Even in the July, summer time edition of the Special Hobby Newsletter, we simply have to reflect on the Putin aggression against Ukraine and so we are introducing several more anti-tank weapons into our range, namely the 3D-printed, 1/35 scale FGM-148 Javelin Anti-Tank Missile and NLAW Anti-Tank Missile kits. We do believe they will sell like hot cakes, modellers are obviously following the conflict in Ukraine. The Ukrainian NLAW-armed Tank Hunter figure announced a month ago in the June edition sold as fast as no other of our 1/35 figures.
Among the July models now you are going to find the delayed 1/72 Junkers Ju 87D-5/N Stuka and 1/48 L-4 Grasshopper as well as the 1/32 Hi-Tech AH-1G Cobra in the US Marines and Navy guise and the quarterscale Reggiane Re.2000GA/Serie III. The resin sets to get available this month cover the L-4 Grasshopper wheel set (for which model the pre-cut masks are already on the shop shelves and the detail engine set is being prepared), then the 1/48 Beaufighter and B-25 Mitchell wheel sets and the final, fourth set designed for the CL-13 in the same scale, plus a figures set portraying a 1/72 Finnish pilot with a mechanic.
Unless something unexpected happens, we believe we are going to meet many of our customers and friends, not just those from the States, at the IPMS Omaha at the end of July. We have not seen them for almost three years now so we are really very much looking forward to meeting with them in person there. In the US, we are going to showcase our upcoming models, too, those which as we believe will hit the market in the second half of 2022. These will be the 1/48 scale SH48219 Bugatti 100 Racer, SH48217 Aero C-3B (the Czechoslovak version of the Siebel Si 204E), SH48200 NC.701 Martinet (which was the French version of the Si 204B with domestic engines and propellers), the improved release of the SH48210 Heinkel He 177 Greif with some new parts. In 1/32 scale, we are most likely going to have just one new model for this Autumn, the SH32083 Fiat G.50B Bicomando. The 1/72 scale will see the release of the long-expected Mirage IIIC, SH72450 AT-6C/D & SNJ-3/3C Texan ‘Training to Win’ – a limited release of the Texan covering USAAF and US/Navy/Marines schemes as flown during WW2 and a few more reeditions of some of our quite successful models. So, what else to say, we believe you have a wonderful Autumn ahead of you filled with plenty of models produced by us for you.
A. Riedel