July 19, 2022

When Dragons Fly Again

As many of you may know, Dragon pulled up stakes in the US about a year or so ago, although no reason was given for the sudden move,. To date, no one has stepped forward to import the line, that is, until now. Rumor has it that one of our distributors is looking to bring back some, most or even all of the many ranges Dragon produces, beginning with their flourishing Neo Armor line. This, of course, comes at a crucial yet opportune time since Dragon has begun rolling out a number of new Neo Armor products that now cover both WWII as well as modern era subjects. We hope to have more concrete information by the weekend so bear with us as we wait to hear back from our source as they continue to hammer out the details.

Update: Great news for all you Dragon tread heads. We learned today that our distributor struck a deal with Dragon Models to import the Neo Dragon Armor line into North America. The first batch of vehicles are expected as early as this September, with additional shipments expected each month thereafter. We will be listing all of the new vehicles over the weekend and should have everything completed by Sunday. Bear in mind that the range has grown somewhat from its earlier iterations a couple of years ago and continues to gain momentum and new additions on a weekly basis. Furthermore, there are several items that we do not plan to stock, such as their JGSDF and South Korean AAVPs, as well as their JGSDF Bushmaster. These models have limited appeal here in North America and frankly we think it will take us a month of Sundays to move the inventory when we can best stick with those items we know we can sell without difficulty. Of course, these can still be ordered direct from Dragon on their web site. Lastly, we are exploring the feasibility of obtaining many or potentially all of the Cyber Hobby versions of each vehicle type that they plan to offer. Vehicles such as the Bushmaster and Boxer already have Cyber Hobby variants in the works, so its a good bet many if not all of their most recent introductions will be available as Cyber Hobby exclusives too.

After several years of lying dormant, it now appears as if Dragon is once again betting big on their smallest line of vehicles to see them through the post-pandemic world. Five new Shermans were recently announced, all sporting “Tiger Faces” on the front of the vehicles. During the Korean Conflict, it was rumored that the Communist Chinese soldiers were deathly afraid of anything that resembled a tiger since 1951, the second year of the Korean Conflict, represented the “Year of the Tiger”. We’ll post all of them to our web site shortly…

We strongly suggest pre-ordering those items you may be interested in obtaining as quickly as possible because our pre-order with the distributor is due to be placed early next week. I know some of you like to create dioramas with multiple vehicles of the same type, so please bear this in mind if you hope to have your order filled as completely as possible.

Its noon Sunday. I’m bleary-eyed and over caffeinated but it appears as if we have successfully listed all of the newest Neo Dragon Armor items to our web site. We are still checking with the manufacturer to determine if any of the assortments come with limited edition “chase” vehicles. If so, we will offer them separately. We are still in the process of uploading ancillary images for each vehicle so the lone image uploaded for each vehicle will have to suffice for now. Again, please peruse these new listings at your earliest opportunity and submit your orders early so we can best determine the quantities we will need to order from our distributor. Since we are no longer ordering from Dragon Models USA, its very possible that we will only be able to order each new item once before it is sold out and no longer available for re-order.

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Product Spotlight: On Hallowed Ground

Forces of Valor’s 1:32 scale US M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo Assault Tank with VVSS Suspension – “Cobra King”, C Company, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, Bastogne, Belgium, December 26th, 1944 [Bonus Ford GAA V-8 Engine

To this day, there is some debate whether or not the beleaguered 101st Airborne Division, who were tasked with defending the Belgian crossroads town of Bastogne during the Ardennes counteroffensive, were in need of rescuing against vastly superior German forces then encircling the area. Ask the “Screaming Eagles” holed up in the town and they’ll say they were simply holding out against ferocious if failed Nazi assaults for several days running. Patton’s 3rd Army, on the other hand, who had ceased attacking German forces well to the south of the so-called “Bulge”, pivoted 90-degrees then marched through the thick of winter for two days, will answer differently, acting like saviors for the men of the 101st who, for all intents and purposes, were cut off from the world and hanging on by a thread.

On the morning of December 26th, 1944, as part of a concerted effort to relieve the 101st Airborne (“Screaming Eagles”) defending the all-important crossroads town of Bastogne, the 4th Armored Division’s (“Breakthrough”) Combat Command Reserve (CCR) was ordered by Division HQ to link up with Combat Command B (CCB), which was still fighting for the town of Chaumont in southeast Belgium. Colonel Wendell Blanchard, commander of CCR, called together Lt. Colonel Creighton Abrams of the 37th Tank Battalion, and Lt. Colonel George L. Jaques of the 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion.

He told them to attack and seize the village of Chaumont, which was just 3 miles from Bastogne. From there, they were to advance in earnest up the main road, break through the German cordon, and make contact with the beleaguered 101st, which was rapidly running out of ammunition.

After capturing Chaumont, the two commanders initially planned to attack the town of Sibret, but because it was so heavily defended, they instead chose to assault the nearby village of Assenois, which was located on a secondary road but still provided access to Bastogne. With artillery firing in support, the leading element of CCR, comprised of three Shermans followed by a halftrack full of infantry, then two more Shermans, stormed the village. Abrams’ tanks blasted their way through the obstacles, while dismounted infantry mopped up the remaining strongpoints. After eliminating several enemy soldiers laying Teller mines along the road, Abrams command linked up with elements of the 101st at 1700 hours. The siege had been lifted and with it came the collapse of Hitler’s “Wacht am Rhein” operation.

Look for the “First in Bastogne” Sherman from Forces of Valor to break the siege in the Ardennes Forest early this fall.

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