Forces of Valor Rebuilds its Air Force

Among the many new 1:72 scale aircraft scheduled for inclusion in their 2017 program is the F-16 Flying Falcon, a model created by Unimax but never actually released to the public

While much has been made of Waltersons redesigning their 1:700 scale warship and 1:32 scale military vehicle lines, little has thus far been discussed concerning their sometimes maligned 1:72 scale aircraft range. When compared with other manufacturers’ products, the FOV aircraft have always suffered their bumps and bruises from a critics point of view, constantly lambasted for their lack of authenticity and detail. “Not so, anymore,” says, Vincent Tang, Managing Director for Waltersons’ entire Forces of Valor product portfolio. According to Tang, they are taking all of the old molds in their 1:72 scale military aircraft range and reintroducing them to the public as a “Budget” line, meaning they will be sold as is but can now be purchased for around $50-$60, making them more affordable as compared with the competition. But, in an effort to bring them up to speed and make them more appealing to hard-core hobbyists, a second upscale line will be offered, whereby each aircraft will be stripped down and reworked from the ground up so that they can be proudly set alongside a competing product by the likes of Hobby Master, Century Wings and Calibre Wings. In fact, the Company has gone out and hired several experts in the field for this very purpose, with a mandate to bring the series up to a higher standard. According to Tang, each “Enthusiast” version will come with an accessory, such as a section of aircraft carrier deck, to further heighten the experience and make them a bit more desirable in the eyes of the hobbyist.

Work has already begun on both sets of aircraft, with the hope of bringing them to market this October, right after the first batch of 1:32 scale vehicles has rolled out the door. The series will include the usual suspects: the F-14 Tomcat fleet defense fighter, F-15E Strike Eagle strike aircraft, F/A-18 Hornet Multirole strike fighter, F-22 Air Dominance Fighter, F-4 Phantom II fighter-bomber and MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, as well as the General Dynamics F-16 Flying Falcon, a model that was supposed to be released by Unimax, the former owners of the brand, but never finalized before they closed their doors. New aircraft types will likely be delayed until next year, since the Company is forced to split up its current resources among many different areas just to get segments of the entire FOV range up and running.

In summation, Waltersons’ release schedule for the balance of 2017 is as follows: eight (8) warships, nine (9) 1:32 scale military vehicles, seven (7) 1:72 scale modern era military aircraft (available in either a budget or enthusiast version), one (1) 1:16 scale Extreme Metal mid production Tiger I tank, and finally seven (7) additional 1:32 scale military vehicles. We will likely see their 2018 release schedule at the upcoming Nuremberg Toy Fair held each February. We are also going to assume that the following segments of the Forces of Valor brand will be addressed in 2018: 1:32 scale modern era military vehicles, 1:32 scale dioramas, 1:72 scale military vehicles, 1:32 scale World War II era military aircraft, 1:72 scale World War II era aircraft, 1:72 and 1:48 scale military helicopters, 1:18 scale Bravo Team series and their multiple figure series. These will likely be integrated into the mix alongside any new molds Waltersons plan on introducing.

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Dragon Looks to Get Back in the Saddle Again

Look for Dragon’s second 1:72 scale Sturmgeschutz Ausf. F assault gun, along with several new pieces, some time in July

Late today we learned that Dragon does indeed plan to get back in the 1:72 scale armor game, perhaps even in a big way, judging by the number of new introductions earmarked for the Dragon Armor arsenal. A marketing email was sent to us indicating that a further eight models are slated for a July release, although line art was provided for many of the models instead of actual pre-production imagery, meaning the release dates for several models could slip a bit. The eight new models includes a second StuG Ausf. F assault gun (DRR60512) and a new take on the Panzer IV Ausf. G medium tank (DRR60700).

While these were expected at some point, the remaining six new vehicles harken back to the old days of Dragon Armor, where some vehicle types are simply no longer available. The six include two Soviet T-34/85 medium tanks (DRR60255 and DRR60256), two German early production Tiger I heavy tanks (DRR60343 and DRR60344), and a pair of Elefant tank destroyers (DRR60355 and DRR60356).

A new whitewashed Panzer IV Ausf. G medium tank has been added to the Dragon Armor collection

We have listed each of these new vehicles in our Dragon Armor section and hope to have photographs of the actual items some time soon.

Update: We’re pretty good at reading the tea leaves so when we saw Dragon announce a bunch of new 1:72 scale model kits yesterday, we figured that some of them would eventually be used as the basis for a number of new pre-assembled Dragon Armor candidates. We have therefore added two new categories to our Dragon Armor section, one for the A and B variant of the Sturmgeschutz III assault gun and a second for the C and D versions. Obviously, we will populate these new subcategories with actual product information once it has been passed along to us.

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Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

 

Our new Live Chat feature connects you with a live representative during normal business hours

As David Bowie once lamented in his hit song, “Changes”, we’re making a few improvements to our business model that are all aimed at making our shopping experience better and faster, plus more in tune with present e-commerce trends. For starters, we re-implemented our Live Chat feature, which can be found in the lower right hand portion of the screen. So, you can now talk to a live representative during normal business hours as well as during our expanded business hours throughout the busy holiday season.

Pitney Bowes SendPro system enables us to compare rates for all three major US carriers

Second, we have switched from Stamps.com to Pitney Bowes’ SendPro system, which enables us to compare rates across the three major carriers (USPS, FedEx and UPS) in real-time. Based upon the weight of the parcel and the shipping destination, it is now entirely possible we may be using either FedEx or UPS as opposed to relying completely on the USPS for our outbound shipping needs.

The Live Chat features can be brought up on a desktop, tablet or mobile device as seen here

Third, Volusion, our e-commerce platform that hosts The Motor Pool site, is and plans to make some important changes in its next major roll out that will seamlessly permit us to host listings on all of the major marketplace sites (Ebay, Amazon and Walmart, to name a few) and maintain a simple-to-use stock balancing software system that is aimed at keeping our in-stock positions correct and up-to-date across all retail channels. We will discuss this at greater length as we become more familiar and comfortable with this new functionality.

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Films in Focus: Star Trek Discovery

Over night, the first trailer dropped for the upcoming series Star Trek Discovery, which will air this fall on CBS All-Access. Frankly, the teaser looks quite good, and explains the timeline as it relates to the Star Trek universe. According to the trailer, Discovery takes place ten years before the Original Series, Star Trek, which aired on CBS some fifty years ago, and before any mention of Captain Kirk or Commander Spock. Enjoy!

According to CBS, “As an added bonus, Star Trek: Discovery has expanded its original series order from 13 to 15 episodes—which means even more sci-fi goodness in Season 1.

CBS All Access has also announced that Star Trek: Discovery is getting its very own after-show, called Talking Trek.”

Eaglemoss, the makers of the highly successful Star Trek starships series, is purportedly hard at work replicating several of the ships seen in the upcoming series and will integrate them in their range once they are approved by Paramount.

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Product Spotlight: They Flew from Shangri-La

Corgi’s 1:72 scale replica of USAAC North American B-25B Mitchell Medium Bomber – 40-2249, “Hari Kari-er,” Doolittle Raid, USS Hornet (CV-8), April 18th, 1942

When asked about the Doolittle Raid over Tokyo in April 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt played coy with the press, claiming the bombers had taken off from “Shangri-La,” a fictional location in the 1933 novel “Lost Horizon.”

Corgi, on the other hand, is happy to report that the 16 B-25 Mitchell medium-bombers actually flew off the deck of the USS Hornet, and that 2017 marks the 75th Anniversary of the Raid. While they have replicated other aircraft involved in the Raid, their latest warbird pays homage to one of the lesser known B-25 Mitchells, one known as “Hari Kari-er” (AA35313), which was piloted by Captain Charles Greening.

The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on Saturday, April 18th, 1942, was an air raid by the United States of America on the Japanese capital, Tokyo, and other places on the island of Honshu during World War II, the first air strike to attack the Japanese Home Islands. It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, served as retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, and provided an important boost to American morale. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James “Jimmy” Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces.

Sixteen B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched without fighter escort from the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep in the Western Pacific Ocean, each with a crew of five men. The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China-landing a medium bomber on Hornet was impossible. Fifteen aircraft reached China, but all crashed, while the 16th landed at Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. All but three of the 80 crew members initially survived the mission. Eight airmen were captured by the Japanese Army in China; three of those were later executed. The B-25 that landed in the Soviet Union was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. Fourteen complete crews, except for one crewman who was killed in action, returned either to the United States or to American forces.

After the raid, the Japanese Imperial Army conducted a massive sweep through the eastern coastal provinces of China, in an operation now known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, searching for the surviving American airmen and inflicting retribution on the Chinese who aided them, in an effort to prevent this part of China from being used again for an attack on Japan.

The raid caused negligible material damage to Japan, but it achieved its goal of raising American morale and casting doubt in Japan on the ability of its military leaders to defend their home islands. It also contributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s decision to attack Midway Island in the Central Pacific – an attack that turned into a decisive strategic defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) by the U.S. Navy in the Battle of Midway. Doolittle, who initially believed that the loss of all his aircraft would lead to his court-martial, received the Medal of Honor and was promoted two steps to brigadier general.

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Product Spotlight: Heinkels Over the Arctic

 

Corgi’s German Heinkel He-111H-6 Torpedo Bomber – 1H+BB, I./Kampgeschwader 26, Bardufoss Airfield, Norway, July 5th, 1942

Year after year, one of the most popular aircraft in the Corgi aerial armada is their 1:72 scale depiction of the German Heinkel He 111 medium bomber. Their latest incarnation is no different — it comes in the form of a torpedo bomber that served with Kampgschwader 26 in the upper regions of Norway during 1942 (AA33715)

Perhaps the most interesting missions carried out by the ‘H’ model Heinkel He IIIs were those of the torpedo carrying maritime attack bombers, which flew at wave-top height, before delivering their payload of two air launched LT F5b torpedoes. Operating from the airfield at Bardufoss in northern Norway, the anti-shipping Heinkels of KG26 were involved in the infamous attack against Arctic convoy PQ17, which proved to be one of the most disastrous episodes in the history of the Royal Navy. Leaving Iceland, bound for Arkhangelsk in Russia, the convoy consisted of 35 merchant vessels and a large protecting force of naval ships. Quickly detected by the Germans, the first attack came from 25 Heinkel torpedo bombers of KG26 – warned of their approach, the escort vessels put up a murderous wall of defensive fire, which claimed four of the Luftwaffe bombers destroyed. Determined in their attack, the torpedoes did their damage and a number of ships were sunk and the defensive shield of the convoy disrupted.

Worried by the ferocity of the attack and intelligence reports suggesting that the mighty German battleship Tirpitz was steaming towards the battle, naval commanders ordered the escorts to withdraw and the convoy to scatter. Over the course of the next few days, Convoy PQ17 came under repeated attack from U-boats and Ju88 bombers, which claimed 23 of the defenseless ships. July 2017 will mark the 75th Anniversary of this naval disaster.

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Dear Dad: Your Special Day is June 18th

 

Ditch the dreary ties and steer clear of the sweater rack. Dad deserves better, and we have the best gifts in mind — something from the heart squarely aimed at his heart. We have loads of terrific gift-giving ideas that cover every budget and conceivable interest, plus we can ship you these special memorabilia well before Father’s Day this June 18th. So why not take a look at our online selection or better yet feel free to give us a call and we’ll suggest something that will guarantee to put a smile on his face and make this Father’s Day a truly memorable event!

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Films in Focus: Churchill

Due to open just days prior to the 73rd anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Europe, Churchill traces the exploits of Britain’s Prime Minster Winston Churchill’s during the 96 hours leading up to the climactic battle. The film stars Brian Cox as Churchill, who ably demonstrates his penchant for drama, irrepressible need for knowing every minute detail of the invasion, and iron will to see it through despite the potential risk for failure. Looks like a must-see this summer.

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Happy Mother’s Day

 

Happy Mother’s Day to all those fabulous moms out there that continue to do their utmost to make our lives wonderful! Wish we could celebrate them year round!

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Product Spotlight: IJN Deck Camouflage

The Imperial Japanese Navy took great pains to camouflage some of their capital ships to protect them against aerial attack.

While doing research on a few Eaglemoss warships, I thought it particularly interesting to share some insights we came across as to how the Imperial Japanese Navy attempted to camouflage its aircraft carriers against aerial attack.

Dazzle camouflage was developed late in the nineteenth century to protect surface ships against submarine attack. Later on, it was not only used to a greater degree to deceive surface ship gunners and submarine captains but also from scout and strike aircraft. WWII US carriers wore Measure 1, Measure 11, and Measure 21 schemes, and were designed as periscope disruptive schemes. They painted their decks, first with Dark Gray 5-D, then stained their decks with Deck Blue 20-B and Deck Blue Stain 21.

Japanese carriers, such as the Zuiho, Unryu and Chitose, typically the primary targets for Allied bombers and strike aircraft, adopted alternative top deck paint schemes in an effort to mistake them for another type of vessel (merchant ship superstructure, stacks and hatches) when observed from the air. They also tried swirl and strong geometric patterns to break up the flatness of their decks. The carrier Zuiho did not have a superstructure so it had a clean ‘canvas’ deck to represent a skewed ship with strong turret and gun shadow shapes. Nevertheless, it was still sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944.

You can see this type of deck camouflage first-hand with the Eaglemoss IJN Zuiho (EMGC29) and the IJN Chitose (EMGC74) aircraft carriers.

 

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