Prototype image of the Hobby Master 1:72 scale Suhkoi Su-33 Air Superiority Fighter
It didn’t take a course in predictive analysis to guess that Hobby Master would eventually get around to replicating the mighty Russian Sukhoi Su-33 air superiority fighter. They’ve already covered just about every other aircraft in Sukhoi’s family of modern aircraft, so adding the Flanker-D was, as they famously say, “a no-brainer” from a model maker’s stand point.
For now, only prototype images are being shown on the Hobby Master Collector web site, although its a safe bet that the first model will be announced shortly, no doubt ahead of the upcoming Chinese New Year in February, a time when most companies go on hiatus for a couple of weeks. We’re willing to bet that once the Su-33 starts to see the light of day that Hobby Master will begin eyeing the MiG 29 as its next adversarial subject.
AF-X 1:72 scale US North American X-15A Hypersonic Rocket-Powered Aircraft – X-15 Flight 191, Michael J. Adams, Delamar Dry Lake, NV, November 15th, 1967
Earlier this month we discussed how newcomer AF-X intended to kick off its new line of high-flying aircraft with a 1:72 scale rendition of the X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft (AFXP001). Due out shortly, we decided to delve a little deeper into this project by shedding some light on the history of this particular aircraft.
X-15 Flight 3-65-97, also known as
X-15 Flight 191, was a test flight of the North American X-15
experimental aircraft. It took place on November 15th, 1967, and was
piloted by Michael J. Adams. It ended in tragedy when the aircraft broke
apart minutes after launch due to technical difficulties, killing the
pilot and destroying the plane.
Adams’ seventh X-15 flight took place on November 15, 1967, in the
number three aircraft. At 10:30 in the morning on November 15, the
X-15-3 dropped away from underneath the wing of NB-52B mothership at
45,000 ft (14,000 m) over Delamar Dry Lake.
While in powered flight, an electrical disturbance distracted Adams and
slightly degraded the control of the aircraft; having adequate backup
controls, Adams continued. At 10:33 he reached a peak altitude of
266,000 ft (81,000 m). In the NASA 1 control room, mission controller
Pete Knight monitored the mission with a team of engineers.
As the X-15 climbed, Adams began a planned wing-rocking (rolling)
maneuver so an on-board camera could scan the horizon. At the conclusion
of the wing-rocking portion of the climb, the X-15 had begun a slow
drift in heading; 40 seconds later, when the aircraft had reached its
maximum altitude, it was off heading by 15 degrees to the left. As Adams
came over the top, the drift briefly halted as the aircraft’s nose
yawed 15 degrees back to the correct attitude. Then the drift to the
left began again; within 30 seconds, Adams’ descending flight path was
at right angles to the attitude of the aircraft. At 230,000 ft (70,000
m), while descending into the rapidly increasing density of the
atmosphere, the X-15 entered a Mach 5 spin.
In the NASA 1 control room, there was no way to monitor the heading of
the aircraft, so the situation was unknown to the engineers monitoring
the flight. Normal conversation continued between Knight and Adams, with
Knight advising Adams that he was “a little bit high,” but in “real
good shape.” Adams radioed that the aircraft “[seemed] squirrelly,” and
moments later repeatedly told Knight that he had entered a spin. The
ground controllers sought to get the X-15 straightened out, but there
was no recommended spin recovery technique for the X-15, and engineers
knew nothing about the aircraft’s supersonic spin tendencies. The chase
pilots, realizing that the X-15 would never make Rogers Dry Lake, headed
for the emergency lakes, Ballarat and Cuddeback, in case Adams
attempted an emergency landing.
Adams held the X-15’s controls against the spin, using both the flight
controls and the reaction control jets in the nose and wings. He managed
to recover from the spin at 118,000 feet and went into an inverted Mach
4.7 dive at an angle between 40 and 45 degrees. In theory, Adams was in
a good position to roll upright, pull out of the dive and set up a
landing. However, due to high gain in the adaptive control system, the
X-15 went into a limit-cycle with rapid pitching motion of increasing
severity, still in a dive at 160,000 feet per minute. As the X-15 neared
65,000 ft (20,000 m), it was diving at Mach 3.93 and experiencing more
than 15 g vertically, and 8g laterally.
The aircraft broke up northeast of the town of Johannesburg 10 minutes
and 35 seconds after launch. An Air Force pilot, who was filling in for
another chase pilot, spotted the main wreckage northwest of Cuddeback
Lake. The aircraft was destroyed, and Adams was killed.
Every so often we get blown away by an interesting read. One such article surfaced earlier today that we thought we’d share with everyone since it could have a major impact on the hobby we enjoy.
According to FoxNews, the US Army is currently looking to develop a line of table top miniatures designed to emulate current and potentially near-future conflicts between Red and Blue forces from across the globe. Its not clear which systems they plan to portray, although its a good bet that the current Order of Battle (OOB) for the US, Russian and ChiCom forces will serve as the basis for teaching commanders how to deal with the vagaries of combat on today’s battlefields. It is also likely they will add-on systems destined for operational deployment within the next several years in an effort to stay current with developments both on and off the battlefield.
Its not clear at what scale they plan to model the table top battlefield and whether or not a commercial off-shoot will be created to potentially defray some of the development costs associated with portraying so many different land, air and sea combat systems currently in use around the world. Still, this could be exciting news for military collectors, many of whom have been asking for certain types of models not hitherto available as pre-assembled models.
For more information regarding this development, visit this FoXNews link.
Atlas Editions 1:43 scale German BMW R75 Motorcycle with Sidecar – Deutsches Afrika Korps
Atlas Editions is one of those manufacturers that has quietly established itself as a respectable maker of scale military replicas. While they aren’t always available in depth and breadth of line like several of the other lines we carry, there are occasions when their on-hand availability rises to a level where both new and older releases are in stock at the same time.
Atlas Editions 1:43 scale German LIV (SO) Special Ops Light Armored Utility Vehicle
November seems to be one of those months when many of their older, more popular releases have been sufficiently replenished to a level where we can order in quantity and some of their newer products are also available for general sale. Late yesterday, we learned that their best-selling US T-19 Howitzer Motor Carriage (ATL7123110) is back in stock, as are a number of other items that have been hobbled by inconsistent stocking for several months running. Simultaneously, two new 1:43 scale products were announced – a German BMW R75 motorcycles with sidecar (ATL7895001) and a modern era LIV (SO) Special Ops Light Armored Utility Vehicle (ATL7121001), the German equivalent of our Humvee tactical utility vehicle. Interestingly, both items are expected shortly, meaning they made the voyage over to the New World at the same time as some of the restocks, thus making them execellent gifts for the holidays.
November 11th marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. All of the remaining survivors have now left us, joining their brethren on the battlefield who paid the ultimate price some five generations ago. In its aftermath, there were upwards of 20 million souls that died during the so-called “War to end all Wars,” thus earning it the moniker of being one of the costliest conflagrations of all times.
As a purveyor of military memorabilia, it is sometimes difficult to separate the scale tributes we promote and sell from the actual carnage of war, particularly as it relates to the first World War, where men were mowed down by the thousands feebly attempting to cross “no-man’s land”, dogfighting overhead without so much as a parachute to save them, or braving the ocean’s depths when submarine warfare was still in its primordial infancy. The First World War was a cruel war to be sure – virtually annihilating an entire generation, ending several European monarchies, and redrawing the map of Europe in such a way that it almost guaranteed that a second war would eventually replace it in terms of death and destruction.
So, as you admire your collections or contemplate making your next purchase, we ask that you remember the true cost of war. Take a moment to reflect on the lives spent on both sides of the conflict, many of whom were snuffed out long before they could enjoy the dividends of peace and benefits of being born long after the conflict ended.
So, we’re back from our week long trip to Dallas to see our children as well as their children (I guess that makes them our grandchildren barring any DNA tests). For the second year running, we got to take two of our grand daughters trick-or-treating through Highland Park and enjoy some well-deserved rest after an up-and-down year that saw the passing of my father-in-law and partner. Now, its back to work and quickly get ready for the all-important fourth quarter rush before contemplating any other down time.
AF-X 1:72 scale US North American X-15A Hypersonic Rocket-Powered Aircraft
Needless to say, we were deluged with orders and messages during our trip, along with lots of new product information that needs to get posted as quickly as humanly possible. Perhaps the most significant update is the launch of a new line of military aircraft from a company called AF-X. Designed along similar lines to both Luft-X and Wings of the Great War, AF-X is looking to fill a gap in the aviation sector by offering loads of experimental aircraft that might not see the light of day by other manufacturers. Constructed of resin and designed to sit atop a multi-poseable base, their first effort looks at the North American X-15A hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft, an iconic experimental plane which took wing in the 1960s and set all sorts of speed and altitude records ahead of the blossoming of the US-led space program.
Interestingly, the X-15A is expected to arrive in November, which shaves quite a bit of time off of the typical pre-order window. On the plus side, the X-15A will run you only $32.99, making it an affordable yet important entry-level aircraft that can also double as a wonderful gift for the holidays.
Eaglemoss Star Trek Federation Kerala Class Starship – USS Kerala NCC-1255 [With Collector Magazine]
We’ve got quite a bit of other information to post, just as soon as we knock out all of the in-house orders and take receipt of a rather large Hobby Master shipment currently en route to us. Most importantly, we expect a large array of Eaglemoss made Star-Trek products prior to Thanksgiving, which is certainly welcome news given that we haven’t received anything new from them in several months. We’ll leave the details regarding the delay for another time, although I do want to point out that several items have witnessed a price increase, particularly in the Star Trek Discovery range. We’re still not sure how the resumption of Eaglemoss shipments will shake out and whether there could be a temporary hole in the receipt schedule meaning we could receive them in non-sequential order. We recommend everyone keep a careful eye on our release schedule to better gauge when they can expect to see each new item arrive and take steps accordingly.
That’s it for now. We will post further updates once all of the new products have been added to our site.
Eaglemoss’ Special Edition No. 15: Star Trek Earth Spacedock [With Collector Magazine]
Michael Curran, a member of the Facebook Eaglemoss Star Trek Fan Group, reported on the following product announcements direct from Ben Robinson of Eaglemoss:
Next XL ships:
XL11: Discoprise XL12: Akira Class XL13: Klingon BOP XL14: Runabout XL15: Excelsior Class
Insurrection ships. Ben said, “They are committed to rebuilding them, and hope to have them out in the next 18 months and hopefully sooner.”
We’ve already listed regular issue ships 141-144 on our web site, and hope to have the other new products up on our web site next week once preliminary images have been provided.
As we close out the month of October, I just wanted to remind everyone that we will be closed for vacation from Saturday, November 27th until Sunday, November 4th. All of our marketplace stores will be shuttered during this time frame although you will still be able to place orders through our main web site. Naturally, we will not be around to answer any questions but will do so upon our return.
Our Amazon store has been up-and-running for several months now and we’ve witnessed phenomenal results as well as some curious issues. We’re still learning the ins-and-outs of selling on Amazon and the importance of winning the “buy box” as a means of generating sales and moving inventory. Currently, we only sell to the United States and Canada. We were hoping to make the Amazon store available to customers in Europe and elsewhere, but have since learned that you must have a physical location within each “territory” to cater to the clientele. It doesn’t make sense for us to use their Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) operation as a means of selling product overseas due to the storage costs involved as well as logistics and other criteria that invariably affects our bottom line. So, for now, if you’d like to make a purchase from us and you live outside North America, eBay and our main web site remain your only course of action.
We’ve also discovered several other problems with selling on Amazon that we are attempting to address as expeditiously as possible. First, which ever retailer creates a listing for an item, generally gets to provide much of the information for it, even if its superficial in nature and less than optimal. For instance, we’ve noted, time and again that an item’s title may be inaccurate, containing little descriptive information and sometimes accompanied by line art images instead of actual photos of the product. Moreover, many products are not even listed on Amazon since they do not come with a UPC bar code or other means of digital identification to be entered into their product catalog. After we return from vacation, we plan to address this issue by purchasing independently-created UPC codes and affixing them to each item, thereby enabling them to be sold through Amazon and elsewhere. We’ve told several distributors and manufacturers that they need to correct these deficiencies in their product packaging if they hope to sell their products on Amazon or elsewhere, as more and more marketplaces require UPCs, EANs or ASINs for inclusion in their product catalog. Frankly, its a headache that a retailer shouldn’t have to address in this day-and-age. Be that as it may, we will rely upon this short-term fix as a means of getting more product online across the entire spectrum of marketplaces.
Hobby Master’s 1:72 scale Russian Sukhoi Su-34 “Fullback” Strike Fighter – “Red 03”, Khmeimim Air Base, Latakia, Syria, January 2015
The Russian Sukhoi Su-34 “Fullback” is one of those aircraft that truly has to be seen to be believed. Designed to replace the aging Su-24, the Su-34 is actually a variant of the Sukhoi Su-27, with side-by-side seating that was developed in the late 1980s, and making its first flight on April 13th, 1990. It has a complex development history, being first developed as a carrier-based trainer, but by the time it was first publicly revealed in the mid-1990s it was as the Su-27IB (IB standing for Istrebitel Bomardirvoschik / Fighter Bomber), an advanced strike aircraft. Sukhoi, seeking export customers for the aircraft, has shown it as both the Su-32FN (FN for “Fighter, Naval”) and the Su-34. Its proposed export designation may be Su-32MF (MnogoFunktsionalniy, multi-function). At present its official designation appears to be Su-34. Its oddly shaped nose, said to be semi-stealthy, is reminiscent of that of the SR-71 Blackbird, and has earned it the nickname “Platypus,” although its NATO reporting name is Fullback.
Interstingly its flight deck is larger than the one built for the much larger Tu-160 “Blackjack”, a supersonic, variable sweep wing heavy strategic bomber designed for long endurance, intercontinental flights. The Fullback’s flight deck even has space for a galley, a latrine, and a bunk bed, all the comforts of home for bombing enemy positions within reach of its base of operations.
The Su-34 has 12 stores pylons for up to 8,000 kilograms (17,635 pounds) of ordnance, intended to include the latest Russian precision-guided weapons. It retains the Su-27/Su-30’s 30mm cannon. A Leninets V004 phased-array radar is fitted, mated to a Platan electro-optical / laser targeting unit and an advanced nav-attack system. It shares the Su-35’s “stinger” tail with Leninets V005 rear-facing radar.
Hobby Master’s first look at the Fullback portrays a bomber that was recently deployed to Khmeimim Air Base, Latakia, Syria, in support of the Assad regime (HA6301). Look for it to lay waste to the opposition some time in January.
Certainly one of the most critical aspects of replicating combat aircraft is getting the mold right. Lord knows there are plenty of rivet counters out there that feel it their duty to hold each model up to incredible scrutiny, passing final judgement and giving the model their seal of approval only when they are confident the manufacturer got everything correct from every conceivable vantage point.
However, the hobby has changed over the years, with more and more companies hitting home runs instead of swinging and missing each time they offer a new model for consideration. So, in an effort to take it to the next level and differentiate themselves from the competition, a handful of companies are demonstrating their prowess in the art of painting, tackling subjects few would have dared to go near just a few years ago.
Hobby Master’s 1:72 Japanese Air Self-Defense Force Boeing F-15J Eagle Multi-Role Fighter – JASDF 50th Anniversary Scheme, “Mount Fuji”, 2004
Take Hobby Master, for example. In recent years, the Company has been demonstrating its ability to not only offer compelling subject matter but also difficult schemes, showing why they have the right stuff to make aviation enthusiasts proud. Recently they announced plans to offer this Mitsubishi F-15J, which is clad in a 50th Anniversary of the Japan Air Self Defense Forces (HA4514). The aircraft’s fuselage and upper surfaces are adorned in an intricate apple blossom motif layered over the island-nation’s iconic Mount Fuji, contrasting symbols of the Japanese spring and winter. Clearly, getting this scheme correct takes a lot of patience and pride, requiring surgeon-like skills to not only apply the scheme but seamlessly matching it up so that every facet of the aircraft looks correct from every angle.
Look for this sumptuous example of modern art some time in March.
