Late last night we received word from our distributor that the balance of Panzerkampf’s eagerly awaited helicopters are expected to arrive at their facility next week. The shipment includes two additional Mil Mi-24V Hind gunships along with a trio of MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. The cache also includes a pair of JC Wing aircraft (F-14 and F-15) as well as several new Neo Dragon Armor subjects. We’ve updated each of their respective sections accordingly and will begin processing any orders we’ve received to date towards the end of next week. Arrival at our warehouse is tentatively pegged for mid July due to the slowdown in carrier operations caused by the July 4th festivities.
Some time ago, I indicated we would be pursuing a uniform pricing policy for several categories. What this means is that most items will conform to a single price point within each category, which may fluctuate over time as costs rise and new items are introduced. The reason for this strategy is simple. In certain categories, such as Hobby Master aircraft or Forces of Valor tanks, we’ve left up listings of various products for referential purposes so people can see what was released years ago even though we are more than likely sold out of said products. In the case of Forces of Valor, for example, we recognize that its silly to leave up items that were first released way back in 2002 at their introductory price of say $39.99, when newer items are fetching on the order of $130. What this means is that we’ve increased the asking price for the older products to what they would likely sell for in today’s market if they were once again available.
In a related development, we are also in the process of updating the graphics for a number of categories. You can see the fruits of our labors in both the Hobby Master aircraft and military vehicles categories. Eventually, we will be doing similar treatments for some of our most popular categories, among them Forces of Valor and Dragon Armor. We’ve also been introducing YouTube videos for a number of our newer product offerings, which help to discuss the background for each item or the unit’s that operated them. We hope these improvements are met with a favorable response.
While perusing YouTube for some of the latest military-related videos, I came across this excellent narrative that provides a lengthy overview of how the US Army planned to grapple with Axis armor in both the ETO as well as the PTO. Prepared by the National Museum of Military Vehicles which is based in Dubois, Wyoming, the video describes the way in which the US Army created its nascent tank destroyer branch, covering everything from the earliest 37mm towed anti-tank gun to half-tracks to the larger and much more capable self-propelled tank destroyers. Each weapon is shown in detail, along with its main gun, projectiles, engine and armor. Since many of these weapons were provided to our allies, the narrator also explains why some of the vehicles had to be modified to conform to each nation’s armament. Enjoy!
And, if you’re interested in learning about the evolution of the US Army’s light tanks during the Second World War, the National Museum of Military Vehicles has published a similar treatment in the accompanying video.
Ahead of the arrival of several important new subjects, we’ve decided to re-set our entire Dragon Armor section to both bring it up-to-date and reflect some of the changes you can expect to see in the coming months. We’ve broken down several sections to make them easier to find and stripped out some sub sections that no longer have any relevance to the line and average collector.
Our distributor is still working up our latest shipment and all of the new items that are currently showing as en route should be in stock and ready for immediate shipment by the second week of June. This cache will include a few Cyber Hobby releases, which will likely be augmented with other new limited edition products over the course of the next few months.
In a related development, Dragon announced eight new 1:72 scale vehicles are being added to their Neo Dragon Armor range. The octet, which were posted to our web site in June, include several of the standard Sturmgeschutz III assault guns along with a pair of Sturmhaubitze ’42. As expected, Dragon will be offering a StuG III based upon the legendary panzer ace, Michael Wittmann, when he served in Russia at the outset of Operation Barbarossa.
