March 2026

Hobby Master Remastered, No Joke!

When President Trump announced his plans to increase tariffs on dozens of countries way back on April 2nd of last year, it basically threw the market into a tizzy. The diecast model making business, which is essentially located in both China and Bangladesh, was deeply affected by the move, forcing several to shut down for an indefinite period of time, and others to adjust their shipping schedule to accommodate the changes. One Company that has attempted to soldier on despite the tariffs is Hobby Master, who, up until “Liberation Day”, was pumping out at least a dozen or so new products each month. It too, was eventually forced to alter its battle plan, delaying the release of many products by several months and shunting others to the back burner until the “all-clear” signal was issued.

This April, fully one year after the Trump tariffs took effect, our distributor reports that a large number of Hobby Master products are slated for an April arrival, many of which had been expected months ago. In fact, 24 military aircraft models are destined to reach our shores this month, and that ain’t no April Fools joke. We are currently awaiting confirmation from our distributor regarding which models are in the works and when we can expect them. We will update this blog post once we have firm confirmation regarding their release.

Note: The following products are confirmed to arrive in April:
HA33007, HA3383, HA38069, HA9805, HA19081, HA19082, HA38070, HA4447, HA1341, HA38068, HA4625, HA3593, HA6214, HA5143,HA9558, HA5654, HA9707,HA0218

Panzerkampf Bungles in the Jungle

Panzerkampf’s 1:35 Scale German Early Production Sd. Kfz. 181 PzKpfw VI Tiger I Ausf. E Heavy Tank – SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Reinhardt, “White S33”, 8./Panzer Regiment 2, 2.SS Panzer Division “Das Reich”, Kursk, Russia, 1943

About a year or so ago, Panzerkampf hinted that it was getting into the larger scale pre-built armor game when it posted a couple of preliminary photos of a German Tiger heavy tank. Today, more information surfaced concerning this endeavor.

While no pricing was offered, nor was there a list of the vehicles’ features, photos of two early production Tiger I tanks were shown off for the first time – one decked out in a feldgrau (field grey) pattern and the second in a summer camouflage pattern, based upon a vehicle that saw action with the 2 SS Panzer Division during the fateful battle of Kursk. We’ve asked Panzerkampf to provide additional details concerning both vehicles along with estimated release dates. Thus far, all they’ve said to date is that the schematics were based upon a popular model kit. As we’ve come to expect from Panzerkampf, they likely have at least 5-6 different versions in the works ( a common theme whether it be aircraft or helicopters), with more planned should their inaugural entries take off.

Panzerkampf’s 1:35 Scale German Early Production Sd. Kfz. 181 PzKpfw VI Tiger I Ausf. E Heavy Tank – “Red 332”, schwere Panzer Abteilung 503 “Feldherrnhalle”, Belgorod, Russia, 1943

On a personal note, while we welcome their entry in the 1:35 scale regime, it would’ve been nice if they had chosen a different subject to kick things off. Dragon released a bevy of 1:35 scale Tigers a few years back and Forces of Valor already has a number of larger 1:32 scale Tigers in their lineup, with more eventually planned. A better choice might’ve been either a Panzer IV or Panther medium tank, two vehicles collectors have been requesting for years on end. We’re certainly not looking a gift horse in the mouth but the fact remains initial sales will be based upon the vehicles’ interest amongst the collecting community, which shouldn’t be dampened by the fact that multiple versions of the Tiger already exist.

Takeaway: It’s hard enough to get new product into our country due to the Trump tariffs so while we welcome the announcement as well as their intent to play in a new sandbox, it would’ve been ideal had they chosen to pick a different vehicle to kick off the new range. Two entrenched players in the 1:32/1:35 scale market have already sewed the “seeds of destruction” by modelling the Tiger I tank, so it might’ve made more sense to go with a subject that would’ve been accepted with more relish instead of offering yet another Tiger I.

Films in Focus: Exploring Dora

Typically, we discuss feature length films or series under our Films in Focus section, however, a recent YouTube video caught our attention. Over the last couple of years, Blue Paw Print has put together an awesome array of in-depth videos designed to explain the inner workings of various combat platforms. Recently, they created one on the German Schwerer Gustav railway gun (a.k.a. “Dora”), which was used with mixed effect by the German Army on the Eastern Front during World War II.

Schwerer Gustav (German pronunciation: (lit. ’Heavy Gustav’) was a German 80-centimetre (31.5 in) railway gun. Two were developed in the late 1930s by Krupp in Rügenwalde, however only one was ever actually fired. They were created as siege artillery for the explicit purpose of destroying the main forts of the French Maginot Line, the strongest fortifications in existence at the time. The fully assembled gun weighed nearly 1,350 tonnes (1,490 short tons) and could fire high-explosive shells weighing 4.8 t (5.3 short tons) to a range of 47 km (29 mi), or armour-piercing shells weighing 7.1 t (7.8 short tons) to a range of 38 km (24 mi).

The guns were designed in preparation for the Battle of France but were not ready for action when that battle began, and the Wehrmacht offensive through Belgium rapidly outflanked and isolated the Maginot Line, which was then besieged with more conventional heavy guns until French capitulation. Gustav was later deployed in the Soviet Union during the Battle of Sevastopol, part of Operation Barbarossa, where, among other things, it destroyed a munition depot located roughly 30 m (98 ft) below sea level. The gun was moved to Leningrad, and may have been intended to be used in the Warsaw Uprising like other German heavy siege pieces, but the uprising was crushed before it could be prepared to fire. Gustav was destroyed by the Germans near the end of the war in 1945 to avoid capture by the Soviet Red Army.

Schwerer Gustav was the largest-calibre rifled weapon ever used in combat, and in terms of weight, the heaviest mobile artillery piece ever built. It fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece. It was surpassed in calibre only by the British Mallet’s Mortar and the American Little David bomb-testing mortar — both at 36 inches (91.5 cm) — but was the only one of the three to go into action.

We invite you to take a look at the accompanying video because it does a superb job of discussing how it was created and why no one has attempted to build a similar weapon since, including in diecast form.