Based upon information supplied to us, we anticipate their availability towards the end of August.
If you thought tanks were nothing more than hulking slabs of armor, barely able to get out of their own way much less other friendly vehicles, well, then you better think again. The Israeli Defense Forces are fielding a brand new helmet-mounted display dubbed IronVision which gives buttoned up tankers the ability to see through their vehicle thereby offering 360 degree situational awareness. The system works much like the helmet-mounted displays F-35 pilots are using to see through the floor, sides and nose of their plane’s fuselage to better gauge where the enemy is in a knife fight. Under development by Elbit Systems for several years, “the Helmet Mounted System (HMS) provides “protective glass walls” for tank or armored fighting vehicle crews who may need to operate in so-called closed-hatch mode when maneuvering in high-threat areas, according to Boaz Cohen, director of Elbit’s land systems division,” says Defense News.
Space has long been the bastion of science fiction writers who have conjured up all manner of invasion and conquest. Apparently, the US Defense Department is starting to pay attention to space as the next high ground, going so far to propose a separate branch of the military known as the US Space Corps. According to a recent posting on Wikipedia, The United States Space Corps (USSC) is a proposed branch of the United States Armored Forces that, if created, would absorb the United States Air Force’s current space missions and would be dedicated to the cause of space as a warfare domain.
In June 2017, the US House Armed Services Committee (HASC) voted to create the U.S. Space Corps. The new service would be administered by the Secretary of the Air Force (much as the Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy), but would be a separate branch, and necessitate a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A provision in the House version of the 2018 US defense budget requested the creation of the Space Corps. The top Republican and Democrat on the strategic forces subcommittee, Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), are leading this effort. This proposal is opposed by the U.S. Air Force.
Its not clear how the US Space Corps would evaluate and utilize space as a military platform, the lengths to which they would consolidate and employ certain assets already in place as part of their arsenal, and steps they would take to develop and field new systems for both control over low Earth orbit as well as outer space, up to and including bases on the moon and Mars.
Beyond photo reconnaissance, it has long been speculated that the upcoming SR-72 will be capable of launching air-to-ground and air-to-air ordnance up to and including nuclear weapons
As a retailer of historically-based military products, we have always contended that there would be an eager audience looking to collect some of the conjectural systems currently on the drawing board, such as a hypersonic jet capable of striking targets anywhere around the world in two hours or less, or near future weapons systems destined for mid-twentieth century deployment by a number of nations.
On July 15th, the House of Representative approved the initial concept for the US Space Corps. The bill must now go before the Senate for ratification before it gets sent up to the Executive Branch final approval.
Produced in 2015, “13 Minutes” (German: Elser – Er hätte die Welt verändert) is a German drama film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel that tells the true story of Georg Elser’s failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in November 1939. The title of the film is drawn from the fact that Elser’s bomb detonated in a venue that the Fuhrer had left just 13 minutes before.
It was screened out of competition at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. It was one of eight films shortlisted by Germany to be their submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, but it lost out to Labyrinth of Lies.
