December 2021 – Page 2 – The Motor Pool

Hobby Master Looks to Sizzle Next Summer

Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale USAF Boeing F-15EX Eagle Multi-Role Fighter – 20-0001, 40th Flight Test Squadron “Fighting Fortieth”, 96th Operations Group, Eglin AFB, Florida, 2021 [Low-Vis Scheme]

With the holiday shopping season in full stride, Hobby Master seized the opportunity to announce their release schedule for August of 2022, which, as they like to do, covers just about every era and scale they offer up. Of particular note is their first ever Lockheed F-15EX, the latest in a long line of upgraded air dominance platforms in the longstanding and highly regarded series of Eagle twin-engine fighters. While stealth is still of paramount importance to the US Air Force as we head into the mid 2020s, its clear that we still need an effective aircraft capable of carrying a huge load of air-to-air missiles to the FEBA should the stealth aircraft run out of weaponry. The F-15EX, working in conjunction with more stealthy aircraft such as the F-22, F-35 and upcoming sixth generation fighter, fits that bill nicely demonstrating that older air frames still serve a useful purpose on the aerial battlefield. Here now the rest of the August line up:

Hobby Master’s 1:72 RCAF Canadair CF-104 Starfighter Interceptor – 104733, 1 Canada Air Group, West Germany, 1964

Hobby Master’s 1:72 Imperial Japanese Navy Nakajima B5N1 “Kate” Torpedo Bomber – 9-348, Sanzao Dao, 14th Kokutai, South China, 1939

Hobby Master’s 1:72 Imperial Japanese Navy Nakajima B5N1 “Kate” Torpedo Bomber – A11-311, Lt. Ichiro Kitjima, Aircraft Carrier Kaga, December 1941

Hobby Master’s 1:72 USMC Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless Dive-Bomber – Major Lofton Henderson, VMSB-241 “Sons of Satan”, June 4th 1942

Hobby Master’s 1:72 US Navy Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless Dive-Bomber – Commander Howard Young, Commander of the Enterprise Air Group, 1942

Hobby Master’s 1:72 USAF McDonnell YF-4E Phantom II Reconnaissance Aircraft – 65-0713, Air Force Test Center, Edwards AFB, California, 1985

US Navy Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat Fighter – Warrant Officer Donald Runyon, VF-6, USS Enterprise (CV-6), 1942

Hobby Master’s 1:72 US Navy Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat Fighter – Lt. Commander John Raby, VF-9, USS Ranger (CV-4), November 1942

Hobby Master’s 1:72 USAF Lockheed-Martin F-22 Air Dominance Fighter – “Cripes A’ Mighty,” 192nd Fighter Wing, Langley-Eustis, Virginia [Low-Vis Scheme]

Hobby Master’s 1:72 US Navy Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye AEW Aircraft – 168599, VAW-121 “Bluetails”, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), September 2018

Hornby Completes Acquisition of the Oxford Group

Oftentimes we have our heads down, nose to the grindstone, working on the mundane and as a result fail to take notice of news that could have a significant impact on our business. For instance, back in July, Hornby, the parent company of Corgi, completed an acquisition of the Oxford Diecast Group, a British-based maker of diecast cars, aircraft, train accessories and other segments of the hobby industry. The take over involved the purchase of the remainder of LCD Enterprises it did not already own, a holding firm that represented Oxford and its owners Lyndon Davies and his wife Catherine Davies. Lyndon Davies is currently the CEO of Hornby after having moved over from Oxford a few years ago.

Thus far, we aren’t certain how this will impact things going forward, since neither our present distributor of Oxford nor the new owners have said anything regarding the take over. We expect further news in January, since this is the time both Hornby and Corgi typically announce their new wares for the coming year.

For more information on the take over, visit this link.

JC Wings Continues to Soar

JC Wings USAF Vought A-7D Corsair II Attack Aircraft – 354th Tactical Fighter Wing, 1972 (1:72 Scale)

Over the last few months, we’ve slowly been building out our JC Wings military diecast aircraft section aimed at reflecting some of their newest warbirds looking to take wing. Earlier today, we added a batch of new models that were first announced back in September but, for various reasons, we had to wait until December to list properly. Currently we do not have firm release dates for any of these models, so we are assuming they’ll reach us some time this spring, which of course, could change if the issues with the supply chain haven’t been remedied. Anyway, here now the latest models added to our catalog: