Waltersons, the new owners of the Forces of Valor brand, has finally revealed details concerning their eagerly awaited aircraft line. While no mention has been made concerning their over-sized 1:32 scale aircraft, the manufacturer decided to pull back the curtains on several different 1:72 scale military aircraft now being developed. Thus far, only line art drawings are being used to show off those fighter planes purportedly in the pipeline, all of which will carry a $49.99 MAP. We’re not sure how they will differ from previous Forces of Valor aircraft, seeing as how the manufacturer likes to revamp each existing mold and incorporate added features, particularly removable engines, as evinced in their 1:32 scale military vehicle range. The Company has taken down information concerning a couple of twin-engine bombers that were also expected, so its unclear if or when they will turn up.
We’ve listed many of the upcoming fighter planes in our Forces of Valor military aircraft category but please keep in mind that we do not know when they will actually hit the market. It could be late 2020 or they could slip into the next year’s lineup.
Just days after Calibre Wings announced their intent to model the famous Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft comes word that Hobby Master plans to bring the spy plane to market ahead of its wily competition. While we are still awaiting word concerning pricing, the street date for the initial release has been set for February. This announcement certainly serves as a clear shot across the bow of the Calibre Wings warship, and perhaps signals their designs for the diecast military aircraft space, stealing thunder away from other modelmakers to prevent them from gaining further traction in the widening marketplace.
Our web site’s facelift was implemented on June 18th. Obviously, we now have to work on some of the technical issues the update caused and have already asked our design team to look into most of them. The New Arrivals scroll on the home page does not reflect any of the newest items to come in. Likewise, the sliders have not been added, and some technical issues, such as a somewhat smallish font size, may make it difficult to read text across our web site. If you feel the new font is too small, press the Control key and the “+” sign to increase the font size. Conversely, press the Control key and the “-” size to reduce the font size should it get too enlarged. Hopefully, we’ll have most of the most glaring issues addressed over the course of the next few days.
In other news, we’ve been asked to join the eBay Partner Network which, as far as I can tell, serves as a means of driving additional traffic to eBay by adding product links to third party e-commerce sites, blogs, and social networking sites that point directly to items that can be purchased on eBay. In a nutshell, it acts much like the Amazon affiliate advertising program introduced some ten or more years ago, something most retailers have abandoned in recent years. That pretty much shows how far eBay is in its relationship with Amazon, its principal online competitor. Although sales are up at eBay — largely due to increased ordering as a result of the pandemic — they pale in comparison to Amazon, who seems to routinely add associate positions while eBay has shed itself of thousands of workers. Its no wonder eBay is reportedly up for sale, after having divested itself of its StubHub and Classified businesses to generate added capital. While we will likely add several links to our blog to support this initiative, don’t be a bit surprised if eBay decides to accept an offer from the likes of Walmart, Google or someone else, thereby conceding that it can no longer stay apace of Amazon or even Walmart.com in the aggregate e-commerce business. Sad considering it had an early lead and squandered it by not recognizing industry trends that others had either fostered or accepted over the years. Goes to show that it pays to stay current.
Atlas Editions’ 1:72 scale USMC LVTA-1 Amtank with 37mm Howitzer
While June has turned out to be an extremely dry month for new arrivals, Atlas saw it as an opportunity to announce six more tanks to its growing arsenal. Priced to perfection at just $19.99 apiece, these introductory level 1:72 scale military vehicles represent an ideal way to build out a battlefield on an affordable budget. Here’s what you can expect from the folks at Atlas Editions later this month:
Several years back, TWH, which makes a wide range of 1:50 scale construction models, offered up a subset of military vehicles under their Sword Models moniker. One of the most popular vehicles they developed was a US Army Oshkosh M10 tank transporter, which, when coupled with a 1:43 scale M1 Abrams tank sitting atop a M1000 flat bed, made for an excellent display set that made many collectors “green” with envy. We sold loads of these sets, both in the traditional tri-color camouflage pattern and a sun-baked desert motif, until our supplies quickly ran out and collectors had to seek them out in the after market venues.
Yesterday, we learned that Panzerkampf will soon be releasing a 1:72 scale version of the M1070 tank transporter, which can obviously be used with a wide range of 1:72 scale modern era military vehicles. As is customary with Panzerkampf, they will likely create several schemes besides the one shown here, and quite possibly offer them in the liveries of other user nations. We don’t as yet have a price for this item nor do we know for sure when they will be motoring on down the highway. So, for now, these pictures will have to do until everything gets firmed up and we can begin to open up the pre-order window. Pretty sharp, huh?
When Amercom release its line of diecast military helicopters several years ago, certainly one of the most popular if incredibly large items was the Sikorsky MH-53 Sea Dragon. Big and beefy, it sold incredibly well and was one of only a handful of choppers that proudly bore the US Navy logo.
Well, chopper aficionados will be glad to learn that as part of the burgeoning Panzerkampf line up, three different versions of the Sea Dragon will soon make its way onto diecast shelves this summer. Earlier this morning, three liveries were posted to the Panzerkampf web site — one based upon the JGSDF and two connected to the US Navy — although no price was set. With the COVID pandemic still fresh in everyone’s minds, its conceivable that all three items are still several months off and likely signals Panzerkampf’s intent to enter the helicopter market in a “big” way.
Please be advised that we have given our designer the go-ahead to update our home page which we alluded to earlier this year. The update will likely be implemented and undergo rigorous testing over the next 24-72 hours. During this time frame, all of the internal links will be tested to ensure they are working properly and point to the correct destinations. None of the category landing pages or product pages will be affected by this update. You may experience some issues viewing our web site and/or placing orders during this time frame so we would appreciate it if you could bear with us until the home page has been updated.
According to a recent post by a member of the Model Hangar III forum, Solido plans on re-entering the military market, this time around with a range of 1:48 scale diecast military vehicles. Certainly welcome news, the scale, nevertheless, seems a bit odd for them since they started out years ago in the 1:43/1:50 scale regime and, in recent years, switched over to the more lucrative 1:72 scale category. If the accompanying illustration is correct, six modern era vehicles are expected, although dates of availability, like everything else these days, are still up in the air. As a guess, these will likely show up for the all-important fourth quarter although its not certain if our present Solido distributor will actually stock these vehicles or defer to another entity.
In related news, Solido plans on offering these vehicles as a bundle with a flat-bed rail car, thus catering to the model railroad enthusiast. Its not clear if these vehicles are produced in conjunction with War Master, who had previously supplied Solido with a wide range of 1:72 scale military vehicles, aircraft and helicopters. Its conceivable that War Master has now entered the larger scale military market since there hasn’t been any further indication that they are remaining a player in the 1:72 scale market. Time will tell when we get official word from whomever plans on offering these products in the North American market.
Forces of Valor’s 1:32 scale German Late Production Sd. Kfz. 181 PzKpfw VI Tiger I Ausf. E Heavy Tank – schwere SS Panzerabteilung 103, Zwolle, Netherlands, 1944 [Bonus Maybach HL 230 TRM P45 Engine]
A number of you have pre-ordered some of the upcoming 1:32 scale Tiger I heavy tanks from Forces of Valor. Please be advised that the manufacturer has made several changes to the names and descriptions for each of the vehicles over the past week or so, and could be making further changes as we get closer to their actual release date. In fact, according to a recent blog post on Facebook, the manufacturer plans on offering as many as 20 different Tiger I tanks at some point in time, which means several haven’t even been announced just yet and others seem to be in a state of flux as to which vehicle and unit they plan to represent. Obviously we will post images for each vehicle once they are passed along to us but for now, we would appreciate it if you review each vehicle as they now stand and notify us of any changes you wish to make for pre-orders already submitted. Panzer Vorwärts!
Panzerkamp’s 1:72 scale Soviet Kliment Voroshilov KV-3 Heavy Tank – Winter Camouflage
With most of the major combat vehicles having been spoken for as scale replicas, it made sense for Panzerkampf to dabble in the more obscure subjects to gain greater traction in the diecast ranks. Earlier today, we noticed plans to come out with a pair of Soviet KV-3 heavy tanks, a vehicle that never made it onto the battlefield due to the surprise German invasion of Russia in June 1941. Although two prototypes were developed, the factory building the vehicles had to be quickly packed up and relocated east of the Urals otherwise it would have fallen into the hands of advancing Wehrmacht forces.
Panzerkampf’s 1:72 scale Soviet Kliment Voroshilov KV-3 Heavy Tank – Summer Camouflage
While poking around the web, we also noticed that Panzerkampf has another KV tank up its sleeve, one which is likely due out after the KV-3: the ubiquitous KV-220 heavy tank. The KV-220 (otherwise known as KV-220-2, T-220, Object 220, or just 220 in factory documents) was proposed in 1940 as a replacement for the KV-1 that was already considered inadequate by the Red Army. Another vehicle, the T-150, was meant to have a 700 hp engine while the KV-220 was to be served with an 850 hp engine, but problems were encountered in building such powerful engines. As a result, both the KV-220 and T-150 didn’t meet the Red Army’s expectations, and bets were hedged on the KV-3, 4 or 5 as the Red Army’s heavy tank for the years to come. The Nazi invasion changed all that, so plans were overhauled in a hurry to meet the threat.
We’re going to assume that the KV-3 tanks will become available some time this summer, with the elongated KV-220 showing up in the fall.
Panzerkampf’s 1:72 scale Dassault Rafale B Multirole Aircraft
In other news, the manufacturer is looking to become a serious player in the military aircraft space with its announcement that it plans to offer two versions of the Dassault Rafale B fighter jet. The Dassault Rafale (literally meaning “gust of wind”, and “burst of fire” in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air superiority, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. The Rafale is referred to as an “omnirole” aircraft by Dassault. Like the Rafale, dates of availability are still up in the air.
