Fans of diecast military aircraft are waiting with baited breath for the upcoming reveal of Northrop-Grumman’s newest bomber, the B-21 Raider. While little is known regarding the US Air Force’s latest stealth bomber, the manufacturer tweeted out that their aircraft will face world wide scrutiny on December 2nd, and is slated to begin flight testing in 2023. For more information regarding the B-21 unveil, we strongly urge you to visit Defense News.
Creighton Williams Abrams Jr. (September 15, 1914 – September 4, 1974) was a United States Army general who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972, which saw United States troop strength in South Vietnam reduced from a peak of 543,000 to 49,000. He was then Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1972 until his death in 1974.
In 1980, the United States Army named its then new main battle tank, the M1 Abrams, after him. The IG Farben building in Germany was also named after Abrams from 1975 to 1995.
Abrams graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in the Class of 1936 (ranked 185th of 276 in the class), and served with the 1st Cavalry Division from 1936 to 1940, being promoted to first lieutenant in 1939 and temporary captain in 1940.
Abrams became an armor officer early in the development of that branch and served as a tank company commander in the 1st Armored Division in 1940.
During World War II, Abrams served in the 4th Armored Division, initially as regimental adjutant (June 1941 – June 1942), battalion commander (July 1942 – March 1943), and regiment executive officer (March–September 1943) with the 37th Armor Regiment. In September 1943, a reorganization of the division redesignated the 37th Armor Regiment to the 37th Tank Battalion, which Abrams commanded; he also commanded Combat Command B of the division during the Battle of the Bulge.
During this time Abrams was promoted to the temporary ranks of major (February 1942), lieutenant colonel (September 1942), and colonel (April 1945). Abrams was promoted to lieutenant colonel eleven days before his 28th birthday.
During much of this time, the 4th Armored Division (led by the 37th Tank Battalion) was the spearhead for General George S. Patton’s Third Army, and he was consequently well known as an aggressive armor commander. By using his qualities as a leader and by consistently exploiting the relatively small advantages of speed and reliability of his vehicles, he managed to defeat German forces that had the advantage of superior armor and superior guns. He was twice decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism, on September 20 and December 26, 1944. General George Patton said of him: “I’m supposed to be the best tank commander in the Army, but I have one peer – Abe Abrams. He’s the world champion.” Frequently the spearhead of the Third Army during World War II, Abrams was one of the leaders in the relief effort that broke up the German entrenchments entrenchments surrounding Bastogne and the 101st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge. In April 1945, he was promoted to (temporary) colonel but reverted to lieutenant colonel during the post-war demobilization. On April 23, 1945, Will Lang Jr. wrote a biography of Abrams called “Colonel Abe” for Life.
brams was promoted to general in 1964 and appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, but not before being seriously considered as a candidate for chief of staff. Due to concerns about the conduct of the Vietnam War, he was appointed as deputy to his West Point classmate, General William Westmoreland, commander of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), in May 1967.
Abrams succeeded Westmoreland as COMUSMACV on June 10th, 1968, although his tenure of command was not marked by the public optimism of his predecessors, who were prone to press conferences and public statements.
It has been asserted by authors such as Lewis Sorley that in contrast to Westmoreland, Abrams implemented counterinsurgency tactics that focused on winning the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese rural population. A joint military-civilian organization named Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support under CIA official Willian Colby carried out the hearts and minds programs. According to a colonel cited in Men’s Journal, there was more continuity than change in Vietnam after Abrams succeeded Westmoreland. Newsweek magazine at the time of Abrams’ appointment observed that its sources within the Lyndon Johnson administration had spoken at length with Abrams in the past and had come away convinced that the general would make few changes. The magazine quoted an unidentified military analyst to the effect that, “All this talk of dropping search-and destroy operations in favor of clear-and-hold is just a lot of bull.” Indeed none of the strategy papers produced by Abrams on assuming command of MACV indicated the need for any change in U.S. strategy and U.S. forces continued large-scale operations to engage People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) main force units including the Battle of Hamburger Hill in May 1969.
From 1969, the Vietnam War increasingly became a conventional war between the military forces of South Vietnam and North Vietnam. Following the election of President Richard Nixon, Abrams began implementing the Nixon Administration’s Vietnamization policy to decrease U.S. involvement in Vietnam. With this new goal, Abrams had decreased American troop strength from a peak of 543,000 in early 1969 to 49,000 in June 1972. The South Vietnamese forces with aerial support from the U.S. repelled the PAVN conventional Easter Offensive in 1972. The prolonged efforts and expense of the war had by then exhausted much of the American public and political support. Abrams disdained most of the politicians with whom he was forced to deal, in particular Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy, and had an even lower opinion of defense contractors, whom he accused of war profiteering.
Abrams was also in charge of the Cambodian Incursion in 1970. President Nixon seemed to hold Abrams in high regard, and often relied on his advice. In a tape-recorded conversation between Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger on December 9th, 1970, Nixon told Kissinger about Abrams’ thoughts on intervention in Cambodia that: “If Abrams strongly recommends it we will do it.” Troop levels in Vietnam eventually reached 25,000 in January 1973, at the time of the four power Paris Peace Accords . Although it occurred before he assumed total command, Abrams bore the brunt of fallout from the My Lai maasacre in March 1968.
Nixon grew increasingly dissatisfied with Abrams’ performance during Operation Lam Son 719 and had debated for some time whether to recall Abrams. On May 4, 1972 Nixon resolved to replace Abrams with his former deputy General Frederick Weyand, but the decision was not publicly announced until 20 June 1972.
To honor Creighton Abrams, Dragon has announced not one but two different versions of his celebrated WWII Sherman tank. The first, Thunderbolt IV is based on his M4A3 (76mm) Sherman medium tank, which he commanded as he led his unit in the relief effort of the besieged town of Bastogne.
A second tank, which was announced earlier this morning, pays homage to Thunderbolt VII, which was a M4A3E8 Sherman medium tank. This latest vehicle is expected in early 2023.
Waltersons, the owners of the Forces of Valor brand, today indicated that a new shipment is leaving China in early December and, their words not ours, will hopefully arrive at their facility in late December. Frankly, we have our doubts that this shipment will make it to us before the holidays. We reach this decision based upon previous experience with this manufacturer together with logistical issues that will likely conspire to delay its arrival, perhaps into the New Year. We wish we had better news to pass along and, as you might imagine, we do not know if we will have to reroute this shipment so that it is sent to Florida instead of New York should further delays complicate things.
According to the manufacturer, the latest shipment will contain more of the initial Tiger I tank painted in a winter camouflage scheme along with their new Jumbo Sherman. Their Sherman with the Duplex Drive is not expected to be included in this shipment and instead will likely reach fruition in early 2023. This also applies to their soon-to-be-released trio of 1:72 scale P-40 fighters along with both the waterline and full draught versions of their Yamato battleship. I know this comes as disappointing news to a great many of you but here again we play no part in getting product made, shipped out of China or distributed here in North America. If you are looking to give any of these three items as a gift I would strongly suggest choosing a different product that is currently listed as being in stock. Keep in mind too that with our clearance sale kicking off on Monday, the 28th, our remaining stocks of Forces of Valor products will almost certainly sell out quickly.
Update: This email was received from the owner of Waltersons on December 3rd. “Our recent shipment has just been loaded on the vessel yesterday, and it was supposed to occur 5 days ago, however, our factory district got locked down for almost a week. Until 2 days ago, every lock down policy was dramatically lifted. With that said, I think the arrival date to the US will probably be after Xmas, so I think its better if we ship to the Florida facility.”
The Mikoyan MiG-31 (NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft that was developed for use by the Soviet Air Forces. The aircraft was designed by the Mikoyan design bureau as a replacement for the earlier MiG-25 “Foxbat”; the MiG-31 is based on and shares design elements with the MiG-25. The MiG-31 is among the fastest combat jets in the world. It continues to be operated by the Russian Air Force and the Kazakh Air Force following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Russian Defence Ministry expects the MiG-31 to remain in service until 2030 or beyond; that was confirmed in 2020 when an announcement was made to extend the service lifetime from 2,500 to 3,500 hours on the existing air frames.
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, MiG-31 aircraft have reportedly shot down several Ukrainian aircraft, mainly by utilizing the long range R-37 air-to-air missile. By remaining at high speed and high altitude, MiG-31s have been able to operate virtually unopposed due to Ukraine’s own fighters lacking range, speed, or altitude.
The R-37M has, since October 2022, been the main threat against the Ukrainian Air Force. The Ukrainian Air Force has a significant lack of fire and forget missiles. They relied on the R-27 missiles, both the R-27ER and R-27ET, the R-27ET’s range is 60 miles. The Ukrainian pilot must illuminate the Russian aircraft with their radar to guide the missile to the target. Russian pilots firing active radar, fire and forget, R-77 give the Russian pilots the ability to launch their missiles and then take evasive action. Ukrainian pilots were forced to “exploit ground clutter and terrain-masking to get close enough to fire before being engaged”. During the first three days of the war both sides lost aircraft. The Ukrainians replaced them with older air frames that were made flyable. However the Russian Air Force turned to the MiG-31 with the R-37M missile that has a range of 200 miles. Combined with its superior radar, on the MiG-31, the Ukrainian Air Force has started loosing more aircraft. A report by the Royal United Services Institute states that in October some six R-37Ms were being fired at the Ukrainian Air Force a day. Four MiG-31 were also deployed to Crimea. Due to the protection offered by the range of R-37M missiles Ukraine has been forced to try and attack the air bases directly to destroy MiG-31s with the attack on them before the attack on the Belbek airbase and an attempted drone attack in August. Only one MiG-31 has been lost due to an accident.
The MiG 31 is also designed to carry and launch the much hyped Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-to-surface missile (NATO reporting name Killjoy), which is a Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic air-to-surface missile. It has a claimed range of more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi), Mach 12 speed (2.5 mi/s), and an ability to perform evasive maneuvers at every stage of its flight. It can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads and can be launched from Tu-22M3 bombers or MiG-31K interceptors. It has been deployed at airbases in Russia’s Southern Military District and Western Military District.
The Kinzhal entered service in December 2017 and was one of the six new Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 1st, 2018.
Look for Hobby Master’s inaugural MiG-31 to break several speed records this coming April.
Perhaps channeling or celebrating the life of the late great disco singer, Donna Summer, Hobby Master announced yet another wave of new diecast aircraft that are slated to hit the dance floor in September 2023. No surprises were included – rather most are based upon tried-and-true subjects that have sold well over the course of the last few years. Interestingly, a standard as well as a signature edition P-51 Mustang, based upon Steve Pisanos’ famed USAAF mount, is included in the mix even though the war hero passed away back in 2016. Not sure how they managed that but I’m sensing a theme here and I’ll let Hobby Master explain away that one. Anyway, here now the rest of the dance card:
As we finish up digging through an avalanche of new armor subjects, comes news that even more Neo Dragon Armor vehicles are slated for an early 2023 roll out. Frankly, its refreshing to see Dragon take such an active stance in reinvigorating the range, several years after the original Dragon Armor series of armored subjects reached the pinnacle of its success.
Looking ahead it comes as no surprise that Dragon would offer up a pair of German 251/22 halftracks as part of its 2023 lineup, perhaps hinting at their intent when they first indicated plans to re-release their time-tested Sd. Kfz. 251 halftrack earlier this year. The upcoming pair of 251/22 tracks are fitted with the infamous PaK 75 mm anti-tank guns, which were used with great effect to stem the tide of allied armor rolling across Europe in late WWII. And, if we had to guess, other 251 variants are waiting in the wings, likely signalling a cavalcade of re-purposed German APCs throughout the year.
Also falling in for duty are two US-built M4A1(76W) Sherman medium tanks, which soldiered on late in the war even though they were no match for some of the heavier German armor they were tasked with engaging as the Allied armies advanced through northwestern Europe late in 1944.
Update: We woke up today to see four more new vehicles have been added to the Neo Dragon Armor lineup: two initial production Tiger I heavy tanks and a pair of Hummel tank destroyers. Needless to say, we’ve added these new entrants to our product portfolio and have begun accepting pre-orders but we do want to warn you that they are still several months away from being released here in North America. Remember, patience is a virtue!
Without a doubt, Hobby Master has become the preeminent maker of finished diecast military aircraft. All you have to do is peruse their monthly release schedule to see just how many models they have in the works vis-a-vis other model makers. I think you’ll agree that they are not only in this to stay but to win in virtually every high-flying category save perhaps WWI fighters, drones and perhaps rotary-wing aircraft. And, its just a matter of time before these categories too become the stomping grounds of this behemoth, forcing others to scramble for the scraps.
That said, here’s what you can look forward to ogling and hopefully owning next summer:
At the height of the Cold War, when both western and eastern forces stared down one another all along the subdivided stretch of Central Europe, no other weapon came to be as synonymous with the Soviet Union’s aggressive stance as the MiG. Yes, there was the AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle and T-55 series of main battle tanks, but it was the MiG that personified the East, able to stand toe-to-toe with the best the West could produce in the Korean and later the Vietnamese Conflicts. While there were other design bureaus operating within the Soviet Union vying to produce the preeminent fighter, MiG retained the title throughout the 50’s and well into the 90’s, taking a back seat to the likes of Sukhoi in just the last few years.
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (NATO reporting name: Farmer) is a Soviet second generation, single-seat,twin jet fighter aircraft, the world’s first mass-produced supersonic aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S. “Century Series” fighter was the North American F-100 Super Sabre, although the MiG-19 primarily fought against the more modern McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and Republic F-105 Thunderchief over North Vietnam. This aircraft was originally used by the Soviet Union but it was later used by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
In 1950, the Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) design bureau (also known as OKB-155) began work on a new fighter aircraft, intended to have a greater range than the existing MiG-15 and MiG-17 aircraft, and capable of reaching supersonic speeds in level flight. MiG chose to use two of the new Mikulin AM-5 axial jet engines (a scaled-down version of the Mikulin AM-3 that powered the Tupolev Tu-16 bomber) for its new fighter. As a test bed for the new engine, OKB-155 was authorised on 20 April 1951 to convert one of the prototype MiG-17s, replacing the single Klimov VK-1 engine with two 19.60 kN (4,410 lbf) AM-5s (later replaced by 21.08 kN (4,740 lbf) AM-5As), with the testbed, designated SM-1 (or I-340), flying late in 1951. While the SM-1 was a useful testbed, its performance was less than expected, and first resulted in an afterburner being designed for the AM-5, resulting in the AM-5F (reaching 26.45 kN (5,950 lbf) with reheat).
While the SM-1 was a test bed, the SM-2 (or I-360) was intended as the required supersonic escort fighter, with work authorised on 10 August 1951. The SM-2 was a twin-engined, mid-winged aircraft. Its thin wings, which had been designed at TsAGI, the Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, for supersonic flight were swept back at an angle of 55 degrees and had a single wing-fence on each side. Unusually, a T-tail was fitted. Armament was two Nudelman N-37 37-mm cannon located in the leading edge of the aircraft’s wings, near the wing roots – the guns had been moved compared to those in the MiG-15 and -17 to avoid ingestion of gun blast gases causing surging of the aircraft’s engines. The first SM-2, the SM-2/1 was sent to the Letno-Issledovatel’skiy Institut (en:flight research institute) (LII) in April 1952 for testing, and was flown for the first time on May 24th, 1952, with test pilot G. A. Sedov at the aircraft’s controls. With the un-reheated AM-5A engines, the SM-2 could not exceed the speed of sound in level flight, so reheated AM-5F engines were substituted. While the new engines improved performance, the aircraft was found to have handling problems, particularly at high angles of attack, where the aircraft was prone to spinning. To solve these problems the aircraft’s horizontal tail was lowered, with other changes including moving the aircraft’s airbrakes and deepening the wing fences, with the modifications causing the aircraft to be redesignated SM-2A and then SM-2B.
The AM-5F still generated inadequate thrust and so the Mikulin engine design bureau developed a new engine to replace it, the AM-9B (later re-designed the Tumansky RD-9), rated at 25.5 kN (5,700 lbf) dry and 31.87 kN (7,160 lbf) with reheat. When fitted with the new engines, the SM-2B became the SM-9, first flying in this form on 5 January 1954. The SM-9’s performance impressed the Soviet authorities, and it was ordered into production as the MiG-19 on February 17th, 1954, despite the fact that factory testing had only just started.
The rush to get the MiG-19 into service resulted in initial production aircraft having a number of serious problems. The type suffered a number of in-flight explosions, eventually traced to poor insulation between the aircraft’s engines and fuel tanks in the rear fuselage – overheating of these tanks could cause fuel explosions. This was eventually partly solved by fitting a metal heat shield between the engines and the tanks. The aircraft’s elevators proved ineffective at supersonic speeds, and an all-moving slab tail was tested by the second and third SM-9 prototypes, and later included in the major production type, the MiG-19S, which also featured an improved armament.
At the same time that the daylight escort fighter was developed from the SM-2 and SM-9 into the MiG-19 and MiG-19S, work went on in parallel to design and build a radar-equipped all-weather fighter, with the first prototype SM-7/1 flying for the first time on August 28th, 1954. This prototype had a similar airframe to the first SM-9, including the conventional fixed horizontal tail, with the second and third SM-7s introducing similar changes to those tested on the SM-9 prototypes, including the slab tail. The all weather fighter entered production as the MiG-19P in 1955. Major differences from the MiG-19S included RP-1 Izumrud radar in the aircraft’s nose, with small radomes in the centre and on the top lip of the air intake and an armament of two cannon in the aircraft’s wing roots. From 1957, production of all weather fighters switched to the missile equipped MiG-19PM, with an armament of four K-5M air-to-air missiles, with the cannon removed.
In 1955, following American introduction of high-altitude reconnaissance balloons and overflights by British Canberra aircraft, which could not be intercepted by existing aircraft, together with intelligence reports of the development of the Lockheed U-2 with an even greater ceiling, development began on a specialist high-altitude version of the MiG-19, the MiG-19SV, which entered limited production. This had more powerful engines and was lightened, with seatback armour and one of the guns removed, while flap settings were adjusted to give greater lift at higher altitudes and a new pressure suit was introduced. These changes increased the aircraft’s ceiling from 17,500 m (57,400 ft) to 18,500 m (60,700 ft). The prototype MiG-19SV was further modified (as the MiG-19SVK) with increased wingspan, giving a ceiling of 19,100 m (62,700 ft), but this was still inadequate to deal with the U-2, and effort was switched to adding rocket boosters.
Now Panzerkampf has faithfully recreated the MiG 19 interceptor as part of its ever growing armada of 1:72 scale diecast military aircraft, the first of which is now in stock and ready for immediate shipment.
We had a fun-filled trip to Texas last week, where the entire family gets together for our annual Trick-or-Treat crawl through the streets of Dallas. The Dallas crew dressed up as, who else, the cast from Peter Pan, complete with my son-in-law, Samir, as Captain Hook and my eldest daughter, Linda, as Peter Pan. The tights served her well since it got a little chilly in the early evening hours and the outfit didn’t come with a jacket or festive tidings to warm her up. Mind you these are world famous surgeons in their respective fields, brave enough to take on the cat calls and comments from the rest of family, friends and neighbors all to please their three daughters. A brave and hearty bunch indeed.
Now that we’re back, we have our heads down and collective noses to the grindstone addressing all of the new merchandise that came in this week. The cache includes a load of new Neo Dragon Armor vehicles along with several new products from Panzerkampf. Also in the mix is the October shipment of Hobby Mater aircraft, all of which have been listed as being in-stock and available for immediate shipment. Naturally, we’ve updated our eBay listings to reflect these changes.
We’ve also been in touch with Forces of Valor and it appears as if another shipment is due to reach us in a week or so. I’m not certain if their latest pair of Shermans are going to be included in this shipment but we are hoping that their recent 1:32 scale Tiger I tank, clad in a winter camouflage scheme, will make an encore showing. Other new items expected shortly are two new versions of their 1:700 scale Yamato battleship, including their inaugural waterline version, along with a trio of 1:72 Curtiss P-40 fighters.
We’ve listed all of the new product announcements made over the last two weeks, which includes another flock of Hobby Master aircraft due out next summer. Lastly, we’ve been remiss in not sending out our newsletter for the last few weeks and will do so early next week, once we’ve made the necessary edits, revisions and updates.
