The Motor Pool – Blog – Page 153 – Pureveyors of Fine Diecast Collectibles

Eaglemoss Warps In with Two New Pix

Lately, there seems to be a preponderance of Eaglemoss-related stories, but sometimes that’s the way it goes and we have to roll with the punches. In their Star Trek Starships Collection, images were posted for their latest pair of starships that are expected by the end of the year.

Up first is a the Star Trek Federation Antares Class Star Ship – Antares NCC-501 (EMST0063), which was a 23rd century Antares-type Federation starship operated by Starfleet, while the latter is a Star Trek Earth Space Ship – Phoenix (EMST0064), a 21st century space ship. In related news, we are still awaiting news from our distributor regarding some of the latest items to appear in the Star Trek product portfolio, which includes plaques, mirror universe variant star ships and multi-pack gift sets.

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Fabbri Maintains, “They’re Cheaper by the Dozen”

Earlier today, we learned that another dozen 1:72 scale Russian military vehicles are being released into the North American marketplace by Fabbri. There’s loads to choose from in this tidal wave, including armored cars, half-tracks, tanks, self-propelled guns, and anti-tank guns.

Priced at just $11.99 apiece, you simply cannot go wrong with any or all of these little gems.

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Eaglemoss Enters the Graveyard of Sunken Ships

In a departure, of sorts, from their heavily slanted look at the warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Eaglemoss announced plans to raise the USS West Virginia from the dead this fall (EMGC73) and add it to the ranks of the Warships of the World Collection. The West Virgina has a storied past, sunk at the Battle of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, raised, drained and refitted by the US Navy over the following months, so it could eventually rejoin the fleet in several important actions at the end of the war. A Colorado-class battleship, the West Virginia was first laid down after WWI in April 1920, and eventually struck from the US Navy’s roster some 27 years later after making three trips to Asia to return thousands of US servicemen to friendly soil.

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Dragon Orders its Panzers Forward

First hinted at several years ago in their print catalog, Dragon is finally idling its engines no more and ordering its newest family of panzers forward. Expected some time before the year is out, two new PzKpfw IV Ausf. J medium tanks are in the offing (DRR60656 and DRR60657), both featuring schurzen side armor skirts and turret girdles. We don’t see any unit insignia on either of these vehicles and their descriptions are rather vague, indicating they are from unidentified units serving on the Western Front in the latter half of 1944.

We’re hoping that Dragon is back at producing scale, pre-assembled vehicles, which seems to have become an on-again, off-again passion of theirs over the past few years.

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Hobby Master Gets Vectored into MiG Alley

If rumors are true, and why wouldn’t they be in this industry, Hobby Master intends to pursue several Mikoyan-Gurevich subjects in 2016. According to sources, the Company is already hard-at-work developing the MiG 23 Flogger, a third generation jet fighter likely boasting a variable geometry swing-wing like its soon-to-be-released counterpart, the F-14 Tomcat. It therefore wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that a MiG 27 Flogger ground attack aircraft is also on the drawing board, since it was based, in large part, upon the Russian designed MiG 23. What’s nice here is that there was a slew of client nations that operated both the MiG 23 and MiG 27 during the height of the Cold War period, meaning lots of liveries to choose from and loads of potential theaters of war to portray.

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BAe Rounds Out the Tanker’s Vision

Borrowing technology used for situational awareness on jet fighters, BAE Systems has unveiled technology that allows vehicle crews to “see through” their vehicles for 360-degree vision.

BattleView 360 is essentially “a digital mapping system that collates, displays, and tracks the positions of all surrounding features of interest in two- or three-dimensional modes,” said a BAE news release.

Among its features are a head-worn component that can be synced to vehicle cameras in both visual and infrared. Dismounted soldiers can also wear to relay information back to the vehicle.

Hammer’s Slammers comes of age…

courtesy C4ISR&Networks

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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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Air Force 1 Streaks Over the Hot Desert Sands

If you like ’em fast, like ’em high, and even like ’em signed then you better sit up and take notice because Air Force 1 may have the goods for you. Earlier today, we learned that they plan on coming out with a new take on the SR-71 Blackbird, this time around available in both an unsigned (“clean”) and signed (“dirty”) configuration (AF10088A and B). Their newest surveillance plane is based upon a mount flown by Major Terry Pappas and Captain John Manzi, which was operated over the Persian Gulf in 1987. The “dirty” version features Major Terry Pappas signature on the display base and is a paltry $10 more than the unsigned version. Look for both fliers some time in December.

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Mattel Feels a Disturbance in the Force

Two new Star Wars: The Force Awakens ships were announced today as part of Mattel’s Hot Wheels Elite series, as well as details concerning the mystery ship first announced several months back but never fully discussed. Expected some time in March 2016, the undisclosed 1:18 scale ship is actually Poe Dameron’s X-Wing fighter (HWDAG08), a central protagonist in the upcoming film and likely an important figure in the Sequel trilogy.

Slated for September, look forward to nabbing an X-Wing Resistance Fighter (MTDMK63) as well as a First Order TIE Fighter (MTDMT90).

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Eaglemoss Goes Off-Roading

Thus far, Eaglemoss 1:43 scale Military Vehicles of the Second World War series has been confined to those subjects we typically see on the battlefield. However, their seventieth introduction changes things up a bit, by offering a field grey version of the Mercedes-Benz W31 Type 4 parade limousine (EM070). For those of you still searching for the long sold out grey and white Francisco Franco version by Minichamps, this entry should serve as an excellent stop gap measure, perhaps better representing the ignominious “Grey Column” that toured the streets of Germany during the run up to WWII. While the Eaglemoss version is bereft of the side-mounted pennants and swastikas, it does comes complete with rolled up bullet proof windows. Priced at just $21.99 as compared with the Minichamps version, which is fetching four times that amount, you simply cannot go wrong with this vehicle.

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