Hobby Master

Product Spotlight: Another Prowler Trips the Alarm

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“Without question, the arrival of the EA-6B Prowler on the carrier deck established airborne electronic attack as an invaluable, ‘don’t leave home without it’ part of every Navy and Marine strike mission.”

– Rick Morgan, LCDR, USN (Ret.) and historian for the Prowler Association

With sales for their first EA-6B Prowler exceeding expectations, Hobby Master took the wraps off of their second iteration, which is painted in a subdued desert camouflage scheme. The next release, expected some time in August, depicts an electronics warfare aircraft from Electronic Attack Squadron 133 “Wizards”, when it was deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, during 2007 (HA5002).

Electronic Attack Squadron 133 (VAQ-133) is an EA-18G Growler squadron of the United States Navy based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington. Beginning in 2013, the squadron began the transition from the EA-6B to the Growler. Upon completion of the transition spring 2014, the Wizards returned to their attachment to Carrier Air Wing Nine. The squadron’s nickname is “Wizards” and its radio callsign is “Magic”.

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Electronic Attack Squadron 133 (VAQ-133) was established on March 4th, 1969, at Naval Air Station Alameda, California. The squadron originally flew the EKA-3B Skywarrior. In August 1971, the Wizards relocated to NAS Whidbey Island. Following this move, the squadron received and transitioned to the EA-6B Prowler.

Following the 2012-2013 deployment of Carrier Air Wing 9 onboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), VAQ-133 will be reassigned to Carrier Air Wing Eight based aboard the carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77). This reassign was originally slated to occur in January 2014 but changing operational requirements accelerated this reassignment until immediately after the end of the 2012-2013 deployment. As of mid-2014, VAQ-133 made a transition from the EA-6B to the Boeing EA-18G Growler.

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Product Spotlight” “MiG Mad Marine”

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“Ted and I flew together a lot,” Glenn recalls near the end of a chapter on Korea.”Ted flew about half his missions as my wingman. He was a fine pilot, and I liked to fly with him.”

– Major John “Old Magnet Ass” Glenn, recalling his days of flying with famed baseball player, Ted Williams, during the Korean Conflict

To round out this month’s product spotlight, we have this handsome North American F-86F Sabre jet, bearing the markings of “MiG Mad Marine”, the plan John Glenn flew over Korea during the 1950s era Korean Conflict (HA4312).

After WWII, Glenn was assigned to VMF-311, flying the new F9F Panther jet interceptor. He flew his Panther in 63 combat missions during the Korean War, gaining the dubious nickname “magnet ass” from his apparent ability to attract enemy flak. Twice he returned to base with over 250 flak holes in his aircraft. Glenn flew for a time with Ted Williams, a future hall of fame baseball player for the Boston Red Sox, as his wingman.

Glenn flew a second Korean combat tour on an inter-service exchange program with the United States Air Force. He logged 27 missions in the faster F-86F Sabre, and shot down three MiG-15s near the Yalu River in the final days before the cease fire.

On November 20th, 1951, squadron pilots received their new F-86 Sabre aircraft and went to face the Chinese, North Korean, and Soviet pilots in their MiG-15 aircraft. Major William T. Whisner Jr. got his fifth MiG kill on February 23rd, 1952, becoming an Ace.

When the 51st Group adopted a checkered design for its F-86 tail markings, it also received the designation “Checkertails”. The red squadron colors appeared in the design. Thus, the Assam Draggins of World War II became known as the “Checkertails” of the Korean War.

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Product Spotlight: Messerschmitts Over England

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“As England, in spite of her hopeless military situation, still shows no sign of willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare, and if necessary to carry out, a landing operation against her. The aim of this operation is to eliminate the English Motherland as a base from which the war against Germany can be continued, and, if necessary, to occupy the country completely.”

– Fuhrer Directive No. 16, announcing Unternehmen Seelowe (Operation Sea Lion), the invasion of England, July 16th, 1940

Its been an eventful few days. Not only have we received some of the latest 1:72 scale jets from Hobby Master but so too their first ever 1:48 scale Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, resplendant in an early war mottled grey camouflage scheme (HA8701).

Numerically the most abundant fighter produced by either side during WWII, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 formed the backbone of the Jagdwaffe on both the eastern and western fronts, as well as in the Mediterranean and North Africa. Of the eight distinct sub-types within the huge Bf 109 family, the most populous was the G-model, of which over 30,000 were built between 1941-45. Despite its production run, only a handful of genuine German Bf 109s have survived into the 1990s, and with the serious damaging of the RAFs G-2 at Duxford in October 1997, only the German-based MBB G-6 and Hans Ditte’s G-10 (both composites) are currently airworthy.

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Product Spotlight: (Tom) cat on a Hot Tin Roof

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“We sat at the end of the runway, our F-14’s GE-110 motors humming, awaiting our clearance to begin what would be the last F-14 Demonstration ever. The Air Boss’s voice crackled over the radio: “Tomcat Demo, you’re cleared to five miles and 15k feet. The air show box is yours.” At that very moment, I distinctly remember what my Commanding Officer told us before the show: “Fellas, make it memorable… just not too memorable!””

– Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) Lieutenant Commander Joe “Smokin” Ruzicka shortly before flying the last F-14 Demonstration flight, 2006

Our latest cache of military hardware includes this F-14 Tomcat, which bolted off the deck for its final time in 2006. The second in Hobby Master’s growing fleet of F-14 Fleet Defense Fighters, this beauty bears the insignia of VF-31 “Tomcatters”, and is painted in a stunning low-vis camouflage scheme intended to make it blend in with its nautical surroundings (HA5202).

The F-14 Tomcat program was initiated when it became obvious that the weight and maneuverability issues plaguing the U.S. Navy variant of the Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) (F-111B) would not be resolved to the Navy’s satisfaction. The Navy requirement was for a fleet air defense fighter (FADF) with the primary role of intercepting Soviet bombers before they could launch missiles against the carrier group. The Navy also wanted the aircraft to possess inherent air superiority characteristics. The Navy strenuously opposed the TFX, which incorporated the Air Force’s requirements for a low-level attack aircraft, fearing the compromises would cripple the aircraft, but were forced to participate in the program at direction of then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara who wanted “joint” solutions to the service aircraft needs to reduce developmental costs. The prior example of the F-4 Phantom which was a Navy program later adopted by the USAF (under similar direction) was the order of the day. Vice Admiral Thomas Connolly, DCNO for Air Warfare took the developmental F-111A for a flight and discovered it was unable to go supersonic and had poor landing characteristics. He later testified to Congress about his concerns against the official Department of the Navy position and in May 1968, Congress killed funding for the F-111B allowing the Navy to pursue an answer tailored to their requirements.

The F-14 first flew on December 21st, 1970, just 22 months after Grumman was awarded the contract, and reached Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in 1973. While the Marine Corps was interested in the F-14 and went so far as to send pilots to VF-124 to train as instructors, they were never fully sold on the aircraft and pulled out when the stores management system for ground attack munitions was left undeveloped, leaving the aircraft incapable of dropping air-to-ground munitions (these were later developed in the 1990s).

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Product Spotlight: There’s a Prowler on the Grounds

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– Rick Morgan, LCDR, USN (Ret.) and historian for the Prowler Association

They’re finally in. Hobby Master’s eagerly awaited inaugural EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare Aircraft (HA5001) is now vaulting from our deck and winging their way to everyone that ordered one.

The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, mid-wing electronic warfare aircraft derived from the A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6A was the initial electronic warfare version of the A-6 used by the United States Marine Corps in the 1960s. Development on the more advanced EA-6B began in 1966. An EA-6B aircrew consists of one pilot and three Electronic Countermeasures Officers, though it is not uncommon for only two ECMOs to be used on missions. It is capable of carrying and firing anti-radiation missiles (ARM), such as the AGM-88 HARM missile.

Prowler has been in service with the U.S. Armed Forces since 1971. It has carried out numerous missions for jamming enemy radar systems, and in gathering radio intelligence on those and other enemy air defense systems. From the 1998 retirement of the United States Air Force EF-111 Raven electronic warfare aircraft, the EA-6B was the only dedicated electronic warfare plane available for missions by the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps, and the United States Air Force until the fielding of the Navy’s EA-18G Growler in 2009. The last Navy deployment was over in November 2014, with the full withdrawal from US Navy service in early 2015.

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Hobby Master Makes a Forced Landing

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Looking to up their game in the face of rising competition, Hobby Master announced that they have rejiggered the landing gear for its expanding range of F-14 Tomcats so that they no longer show ribbing on either side of the undercarriage. The ribbing had originally been designed as a means of direct reinforcement to prevent potential collapse of the landing gear, but responding to collector concerns, a more refined version has been crafted that does away with the vertical ribs and makes the model look more realistic. Well done, Hobby Master!

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No Reason to Be Afraid of Hobby Master this October

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Responding to a call for action for more Vigilantes, A-10s, EA-6B Prowlers and what not, Hobby Master took the wraps off of their latest spate of products due out in October. Three of the models portray aircraft embarked on the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) during 1978, among them a Prowler assigned to VAQ-135 “Black Ravens”, and a pair of RA-5C Vigilante strike bombers attached to Reconnaissance Attack (Heavy) Squadron 6.

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Additionally, look forward to ogling a Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IXe that was piloted by the Israeli Air Force’s Ezer Weisman, as well as Colonel Francis Gabreski’s P47 Razorback Thunderbolt fighter. All of these new introductions have been posted to our web site and are available fro pre-order.

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Hobby Master: I think We Were Supposed to Make a Left Turn at Albuquerque

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Every time I make a driving mistake, I think back to the Bugs Bunny cartoon from the 60s, where he gets lost boring a tunnel searching for Pismo Beach and instead finds Aladdin’s treasure. Apparently the shipment containing the May cache of Hobby Master products must’ve followed suit, since it is now expected to reach our distributor next week. After they get it unloaded, we are now probably looking at taking delivery of our order sometime in mid-June. Sorry, but some times these things are beyond our control and appreciate your patience in the matter.

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On the plus side, we should be awash in Hobby Master releases throughout the month, since the June Hobby Master releases are slated to arrive at said distributor the third week of June. That is, barring any further driving mistakes, sun flares, comets passing through the solar system, etc. Often times it pays to make light of these types of mishaps. Getting worked up over it does no one any good and the anticipation caused by the delay tends to make their last mile delivery all the more worthwhile.

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Defending the Fleet: When Does Redundancy Cause More Harm than Good?

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Its Fleet Week here in New York City, an annual celebration where several US Navy warships sail into the harbor, drop anchor then permit the curious to board the ships and peek around. While the NYPD’s Harbor Patrol is tasked with protecting the ships from potential acts of terrorism, it seems as though several diecast model makers have taken it upon themselves to provide an extra layer of security by offering a growing pantheon of 1:72 scale F-14 Fleet Defense Fighters.

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Earlier this week, we discussed how newcomer Calibre Wings is kicking things off by offering two 1:72 scale exemplars of the venerable F-14 Tomcat. Earlier today, we learned that longtime modelmaker, Hobby Master, will be building models based upon the exact same schemes – one portraying VF-1 “Wolfpack” and the other VF-103 “Jolly Roger” – which will likely make it to market before the Calibre Wings offerings are cleared for takeoff. Keep in mind, we already have a long list of F-14s produced by Century Wings, as well as a couple of birds from True Scale Models, who managed to nab the Top Gun license to help sell their wares.

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Frankly, with so many other air frames to model, as well as loads of other squadrons to tap, the news that more of the same is falling on deaf ears, nothing more than a bid to steal the thunder from another modelmaking house. I’d like to think that somehow this type of one upsmanship should be left to the political scene, instead of muddying the waters in an increasingly crowded market where assets could be put to better use. Obviously, we wish them all well, and hope that every model produced sells like gangbusters, but all this duplication of effort does is create added inventory at the distributor and dealer level, and likely leads to discounted pricing to move inventory. The end user might like the temporary respite in pricing, but the distributor and dealer will have to think twice about bringing in new SKUs if this type of war for the collector’s wallet, continues unabated.

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When the Leaves Fall, Hobby Master Flies High this Autumn

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Hobby Master is continuing to push forward its “jet-centric” approach by announcing a litany of modern era diecast military aircraft this fall. While several aircraft were previously announced, the new warbirds include two takes on the soon-to-be-released MiG 23 Flogger – one flown by the Lybian Air Force during the 1989 Gulf of Sidra Incident (HA5302) and a second in Russian livery but flown by the USAF’s 4477th Test Squadron at Tonopah, Nevada (HA5303) to determine its flight characteristics.

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Also up for consideration is one of the F-14s that tangled with the Lybian MiGs during the same crisis (HA5206), another look at the F-22 Raptor (HA2815), a third take on the S-3 Viking Anti-Submarine Aircraft (HA4903), and a 1:48 scale model of Adolf Galland’s Messerschmitt Bf-109E3 fighter. These and other new introductions have now been added to our May 2016 New Additions section.

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