Product Spotlight

Product Spotlight: To The Green Fields Beyond

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“From Mud Through Blood To The Green Fields Beyond”

– Motto of the Royal Tank Regiment in World War I

When it was first introduced to the battlefields of World War I, it was hoped that the tank would be able to break the stalemate in fighting, turning the horrors of static trench warfare into a more mobile battle that could bring about quicker results. Slow and cumbersome, the earliest tanks were monstrosities at best, causing momentary anxiety amongst its enemies until antidotes and their own unwieldy qualities could be turned against them.

The Schneider Char d’Assault tank was France’s first real attempt at differentiating dedicated tanks from dedicated self-propelled gun systems. Like it’s predecessors before it however, the system would never meet its potential due to the design theory of melding a long hull on a short set of tracks. In practice, this combination proved to make the Schneider unable to pass over any type of uneven terrain.

The Schneider was a Char d’Assault idea by Colonel J .E. Estienne with a full design developed by Eugene Brillie under the Schneider Company brand. Both men visited the United States of America in an effort to study and research the Holt series of tractors that utilized a distinct tractor and chassis assemblage – more specifically the “Baby Holt”. The resulting design was termed as the Tractuer Blinde et Arme and production for the French Army followed.

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The Schneider Char d’Assault was the most fundamental of tank designs, consistent with early tanks in general. It was of a boxy hull design with a sharp angle at fore. The system sat upon shortened tracks, leaving the forward and aft hull sections hovering over the track assembly. Main armament consisted of a 75mm main gun. Two additional Hotchkiss-type 8mm machine guns were fitted in positional ball mountings on either side of the upper hull for self-defense. The Schneider could carry a full compliment of 7 personnel.

Once the Schneiders became available for use, their design shortcomings quickly became apparent. The short tractor assemblies were useless over anything but flat roads as the elongated hull protruding fore and aft caused the system to get stuck. As a result, the system suffered catastrophic losses against enemy artillery barrages, rendering the entire concept nearly useless. In one particular offensive no fewer than 57% of the 132 fielded Schneiders were destroyed in this fashion.

Look for Wings of the Great War’s first version of the Schneider (WW10202) to rumble onto the diecast battlefield this November.

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Product Spotlight: From Interception to Defection

Hobby Master’s first MiG 25 Foxbat interceptor, based upon the mount flown by defecting pilot Viktor Belenko

“In terms of speed, MiG-25 can fly at mach 3.2 but after that flight – and it will be short one, I don’t know how long but it will be short one – but after that flight you must change its engines.”

– Lt. (Sg.) V. Belenko, Russian pilot who defected to the West with his MiG 25 interceptor

When it was first unveiled to the world in the late 1960s, the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 25 “Foxbat” caused a great deal of consternation in the West, appearing as if the Soviets had gained the upper hand in fighter aircraft design. However, at a time when Western military planners were still unsure as to the exact purpose of the MiG 25, fate and a good bit of luck would turn things around and give the Soviets a headache of their own.

Inaccurate intelligence analysis caused the West initially to believe the MiG-25 was an agile air-combat fighter rather than an interceptor. In response, the United States started a new program which resulted in the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. NATO obtained a better understanding of the MiG-25’s capabilities on September 6th, 1976, when a Soviet Air Defence Forces pilot, Lt. Viktor Belenko, defected, landing his MiG-25P at Hakodate Airport in Japan. The pilot overshot the runway on landing and damaged the front landing gear. Despite Soviet protests, the Japanese invited U.S. Air Force personnel to investigate the aircraft. On September 25th, it was moved by a C-5A transport to a base in central Japan, where it was carefully dismantled and analyzed. After 67 days, the aircraft was returned by ship to the Soviets, in pieces. The aircraft was reassembled and is now on display at the Sokol plant in Nizhny Novgorod.

Look for the MiG 25 to carry a wide range of short- and intermediate range anti-aircraft missiles

To pay tribute to this amazing warbird, Hobby Master has announced their intent to build a 1:72 scale replica of the MiG 25P “Foxbat-A” interceptor (HA5601). More importantly, Hobby Master has chosen to recreate the aircraft flown by defecting Soviet pilot, Viktor Belenko, as its first foray into the land of the MiG, the same aircraft he flew from Russia to Japan in 1976, and returned to the Soviet Union some two months later.

We anticipate extremely strong sales for this aircraft when it gets released some time this coming March, so we advise placing your pre-orders as soon as possible since it is entirely possible we may not have enough for general sale once it does arrive.

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Product Spotlight: My Oh My, It’s Nine O Nine!

“Why, it’s a flying fortress!”

– Richard Williams, reporter for the Seattle Times, upon seeing a B-17 heavy bomber for the first time

With sales of its first 1:72 scale B-17 far outstripping expectations, Air Force 1 drew back the curtain on its next Flying Fortress. Due out this December, the second “G” model is based upon “Nine O Nine”, a heavy bomber that was attached to the 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, then deployed to Bassingbourn, England, during 1944.

Indeed, “Nine-O-Nine” was a Boeing B-17G-30-BO Flying Fortress heavy bomber that completed 140 combat missions during World War II, believed to be the Eighth Air Force record for most missions, without loss to the crews that flew it.

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The original aircraft, a block 30 B-17G manufactured by Boeing, was nicknamed after the last three digits of her serial number: 42-31909. “Nine-O-Nine” was added to the USAAF inventory on December 15th, 1943, and flown overseas on February 5th, 1944. After depot modifications, she was delivered to the 91st BG at RAF Bassingbourn, England, on February 24th, 1944, as a replacement aircraft, one of the last B-17s received in factory-applied camouflage paint.

A former navigator of the 91st BG, Marion Havelaar, reported in his history of the group that “Nine-O-Nine” completed either 126 or 132 consecutive missions without aborting for mechanical reasons, also believed to be a record. M/Sgt. Rollin L. Davis, maintenance line chief of the bomber, received the Bronze Star for his role in achieving the record.

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Her first bombing raid was on Augsburg, Germany, on February 25th, 1944. She made 18 bombing raids on Berlin. In all, she flew 1,129 hours and dropped 562,000 pounds of bombs. She had 21 engine changes, four wing panel changes, 15 main gas tank changes, and 18 changes of Tokyo tanks (long-range fuel tanks).

After the hostilities ceased in Europe, “Nine-O-Nine” was returned to the United States on June 8th, 1945, and was consigned to the RFC facility at Kingman, Arizona on December 7th, 1945, and eventually scrapped.

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Product Spotlight: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force

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“Skyhigh Is My Place”
– Motto of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force

When Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, ordered his forces to attack neighboring Iran in the early 1980s, he bit off more than he could chew. Although the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force was no longer able to procure parts for its largely US-built air force following the coup, they were, nevertheless, more than a match for the Iraqi Air Force, time and again turning back aerial assaults even when outnumbered and outgunned.

One of the principal reasons why they were able to hold their own against the Iraqis was because they has been equipped with the Grumman F-14 Fleet Defense Fighter, a versatile swing-wing aircraft intended for naval operations yet was equally at home flying from land-based airfields.

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After the Iran-Iraq War, IRIAF`s experts modernized this particular warbird during its overhaul. The modernization program was designed to cover certain structural life-extensions, avionics and armament upgrade. Hundreds of hours were spent on upgrading this 37 years old interceptor. It was painted in a edged three-tone Asian Minor II camo pattern. Two new AA missiles has been adapted with its fire control system, R-73E, AIM-54A+ “Fakkur”, AIM-54A, AIM-7E-4 and AIM-9J.

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Product Spotlight: Russia’s “Black Eagle”

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“Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.”

– Russian President Nikita Kruschev, in a 1961 speech at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in Moscow

Nothing causes more consternation among western military planners, strategists and theorists than the knowledge that a new Russian main battle tank could be on the drawing board. Conjuring up images of vast armadas of Russian tanks rolling through the Fulda Gap and fanning our across NATO’s heartland, the western nations always sit up and take notice of a new Russian tank supposedly in development and let out a collective sigh of relief when rumors and warmongering talk are put to rest.

Such was the case in the 1980s, when news was circulating that the Russians were at it again and planning an all-new tank that incorporated some of the latest improvements and technologies learned from the battlefield. The Black Eagle tank (Object 640), was a presumed prototype main battle tank produced in the Russian Federation. It was thought to have been developed by the KBTM design bureau in Omsk in the late 1990s. A production version of this tank has never been publicly demonstrated. The Black Eagle has been cancelled, with all production and development halted.

The company that was developing the tank, Omsk Transmash, has gone bankrupt, and its designs and projects have been absorbed into Uralvagonzavod and state owned services. Uralvagonzavod was developing the T-95 in competition to the Black Eagle, and now owns the rights to both projects, but the Russian government has withdrawn all support and funding for the project.

Development started during the 1980s, when the design bureau of the Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) developed a new design based on the stretched T-80U chassis. Later, when the bureau closed, the documentation was transferred to KBTM in Omsk.

A mock-up of the Black Eagle was first demonstrated at the VTTV arms exposition in Omsk, in September 1997, making a single brief pass, far from the reviewing stands. The tank appeared to be a standard T-80U hull, topped by a very large turret and gun, obscured by camouflage netting and canvas. The turret later turned out to be a crude mock-up.

An early prototype was shown at an arms exposition in Siberia, in June 1999. This tank had an elongated hull with seven pairs of road wheels instead of the T-80’s six, and a turret still mostly obscured by camouflage netting.

The tank was based on a lengthened T-80U hull, with an extra pair of road wheels and a brand new turret. It appeared to have had very thick front armour and new-generation Kaktus explosive reactive armour on the hull and turret. The turret had a very large, box-shaped turret bustle instead of the traditional dome shape of previous Soviet and Russian main battle tanks. According to Russian reports, the Black Eagle design had abandoned the carousel-style autoloader in the fighting compartment for an autoloader mounted in the large western-style turret bustle, which incorporates a blow-out armoured ammunition compartment for crew safety, like the U.S. M1 Abrams, the German Leopard 2, British Challenger 2, French Leclerc and several other modern western tanks. The prototype had a 125 mm tank gun, but it was stated that it may have accommodated a larger 152 mm gun (compared to the 120 and 125 mm-calibre guns of main battle tanks in service). There was debate about whether the Black Eagle would incorporate the Drozd or Arena Active Protection System.

Modelcollect’s 1:72 scale look at the infamous Black Eagle tank (AS72043) is now in stock and ready for shipping.

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Product Spotlight: Harcourt Fenton Mudd and “Stella”

“Harcourt Fenton Mudd. Thief –”
“Come now.”
“Swindler and con man…”
“Entrepreneur!”
“Liar and rogue.”
“Did I leave you with that impression?“

– James T. Kirk and Harcourt Mudd, 2268 (“I, Mudd“)

Perhaps one of the most memorable characters ever to appear in Star Trek The Original Series was Harcourt Fenton Mudd. Mudd was a male Human civilian in the 23rd century. He was a notorious con artist encountered several times by the crew of the USS Enterprise. Essentially more of a lovable rogue than a true villain, he lived by his wits on the other side of the law.

While it would have been nice to physically portray his actual personna, Eaglemoss will, nevertheless, be paying him tribute by modeling his ship – a somewhat cocoon-like transport named after his drone-like wife, “Stella”, that enabled him to travel the galaxy and trade his wares with all manner of culture, species and civilization (EMST0079). Look for it this November.

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Product Spotlight: Celebrate General Chuck Yeager’s Upcoming 94th Birthday in Style

“You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can’t, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don’t give up.”

– Chuck Yeager

As legendary ace, Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, nears his 94th birthday this February, Hobby Master decided to pay him hommage with a replica of his P-51D Mustang, “Glamorous Glen III.”

Stationed in the United Kingdom at RAF Leiston, Yeager flew P-51 Mustangs in combat with the 363d Fighter Squadron. He named his aircraft Glamorous Glen after his girlfriend, Glennis Faye Dickhouse, who became his wife in February 1945. Yeager had gained one victory before he was shot down over France in his first aircraft (P-51B-5-NA s/n 43-6763) on March 5th, 1944, during his eighth mission. He escaped to Spain on March 30th with the help of the Maquis (French Resistance) and returned to England on May 15th, 1944. During his stay with the Maquis, Yeager assisted the guerrillas in duties that did not involve direct combat, although he did help to construct bombs for the group, a skill that he had learned from his father. He was awarded the Bronze Star for helping another airman, who had lost part of his leg during the escape attempt, to cross the Pyrenees.

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Despite a regulation prohibiting “evaders” (escaped pilots) from flying over enemy territory again, the purpose of which was to prevent a second capture from compromising resistance groups, Yeager was reinstated to flying combat. He had joined another evader, bomber pilot Captain Fred Glover, in speaking directly to the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, on June 12th, 1944. With Glover pleading their case, they argued that because the Allies had invaded France and the Maquis were by then openly fighting the Nazis alongside Allied troops, if Yeager or Glover were shot down again, there was little about those who had previously helped them evade capture that could be revealed to the enemy.

Eisenhower, after gaining permission from the War Department to decide the requests, concurred with Yeager and Glover. Yeager later credited his postwar success in the Air Force to this decision, saying that his test pilot career followed naturally from his having been a decorated combat pilot, along with having been an aircraft mechanic before attending pilot school. In part, because of his maintenance background, he also frequently served as a maintenance officer in his flying units.

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Product Spotlight: Marching in Red Square

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“Order of the Supreme Command in Chief, Armed Forces of the USSR and concurrent People’s Commissar of State for National Defense: To mark the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War, I order a parade of troops of the Army, Navy and the Moscow Garrison, the Victory Parade, on June 24, 1945, at Moscow’s Red Square. Marching on parade shall be the combined regiments of all the fronts, a People’s Commissariat of National Defense combined regiment, the Soviet Navy, military academies and schools, and troops of the Moscow Garrison and Military District. My deputy, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov will be the parade inspector. Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky will command the Victory Parade itself. I entrust to Col. Pavel Artemyev, the preparations of the parade organization, due to his concurrent capacities as the Commanding General of the Moscow Military District and Commanding Officer in charge of the Moscow City Garrison.”

– Marshal of the Soviet Union, Joseph V. Stalin, Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Armed Forces of the USSR And concurrent People’s Commissar of National Defense of the USSR, Order #370, June 22, 1945

Ever since they were announced, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the latest Modelcollect diecast military vehicles, which includes, among other things, a pair of Russian BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles. The product shown here (AS72044) is a vehicle that took part in the annual Moscow Victory Day Parade held on May 9th, 1990, the final year before the Soviet Union dissolved into a Commonwealth of Independent States.

The Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 (Russian: Парад Победы, tr. Parad Pobedy) was a victory parade held by the Soviet army (with a small squad from the Polish army) after the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. This, the longest and largest military parade ever held on Red Square in the Soviet capital of Moscow, involved 40,000 Red Army soldiers and 1,850 military vehicles and other military hardware. The parade transpired just over two hours on a rainy June 24th, 1945, over a month after May 9, the day of Germany’s surrender to Soviet commanders.

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Product Spotlight: Defending the Motherland

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“Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.”

– First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Kruschev, commenting on Capitalism

While Hobby Master has been content to replicate some of the most iconic western jets of the modern era, their record at offering adversarial aircraft has been a bit spotty. Until now. Their first ever Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 23 Flogger has now been released, one that represents a warbird from the 787th IAP, then deployed to Eberswalde, Finow AB, Brandenburg, East Germany, during the 1970s (HA5301). Like their F-14 Tomcat, their inaugural MiG features variable geometry wings, thereby enabling the collector to display their aircraft in multiple configurations.

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Painted in a light grey exterior and bearing all the hallmark detail we’ve come to expect from Hobby Master, their first ever MiG will no doubt kick off other variants and schemes in the months to come, and will likely usher in a bevy of other adversarial aircraft in the coming year.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is considered to belong to the Soviet third-generation jet fighter category, along with similarly aged Soviet fighters such as the MiG-25 “Foxbat”. It was the first attempt by the Soviet Union to design look-down/shoot-down radar and one of the first to be armed with beyond visual range missiles, and the first MiG production fighter aircraft to have intakes at the sides of the fuselage. Production started in 1970 and reached large numbers with over 5,000 aircraft built. Today the MiG-23 remains in limited service with various export customers.

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Product Spotlight: Eaglemoss Boldly Goes Back in Time

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

– Science Officer Spock

While many Trekkies spend the vast portion of their time searching for the latest Star Trek starships in the canon, its refreshing to see some oldies but goodies warp in to make a return appearance. In this particular case, we just received a shipment of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A, one of the earliest starships to be introduced into Star Trek lore (ST0072).

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) was a 23rd century Federation Constitution-class starship operated by Starfleet. This starship was the second Federation ship to bear the name Enterprise.

Externally, the Enterprise-A was virtually identical to the refit USS Enterprise, destroyed several months prior to the launch. The bridge was in its customary location on Deck 1. At least three different models were used during the ship’s service.

The bridge was located on Deck 1, at the very top of the saucer section. The large viewscreen could project different views from cameras scattered on the saucer section of the ship. The Enterprise could also show tactical views and alerts on the screen along with hails. There were two turbo lifts.

The torpedo bay was on Deck 13. It was much more automated than on the previous Enterprise, and the torpedo room itself was smaller and enclosed.

No “unauthorized” hand phaser could be fired aboard the ship at a level above stun without an alarm sounding.

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