We’ve been pestering Waltersons, the owners of the Forces of Valor brand, for months on end regarding what they planned to do with their range of military vehicles, warships and aircraft. Typically, we take things at face value, but when it comes to this manufacturer, they seem content to leave people guessing, particularly after their acquisition of Greenlight Collectibles a couple of years ago.
This week, at the Chinese Hobby Show held in Beijing, images surfaced that show the manufacturer hasn’t closed up as has been rumored for several months. While nothing in the way of new tooling was put on display, the photos are indeed encouraging, and demonstrate — at least on paper — that they are still in the diecast game even though they are leveraging old tooling to see them through for the foreseeable future.
The photos show several older 1:32 scale military vehicles getting a new coat of paint, insignia and updated markings, along with supposedly a new Sherman tank that is based upon Creighton Abrams’ “Thunderbolt”. It remains to be seen if any of these vehicles will be made available to retailers such as ourselves or if the manufacturer has decided to go it alone by selling these vehicles.through their own web site. We hope to have more information shortly, provided the manufacturer is ready to open up about their future plans. For now, we wont’ list them on our web site unless we know for sure that we can sell them, and do so by having hard-and-fast information at-hand.
Forgive me if I sound jaded and a bit put off, but trying to provide our clientele with accurate information is exceedingly difficult, not just because of the tariff situation but because this manufacturer seems as if they are doing thngs on a lark instead of attempting to appease both their dealers and clientele who have stood by them for years. In our case, we basically put them on the map after running all sorts of print advertisements talking up the line. Its a bittersweet way to say thank you when others rode our coattails for year’s on end.
Update: Now that the Beijing Hobby Show has concluded, we asked Waltersons about the “new’ish” vehicles shown above, wondering if they had pricing and dates of availability information at hand. Oddly, nothing was provided, other than to say they are expected later this year. So, it’s your guess as good as ours when these 1:32 scale tanks are coming out, their price and whether or not they will be made available to retailers such as ourselves. I’m not certain why a manufacturer would display product at a show then remain mum concerning further details. It could have to do with the Trump tariffs, which are still in limbo, or it could have nothing to do with any valued added taxes applied to product coming out of China. Its a strange situation nonetheless, and one they need to address if they plan to remain a viable “force” in the military diecast business.
