Recently, Corgi talked up the release of their 1:50 scale military vehicle series on Facebook, showing photos of the packaging as well as other pertinent material from their marketing department. One forum goer responded that the Tiger shown in the promotional material did not properly represent the vehicle in question. According to the sales literature, the tank being offered is an initial production Tiger I Ausf. H, one of 100 vehicles that comprised the first batch of tanks to reach the battlefield in late 1942.

We took a closer look at the image and, lo and behold, the critic was right. Not only does the tank shown sport steel road wheels, a feature commonplace among some of the late model Tigers and designed to prevent mud from building up between the wheels. But it didn’t end there. The initial production Tiger did not come with armored side skirts as shown on the Corgi tank. Furthermore, the initial production Tiger came with side-mounted storage boxes attached to the turret, which is clearly absent on the Corgi replica.

Corgi’s Tiger is slated to come out in December so they still have a few months to correct these issues by either building an initial production Tiger — not likely to happen this late in the game — or going with a late model vehicle that perhaps saw action towards the latter stages of the war. This would require different packaging, an altogether different camouflage scheme, and, of course, different markings and insignia. While its great to see Corgi make a return to the diecast battlefield, we hope they’re doing their due diligence by matching up historical records with the right vehicle being portrayed.

As they approach the kick off date for the release of their Military Legends series, Corgi unveiled a bunch of new photos largely showing the re-designed packaging for each of the updated military vehicles. In a post on Facebook, the Company also discussed the reason behind why it took so long to get the series off the ground, even though many of the items were launched years ago and were now languishing awaiting service and upkeep.

“In the previous edition of Diecast Diaries,” says Corgi, “we took a closer look at the recent return of our 1:50th scale Military Vehicle range and how these impressive models, which made their original Corgi debut back in 2003, are making something of a comeback after ten years in the collector wilderness. Their welcome return to the range has not been without a number of challenges for the Corgi development team, several of which only became apparent following the decision to reintroduce the models to the range, however, determined not to be beaten and with a desire to produce the most authentic versions of these fantastic scale military vehicles, their efforts are finally coming to fruition. With several of the models passing through the pre-production stage and the appealing box designs finally taking shape, we are pleased to say that these popular models are just on the model collecting horizon and we have a further series of exclusive images to bring you in this latest edition, led by arguably the most famous military vehicle in the history of warfare, the fearsome German Tiger tank.”

Reading between the lines it would appear as if several of their remaining 1:50 scale vehicles that aren’t part of the initial re-release will also be making a come back at some point in the not-too-distant future, likely augmented by several new toolings should the series do well at retail. I think we can also expect a relaunch of their separate Korean and Vietnam War era series, perhaps as early as 2020 should the toolings still be in salvageable condition and interest for their return gathers momentum in the wake of their WWII era series return to the hobby.