According to a post on the Diecast Hangar Pub forum, a prominent UK distributor is indicating that Unimax, the makers of the Forces of Valor range of military vehicles, aircraft and warships, are throwing in the towel and calling it quits, at least as far as military diecast is concerned. They claim that the manufacturer has cancelled all of their upcoming projects slated for 2015, instead of postponing them indefinitely as had been rumored. Recently, Unimax had closed their North American distribution arm and sold off all of their inventory to a US distributor.
If true, this marks a particularly sad state of affairs for collectors, who were expecting a number of key items for several months running. Moreover, the departure of another long time stalwart in the diecast military space represents a nod to some of the manufacturers who have gained market share either by offering untapped subject matter, cheaper items, other scales, or a combination of all three mitigating factors.
Please note that we have yet to confirm these findings with our North American distributor so the information provided could still be sketchy. For further information, please review this thread:
http://tdhp.fr.yuku.com/topic/19329/Re-FOV-items-Cancelled-totally?page=-1#.VLUoOXsYNM4
Update: In early January, our distributor informed us that the list of product originally slated for release was nixed by the manufacturer in favor of a new group of items. It is now February, with the Nuremberg Toy Fair behind us, and we are of the opinion that Unimax has withdrawn from the marketplace, perhaps permanently. We hope it isn’t true but at this point fear the worst.
I hope they stay in business. They have a very good array of vehicles.I’d like to see them do more in the 1/72 range of vehicles. Also for their naval series I’d like to see them add crusiers,destroyers,frigates,submarines as well as amphious ships.
Forces of Valor is a great line of vehicles.I first saw FOV vehicles at Target when I started working there in 2007.I wish they had a larger selection of vehicles like Dragon models particularly in the 1/72 as well a 1/144 scale.I hope they stay in business.