Lately, I’m getting the feeling that the only two diecast modelmakers willing to throw the dice and take a chance in this day and age are Hobby Master and Modelcollect. While some of the other leading manufacturers seem to be making the same old, same old, month after month, it seems like these two companies recognize the need for new blood in the hobby and are willing to put their money where their mouth is.
Take Modelcollect. Late last week they announced a bunch of new 1:72 scale diecast military vehicles due out this spring, which will include, among other things, a pair of Jagdpanzer E-100 heavy tank destroyers. Mounting an utterly fearsome 170mm main gun that likely would have outclassed anything the Allies could have fielded late in the war, the latest two heavy tank destroyers will come in a feldgrau (field grey) and a summer camouflage pattern (AS72096 and AS72099 respectively). As part of the same announcement, Modelcollect showed off a new Waffentrager (weapons carrier); this one mounting, of all things, a V-1 buzz bomb (AS72100). Whether or not a V-1 could have been launched from a mobile gun platform is anyone’s guess, seeing as how it needed a launch ramp in the Low Countries to get airborne.
Now lets get back to the new Jagdpanzers. With such a huge main gun, the vehicle’s superstructure had to be moved aft, located behind both the engine block and driver’s compartment, largely to balance out the weight of the gun and provide some support to it while in transit. From a modelling stand point, therefore, we are going to assume that the vehicle will come with a travel lock for the gun, otherwise it will likely suffer from persistent barrel droop and do no one any good.