Its been rather quiet of late with little in the way of product news to share with our valued readership. On the upside, we’ve been contacted by Mr. Axel Hernborg who would like to share his thoughts and opinions on several important museums and historical sites that would likely be of interest to our viewership. So, if you like to get out every once in a while, and would take great pleasure in seeing actual weapons of war as opposed to scale models, we strongly recommend you pay a visit to his website and review his article.
While we were basking in the warm summer sun, Hobby Master took the opportunity drench us with a cold wake up call by announcing a bevy of new products expected this February. The vehicles and aircraft cut across virtually every category, scale and era, so without further ado, here’s what you can look forward to adding to your collection early in 2020:
Atlas Editions’ 1:72 scale German Sd. Kfz. 181 PzKpfw VI Tiger I Heavy Tank – Michael Wittmannn ‘S04’, 1.SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte ‘LSSAH’, 1943
Even though parent company, De Agostini, shuttered Atlas Editions late last year, that doesn’t seem to prevent them from living on, at least for the time being. While we were away on vacation, we received word that their 1:72 scale Ultimate Tank Collection will finally be brought over to our shores, with six tanks expected by the end of this month. We’ve listed the first wave of vehicles on our web site and, based upon the promotional literature that accompanied the announcement, it would appear as if a great many more vehicles can be expected over the course of the next few months. Priced at just $19.99, these vehicles offer great value for the money and, in certain instances, include vehicles not previously made available to the military collector in any other series.
At a time when the Luftwaffe and RAF were dueling for aerial supremacy over the skies of Northwest Europe, a rather chivalrous mission was undertaken by the RAF at the behest of the Luftwaffe High Command.
Famed ace and double amputee, Wing Commander Douglas Bader, had been forced to bail out from his stricken Spitfire over occupied France on August 9th, 1941. Losing altitude rapidly, Bader jettisoned the cockpit canopy and released his harness pin. According to Bader, the air rushing past the open cockpit started to suck him out, but his prosthetic leg was trapped. Part way out of the cockpit and still attached to his aircraft, Bader fell for some time before he released his parachute, at which point the leg’s retaining strap snapped under the strain and he was pulled free. A Bf 109 flew by some 50 yards away as he neared the ground at around 4,000 feet (1,200 metres).
Corgi’s 1:72 scale RAF Bristol Blenheim Mk. IV Light Bomber – R3843/WV-F, “F for Freddie”, No. 18 Squadron, “Operation Leg”, RAF Watton, Norfolk, August 1941
By all accounts, the Germans initially treated Bader with great respect although that would soon change. Upon hearing of Bader’s plight, General Adolf Galland notified the British of his damaged leg and offered them safe passage to drop off a replacement. Hermann Goring himself gave the green light for the operation. The British responded on August 19th, 1941 with the so-called “Leg Operation” — an RAF bomber was allowed to drop a new prosthetic leg by parachute to St. Omer, a Luftwaffe base in occupied France, as part of Circus 81 involving six Bristol Blenheims and a sizeable fighter escort including 452 Squadron.
The Germans were less impressed when, task done, the bombers proceeded on to their bombing mission to Gosnay Power Station near Bethune, although bad weather prevented the target being attacked. Galland stated in an interview that the aircraft dropped the leg after bombing Galland’s airfield. Galland did not meet Bader again until mid-1945, when he, Gunther Rall and Hans-Ulrich Rudel arrived at RAF Tangmere as prisoners of war. Bader, according to Rall, personally arranged for Rudel, a fellow amputee, to be fitted with an artificial leg.
Look for the Blenheim that dropped the artificial leg some time in September. No word, as yet, if a replica leg will come with the model.
Corgi’s 1:50 scale British Cromwell Mk. IV Tank – “Blenheim”, 2nd Armoured Battalion, Welsh Guards, 6th Guards Armoured Brigade, 1944 (1:50 Scale)
As we gear up for the holiday season, Corgi seems to be hard-at-work harvesting their latest crop of diecast delicacies. Here’s a quick look at what you can expect from the English modelmaker in the month of September:
As an aside, we were curious as to why the inboard panels of each engine cowling and panel forward of the windscreen was painted green instead of the natural metal finish shown throughout the aircraft’s exterior. This appears on both the Corgi B-17 shown here as well as the upcoming B-17 from Air Force 1. Apparently, after the bare metal finish was adopted by the USAAF, it was discovered that the glare from the metal finish forward of the cockpit and on the inboard sides of the engine cowlings was blinding the pilots inside the cockpit. As a result, khaki green shields were repainted on these selected parts.
In October 2018, the Trump administration announced that the US was withdrawing from the Universal Postal Union, a system set up way back in 1874 that was designed to level the playing field for shipping small packages across 192 countries. While the system made sense back then, and helped to standardize rates and other facets of international shipping, it has, in effect, provided certain countries with an unfair advantage over the US. More specifically, US businesses have been hurt by the arrangement since businesses operating out of China have been able to ship to the US at a fraction of the cost for what a US business must pay to ship a similarly-sized package to China. A last minute vote to keep the US in the UPU is scheduled for late September but many feel the effort is futile and that the US will still withdraw from the accord some time this October.
From our standpoint, we welcome the decision for the US to withdraw from the UPU. China was first granted this privilege in 1969 when it was still considered to be a developing nation. Fast forward to 2019 and China has become one of the largest economies in the world, second only to the US. To grant them an unfair advantage at this point in time would be foolhardy and it would come at a time when the US Postal Service continues to report record deficits.
While we recognize that it will cost much more for a US-based consumer to purchase something from China, we feel that the time has come to remove any and all advantages a country such as China has held sway over the US, particularly in light of the failed trade talks between the two countries. If China wants to act responsibly and in good faith then they must abide by the conditions of the US trade representatives and any and all advantages they currently hold over US businesses must be removed in order for fair trade to exist now and in the future.
We’ve pretty much given up on the Top Gun: Maverick line of military aircraft and accessories that was supposedly coming out from TSM Model Wings. The film is slated to debut on June 26th, 2020, so we would have thought that any new products based on the film would already be in the pipeline. Likewise, the Company doesn’t seem to be making any aircraft or accessories connected with the original film, which tells us they can no longer do so. They haven’t officially said anything as yet, but sometimes silence speaks louder than words.
Furthermore, with the announcement on July 26th that Mattel had inked a deal with Paramount, the producers of the Top Gun franchise, we are assuming that Mattel now has complete merchandising rights to both films and will likely begin showing new product for both films at the upcoming Toy Fair held in early February. While Mattel intends to produce a full range of Top-Gun-related products including toys, figures and playsets, it isn’t clear if they will address the high-end collectible market which has sustained TSM Model Wings for the past several years.
We have therefore decided to remove any product that had been announced by TSM Model Wings almost two years ago at Toy Fair and show only those items we still have in stock. We hope TSM still retains some merchandising rights and can continue producing Top Gun-related merchandise but right now we have our doubts and must act accordingly.
Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale Russian Navy Sukhoi Su-33 “Flanker-D” Air Superiority Fighter – Bort 67, 1st Aviation Squadron, 279th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment, Feb 2014
While much is made of the Russian Air Force in western circles, and its pedigree with the former Soviet Frontal Aviation guarding the Motherland, less is known about Russia’s Naval Aviation arm largely due to the shortage of aircraft carriers within the Russian Naval hierarchy.
The Russian Naval Aviation is the air arm of the Russian Navy, having superseded Soviet Naval Aviation. The Russian Navy is divided into four fleets and one flotilla: Northern Fleet, Pacific Ocean Fleet, Baltic Fleet, Black Sea Fleet, and Caspian Flotilla.
The air forces of the largest and most important fleets, the Northern and Pacific fleets, operate long range Tu-142 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft,IL-38 medium-range ASW aircraft, and Ka-27 shipborne ASW and search-and-rescue (SAR) helicopters. Formations operating supersonic Tu-22M3 bombers were transferred to the Russian Air Force’s Long Range Aviation in 2011. The relatively small fleets, the Baltic and Black Sea, currently have only tactical Su-24 bombers and ASW helicopters in service. The small Caspian Flotilla operates An-26 and Mi-8 transports, Ka-27PS rescue helicopters, as well as some Ka-29 and Mi-24 armed helicopters.
Severomorsk-3 (also referred to as Malyavr or Murmansk Northeast) is an air base of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet in Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It is located 28 kilometers (17 mi) east of Murmansk, next to Lake Malyavr in the west of the Kola Peninsula.
In the late 1950s, Severomorsk-3 was an operating location for TupolevTu-16 Badger medium bombers and featured an 8200 ft (2500 m) concrete runway. In 1970 and 1971 Tu-16 jets in Egyptian Air Force markings were observed conducting training flights at Severomorsk-3. During the 1970s the airfield was designated as a Yakovlev Yak-38 Forger base for the Murmansk area whenever its parent Kiev-classaircraft carrier was in port. Extensive Marston Mat planking was laid at the base in the late 1970s to support the Yak-38’s VTOL requirements.
After the USSR’s breakup, the main operator of Severomorsk-3 was 279 OMSHAP (279th Independent Naval Shturmovik Aviation Regiment), operating at least 41 Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft in 1992, with 4 Su-25UB and 5 Su-25UTG trainers, plus 27 Yakovlev Yak-38 and 1 Yak-38U aircraft. The unit changed its name to the 279th OKIAP (279th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment) sometime between 1992 and 2016 and it made up of two fighter and one training squadrons operating the Sukhoi Su-33, Sukhoi Su-27UB & Su-25UTG.
The 100th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment (100th OKIAP) is based here and made up of two fighter squadrons operating the Mikoyan MiG-29KR/KUBR.
Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale USAF Douglas A-1H Skyraider Attack Aircraft – 22nd Special Operations Squadron “Green Hornets”, 56th Special Operations Wing, South Vietnam (1:72 Scale)
We’ve learned that the August cache of Hobby Master products has arrived at our distributor so we should have them in stock by week’s end, barring any unforeseen issues. Here’s what’s headed our way:
Ordinarily we offer our annual look ahead towards year’s end, after the dust has settled down, we’ve had a chance to catch our breath and generally get a better sense of where we have ended up come the post-holiday season. This year, however, we decided to change things up a bit by sharing our plans for the coming year several months earlier.
For starters, we’ve decided to launch a lengthy, multi-issue print ad campaign beginning with the December issue of World War II magazine. This is where things started for us almost two decades ago so we decided to both return to our roots and expand our customer base by reaching out to those magazine subscribers that may not be aware of our store or the lines we stock. As such, the first print ad will cover the re-launch of Corgi’s Military Legends series and will be picked up again in the January issue of Military History magazine. As the series expands, we will likely run follow-on ads covering some of Corgi’s latest offerings.
Next up, we will be moving our storefront to Shopify, a Canadian-based e-commerce solution that offers greater flexibility than our current web hosting solution provides. Our plans are to move over all of our current product, customer and order records to the new service so we can provide a seamless migration that will not impact sales and/or the customer experience which has proven to be so vital to our existence. We will likely run both sites concurrently for at least a month to ensure all of our records have been successfully migrated to the new platform. Look for the transition to occur in the first quarter of 2020.
By moving over to Shopify, we will also be able to offer true multi-channel support across all of the marketplace sites we now operate on as well as those planned to come online in 2020. This will include satellite sites on both Target+ and the resurgent Toys “R” Us, and could include others still on the drawing board that have yet to be finalized. Presently, we must operate each channel independently, which creates a bit of a problem maintaining correct inventory levels across all platforms. Its a bit like trying to keep several plates on sticks spinning freely instead of of watching them crash to the ground for lack of attention. By moving to Shopify, everything will be “under one hood” thereby preventing instances where we could, theoretically, outsell an item or make available inventory on one channel and not on another. Shopify provides real-time inventory updates that are designed to prevent these types of occurrences from ever happening.
Going deeper in inventory to support multiple retail channels also means we cannot go quite as broad. As a result, several lines are being cut and/or phased out so that we can make room for additional stock. In most cases, the lines we are shedding were either experimental categories that never quite took off or ranges that are under-performing largely for lack of support at either the manufacturer or distributor level. For instance, the Eaglemoss Warships of the World line has run its course, no longer in vogue due principally to the unavailability of certain models.
Additionally, Shopify has fully integrated additional payment gateways that we currently are unable to offer such as ApplePay and Venmo, along with Apple’s newly launched credit card. As more and more payment gateways come online, this will prove essential for a growing business to thrive in a digital world.
So, that’s pretty much it for now but we’ll keep you posted should anything else change. As always, we look forward to serving your needs in the diecast military space. Have a wonderful year.
