Forces of Valor’s 1:32 scale US M4(75) Sherman Medium Tank with VVSS Suspension – 753rd Tank Battalion, Gustav Line, Italy, 1944 [Bonus Ford GAA V-8 Engine]
Waltersons, the new stewards of the Forces of Valor brand, was kind enough to post pictures for their upcoming M4(75) Sherman medium tank. This is the first of several US vehicles expected in 2021-2022, their British Sherman Firefly, released a couple of years ago, having sold out at virtually every level and now commanding premium prices.
According to the sales literature, this new Sherman is still pegged for a late November/early December arrival here in North America. If true, we’ll certainly burn the midnight oil and work overtime to get them out in time for the holiday season so as not to disappoint all you platoon commanders out there. Also expected is their second Sturmtiger assault mortar along with their eagerly awaited Tiger I heavy tank, something armor addicts have been requesting ever since it was announced a couple years back. While a separate set of metal tracks are expected in the same shipment as the Tiger, Sherman lovers may have to wait a few more months before they too can strip out the vinyl tracks that come with the vehicle for something a bit more realistic. We will make a formal announcement down-the-road regarding the tracks’ anticipated released date and open the pre-order window at that point. Keep in mind several different track sets are in the offing, so its not clear if only one or all of the different tracks will ship in one go.
We’ve spun up and launched our latest marketplace site, this time on the social media site everyone seems to love to hate of late, Facebook. Admittedly, we intended to create this shop some time ago, but it seemed as if Facebook was having issues verifying our business information, which prevented us from actually selling merchandise there or on its associated app, Instagram. And, with no one to actually talk to in their “customer service” department, we had to rely upon back-and-forth emails to get the ball rolling even though we’ve been in existence since 2000. Be that as it may, our Motor Pool boutique shop is now up-and-running and we are in the process of adding products to its online portfolio as quick as we can so we can beef up our holiday presence to service its clientele.
In 2022, we’ll be exploring the launch of similar shops on both Target as well as Walmart, although each comes with its own set of hurdles a.k.a. headaches. To achieve this and maintain a reasonable in-stock inventory level across all of our marketplace sites as well as our main web site, we have begun reducing our SKU count by 10% so that we can store more inventory for those items we do plan on selling on a regular basis. In the collectibles business, it’s oftentimes difficult to predict when an item will be available and for how long, so this is no easy task no matter how you look at it.
Once we move to Florida the middle of next year, we will re-examine this scenario, which is also dependent upon the global supply chain straightening itself out some time in 2022, we hope. More about this as we get ourselves locked and loaded for the coming year.
Schuco’s 1:72 scale German Junkers Ju 52/3m Tri-Motor Transport – AZ-JU, Crete, 1941
As the week closed out, we learned that no fewer than three Junkers Ju 52 transports are set to fly-in this December. Schuco has always been one of those hard-to-obtain manufacturers, at least here in the States, largely because they haven’t had a dedicated distributor willing to import the line from Germany. As a result, there’s been loads of products we would have gladly added to our product portfolio over the years, that never made the cut since they were difficult to get. No matter, one of our distributors was able to procure three different 1:72 scale Junkers Ju 52 transports at an incredible price, so we’re therefore able to pass along the savings to you this holiday season. Besides the operational scheme shown above, the other two versions expected include:
Schuco’s 1:72 scale German Junkers Ju 52/3m Tri-Motor Transport – D-ABIK “Manfred von Richthofen,” Hermann Goering’s Personal Transport, 1936Schuco’s 1:72 scale ScSwiss Junkers Ju 52/3m Tri-Motor Transport
We’re hoping that more of Schuco’s military aircraft will be made available going forward and that this isn’t a “one-and-done” anomaly meant simply to reduce inventory. Time will tell….
Panzerkampf’s 1:72 scale US Oshkosh M1070 Tank Transporter Tractor with M1000 Semi-Trailer – Camouflage
First shown to the public well over a year ago and thought to have rolled out for the 2020 holiday season, Panzerkampf’s pair of M1070 tank transporters is one of those items everyone just seems to want the minute they lay eyes on it. Now with an actual product identifier assigned to it, hi-res images posted to Facebook and even a short glitzy video showing each vehicle sitting atop a rotating base, it appears as if we’re a lot closer to the product’s actual release date than ever before. The problem is that with the global supply chain in such a mess and loads of other items promised by Panzerkampf but have never actually materialized, we cannot say for certain if these sets will make it off the assembly line in time for the 2021 holiday season. And with several of their M1 Abrams tanks still unavailable here in North America, it may be just as well since the set looks a bit naked without the vehicle its meant to be paired with.
Nevertheless, we are still accepting pre-orders for either set although its with the caveat that we think it will likely show up after the new year and not before. Please bear this in mind if you were hoping to give it as a gift to some lucky diecast tank collector.
Panzerkampf’s 1:72 scale US Oshkosh M1070 Tank Transporter Tractor with M1000 Semi-Trailer – Desert Scheme
Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale French Dassault-Breuget Mirage 2000-5F Multi-Role Fighter – “10 Years of GC 1/2”, 2-EQ, Groupe de Chasse, 1/2 Cicognes, September 2019
While other manufacturers struggle, Hobby Master doesn’t seem to be phased by either the pandemic or slowdown in the global supply chain, announcing its latest flock of warbirds scheduled for a June fly-in. Nothing remarkable was included in the showing although it is important to note that no new toolings were unveiled, meaning lots of current air frames are still viable for model refresh. Also of note are a pair of Dassault Mirage 2000-5s, a model that had trouble passing the scrutiny of the Dassault licensing group years ago. Anyway, here now the latest birds coming your way in mid 2022.
Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale Greek Dassault-Breuget Mirage 2000-5EG Multi-Role Fighter – “237”, 332 Mira “Theseus”, Volkel AB, Greece, 2018Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale US Navy McDonnell F-4J Phantom II Fighter-Bomber – 157245, VF-114 “Aardvarks”, USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), 1972Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale NASA Boeing F-18A Hornet Chase Plane – N850NA/161703, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, 2005Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale NASA Boeing F-18B Hornet Chase Plane – N852NA/161217, Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, 2012Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale German Panavia GR. Mk. 1 Tornado ECR All-Weather Bomber – Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51, Schleswig-Jagel, Germany, June 2014 “Tiger Meet 2014” [Tiger Meet Scheme]Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale USAF Boeing F-15C Eagle Multi-Role Fighter – 85-0093, “Chaos”, 44th Fighter Squadron “Vampire Bats”, CENTCOM AOR, September 2020Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale US Navy Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet Strike Fighter – 168363, VFA-27 “Royal Maces”, CVW-5 CAG, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), Atsugi Air Base, Japan, 2015Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale US Navy Grumman F-14D Tomcat Fleet Defense Fighter – 164394, Lt. Cmdr. Meagan V. Flannigan, VF-213 “Blacklions,” USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), Persian Gulf, 2006
Forces of Valor’s 1:32 scale US M4(75) Sherman Medium Tank with VVSS Suspension – 753rd Tank Battalion, Gustav Line, Italy, 1944 [Bonus Ford GAA V-8 Engine]
Barely a week after we learned that Forces of Valor’s upcoming M4(75) Sherman tank is slated to arrive some time in the fourth quarter, Waltersons, the new owners of the brand, posted a 3-minute video that shows off many of the vehicle’s features, capabilities and accoutrements. While we have embedded the video within the item’s description, we thought it made sense to post it here as well. Again, we are keeping our fingers crossed that the vehicle will be available for holiday purchase but with loads of headwinds working against it and other late releases, we are not guaranteeing that we will be able to supply it in time for it to be placed under the tree. Please bear this in mind if this is your ultimate intent and would rather purchase something else we do have for immediate sale to avoid disappointment.
We woke up this morning with news that Forces of Valor will once again be distributed through our principal supplier, Historic Sales. Under ordinary circumstances this would come as welcome news, however, Waltersons, the owner of Forces of Valor brand, seems to be bouncing between US distributors, claiming they are working with one distributor one minute, then another and finally another. Now, in their defense, its not unusual for a major manufacturer to work with more than one distributor particularly in the key North American market, however, changing wholesaling sources only serves to confuse both the retailer and consumer alike, with no real hard-and-fast information to work off of to either plan advertisements, alert our customers or distill these changes in a meaningful way.
Be that as it may, the latest sales solicitation calls for certain products to arrive during the late November/early December time frame. If its true, this is certainly great to hear since it means we can sell and ship out a lot of product for the upcoming holiday season. Truth be told, with nagging supply chain issues still affecting the distribution network, COVID, slowdowns in mail delivery and finally FOV’s spotty track record of hitting their release dates, we have decided to sell their upcoming items with the proviso that they will likely not make it in time for the holiday season. Prudence being what it is, I just want to make this fact abundantly clear if you plan on ordering any of their fourth quarter releases and hope to have them in hand prior to December 24th. I honestly do not think they will be available for sale until after the holidays, perhaps as late as January given what we are seeing in the global supply chain. I’m not trying to play the part of a Debbie Downer by poo-pooing this latest announcement but the fact remains that there are simply too many headwinds conspiring against them to say for certain that they will be in stock for Santa’s sleigh to go skis up and hit the air ways.
Anyway, the product in question appears under our November 2021 Upcoming Releases section. Anything else FOV may have been discussing on Facebook or elsewhere are more than likely expected some time in 2022. It is certainly possible that several items could be shipped to us by other distributors but that’s neither here nor there as far as this announcement goes. Now I don’t know about you but I’m going back to bed.
Like Australia, the USPS has decided to suspend all carrier operations to New Zealand effective immediately. Once again COVID has been cited as the principal reason for the temporary suspension and no date was give as to when operations will be resumed. So, for the time being, we will not be accepting any orders from New Zealand at least until the USPS has been sufficiently shown evidence that it is once again safe to deliver mail and packages to both the sub continent as well as its nearby neighbor. Further information regarding the decision can be found here.
PMA 1:72 scale German Horten Ho 229 Fighter Bomber [Bonus Pair of Jumo 004 Turbojet Engines]
As September draws to a close, it made sense for us to pause and provide you with our usual monthly recap in order to keep you abreast of the latest developments affecting our release schedule. Late yesterday, we learned that a new shipment of PMA products are en route to us, which includes, among other things, a 1:72 scale Ho 229 bomber. What makes this model different from the already available Luft-X version is that it is made of diecast metal rather than resin and features a pair of Jumo engines embedded within the aircraft. Its a stunning model and serves as PMA’s first foray into the diecast aviation market. No doubt other schemes will eventually come out as is typical of PMA and we’re hoping other warbirds aren’t too far behind, thus expanding their scope and variety. Also in the shipment is their first 54cm Karl-Gerat Mortar, featuring a longer if slightly narrower barrel designed to shoot a projectile a bit further than the 60cm version. All of the PMA Karl-Gerat mortars have sold extremely well and we currently have the five-man crew in stock, a perfect accompaniment to any of their siege mortars.
Also expected to return to stock are several DeAgostini WWII era warbirds, which continue to sell well despite being created exclusively for the Japanese market. When back ordered merchandise start to trickle back in it oftentimes means that the distributor has also received another batch of new warbirds, although word as yet hasn’t surfaced regarding which new models will soon be available.
The August shipment of Hobby Master products is now expected in early October as is an Air Force 1 shipment, which hopefully contains a number of items that have been out-of-stock for several months running. Both shipments have been adversely affected by the port congestion issues still plaguing our supply chain even though they have been diverted away from the west coast ports and re-routed through Savannah, Georgia. It remains to be seen if the September Hobby Master shipment will likely be pushed back in light of all of the logistical problems arising ahead of the holiday season.
In other news, we still do not have firm release dates for either Forces of Valor or Panzerkampf, two key lines that have both seen their fare share of trouble in 2021. In the case of Forces of Valor, the manufacturer is once again working with a new distributor so any previous deadlines for the arrival of new products went out the window this past summer. Likewise, its difficult to say when Panzerkampf is expected, since the line is stocked by two different distributors neither of which have concrete information to pass along.
Corgi’s 1:72 scale USAAF Consolidated B-24H Liberator Heavy Bomber – 42-52534, “Witchcraft”, 790th Bombardment Squadron, 467th Bombardment Group, USAAF Station 145 Rackheath, Norfolk, England, January 1945
The next major Corgi shipment is slated for early October, barring any further delays caused by the port congestion. While several models have already seen the light of day in other parts of the world, it seems to be taking the US market around three to four weeks before they too can boast the availability of these models. Most of the other brands we stock seem to be deeply affected by both logistical issues as well as problems associated with COVID. It remains to be seen when these lines will resume operations to pre-pandemic levels, so its unwise to provide any updates until we feel confident the manufacturers in question can truly hit their marks.
As an aside, we are headed back out to Dallas towards the end of October to take the Dallas crew trick-or-treating, a rite of passage for our two daughters and now our five grandchildren. On a personal basis, I believe a holiday such as this enables both the parent and grandparent to truly bond with their kids, making it a more memorable event for both ends of the family unit. So, we will be closed from October 28th until November 1st, and plan to resume business on the second. We’ve also updated our shipping cutoff dates for the upcoming holiday season, which will no doubt be closely scrutinized in the wake of last year’s shipping issues. Anyway, that’s it for now and Happy Halloween!
Oxford’s 1:72 scale RAF Boulton Paul Defiant Mk. I Fighter – No.264 (Madras Presidency) Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, England, 1940
A bit unexpected, Oxford announced its intent to bolster its Frontline Fighter series with four more fighters for early 2022. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, Frontline Fighters is a great way to get into collecting model warbirds if you’re on a shoestring budget. They’re also great gifts, particularly for budding warbirds collectors interested in getting in the the ground floor without busting the bank. While they do not come with either interchangeable landing gear or a pilot figure, they nevertheless go a long towards modeling some of the most iconic aircraft of World War II. Here now the four newest fighters destined to come out in early 2022.
Oxford’s 1:72 scale Italian Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana Fiat G.55 Centauro Fighter – Montefusco-Bonet Squadron, Italy, 1944Oxford’s 1:72 scale German Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4/Trop Fighter – Eberhard von Boremski, 9./Jagdgeschwader 3 “Udet,” Russia, 1943Oxford’s 1:72 scale USAAF Republic P-47D Thunderbolt Fighter – Capt Daniel Boone, 333rd Fighter Squadron, 318th Fighter Group
Finally, for those of you holding out hope that some of their earliest models would be re-introduced, we’ve learned that Oxford’s first Me-262 Sturmvogel jet fighter, OXFAC007, has made the cut and is expected to return to battle in early 2022.
