Modelcollect Kicks it Up Another Notch

Modelcollect’s German Jagdpanzer E-100 Heavy Tank Destroyer with 170mm gun – Grey, 1946

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.

German Jagdpanzer E-100 Heavy Tank Destroyer with 170mm gun – Camouflage, 1946

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.

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Product Spotlight: The Waffentrager

Modelcollect’s quartet of 1:72 scale Waffentragers (Weapon Carriers)

The Waffentrager concept was conceived to combine German artillery tractors and Self-Propelled Guns into one vehicle type that would salvage precious resources, like field guns, from the battlefield in the later stages of the war.

Work on the Waffentrager project started in early 1944, being part of the E-series of standardized, next-generation German tanks. Waffentragers (eng; weapon carriers) were intended to merge two types of vehicles used by the German army into one – artillery tractors and self-propelled guns. This new vehicle type would be a mobile, lightly-armored tank destroyer that could both use its cannon itself or, depending on the circumstances, unequip it and hand it over to other units to be used as field artillery. This concept was seen as highly practical by the Germans, given how it not only gave the German army one vehicle for the price of two, but was also saving on vital resources of which Germany suffered a great shortage of in the late stages of the war. Nearly all renown German companies that produced military equipment or vehicles took up the task, resulting in 4 different Waffentrager designs.

The Krupp-Steyr Waffentrager was first drawn up in early 1944. Development was split into two parts; chassis and turret. Steyr developed the chassis, whilst Krupp focused on the turret and cannon development. To keep the costs and required resources to a minimum, Speyr decided to base the chassis of their Waffentrager around their existing RSO artillery tractor and reuse as many parts from it as possible. Krupp on the other hand, reused the same 8,8cm KwK 43 L/71 cannon with which the Tiger II was outfitted, but had to come up with a new turret rotation mechanism to rotate the compact, open-topped turret. The re-usage of existing parts and equipment was put at the forefront during development of the Waffentrager, with the goal to build the most cost-efficient and resource-saving tank.

Nevertheless, Steyr was tasked with building four vehicles for testing and a wooden mockup of the vehicle. After several delays, the Krupp-Steyr Waffentrager was, along two other designs from other companies, tested in late 1944. The fate of the Krupp-Steyr Waffentrager after the testing remains to be determined, but what is clear is that this vehicle never left prototype stage, with a single testing vehicle and one wooden mock-up built.

Modelcollect has a quartet of Waffentrager scheduled to arrive in late January (AS72078, AS72079, AS72082, AS72085), provided they can salvage enough field guns from the diecast battlefield. <g>

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Air Force 1 Unleashes Another Salvo of F-35s

Air Force 1’s newsest US Navy Lockheed-Martin F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter – VFA-101 “Grim Reapers,” Eglin Air Force Base [Low-Vis Scheme] will no longer have a blue painted helmet
A few years ago, Air Force 1 released a squadron’s worth of 1:72 scale F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, eventually selling out of both the “B” and “C” variants thus leaving collectors high and dry. Happily, the Company has revisited the F-35 hangar, producing another B and now a second C version, sporting new squadron markings and, if you can believe it, the correct helmets for the pilot figures. Will wonders never cease.

Air Force 1’s USMC Lockheed-Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter – VMFAT-501 “Warlords”, Fleet Replacement Squadron, MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina, 2015 [Low-Vis Scheme] will no longer have a blue painted helmet
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Anatomy of War: “The Bloody Nose” Strike

A “Bloody Nose” Strike would likely be carried out by both ground-based mobile missile launchers and deep strike aircraft such as the B-1B bomber

Reuters reports that Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has amped up the rhetoric while convening a summit in Vancouver, Canada, that basically tells the North Korean regime, “give up your nuclear weapons and ambitions or face the wrath of the western democracies.” According to analysts, the US is weighing an option to initiate a “Bloody Nose” first strike, which would, in effect, attempt to decapitate the North Korean leadership and lay to waste the country’s nuclear arsenal before the North Koreans could take action. The US seems to be taking a bolder stance since Trump took office, suggesting that its own nuclear deterrence capabilities were tested and now deemed up to the task of eliminating, paralyzing or defeating inbound nuclear missile threats aimed at the US mainland and/or its far flung territories in the Pacific Ocean. While high-level discussions are still underway in a last minute effort to defuse the situation, the President, in league with advice offered by the National Security Council, are examining ways that will best bring about an end to the sabre-rattling, while simultaneously working with other nations to tighten the sanctions imposed on North Korea.

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Modelcollect Enters the Nuclear Age

Modelcollect’s 1:72 scale M1014 Man Tractor and BGM-109G ground launched cruise missile set, locked, loaded and ready to bear against any would-be opponents.

Perhaps taking a page from today’s headlines, Modelcollect has decided to add several of its multi-vehicle missile launcher kits to its pre-assembled range. Two sets will make the initial cut – a NATO-operated MAN M1014 tractor hauling a BGM-109G missile launcher and a US M983 HEMTT tractor carrying a Pershing II intercontinental missile and its accompanying stand and launcher. No word on pricing or dates of availability just yet but if they succeed at retail, collectors will likely be able to nab other over-sized modern vehicles in the coming months. While other companies are still making the standard fare 1:72 scale vehicles, you can’t help but congratulate Modelcollect for at least thinking outside of the box and offering something a wee bit different.

Modelcollect’s 1:72 scale US M983 Hemtt Tractor With Pershing II Missile Erector Launcher
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Corgi Fires Up the Furnaces for the First Half of 2018

The box art for the new “100 Years of the RAF” collection has been tweaked a bit to make it stand out a bit more from the standard Corgi packaging

Corgi has announced their Aviation Archive plans for the first half of 2018. No new toolings were shown, and many of the latest offerings left us a little underwhelmed considering some of the subject matter broached by other manufacturers in recent years. Still, the Company plans a new range called “100 Years of the RAF”, which, rather coincidentally, examines some of the more iconic aircraft that have waged war in the service of the Royal Air Force over the past century. Expect all of the new listings to be added to our own Aviation Archive over the next day or so.

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Santa Must Have Made A Second Trip to Our Roof Top

UFOologists take note of Luft-X’s 1:72 scale Haunebu 1 with its landing gear retracted, now available and ready for shipping

Looks as if we are ringing in the new year in grand fashioned with loads of hot new products for January. We’ve already taken delivery of the Solido 1:72 scale military vehicles and aircraft that are produced by War Master and now we’ve cleared the landing pad for the Luft-X Haunebu flying saucers. Our distributors report that they will soon be flush with a number of other important deliveries, including the January shipment of Hobby Master products, a bevy of new Modelcollect and Precision Model Art military vehicles and vengeance weapons, a pair of Corgi WWII era aircraft, and a follow-on cache of Eaglemoss sci-fi replicas that include a wide assortment of new Star Trek products. We could also see the first ship in the Alien and Predator line, and get a glimpse of what’s in store from Forces of Valor and Dragon. 

Note: Ordinarily I refrain from commenting on the look and feel of products in hand, but in the case of the recently received Luft-X Haunebu, pictured above and below, I thought I’d share my initial impressions. At first glance, the manufacturer did a first-rate job with the packaging and presentation of this rather unique item, which, let’s face it, is an oddity for most military collectors that might prevent them from adding it to their collection. Then there’s the overall weight and appearance of the saucer, which clocks in at almost 4 pounds and looks every bit as good as some of the pictures circulating on the web  I know its a bit more expensive than some of the other issues in the Luft-X series, but trust me, its worth every penny, a faithful recreation that could’ve helped to change the air war in the west had it been perfected and built in quantity.

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Modelcollect Re-purposes the Landkreuzer

Modelcollect’s P.300 mega tank developed for its Fist of War series

Looking to get as much mileage out of their molds as possible, Modecollect plans to port its soon-to-be-released Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte mega tank to its Fist of War series. Dubbed “Grendel”, the Panzkampfwagen Ausf A P.300 mega tank is designed to work in conjunction with some of the other recently announced Fist of War sci-fi vehicles, many of which are already available in kit form and likely to be developed as pre-built models. Still no price has been assigned to either the P.1000 or P.300 mega tanks, so the jury is still out concerning where they will end up on the retail price point spectrum.

A second take on their upcoming P.300 mega tank, this one boasting over-sized Schurzen side skirts.
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Hobby Master Adds the Frogfoot to its Stable of Modern Aircraft

Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale Russian Sukhoi Su-25SM “Frogfoot” Ground Attack Aircraft – “Red 24”, Latakia Air Base, Syria, November 2015

One by one, Hobby Master has been adding all of the important aircraft in the Russian aerial arsenal to their modern aircraft foot locker. Earlier today, the manufacturer officially announced plans to produce a 1:72 scale replica of the Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot (HA6101), the Russian equivalent of the famed A-10 Warthog ground attack aircraft. Loaded with all sorts of ordnance, their first look at the Frogfoot will portray a warplane that recently saw action in Libya, which, along with other aircraft, have been assisting the Assad government against ISIS and other rebel factions. Look for the first Frogfoot to swoop in some time in June.

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Hobby Master Belts Out, “In the Navy”

Hobby Master’s 1:700 scale US Navy Ticonderoga Class Guided Missile Cruiser – USS Ticonderoga (CG-47) (1:700 Scale)

Long a dominant player in both the military aircraft and combat vehicle segments of the market place, Hobby Master made a surprise announcement earlier today by indicating that they would finally dip their toes in the naval arena. Their first foray into naval warfare is a 1:700 scale replica of the US Navy’s USS Ticonderoga (HSP1001), the lead ship in her class of guided missile cruisers. A powerful component of the US Navy’ fleet operations in the latter half of the twentieth century, the Ticonderoga is an excellent choice as their inaugural warship and one that should sell very well at retail throughout its tenure.

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