While they’ve never actually provided a back story to their proprietary Fist of War universe, Modelcollect did acknowledge today that the pseudo sci-fi series is being pushed out by another year into 1947. The Fist of War: Battle of the Bulge December 1946-January 1947 presupposes that a second war in the Ardennes Forest occurs between the radicalized Nazi forces and the beefed up Allied war machine. Lots more qudrapeds take to the fields of battle as do the more traditional tanks, now sporting heavier armor, larger armament and the newest in technological advances. No new vehicles were announced as part of this line extension, although we’re willing to bet that several are already on the drawing board.

In other news, the manufacturer indicated late last week that they were getting into the flying saucer game, with plans on building a Haunebu Nazi flying machine in the days ahead. The blueprint, shown here, looks significantly different to the one already created by Luft-X, meaning other Wunderwaffe projects are likely in the offing, thereby giving Luft-X a run for the money in the “What-If” category.

Never one to shy away from an intimidating project while simultaneously looking to build out its pseudo sci-fi military series, Modelcollect unveiled the first Allied vehicles in its Fist of War franchise. Based upon an eight-wheeled armored car, the Company debuted a family of four different 1:72 scale combat vehicles, each utilizing a different turret type and weapons system. Its not clear when these vehicles will hit the streets and whether they will be made available in both kit form and as pre-assembled models.

In other news, Modelcollect acknowledged on Facebook that they will soon be producing a range of 1:35 scale military vehicles, although no further details were made public. If true, this could not only mark a major departure from this prolific modelmaker but also become an important development for the pre-assembled market, who have been without a viable supplier of larger scale military vehicles for several years running. Both Minichamps and Dragon Models were heavily invested in the sector years ago, but have since withdrawn their support in favor of other pursuits. And with the resurrection of the Forces of Valor brand, larger scale military vehicle collectors could have lots to crow about this holiday season.

April is notorious for being a dry month as far as new products go simply because of the effects of Chinese New Year, and its overall impact on the supply chain. That said, Modelcollect seems to have filled the hole nicely, with nine new vehicles expected to arrive mid month. The grouping includes:

AS72086 – T-80U Main Battle Tank – Russian Army, Biathlon, 2013

AS72087 – 128mm FLaK 40 with Kreuzlafette Mount – Germany, 1944, Grey

AS72088 – Set of Two Rheintochter Mobile Surface-to-Air Missiles – Germany, 1946

AS72089 – T-72AV Main Battle Tank – Soviet Army, 1980s

AS72090 – “Fist of War” German E-75 Ausf.Vierfuessler Heavy Panzer

AS72091 – BMP-3 Infantry Fighting Vehicle – Russian Army, Victory Day Parade, Moscow, 2010

AS72092 – T-90A Main Battle Tank – 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division “Tamanskaya,” Russian Army, Victory Day Parade, Moscow, 2010

AS72093 – E-100 Super Heavy Tank with Krupp Turret – German Army, 1946, Three-Tone Camouflage

AS72094 – T-80UK Main Battle Tank – 4th Guards “Kantemirovskaya” Tank Division, Russian Army, Open Day, 2017

Of note is the first item in the Company’s Fist of War series, a pseudo-scientific proprietary range that seems to meld off-the-shelf military technology with strange futuristic applications. As usual, the cache also contains more derivatives of the T-72/T-80/T-90 main battle tanks, a category that seems to remain at the heart of Modelcollect’s model building passion. And, rounding out the cache are three more WWII-era items: an E-100 super heavy tank, a German 128mm FlaK 40 anti-aircraft gun and finally a pair of Rheintochter Mobile Surface-to-Air Missiles. Great value at great prices!

While Modelcollect is hard at work developing all sorts of diecast military vehicles, they have also been diligently creating their own off-beat franchise known as Fist of War. Thus far, few details have emerged concerning the back story and its impact on the post WWII-themed world, although a a handful of vehicles have been shown to the public, which melds parts from their WWII range with spider-like leggings.

Earlier this week, the Company posted an interesting cache of blueprints which takes the series in a new direction, one which seems to tear a page out of the Mechwarrior universe as well as the “paper panzer” saga. Its not clear if all of the items published will be offered as pre-assembled replicas due to their size, complexity and likely higher cost vis a vis their traditional military range. Still, its nice to know that they are demonstrating their prowess as model builders and stoking the fires of ingenuity.   

What happens when you combine a modelmaker with a strong history of producing cutting edge military replicas with a science fiction back drop that no one has ever heard of? Apparently, you get Fist of War, a strange concoction of WWII-themed vehicles mated to over-sized, spider-like chassis with a pinch of Japanese Anime tossed in for added flavor. According to their Facebook page, sketches have been posted of skirt-attired, female Japanese soldiers that seem more at home in the weird Girls und Panzers universe than a WWII-inspired alternate reality. What they have to do with German weaponry is also anyone’s guess, another slice of sci-fi bolted on to makes things even more peculiar. It would have been nice if the Company had provided some sort of literature about the Fist of War universe to help us better understand what is going on before tackling the replicas, but I guess that would have been putting the cart before the horse, or is it the other way around?

Anyway, the first vehicle in the series – a modified E-75 heavy panzer – was uploaded to the Modelcollect web site earlier today, so we’ll let you be the judge of where these replicas should fit within the panoply of replicas we currently offer.  

In other news, we still do not know if Modelcollect plans to port its soon-to-be-released model kit of a P.1000 super heavy tank to the pre-assembled market. The Company has indicated that the model will come with seven different gun positions on the vehicle in addition to the mammoth main gun. They have also shown the kit in several configurations: one with a pair of Krupp 150mm main guns and the other with three smaller calibre main guns. A recent posting indicates that the vehicle will come with the following secondary armament:

Two (2) Kugelblitz 30mm flak guns
Two (2) Gerat 58 55mm guns
Two (2) FLaK 40 zwilling 128mm guns
Two (2) E100 flak 88 guns
Two (2) FLaK 40 128mm guns
Two Rheintochter 1 missiles

Given the amount of armament this thing will sport, its difficult to guess the ultimate size nor the final price of a fully built P.1000 super tank. We know a lot of people will shell out a lot of shekels for this beast, so we’ll wait and see how Modelcollect approaches this item in the weeks ahead.