We’re about to head off for vacation but noticed this recent Facebook post that was created by Noel Lee, head of Calibre Wings. While he is currently conducting Quality Control for over 1,500 B-58 Hustler bombers, he states that at a rate of 50 models per day, he should have the entire batch completed by the end of November, barring any further delays such as the recent typhoon that struck Hong Kong. Since they’re coming to us direct from China and still have to pass through customs and potential delays stateside, we estimate that our shipment will likely arrive some time in December, pushing their original estimated date of delivery back by sixty days. We’re sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this is obviously beyond our control.
Convair B-58 Hustler bombers undergoing final inspection before being approved for shipment
German Messerschmitt Me 410A-1/U4 Heavy Fighter – Oberleutnant Friedrich “Fritz” Stehle, 5./Zerstorergeschwader 26 “Horst Wessel”, Hildesheim, Germany, March 1944 (1:72 Scale)
The culmination of Germany’s vaunted “Destroyer” concept, the Messerschmitt Me 410 was the intended successor of the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter. Despite entering service almost two years late, it was arguably the Luftwaffe aircraft which most closely matched Britain’s magnificent de Havilland Mosquito in terms of role and performance.
Unquestionably one of the most interesting aircraft of the Second World War in appearance, the Me 410 was a true multi-role aircraft and could be adapted to perform a number of offensive roles, including that of heavy bomber killer.
Equipped with the mighty Rheinmetall manufactured BK-5 autocannon which protruded from the nose of the fighter, this weapon was a development of the 50mm Kampfwagenkanone anti-tank gun found in Panzer III tanks.
With 21 shells housed in a magazine in the weapons bay of the fighter and a shell already loaded in the breach ready to fire, the pilot could usually only rely on one round being fired, before this temperamental system jammed, leaving just reduced standard armament to be used during the sortie.
A single, well-aimed shell did possess the destructive power to easily bring down an Allied bomber and could be fired at ranges where the attacking Luftwaffe aircraft were effectively impervious to the wall of return fire put up by the bomber stream. However, the additional weight and drag caused by using this powerful gun made the Me 410 incredibly vulnerable to marauding Allied fighters.
On March 6th, 1944, the US 8th Air Force launched Mission No. 250, sending 730 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers to targets in Berlin and the surrounding area. This vast armada was escorted by a total of 801 Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft of VII Fighter Command. The Reichsluftverteidigung controllers sent 463 Luftwaffe aircraft to intercept and engage the approaching bombers.
Led by Staffelkapitan Oblt. “Fritz” Stehle, 5./Zerstorergeschwader 26 “Horst Wessel” operating from Hildesheim dispatched 10 Messerschmitt Me 410 aircraft, and formed part of a large ‘Gefechtsverbande’. Some of the aircraft were fitted with the Bordkanone 5 (BK 5) a hard hitting 50 mm Kanone which it was planned would enable the Me 410s to engage the attacking bomber aircraft outside of the range of their withering defensive fire. In practice, this was not realized and they were forced to commence their attacks at close range, making them vulnerable to both return fire from the bombers, and slow and thus outmaneuvered by the escorting fighters.
5./Zerstorergeschwader 26 “Horst Wessel” were able to engage Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft from the 1 Bombardment Division, and claimed 7 ‘abschuss’ between 12:35 and 13:15. Claims were submitted by Uffz. Hartl, Oblt. Stehle, Uffz. Retschy, Fw. Schneider, Ltn. Kutscher, Ofw. Fros and Ofw. Pennekamp. In the ensuing air battle, 5./Zerstorergeschwader 26 “Horst Wessel” were intercepted by North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft over the Doberitz-Brandenburg-Bernburg area, and six Messerschmitt Me 410 aircraft were shot down. Ofw. Ziesch, Feldwebel Bonnecke and Uffz. Patsch were all killed in this engagement. The Luftwaffe lost 63 fighters, with a further 19 damaged on this day. The US 8th Air Force lost 74 bombers and 14 fighters. Oblt. Stehle would go on to fly Focke Wulf Fw 190 aircraft with 6./Jagdgeschwader, before being assigned as Kommandeur I./Jagdgeschwader 7 flying the Messerschmitt Me 262.
On May 8th, 1945, Oblt Stehle shot down a Russian Bell P-39 Airacobra which crashed near the village of Klinyin. This may have been the last fighter victory of WWII in Europe. Post war, he helped train the Syrian Air Force before joining Lufthansa. He died in October 2008, and was credited with 26 victories. He was awarded the Deutsche Kreuz in Gold, and the Ehrenpokal fur besondere Leistung im Luftkreig.
Note: the barrel of the BK 5 with five white abschuss rings. The machine was fitted with the Zielfernohr ZFR4 telescopic gun-sight installed in the cockpit. Characteristic of II./Zerstorergeschwader 26 “Horst Wessel” is the yellow ‘Holzschuhe’ (wooden clog) ‘Wappen’ on the engine-cowling.
Years ago, actor/comedian Christoper Walken performed a sketch on Saturday Night Live, one in which he played a so-called sophisticate speaking to the camera as if there was a supposed woman in his apartment. Decked out in a smoking jacket and likely living in a simple and unremarkable one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, the performance struck a note with me. In fact, I oftentimes try to mimic his daffy performance for anyone who is willing to give me a moment of their time. Anyway, I’ve always been struck by that skit, both for its comedic value, his range as both an actor and comedian and its application in real-life.
USAF Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Air Dominance Fighter – 87-0781, Dave Maurice, “Gray Ghost”, PAV-2, 412th Test Wing, Edwards AFB, California, 1990 [Low-Vis Scheme] (1:72 Scale)
Which leads me to the point of this blog post. Last week, we finally got in our batch of Hobby Master 1:72 scale Northrop YF-23 air dominance fighters, after waiting for what seemed like an eternity for the shipment to reach our shores. When we put this item up for sale on both our web site and on eBay, I couldn’t believe how quickly it sold out, even when we nudged up the price a bit to throttle sales. As you might imagine, the first batch is now gone and we obviously under-anticipated demand for this model and its legacy as a potential aerial platform.
We’ve since placed a large re-order with our distributor, who claims more are expected in November. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if we never see another piece as they get gobbled up by collectors worldwide. I know they made quite a few of these models and even with the tariffs imposed on product coming in from certain countries still managed to break our sales records with inquiries about its availability still filtering in.
USAF Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Air Dominance Fighter – 87-0800, “Black Widow II”, PAV-2, 412th Test Wing, Edwards AFB, California, 1990 (1:72 Scale)
Anyway, we’re leaving this model up on our web site and are still accepting orders should they indeed materialize for the holiday rush. Just as importantly, however, is the second release of the YF-23, known rather surreptitiously as the “Black Widow II”. Painted in matte black, we believe this version will also sell like hotcakes, possibly even breaking the first model’s sell-through rate which, as I’ve already pointed out, may have been our fastest selling aircraft model in our 25-year history. Food for thought if you don’t mind waiting a bit, have space set aside for this beauty and have your heart set on what many believe should have been our nation’s fifth generation air dominance fighter.
Update: If sales are any judge of a model’s success, then I think we can safely assume that Hobby Master’s initial release of the YF-23 will be hailed as the 2025 model of the year, perhaps usurped by the dark grey/black follow-on release expected by year’s end. We don’t acknowledge runaway “runway” hits all that often but it certainly appears as if the YF-23 may indeed receive these honors when the year is out. We did mention to Hobby Master that a navalized version of the YF-23 was planned by the aircraft manufacturer back in the 90s, featuring, among other things, more robust landing gear, canards and other external improvements so there’s a possibility that they may examine its feasibility as a potential model come the new year. What follows is some information on the at-sea version, excerpted from, you guessed it, Wikipedia.
A proposed naval variant of the F-23, sometimes known unofficially as the NATF-23 (the proposed naval variants were never formally designated), was considered as an F-14 Tomcat replacement for the U.S. Navy. The original HSF configuration of the F-23 was first considered with the initial DP500 design but would have had issues with flight deck space (it was to be no longer than the F-14), handling, storage, landing, and catapult launching, thus necessitating a different design. By 1989, the design was narrowed down to two possible configurations: DP533 with four tails and DP527 with two V-tails and canards. DP527 was determined to be the best solution. The NATF-23 design was submitted along with the F-23 proposal for full-scale development, or engineering and manufacturing development (EMD), in December 1990. However, by late 1990 the Navy was already beginning to back out of the NATF program and fully abandoned it by FY 1992 due to escalating costs. A wind tunnel test model of DP527, tested for 14,000 hours, was donated (with canards removed) by Boeing St. Louis (formerly McDonnell Douglas) in 2001 to the Bellefontaine Neighbors Klein Park Veterans Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri.
USAAF Martin B-26C-45-MO Marauder Medium Bomber – Lieutenant Leo Lampman, “Miss Arkansas”, 444th Bomb Squadron, 320th Bomb Group, Montesquieu Airfield, Algeria, 1943 (1:72 Scale)
After leaving the confines of New York City nearly three years ago, we decided to set up shop here in West Central Florida, or more specifically in Wesley Chapel, which is about 30 miles northeast of Tampa. Since then, I’ve come to learn a lot of things about our adopted new city, in particular its important contribution to the US war effort during the Second World War.
The Martin B-26 Marauder medium bomber played a critical role in the prosecution of the air war, taking on many low-level bombing missions for which it was suited. For an aircraft which initially attracted such unwanted nicknames as ‘Widow Maker’ and the ‘Flying Coffin’, and had training crews referring to it as, ‘One a day in Tampa Bay’ because of the high number of aircraft lost to crashes, the Martin B-26 Marauder actually posted the lowest loss rate of all USAAF bombers during the Second World War.
A high-performance aircraft incorporating advanced technologies, the Marauder was a delight to fly but had some vices which could cause problems for the unwary and inexperienced. However, some design modifications and a revised training program soon improved the aircraft’s fortunes.
After some time in Florida, the 444th Bomb Squadron were sent to England before completing their training program. They stayed for just over a month before being sent onwards with the rest of the 320th Bomb Group to North Africa and operations across the Mediterranean Theatre.
The Group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for pressing home an attack against Axis troop concentrations at Fondi, in support of the 5th Army’s push towards Rome, despite coming under heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire.
This particular aircraft was one of the most flamboyantly decorated of all the 444th BS Marauders, with striking sharks’ teeth to put fear in the hearts of enemy fighter pilots, and beach belle artwork on both sides of the aircraft’s nose. Look for this particular model to join the bomber stream this November.
First hinted at several months ago on their Facebook account, Panzerkampf has officially announced plans for the addition of four more Hind attack helicopters to its growing fleet of rotary wing aircraft. This time around, four versions of the Mil Mi 24P gunship are being introduced, each based upon an important operator that runs the gamut from the Soviet Union to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Currently, the squadron is expected in November, although tariffs and other mitigating factors could have an effect on their true dates of arrival. We’ve listed all four new introductions to our Panzerkampf helicopter section and are currently accepting pre-orders. Interestingly, the MAP has been reduced to $124.99 from $129.99, so we’ve also lowered the price on our existing inventory of Mi-24 choppers.
Late last week, Corgi announced their Aviation Archive introductions for the balance of 2025. While there were no major surprises in the accompanying video, the lineup did include a pair of 1:48 scale World War I efforts, along with an all-new 1:72 scale Beaufighter and a 1:48 scale USMC Harrier jump jet that pays tribute to the Black Sheep squadron of WWII fame. Now that Hornby has indicated that they are shuttering its US Corgi operation, it is possible that these new aircraft models may appear from our US distributor in early 2026. The prices we are currently listing for these models do not reflect any tariffs being applied to product coming in from China so we may have to increase these prices shortly once our distributor has officially announced their addition to the Corgi range.
Royal Flying Corps Sopwith Camel F.1 Fighter – B7190/C, Walter ‘Hinch’ Hinchliffe, “Donner Wetter!”, No.10 Squadron RNAS, Teteghem, Dunkirk, February 1918 (1:48 Scale)
Royal Flying Corps Bristol F2B Fighter – C4636 – Lieutenant Anthony Arkell, “Devil-In-The-Dusk”, No.39 Squadron, England, May 1918 (1:48 Scale)
RCAF Bristol Beaufighter TF.X Torpedo Bomber – LZ451 / EE-M, “The Ancient Mariner”, No.404 “Buffalo” Squadron, RAF Dallachy, Scotland, October 1944 (1:72 Scale)
USMC Hawker Harrier AV-8B+ Jump Jet – VMA-214 “Black Sheep”, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, 2022 [Commemorative Scheme] (1:48 Scale)
You may remember that a couple of months ago, I created a couple of blog posts indicating Air Force 1 had already produced models based upon some of the latest Chinese aircraft that have come to the fore. Today we learned that these models will be made available for North American collectors thanks to an initiative by Historic Aviation.
Slated to buzz our airfield in early 2026 are a 1:100 take on the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Air Force Chengdu J-36 Stealth Fighter along with a 1:72 scale rendition of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Air Force’s Shenyang J-50 Stealth Fighter. While the J-36 isn’t available in 1:72 scale, its dimensions adds up to a fairly substantial model, measuring about 13-1/4″ wide by 13-1/4″ long. Should they offer up a 1:72 scale version, then we will ascertain its costs and notify everyone about the development. Both models have been listed on our web site and are now available to pre-order.
Additionally, a 1:72 scale USAF General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drone is anticipated this November. The Predator was released way back in September 2021 and is finally being re-introduced as part of the AF1 product portfolio. Look for the Predator to take wing this November.
The jury is still out regarding the 1:72 scale Avic White Emperor stealth fighter being offered by KDW. Its not clear if KDW is an arm of AF1 or a completely different entity, so it may be some time before we learn if they can be imported at an affordable cost due to the tariff war currently being waged by the United States and the PRC.
Back in 2024, Chinese President, Xi Jinping, said that the Peoples Liberation Army would be ready to act on the island-nation of Taiwan by 2027, meaning his forces would be prepared to invade the breakaway republic should diplomacy fail. In keeping with that theme, the Chinese armed forces put on a massive military parade earlier today that ostensibly celebrates the eightieth anniversary of their “victory” over Imperial Japan in the Second World War. While a good deal of new armament was on display, much of the newest weaponry was designed with keeping the West at bay should they decide to help defend the tiny island-nation from a PLA airborne and amphibious invasion.
As if this sabre-rattling wasn’t enough, several defense-oriented outlets on YouTube have amped up the rhetoric by providing what they believe would be a play-by-play scenario of how an attack might take place. Granted each has merit based upon past Chinese exploits and their continuance to field more and more armament, it remains to be seen if they truly believe they can succeed in the face of the combined might of Taiwan, Japan, Australia and, of course, the United States.
