December 2020

Forces of Valor Presents the Sturmtiger to the Fuhrer and the Collecting Community

Forces of Valor’s 1:32 scale German Early Production RW61 Sturmtiger Rocket Assault Mortar with Loading Crane – Prototype Presentation to Hitler, Ehrenfriedhof Arys Proving Grounds, East Prussia, October 20th, 1943 [Bonus Maybach HL 210 TRM P45 V-12 Water-Cooled Engine]

It appears as if Waltersons has at last posted final images of its upcoming 1:32 scale Sturmtiger assault mortar. The gallery shows the vehicle from a number of perspectives and even includes interior photos that show off its detail and working features. While the Company claims that the vehicle will be completed in early January, we believe that shipping delays and other issues points more towards either a February or possibly a March release.

We’ve learned that the price for a pair of metal tracks offered as an upgrade to the Sturmtiger is being pegged at $34.99, although its not clear if they will be available day and date with the arrival of the first Sturmtiger.

Forces of Valor Metal Tracks for the Sturmtiger Assault Mortar

The same tracks can likely be used for their upcoming torrent of Tiger I tanks, which should start to appear sometime in the first quarter of 2021.

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Tales of Transparency: Odds and Ends for December

Thus far, the 2020 holiday season has been exceptionally busy. So much so that we haven’t had the opportunity to publish a newsletter in over three weeks. Obviously it means that we haven’t been able to stay in touch with our customers on a regular basis and have instead had to rely upon short blog posts and web updates to keep everyone informed as best as possible. Part of the problem has been the pandemic, which has led to more people purchasing online from vendors they know and trust. It also means that we have sold through a good portion of our top end merchandise, and have had to re-purchase some stock from our suppliers at a time we would rather it draw down a bit to prepare for year end inventory. Be that as it may, it means a lot more unforeseen work which has taken us away from some of the chores such as creating newsletters.

In other news, we’ve learned that our distributor just received their December shipment of Hobby Master products, which brings them up-to-date on what they were expecting to receive for the calendar year of 2020. It also means that a great many highly desirable models are en route to us, including their latest 1:48 scale Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighter and their eagerly awaited inaugural F-105G Wild Weasel. Many of the newest models are still employing line art sketches in lieu of actual product photos to convey their appearance, something we hope to address shortly once actual imagery have been posted online.

Another supplier has indicated that the first shipment of 1:43 scale military vehicles under our proprietary Armored Fighting Vehicles of World War II line are expected to make landfall in late December, as is the first shipment of 1:72 scale Warbirds of World War II. The same distributor also reports that the follow-on shipment of FOV’s MH-47 Chinook is en route to them as is FOV’s initial pairing of Royal Australian CH-47 helicopters. This, combined with some other restocks means we are going to be very busy throughout the holiday season as well as the post holiday time frame in the run up to New Year and beyond.

Beyond that, we aren’t anticipating any other major shipments until January, which will likely include lots of Panzerkampf, PMA, Corgi and other lines that are deeply in need of additional reinforcements. Lastly, Corgi has announced the cancellation of CC60216, the second Panther tank in the series. No reason was given apart from “problems with the tooling.” We’ve cancelled any pre-orders for this item and are still awaiting the other vehicles in this series due out some time this winter.

Anyway, that’s it for now as we return to our everyday job of getting merchandise out the door as quickly and expeditiously as possible. As always, we wish everyone a happy holiday and a joyous New Year and hope we have done out utmost to bring a little piece of diecast heaven to your doorstep in a year many of us would prefer to soon forget. Enjoy!

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Panzerkampf Takes the Hind for a Spin

If you thought Panzerkampf was “one-and-done” in the under-served helicopter space, you’d be wise to think again. Earlier today, the company revealed plans to offer up the Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter to its adoring public, likely loitering over the diecast battlefield sometime in mid 2021. Thus far, only a couple of CAD drawings were shown on their Facebook page, so its not clear which version will make the initial cut and/or in which liveries. Still, its a promising sign that their initial MH-53 Super Stallion met with great success and therefore opened the door for other oft-requested helicopters.

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Corgi Slides into Bed With World of Tanks

Corgi’s “Fit-to-box” German Sd. Kfz. 182 PzKpfw VI King Tiger Ausf. B Heavy Tank with Henschel Turret [WOT]

Earlier this year, we learned that Corgi decided to launch a new “fit-to-box” military vehicle range that leveraged the highly popular World of Tanks name as a means of gaining product awareness and, hopefully, spurring impulse sales during the holiday season. For those of you unfamiliar with World of Tanks, its a free massively multiplayer online game that has been around for a number of years and gained quite a hefty international following thanks, in large part, to huge multi-tank engagements in which players gain fame and notoriety by knocking out their opposition in a sort of last man standing battle then leveling up afterwards with the aid of rewards and other perks.

Up until now, however, it wasn’t clear what each of the seven vehicles would look like or when they would be released. With Christmas fast approaching and most of their other ranges already in the sales pipeline, Corgi has finally unveiled the lineup, along with its packaging, and provided details concerning their impending release. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll get all or some of them in for the holidays thereby making them excellent stocking stuffers, and will, of course, update our release schedule as further word is passed along.

Note: Corgi has announced another addition to the World of Tanks range: an M3 Stuart light tank. While images for this late lineup addition were posted, we’re of the opinion that it will get released some time after the first batch of vehicles hit the streets this Winter.

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Calibre Wings Explains the Fencer in Detail

One of the reasons some model makers succeed in this business where others fail stems from the fact that a select few actually take the time to fully explain their model(s) in detail. Rather than rush their products out the door, Calibre Wings is one such company, oftentimes opting to take a few moments out of their busy schedule to describe their latest offerings so that customers can fully appreciate all of the work that went into the design process. Either through Facebook postings or YouTube videos, Noel Lee, the architect behind the Calibre Wings phenomena, has never shied away from the lime light and, with the release of their second pair of Su-24 Fencers, has created a polished 8-minute plus video showing off all of the model’s details as well as the procedure for assembling and dis-assembling the model both to prevent damage from occurring and showcasing all of the components found throughout the build. We invite you to watch the accompanying video, which will no doubt be followed up with additional post-release videos and testimonials.

We’ve decided to integrate these videos within the affected product listing, whenever and wherever possible. In the past, we were hesitant to do so since we had heard that embedded videos can have an adverse effect on a product’s search ranking on Google. Be that as it may, we’ve decided to change course and, where applicable, incorporate these videos into our listings since its value as a selling aid far exceeds its impact on the search ranking charts.

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Calibre Wings: In Defense of the Shah

Calibre Wings’ 1:72 scale Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force Grumman F-14A Tomcat Fleet Defense Fighter – “3-6079”, 82nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Esfahan/Shahid Beheshti International Airport, Iran

When someone mentions the ubiquitous Grumman F-14 Tomcat, images of the feature film Top Gun spring to mind, along with Tom Cruise, his character, and the so-called “need for speed”. And yet, with all of the hoopla that surrounded the plane, the competition, and its impact on US Naval recruiting back in the latter half of the eighties, there was one other nation that managed to nab several dozen of the plane at the height of the Cold War. And that country, believe it or not, would be Iran.

Calibre Wings, never one to shy away from a subject or livery, has decided to replicate one of these warbirds as part of their latest wave of F-14 models. Due out in early 2021, the Iranian F-14 comes in a scintillating, multi-colored desert camouflage scheme and represents one of the aircraft used with great effect against its neighbor Iraq, in their long running Iran-Iraq War of the eighties. We’ve listed this model on our website are are now taking pre-orders, looking to take delivery in either January or February.

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The Chinook Update

I’m sorry to say that we’re all out of the Forces of Valor 1:72 scale MH-47G Chinook helicopter. Of course, it didn’t help that we were short-changed, receiving one case of a Japanese CH-47JA instead of the MH-47G we were counting on. We decided to keep it instead of returning it and have listed it on our web site. Typically, the Far Eastern liveries of US-built equipment (Japanese, Taiwanese, Singapore, Korean, etc.) don’t sell as well as models based upon machines designed for the primary user nation. However, seeing as how well all of the previous Chinooks have sold, we decided we could be making a mistake by rejecting it out-of-hand. Be that as it may, we are expecting a follow-on shipment probably towards the middle of December but this could change based upon all manner of issues. We highly doubt that we will be able to turn around all of the helicopter models in the follow-on shipment as soon as they come in and have them arrive at their appointed destinations in time for Christmas. More likely, they will arrive some time thereafter, perhaps as late as the New Year, if the shipping carriers run into problems getting all of their Christmas deliveries out and on time. My gut instinct is to say they are going to get slammed for the holidays, so I’ll err on the side of caution and say that the second wave will more than likely arrive at their final destinations the first week of January.

I know a great many of you have been waiting for a long time for this model, and more orders were placed once word got out that the helo arrived over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. On the plus side, I think there’s a good chance that the manufacturer is quite content with its sales and will more than likely offer a larger scale version of it sometime down the road seeing as how several 1:48 scale helicopters are expected in early 2021.

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