You may have noticed that there are very few new products coming in and that loads of items promised for months now keep getting delayed. The reason for this can be summed up in two words: port congestion. With the world trying to get back to normal in the wake of the pandemic, and consumers looking to spend their hard-earned money on the latest wares, ports located along the western US have been inundated with cargo ships, which, in many instances, have had to drop anchor for several weeks awaiting their turn to be unloaded. This has meant that many new items keep getting delayed, sometimes by as much as several months. So, while certain items such as Hobby Master’s U-2 spy plane may be available for purchased elsewhere in the world, that same item is still sitting in the bowels of a container ship moored off Los Angeles. Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do about the present situation which could, theoretically, get worse in the not-too-distant future, as mass merchants such as Walmart, Target et al. start receiving their key shipments in preparation for the upcoming holiday season. Bloomberg claims that the port congestion will be cleared by August but we continue to have our doubts as distributors look for alternate means of bringing in product from east and southern Asia. That said, we ask for your patience during these trying times as we and other retailers wait to take delivery of several long overdue shipments.

Many of you have asked what the situation is with Forces of Valor, who keeps announcing lots of new items but seems to routinely have problems delivering on their promises. The short answer is we don’t know. For five years now, they have intimated that their VS Tanks radio controlled series is in the offing yet here we are, with nothing to show for it. The same holds true for their 1:24 scale tanks released under their Forces of Valor moniker. The M1 Abrams and M26 Pershing tanks were originally slated to roll in last November, yet here it is June 2022 and we still have no further word on when to expect them. Back in May 2021, they even posted that “the wait is over” for their 1:16 scale T-72 tank, yet here we are over a year later with nothing to show for it. I’m not sure why they are okay with this tact, and have indicated our displeasure on more than one occasion.

The same holds true for all of their static 1:32 scale models, which are regularly hinted at online and are still posted as “coming soon” on the manufacturers web site, but show no signs of further progress. Like you, we aren’t happy about the situation and seem to get conflicting information when we ask about their likelihood of release. We don’t want to pull down these listings from our web site for fear that new information could, in fact, suddenly surface but we’re in the same situation as everyone else, regularly spoon fed erroneous information that oftentimes never materializes. At this point we strongly recommend that you contact the manufacturer directly to see why they continually post items to their web site that seems to languish on the drawing board for an eternity. You can reach them both on Facebook and through their own web site.

There’s some other important information that has arisen over the last couple of weeks that we aren’t comfortable sharing just yet with our customers. Its an important development, but one which we do not feel we can discuss at present until the manufacturer decides to explain it more fully. Anyway we will keep you apprised of any further developments as soon as we can.

That’s about it. Make sure to get vaccinated and enjoy the summer season. Everyone certainly deserves it after a tough 2021.