You’ve drank the Egg Nog, ripped open the packages and even stood beneath the Mistletoe hoping for the best. Why not fulfill your grandest dreams at The Motor Pool with our Annual After Christmas Sale? From Monday, December 25th, until Sunday, January 21st, you can take 15% off of any item we have in stock simply by entering our latest coupon code at the bottom of your shopping cart just prior to final checkout. Please enter discount code “TMP174” in the coupon box just prior to final checkout. Note: The following lines are excluded from this promotional offer: Air Force 1, Calibre Wings, Hobby Master, Luft-X and Wings of the Great War. Sale ends midnight, Sunday, January 21st, 2018. May not be combined with any other sales discount.
December 2017
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and a Joyous New Year to All
Well, its that time of year again when we’d like to wish everyone a merry Christmas, happy Hanukah and a joyous new year. This past year was especially good for us for any number of reasons and, as usual, we look forward to working with our customers, suppliers and everyone else connected with The Motor Pool in the coming year. Stay safe and sound.
Fist of War: Does it Have Legs?
What happens when you combine a modelmaker with a strong history of producing cutting edge military replicas with a science fiction back drop that no one has ever heard of? Apparently, you get Fist of War, a strange concoction of WWII-themed vehicles mated to over-sized, spider-like chassis with a pinch of Japanese Anime tossed in for added flavor. According to their Facebook page, sketches have been posted of skirt-attired, female Japanese soldiers that seem more at home in the weird Girls und Panzers universe than a WWII-inspired alternate reality. What they have to do with German weaponry is also anyone’s guess, another slice of sci-fi bolted on to makes things even more peculiar. It would have been nice if the Company had provided some sort of literature about the Fist of War universe to help us better understand what is going on before tackling the replicas, but I guess that would have been putting the cart before the horse, or is it the other way around?
Anyway, the first vehicle in the series – a modified E-75 heavy panzer – was uploaded to the Modelcollect web site earlier today, so we’ll let you be the judge of where these replicas should fit within the panoply of replicas we currently offer.
In other news, we still do not know if Modelcollect plans to port its soon-to-be-released model kit of a P.1000 super heavy tank to the pre-assembled market. The Company has indicated that the model will come with seven different gun positions on the vehicle in addition to the mammoth main gun. They have also shown the kit in several configurations: one with a pair of Krupp 150mm main guns and the other with three smaller calibre main guns. A recent posting indicates that the vehicle will come with the following secondary armament:
Two (2) Kugelblitz 30mm flak guns
Two (2) Gerat 58 55mm guns
Two (2) FLaK 40 zwilling 128mm guns
Two (2) E100 flak 88 guns
Two (2) FLaK 40 128mm guns
Two Rheintochter 1 missiles
Given the amount of armament this thing will sport, its difficult to guess the ultimate size nor the final price of a fully built P.1000 super tank. We know a lot of people will shell out a lot of shekels for this beast, so we’ll wait and see how Modelcollect approaches this item in the weeks ahead.
Protect Your Investment
You’ve spent hundreds, perhaps even thousands on your priceless possessions, putting together a vast, irreplaceable collection that has become the envy of enthusiasts world over. Why not shell out a few more bucks and take out some insurance should something happen to them?
That’s where Sure comes in. Sure offers collectibles insurance that will protect your investment against all sorts of hazards, and let’s face it, who couldn’t use a bit of added protection in this chaos-filled world. If you’re the least bit curious about their policies, we suggest you pay a visit to their web site: Sure.com. Consider it money well spent.
Modelcollect Keeps Firing into the Night Sky
Modelcollect knows a good thing when they see it, following up on their recent pair of FLaK guns with yet another pair of anti-aircraft artillery. Expected some time in early 2018 is this German Flak40 128mm Zwillingsflak Anti-Aircraft Gun with Bettung 40 Platform (AS72087), a solid looking model that seems begging for a crew to man her.
The Force May Soon Be With Us
A couple of months ago, we created a blog post explaining why Waltersons, the new owners of the Forces of Valor brand, was running behind schedule getting a number of eagerly-awaited projects out the door. To recap, they were confronted by three critical issues: the first was reinventing the brand by offering revamped tooling that boasted more metal, removable engines and opening compartments previously overlooked in the original models. The second was obtaining new replicating machinery to create the molds for the new products as well as the training of new workers to operate the machinery. Third, and the most vexing problem they encountered,was that the manufacturer ran into an issue with the property owner who promised to turn over the keys to a new manufacturing facility, which ended up in court so that they could resolve the situation. Back in October, the manufacturer said as much on their Facebook page, apologizing for the delays and asking everyone to be patient a bit longer.
It is now mid-December, and we are just weeks away from the opening of the 2018 Hong Kong Toy Show, which throws open its doors to the public on January 8th. We are willing to bet that the manufacturer has remained mum of late so that they could use this venue to display their latest wares, new and re-imagined product that cuts across a great many categories and sub brands. So, hang in there a few more weeks and we’re sure there’s loads of incredible new products just waiting for a happy new home.
Films in Focus: The Unknown Soldier
The Unknown Soldier (Finnish: Tuntematon sotilas, Swedish: Okänd soldat) is an independent 2017 Finnish war drama film directed by Aku Louhimies. It is the third film adaption of the 1954 best-selling Finnish classic novel of the same name by Väinö Linna, a book considered part of national legacy, and the first one to be based on its manuscript version, A War Novel (Finnish: Sotaromaani). The previous two film adaptations were released in 1955 and 1985.
Described by critics as gritty, forlorn, honest and realistic, the movie follows a machine gun company of the Finnish Army from a frog perspective during the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944. It is the most expensive film produced in the Finnish language with a budget of 7 million euros.
The film premiered domestically on October 27th, 2017, as a part of the official 100th anniversary of Finnish independence program, breaking the opening weekend record for a local-language film. The international premier was on November 23rd, 2017, at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
Product Spotlight: When Titans Fall
We’ve had incredible success with the Aventine, a previously convention exclusive starship from Eaglemoss that was broadened for general distribution and arrived over a week or so. For those of you unfamiliar with the replica, The Aventine (STCON03) came about as a result of a write-in petition from Trekkies worldwide, and is now part of the manufacturer’s expanded universe series.
Another ship previously released in limited numbers and only available at Comic Con is the USS Titan (STCON02), which we hear will also be nade available in larger numbers and is expected some time in January. We’re going to do our best to maintain inventory on the Aventime so that the two can be shipped out together but cannot guarantee this strategy will work given current demand. So, if you are interested in amassing every single ship in the collection, we strongly suggest getting the Aventine now and placing a pre-order for the Titan which we will process and ship out the moment we receive them.
The Russians are Coming! (In 1:43 Scale)
Admittedly, we’re a bit rusty when it comes to speaking or reading Russian, although it looks as if we better bone up on the language real fast. According to DeAgostini’s web site, the Company will soon be offering a wide range of 1:43 scale Russian battle tanks, one that cuts across all epochs and eras. As you can see by the accompanying photo, at least four vehicles are in the hopper, with more in trail following close behind.
Five replicas are already shown on the site and, according to the literature, the range will purportedly include the following vehicles: Т-34, Оbject 279, КV-1, Т-64, Su-122, Т-72B, Т-54-1, Т-34-85, IS-2, ISU-152, КV-2, Т-80M, Т-90, and the Т-26.
We have our industrious suppliers already looking into the matter and hope to have more information on the range some time soon. In the meantime, try out your Russian linguistic skills on this web site:
Hobby Master Conjures Up Several Masterpieces for 2018
Even though we haven’t quite made it to the end of the year, that doesn’t mean several manufacturers aren’t already looking ahead to the following year to ply their craft. In the case of Hobby Master, the Company has announced several new items for a May/June release, upping their game in the process and further cementing their role in the aviation market.
As you can see by the accompanying illustration, Hobby Master feels it can finally address some of the more intricate patterns that adorn a number of aircraft, tackling some of the more difficult camouflage patterns as well as some of the more detailed artwork. This particular scheme was employed by the Oregon Air National Guard on their F-15Cs in 2016. Further down-the-road, we will likely see some of the beautiful patterns the Japanese Air Self Defense Forces apply to their F-15s, as well as a number of mottling camouflage patterns that were used on the Luftwaffe’s night fighters.
In any event, we have listed all of the latest Hobby Master aircraft announced yesterday and expect others to be added as we near the New Year!