Product Spotlight: My Oh My, It’s Nine O Nine!

af10110-909

“Why, it’s a flying fortress!”

– Richard Williams, reporter for the Seattle Times, upon seeing a B-17 heavy bomber for the first time

With sales of its first 1:72 scale B-17 far outstripping expectations, Air Force 1 drew back the curtain on its next Flying Fortress. Due out this December, the second “G” model is based upon “Nine O Nine”, a heavy bomber that was attached to the 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, then deployed to Bassingbourn, England, during 1944.

Indeed, “Nine-O-Nine” was a Boeing B-17G-30-BO Flying Fortress heavy bomber that completed 140 combat missions during World War II, believed to be the Eighth Air Force record for most missions, without loss to the crews that flew it.

af10110-909b

The original aircraft, a block 30 B-17G manufactured by Boeing, was nicknamed after the last three digits of her serial number: 42-31909. “Nine-O-Nine” was added to the USAAF inventory on December 15th, 1943, and flown overseas on February 5th, 1944. After depot modifications, she was delivered to the 91st BG at RAF Bassingbourn, England, on February 24th, 1944, as a replacement aircraft, one of the last B-17s received in factory-applied camouflage paint.

A former navigator of the 91st BG, Marion Havelaar, reported in his history of the group that “Nine-O-Nine” completed either 126 or 132 consecutive missions without aborting for mechanical reasons, also believed to be a record. M/Sgt. Rollin L. Davis, maintenance line chief of the bomber, received the Bronze Star for his role in achieving the record.

af10110-909a

Her first bombing raid was on Augsburg, Germany, on February 25th, 1944. She made 18 bombing raids on Berlin. In all, she flew 1,129 hours and dropped 562,000 pounds of bombs. She had 21 engine changes, four wing panel changes, 15 main gas tank changes, and 18 changes of Tokyo tanks (long-range fuel tanks).

After the hostilities ceased in Europe, “Nine-O-Nine” was returned to the United States on June 8th, 1945, and was consigned to the RFC facility at Kingman, Arizona on December 7th, 1945, and eventually scrapped.

 

Share This:

Tom Hanks Puts to Sea

us-destroyer

No stranger to World War II, it would appear as if renowned actor, Tom Hanks, will once again turn back the hands of time and set his sights on yet another aspect of the Second World War. A number of sources are reporting that Hanks is writing and intends to headline in a naval-themed drama entitled Greyhound, which is based on a destroyer prowling the Atlantic Ocean in search of deadly U-boats. Deadline first reported on this project, which will center on a longtime Naval officer who finally gets to command his own Navy destroyer in World War II. He must fight off his own demons and self-doubts to prove to himself that he belongs in command, while an enemy commander is going through a similar experience. The title of the movie is taken from the name of the ship itself. The budget for the drama is reportedly set at around $35 million, although its not clear at present if this will be developed as a feature film similar in concept to Saving Private Ryan, or created as a multi-part cable series more akin to Band of Brothers or The Pacific.

Share This:

Air Force 1 Pays a Visit to the Smithsonian

 

AF10138

We are thrilled to report the arrival of the first set of aircraft in Air Force 1’s all-new Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Aircraft of Our Time series. While the marque could use some pruning, these multi-scale warbirds pay homage to many of the most iconic aircraft in the US inventory, from the venerable B-25 Mitchell medium bomber to the super-sleek, super-fast SR-17 Blackbird, all of which have been replicated previously in larger scale formats. Affordably priced and attractively packaged, these aircraft make wonderful gifts for the holidays and a great way for new collectors to gain a foothold in the hobby.

Share This:

Eaglemoss Fires Off a Spread of Star Trek Stuff

EMST0087

The Trek Collective, a fantastic web site that covers all of the latest comings and goings in the Star Trek universe, shed light on some of the latest new offerings Trekkies can expect from Eaglemoss:

“At this weekend’s Star Trek Mission: New York convention Eaglemoss ran a panel on Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, in which series manager Ben Robinson announced loads of new ships,and other news. Continue below for a round-up of what we learnt:

The big news is that once again the collection has been granted an extension, and will now run for at least 130 issues (plus specials and other additional issues), which is almost twice the originally planned 70 issue run!

Ben announced a whole load of new ships during the panel, but by far the most exciting to me was confirmation that the USS Titan issue will be coming, off the back of the petition to find support for it championed right here on The Trek Collective. And better yet, Ben also confirmed the USS Aventine will be released too! Both ships are due out in 2017.

When asked about other non-canon ships Ben was less keen, noting he did not expect to do a USS Enterprise-F. However also noted such decisions will depend largely on how well the Titan and Aventine do. As noted previously, Eaglemoss need to be able to sell at least 5000 of a ship to make it viable. So if you really want to see the Enterprise-F, or other Online and book ships to follow, then you need to make sure you snap up the Titan and Aventine, as well as petitioning for the ships you want.

The next special issue, the Jellyfish, due out later this year was revealed. TrekCore have posted a bunch of photos of the impressively huge looking model.Ben announced a run of four new special issues (oversized models outside the regular fortnightly releases), which will be coming out next year. The first of these will be the USS Franklin and a swarm ship from Star Trek Beyond – These haven’t come as close to the film’s release as initially hoped, because the designs kept changing throughout the production of the film, making it difficult for Eaglemoss to keep up with the final designs in time to release sooner.

Following will be the Kelvin timeline Klingon battlecruiser, as seen in the Kobayashi Maru simulation in the first nuTrek movie. And then Deep Space Station K-7 (only the second station in the collection so far), which may feature an article by The Trouble with Tribbles writer David Gerrold.

Ben also announced a whole new run of ships which will be convention and subscriber exclusives. The first of those will be the SS Yorktown, the originally proposed name of the ship that became the USS Enterprise when TOS was in development, released this year to mark the 50th anniversaries (I assume this will be a repaint of the regular Constitution class model, but it could be one of the Jefferies concept designs, I’m sure Ben will clarify soon).

This will be followed next year by the USS Enterprise design created for the unmade film Planet of the Titans, created by Ken Adams and illustrated by Ralph McQuarrie. This design is of course the inspiration of the USS Discovery, so will be a timely release alongside the new TV series. There were two distinct study models created of the design, which have appear on-screen as background ships, and Eaglemoss plan to release both, one as a regular issue, and the other as one of these new subscriber exclusives releases.

Ben also announced several new regular issues! Issue ninety will be the USS Saratoga, the first variant class design in the series, following the original USS Reliant Miranda class release much earlier. That will be followed by the Medusan ship seen in the remastered version of Is There in Truth No Beauty? Issue ninety-three will be a Suliban cell ship, and another Enterprise ship follows that, the ECS Horizon.

And then issue ninety-five with by the New Orleans class USS Kyushu, the first of the unique designs seen in the wreckage of the Battle of Wolf 359 – Renderings of this ship have previously been released. Ben also noted that with the series expanded to 130 issues we can now expect to see all the Wolf 359 ships featured (see previous reports to see rare photos of all those designs). And still there’s more! Ben also revealed the line-up of the second set of shuttles will be: The Enterprise-era shuttlepod, the TNG type 15 shuttlepod, the early TNG shuttle (type 7 I presume), and the executive shuttle form The Undiscovered Country. On top of that Ben is already seeing what designs he might compile into a third set.”

Share This:

If it Doesn’t Fit, Force it!

New FOV Logo

Information seems to be trickling out from the new owners of the Forces of Valor line, which cuts across all of their individual brands, product segments and areas of interest. Here’s what we know thus far from their Facebook page:

  • The manufacturer has begin production on their late 2016 product introductions. Eleven 1:32 scale military vehicles are slated for reintroduction later this year, hopefully before the holidays, making them ideal gifts. Although the vehicles will be based upon previously released vehicles from Unimax, the re-introductions will purportedly feature better painting and the tracked vehicles will sport individual tracks linked together rather than a single rubber band like track. A couple of fixed and rotary wing aircraft are also being produced, as are most of their 1:700 scale warships. The warships will come with nicer display stands, making them suitable for desktop displays
  • The manufacturer has begun production on reintroducing their 1:24 scale radio controlled military vehicles range. The R/C line will be feature rich and more robust, making them ideal for competitions or solo play
  • The manufacturer has acknowledged that they will once again be offering the limited edition 1:16 scale Extreme Metal series in 2017, although no word as yet as to which vehicles will be built, price, production run, etc. To preserve the value of previously released products, the manufacturer has indicated that they have no plans to reintroduce the same versions, and will more likely look at other schemes or variants to carry the series forward. Does that mean we may one day see a 1:16 scale replica of “Fury”, the Sherman tank Brad Pitt commanded in the movie of the same name? It’s entirely possible, and would certainly be a smart marketing move on their part provided the licensing fees weren’t exorbitant
  • The manufacturer has hinted that they are already looking at new 1:32 scale vehicle builds for 2017, which could include a T-34/76 medium tank and a M4A3E8 medium tank. Other subjects are still being considered
  • A new web site is currently under construction which will likely feature product released under the former owner’s stewardship as well as all of the new products slated for release and/or scheduled for 2017
Share This:

Variants? We’ve Got a Few

North_American_A-36A_Apache_USAF

While researching some of the latest models coming to market, we thought it fascinating to see the multitude of other “what-if” aircraft that either entered service with all the world’s air forces or were left languishing on the drawing board in favor of other designs. For instance, while most collectors and historians are eminently familiar with the iconic shape of the North American P-51 Mustang fighter, we are willing to bet that many never heard of the A-36 Apache. The North American A-36 Apache (listed in some sources as “Invader”, but also called Mustang) was the ground-attack/dive bomber version of the North American P-51 Mustang, from which it could be distinguished by the presence of rectangular, slatted dive brakes above and below the wings. A total of 500 A-36 dive bombers served in North Africa, the Mediterranean, Italy and the China-Burma-India theater during World War II before being withdrawn from operational use in 1944.

Single Fin F-14

Fast forward to the late 60s, and Grumman even contemplated a single fin F-14 Tomcat as its entrant in a new naval fleet defense fighter fly-off, as opposed to the twin fin version settled upon by the designers. Apparently, during the design process, some 9,000 hours of wind-tunnel testing were performed on some 2,000 different configurations and nearly 400 combinations of air inlets and exhaust nozzles. In 1968, the design studies of the Grumman engineers concentrated on 8 layouts before the E version became the winning design (See table below). Thoughts during the design process incorporated the behavior during high speed (supersonic) flight, supersonic combat ceiling performance, trouble-free engine performance, engine growth potential and subsonic longitudinal stability. The fixed-wing version was rejected because of its weight, carrier suitability and because of its low-altitude performance. Some of the basic design background for the F-14 (and also for the F-111) was gathered using a German x-plane which was built during 1944.

In summation, it would be nice to see the model makers take a long and hard look at some of the other aircraft designs that saw combat, requiring, in some instances, minor modifications to their existing tooling to properly pull off. When every one else is producing loads of standard fare F-14s to go against one another, perhaps the answer lies in living life on the edge and doing something a bit out of the ordinary.

Share This:

Product Spotlight: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force

HA5205

“Skyhigh Is My Place”
– Motto of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force

When Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, ordered his forces to attack neighboring Iran in the early 1980s, he bit off more than he could chew. Although the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force was no longer able to procure parts for its largely US-built air force following the coup, they were, nevertheless, more than a match for the Iraqi Air Force, time and again turning back aerial assaults even when outnumbered and outgunned.

One of the principal reasons why they were able to hold their own against the Iraqis was because they has been equipped with the Grumman F-14 Fleet Defense Fighter, a versatile swing-wing aircraft intended for naval operations yet was equally at home flying from land-based airfields.

HA5205a

After the Iran-Iraq War, IRIAF`s experts modernized this particular warbird during its overhaul. The modernization program was designed to cover certain structural life-extensions, avionics and armament upgrade. Hundreds of hours were spent on upgrading this 37 years old interceptor. It was painted in a edged three-tone Asian Minor II camo pattern. Two new AA missiles has been  adapted with its fire control system, R-73E, AIM-54A+ “Fakkur”, AIM-54A, AIM-7E-4 and AIM-9J.

Share This:

Forces of Valor: Out with the Old, In with the New

13680554_662703807232226_9126787697549082792_n

As the new owners of the Forces of Valor brand move closer to announcing their initial product offerings, we have decided to make some changes to the way in which we present the brand to the public. Because the new owners will likely reintroduce some of the older items in updated packaging or with different accessories and features, we will be distinguishing old inventory from new with some minor SKU modifications to lessen confusion yet extend the brand.

Any of the products remaining in inventory that were offered by Unimax, the original makers of the line, will have a product code that begins with UNI. Any new items being offered by the new manufacturer, Waltersons (Walter & Sons), will sport a FOV product identifier. So, a Unimax-built 1:32 scale Tiger I tank will carry the code UNI80003, while a similar Waltersons release will be identified as FOV80003, unless, of course, the new owners decide to introduce a completely different set of product codes.

Enterprise

Speaking of new, Forces of Valor has released details concerning their first new static model. According to their Facebook page, the Company plans to reintroduce a 1:700 scale replica of the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which is reportedly set for production some time in September. We’ve posted CAD images showing the new warship and some of its embarked aircraft atop the flight deck.

Enterprisea

Note that the manufacturer has elected to go with a more elegant wooden base and machined metal supporting pillars over the previous plastic design, as well as an etched metal name plate. Nice improvements meant to make the diorama look even more attractive.

Share This:

Product Spotlight: Russia’s “Black Eagle”

AS72043

“Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.”

– Russian President Nikita Kruschev, in a 1961 speech at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in Moscow

Nothing causes more consternation among western military planners, strategists and theorists than the knowledge that a new Russian main battle tank could be on the drawing board. Conjuring up images of vast armadas of Russian tanks rolling through the Fulda Gap and fanning our across NATO’s heartland, the western nations always sit up and take notice of a new Russian tank supposedly in development and let out a collective sigh of relief when rumors and warmongering talk are put to rest.

Such was the case in the 1980s, when news was circulating that the Russians were at it again and planning an all-new tank that incorporated some of the latest improvements and technologies learned from the battlefield. The Black Eagle tank (Object 640), was a presumed prototype main battle tank produced in the Russian Federation. It was thought to have been developed by the KBTM design bureau in Omsk in the late 1990s. A production version of this tank has never been publicly demonstrated. The Black Eagle has been cancelled, with all production and development halted.

The company that was developing the tank, Omsk Transmash, has gone bankrupt, and its designs and projects have been absorbed into Uralvagonzavod and state owned services. Uralvagonzavod was developing the T-95 in competition to the Black Eagle, and now owns the rights to both projects, but the Russian government has withdrawn all support and funding for the project.

Development started during the 1980s, when the design bureau of the Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) developed a new design based on the stretched T-80U chassis. Later, when the bureau closed, the documentation was transferred to KBTM in Omsk.

A mock-up of the Black Eagle was first demonstrated at the VTTV arms exposition in Omsk, in September 1997, making a single brief pass, far from the reviewing stands. The tank appeared to be a standard T-80U hull, topped by a very large turret and gun, obscured by camouflage netting and canvas. The turret later turned out to be a crude mock-up.

An early prototype was shown at an arms exposition in Siberia, in June 1999. This tank had an elongated hull with seven pairs of road wheels instead of the T-80’s six, and a turret still mostly obscured by camouflage netting.

The tank was based on a lengthened T-80U hull, with an extra pair of road wheels and a brand new turret. It appeared to have had very thick front armour and new-generation Kaktus explosive reactive armour on the hull and turret. The turret had a very large, box-shaped turret bustle instead of the traditional dome shape of previous Soviet and Russian main battle tanks. According to Russian reports, the Black Eagle design had abandoned the carousel-style autoloader in the fighting compartment for an autoloader mounted in the large western-style turret bustle, which incorporates a blow-out armoured ammunition compartment for crew safety, like the U.S. M1 Abrams, the German Leopard 2, British Challenger 2, French Leclerc and several other modern western tanks. The prototype had a 125 mm tank gun, but it was stated that it may have accommodated a larger 152 mm gun (compared to the 120 and 125 mm-calibre guns of main battle tanks in service). There was debate about whether the Black Eagle would incorporate the Drozd or Arena Active Protection System.

Modelcollect’s 1:72 scale look at the infamous Black Eagle tank (AS72043) is now in stock and ready for shipping.

 

Share This:

Product Spotlight: Harcourt Fenton Mudd and “Stella”

EMST0079b

“Harcourt Fenton Mudd. Thief –”
“Come now.”
“Swindler and con man…”
“Entrepreneur!”
“Liar and rogue.”
“Did I leave you with that impression?“
– James T. Kirk and Harcourt Mudd, 2268 (“I, Mudd“)
Perhaps one of the most memorable characters ever to appear in Star Trek The Original Series was Harcourt Fenton Mudd. Mudd was a male Human civilian in the 23rd century. He was a notorious con artist encountered several times by the crew of the USS Enterprise. Essentially more of a lovable rogue than a true villain, he lived by his wits on the other side of the law.
While it would have been nice to physically portray his actual personna, Eaglemoss will, nevertheless, be paying him tribute by modeling his ship – a somewhat cocoon-like transport named after his drone-like wife, “Stella”, that enabled him to travel the galaxy and trade his wares with all manner of culture, species and civilization (EMST0079). Look for it this November.
Share This: