Shout Outs

War Master Kicks Off December with a Blast

Warmaster Compilation

In what could be one of the last major shipments of the year, five all-new War Master diecast military vehicles are on their way to us and should be arriving by the second week of December. The quintet includes a Libyan 2K12 Kub Mobile Surface-to-Air Missile System (WMTK61), Russian BM-30 “Smerch” Multiple Rocket Launcher (WMTK62), German Sd. Kfz. 171 PzKpfw V Panther Ausf. A Medium Tank (WMTK63), Russian 203mm B-4 Heavy Howitzer (WMTK64), and a Russian JS-2 Stalin Heavy Tank (WMTK65). These won’t last long!

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Star_Wars,_Rogue_One

With the imminent debut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, details are beginning to emerge concerning the next film set in the Star Wars universe, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. According to Wikipedia, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, or simply Rogue One (previously known as Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One), is an upcoming American epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards and written by Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz, from an idea by visual effects supervisor John Knoll. The film stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, and Alan Tudyk.

Rogue One is the first film in the Star Wars Anthology series, a collection of stand-alone stories set in the Star Wars universe. The story is set in between the events of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), and centers on a group of rebel fighters who come together to carry out the mission of stealing the plans for the Death Star.

The film is produced by Lucasfilm and will be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Principal photography began at Elstree Studios, near London during early August 2015. Rogue One will be released on December 16, 2016, one year after the franchise’s upcoming film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).”

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The US Navy May Be Hitting the Rails

Zumwalt

The upcoming USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002) may be the first surface combatant to mount a rail gun. Still undergoing construction at the Bath Iron Works, the USS Lyndon B. Johnson is the third and likely final ship in the oddly-shaped Zumwalt class of destroyers, which first put to sea a few years ago. Once slated to comprise some 32 ships, budget cuts have reduced that number dramatically even though the US Navy sorely needs the stealthy littoral combat ship to bolster its in-shore capabilities around the world.

The Johnson, however, may be the first warship to mount a rail gun, which recently concluded testing with satisfactory results. The Zumwalt class has been identified as more suited to use emerging technologies, like rail guns, due to its superior electricity generation capability over previous destroyers and cruisers at 80 megawatts; Lyndon B. Johnson specifically is being studied because it is the latest of the class, while the previous two ships would be less likely to initially field the capability due to the testing schedule. The rail gun would likely replace one of the two Advanced Gun Systems.

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Merit Has the Answer to those Nasty Roadside IEDs

MIL68605b

While its unfortunate we no longer have the 1:16 scale Extreme Metal  vehicles from Unimax for sale this holiday, we do have some good news. Merit’s 1:16 scale US Oshkosh M-ATV Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicle is expected to arrive at our depot just before Thanksgiving, meaning we can get these under the Christmas tree or beside the Hanukkah menorah with time to spare. Fully built, fully painted and bearing all of the hallmark detail you’ve come to expect from our deftly assembled military range, we’re sure this vehicle will put a smile on many a veteran’s face as we close out the calendar year. Happy holidays!

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Thanksgiving is Shaping Up to Become Another Fleet Week

EMGC31

According to our distributor, a brand new squadron of Eaglemoss 1:1100 warships will be leaving port and headed our way around the third week of November. The five warships include Imperial Japanese Navy Shikishima Class Battleship – Shikishima (EMGC30), German Kriegsmarine Bismarck Class Battleship – KMS Tirpitz (EMGC31), Imperial Japanese Navy Kongo Class Battleship – Hiei (EMGC37), Imperial Japanese Navy Taiho Class Aircraft Carrier – Taiho (EMGC41) and Imperial Japanese Navy Mogami Class Heavy Cruiser – Mikuma (EMGC32). With Thanksgiving around the corner, we expect these fleet favorites to sell out quickly.

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The F-35 Takes a Dive, in Pricing

HA4401

If you’re a fan of either the Hobby Master or Air Force 1 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, then you may want to sit up and take notice of the following announcement. Yesterday, we learned that our distributor has dropped the minimum advertised price for the entire Hobby Master and Air Force 1 1:72 scale F-35 catalog to just $49.99 apiece, which, in some instances, equates to an almost 50% price drop from a high of almost $85. No reason was give for the huge price decrease ahead of the holiday season, so we assume they are just looking to move inventory and provide great value to the aviation collecting community. We’ve lowered our prices accordingly, and will bring in extra inventory to cover any orders that exceed our current stock level.

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News, Rumors and Scuttlebutt

Corgi2015Catalog

As we inch ever closer to the holidays, several interesting bits of news seem to have surfaced. For starters, Corgi will no longer be offering a Spring and Winter catalog, as they have done in the past. Instead, they plan to offer one catalog per year, which will be issued in the Spring, likely coinciding with the opening of several International Toy Fairs.

 

Meanwhile, Eaglemoss has indicated that the 1:43 scale Vehicles of the Second World War has reached its conclusion with the release of EM70, a 1939 Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen Typ 4 (G4) Limousine – Heer, Germany, 1939. The series has done remarkably well for us, so we’re still hoping that they reconsider their decision or perhaps offer a follow-on series of vehicles from other time periods.  Likewise, it looks as if their Warships of the World series may be nearing its own run, as we get closer and closer to issue #80. We’re hoping that they re-release the series with English-translated magazines and packaging, thereby reaching a broader audience of naval enthusiasts. It would be a smart if somewhat more expensive decision on their part, should they look to keep the series afloat and perhaps add more naval subjects.

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New Payment Option: Checkout with Amazon

Amazon Payments

We’ve been approved to begin accepting online payments through Amazon’s “Checkout with Amazon” payment system. You can now pay for your purchases through your Amazon account, or, if you prefer, use PayPal or the four major credit cards (AMEX, VISA, MasterCard, Discover). A “Pay with Amazon” button will appear at the bottom of your shopping cart, which will then take you to your Amazon account and enable you to pay for your purchase through Amazon’s secure wallet. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us by phone during normal business hours or via email.

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

499_Shipping

As we head into the all-important holiday season, several recent developments have surfaced which bears some immediate attention. A couple of new manufacturers have popped up on the radar, which require a closer look by everyone involved. Artitec (http://www.artitec.nl/) is a Netherlands-based manufacturer of kits and pre-built scale models in multiple scales. They have a rather intriguing set of military vehicles offered in both 1:72 and 1:87 scales, many of which have never been seen before. We hope to have more information on their line-up in the weeks to come. In the air, Calibre Wings (http://www.calibrewings.com/) is a new, Singapore-headquartered operation that is currently developing a slew of modern aerobatics replicas as well as a 1:72 scale take on the Grumman F-14 Fleet Defender. Again, more information will follow soon.

On the downside, several eagerly awaited models seem to have slipped in the release schedule. Luft-X is reporting that their next trio of secret weapons of the Luftwaffe have been delayed until February. Likewise, it appears as if Air Force 1’s 1:72 scale B-25 and B-17 may not make it under the Christmas tree, since neither aircraft has yet to be photographed and shown to the public. If anything changes, we will certainly let you know, but right now it appears as if these should be crossed off your holiday wish list.

Lastly, we have altered our shipping model, in an effort to better serve our collecting audience, particularly those customers in the central and western parts of the United States. We are now offering a flat rate shipping cost of just $4.99 to customers residing within the lower 48 states. So, you can order as a few or as many items as you like for only $4.99, and no longer have to worry if your order meets or exceeds the $150 free shipping threshold. This change has already been implemented and we will be updating our shipping graphic shortly. Keep in mind, that orders will be shipped out via the most economical means available to us, so please do not contact us to indicate you need your order to arrive by such-and-such date. The Post Office still offers faster means of shipping, particularly during the hectic holiday season, priced in accordance with their speed-of-delivery. Hopefully, this new shipping model will alleviate back orders, and enable us to ship out product quickly and as cheaply as possible. Note, customers residing outside the Continental US will still have to pay regular shipping rates, based in accordance with live rates provided by the USPS. Also, we have dropped UPS from our carrier options since we no longer use them due to their excessive dimensional rates business model.

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