Films in Focus

Odds and Ends for the New Year

 

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Well, we’re back from vacation and thought we’d kick off the new year with a few odds and ends that typically come up at this time of year. First off, the USPS is expected to increase rates by 9% beginning Wednesday, January 20th. For now, we’re going to hold the line on the $4.99 flat rate shipping model, but may have to raise this price should shipping costs start to get out of hand, particularly for packages that need to be mailed to the western portion of the country.

Secondly, Chinese New Year begins on February 8th, which creates a bit of a lull from a manufacturing perspective for about two weeks. So, expect shipments to slow down for the latter half of February into March until the manufacturers start to ramp things up after their return.

Lastly, a number of important Toy Shows are held at this time of year around the globe, with the most important being the Nuremberg Spielwarenmesse held in Germany beginning January 27th. We’ve posted an update to our Calendar of Events page which delineates when each show is held. Obviously, we’ll share any important product announcements with our clientele the minute we hear about them. Hopefully, there’s lots of new products on the horizons and perhaps a few new players in the diecast military space.

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Happy Holidays from The Motor Pool!

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Just wanted to take a brief moment to wish everyone a merry Christmas and joyous New Year. We also wanted to thank everyone for their continued support as we enter our sixteenth year of doing business. We’ve got some fabulous plans in the works to make your shopping experience even better while staying up with all of the latest advances in technology. Also, we will be in-and-out over the next few days and wanted to remind everyone that we will be closed for vacation from January 9th-17th.

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The Motor Pool’s Black Friday 15% Off Sale!

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Drop that drumstick and step away from the cranberry because we’re launching our annual “Black Friday” 15% Off Sale! You can now apply a 15% off discount to any item listed on our web site (save radio controlled vehicles and the Century Wings line) including back orders, pre-orders and special order merchandise, as well as anything listed as being in stock. Please enter discount code “TMP146” in the coupon box just prior to final checkout. Sale ends Monday, November 30th, 2015. May not be combined with any other sales discount.

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Israel’s Defense Forces Look to the Future

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Israel Defence Industries is hard at work developing two new infantry fighting vehicles to be supplied to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and designed to replace several aging systems that have outlived their usefulness. The first is a fully-tracked vehicle, dubbed the Namer (“Leopard”), and also a syllabic abbreviation of “Nagmash” (APC) and “Merkava” is an Israeli armored personnel carrier based on a Merkava tank chassis. Namer was developed by and is being assembled by the Israeli Ordnance Corps. It has already entered service in limited numbers with the Israel Defense Forces since the end of 2008. According to the IDF, it is the most heavily armored vehicle in the world.

 

Also in development is the Eitan (“Jew”), which is an 8×8 wheeled vehicle that will accompany and weigh just half as much as Namer APCs. “Sources here said it will weigh no more than 35 tons and will incorporate a new generation of active protection, an advanced turret and a full complement of munitions and sensors,” Defense News reported. The choice of name seems a bit peculiar, given its potential for export in the foreign market, even if its design is cutting edge.

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Put a Corgi Plane in Your Jack-o-Lantern!

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We were about to close the books on October since nothing further was expected, however, we have since learned that three eagerly awaited Corgi Aviation Archive aircraft are winging their way to us as we speak. The first up, is the incredible Short Sunderland flying boat (AA27501), a huge model that’s probably going to need its own shelf to display it properly.

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Also coming is the Heinkel He-111 medium bomber (AA33714) as well as a sweet-looking Typhoon ground attack aircraft (AA36509). All are already sold out at the manufacturer’s level and, with the holidays looming, we expect these favorites to sell out fast.

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Wings of the Great War Embarks Upon a Bombing Run

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It was just a matter of time before Wings of the Great War branched out from fighters and float planes to include the unwieldy bombers of WWI. Their first foray will be a British-built Airco DH4, which was attached to a US Marine Corps squadron during the latter stages of the War (WW11101).

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Priced at just $39.99, we can probably expect more bombing subjects, and perhaps a dirigible, in the months ahead.

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Eaglemoss Warps In with Two New Pix

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Lately, there seems to be a preponderance of Eaglemoss-related stories, but sometimes that’s the way it goes and we have to roll with the punches. In their Star Trek Starships Collection, images were posted for their latest pair of starships that are expected by the end of the year.

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Up first is a the Star Trek Federation Antares Class Star Ship – Antares NCC-501 (EMST0063), which was a 23rd century Antares-type Federation starship operated by Starfleet, while the latter is a Star Trek Earth Space Ship – Phoenix (EMST0064), a 21st century space ship. In related news, we are still awaiting news from our distributor regarding some of the latest items to appear in the Star Trek product portfolio, which includes plaques, mirror universe variant star ships and multi-pack gift sets.

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All HALE, Lockheed

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According to FlightGlobal.com, Lockheed, the famed designers of several cutting edge aircraft designs, is currently working on a replacement for the aging U-2 high altitude spy plane.

“Lockheed Martin Skunk Works is designing a next-generation high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) surveillance airplane, known internally as RQ-X or UQ-2, as an optionally-manned successor to the U-2 and Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk.

U-2 programme officials told reporters at the Skunk Works headquarters in Palmdale, California, that its engineers have been mulling designs for stealthy HALE platform that would combine the best of the U-2 and its unmanned rival, the Global Hawk.

The advanced research and development arm of Lockheed is essentially pursuing an improved version of the U-2, which is powered by the same General Electric F118 engine and optimized to fly at 70,000ft or higher. It would carry many of the same sensors, since those are already calibrated for use at that altitude. The biggest difference will be the aircraft’s low-observable characteristics.”

In an odd twist of fate, “Lockheed finds itself in this position partly because its RQ-3 DarkStar, a stealthy unmanned aircraft designed to fly where the U-2 and Global Hawk couldn’t, never made it past flight testing and was cancelled.

These days, though, Lockheed isn’t chasing a solely unmanned design. In fact, the new aircraft would probably be built around the same cockpit as the U-2,” says FlightGlobal.com.

The updated U-2 would have to rely upon stealth characteristics as a means of thwarting detection since Russia’s BUK mobile Air Defense System (NATO code name “Grizzly”) can fire surface-to-air missiles up to and beyond 70,000 feet. A manned aircraft might therefore be required to manually evade incoming missiles.

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Russia Continues to Eye its Next Bomber

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With the USAF set to announce its proposed Long Range Strategic Bomber (LRS-B) this September, Russia is continuing to develop plans for its own next-generation strategic bomber. Dubbed the Pak DA, the subsonic PAK-DA is destined to replace Moscow’s aging fleet of 63 Tu-95 Bear and 13 Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers.

According to the RIA Novosti, Russia’s Air Force commander insisted that the aircraft will be equipped with advanced electronic warfare systems and armed with new nuclear-capable long-range cruise missiles, and will be able to carry a wide array of conventional precision guided weapons.

With its flying wing shape and radar-evading capabilities, the new plane will enter production stage by 2020 with the first bomber in active service by 2025-2030 timeframe.

The PAK-DA will not be hypersonic (even if it will probably carry hypersonic missiles) as opposed to the American X-51, Falcon HTV-2 and other hypersonic development programs on which U.S.’s perspective strike capability will be based.

A supposed “sixth-generation” pilotless strategic bomber based on the PAK-DA could enter service around 2040-2050, provided Russia can afford its massively inflated defense budget put in place by President Vladimir Putin.

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