Bobe's Hobby House
5719 North "W" Street, Pensacola, FL 32505

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New Announcements for 2003-4!!!

Greetings from sunny Florida! I hope things are going well for all of you out there. I've been telling a few people I would write something up about new release announcements for this year. Before I get into that, here are a couple of disclaimers. I have not put any release dates down, as they are usually far from right, even in those few cases where they are given. Also, please don't blame me for typos that make things different. I am at the mercy of my sources, some of whom don't always get it right! This is only a list of highlights, as I see it. Your interests may differ. For the full list, check my website (www.bobeshobbyhouse.com). Now, on to the fun part!

I'll start with Divine Scale Armor (1/72 and thereabout). Ace is continuing to release a ton of Soviet subjects, including BMD's, BMP's, BTR's, and a PT-76. Attack continues to release odd German subjects with a sIG 33 auf Hetzer and a Grille Ausf M. Eduard has hooked up with Extra Tech to release in resin an Achilles IIc, an M10, and an M-36. Emhar continues their WWI line with the Whippet. Heller hits the market with a scaled down version of their VAB French Armored Car. Italeri continues to re-release old ESCI molds with the M113, M48, Opel Blitz, Elefant, and Valentine among others. Mach 2, the always overpriced French company, will release a German Armored Train. Mirage continues to pour on the oddball Eastern European subjects in as many variants as possible with more T-26's. Panda is a new Chinese company, distributed by DML. Their first 1/72 announcements sound pretty good. They include the Elefant and Ferdinand, and series of Hummers, LAV's, M109's, and M113's. Look for more on Panda in other sections. PST continues to hit the Soviet subjects with a PT-76, T-10's, T-55's, and more. Revell Germany's most interesting announcement in this section is a Leopard Bridgelayer. Roden will release their first small armor with a series of German Armored Cars, the SdKfz 231, 232, 233, and 263. Trumpeter will also venture into this genre with a FAMO, Elefant & Ferdinand, King Tiger, and T-34/85. Unimodel is releasing a series of Soviet armor as well with a ZSU-37, T-34's and more. JB Models has announced a Landrover Ambulance. Finally in this section are resin kits from Planet Models, including a FAMO, M977 series, and the M26 Dragon Wagon!

In a closely related field, there are lots of new releases coming in 1/72 figures as well. HaT continues to release lots of neat oddball figures from ancient and Napoleonic times. Imex has announced a bunch of new figures including their first WWII figures. They also have announced figures from the Korean War, Pancho Villa, Pilgrims, Lewis & Clark, and a Wagon Train. Italeri is re-issuing a number of old ESCI figures, as well as new figures in the American Revolution period, Gladiators, and more Napoleonics. Strelets is a relatively new entrant, announcing 100 years war figures for both Joan of Arc and Henry V, as well as the Scots army of William Wallace. Zvezda continues their line with a Greek Trireme, Siege Towers, War Elephants, Russian Napoleonics, and Samurai Infantry and Cavalry.

While we are on 1/72 scale, let's go ahead and cover the aircraft. A Model continues to release very interesting and bizarre subjects. The highlights for me were the Christen Eagle I & II. Academy has announced an F-8 and P-38. Airfix continues to reissue some of it's classic kits. AML has a series of P-40B and C's announced along with more. Everybody knows about Amtech's line of Ju 88's, but they are also re-releasing the old AMT B-52! Azur has lots of French subjects coming out, but as the French aren't so popular right now, I'll skip ahead. Eduard continues to have great announcements like a DH-2, Albatros D III's, Hanriots, a Ki-43, a SPAD XIII, and a MiG 15bis! Hasegawa has yet to announce anything beyond the B-25. Italeri has among it's announcements an SM 79, and an FW 189. MPM has tons of announcements among which are A-20's, F9C Sparrowhawk, Lockheed Vegas, a TBD Devastator, XP-67 Moonbat, a Sea Hornet, P-26, P-59 and more. Panda leaps onto the 1/72 A/C scene with C-17's, Predator & F45 Drones, and Tu-22's. a Stearman, and a TBY-2 Sea Wolf have been announced by Pavla. PM has not been very prolific, but have announced a Lippisch P13a. Revell Germany continues big subjects with the Dassault Breguet Atlantic and the Ju 290. Roden has more WWI releases announced including Sopwith Camels, a DH-9, and an F2B. Special Hobby has the non-sea version of the DeHavilland Hornet, Bristol Beauforts, a PT-26, an IA-58 Pucara and much more. Sword is scaling down their Taylorcraft Auster Mk III. And a personal favorite announcement is Planet Models resin Hamilcar Glider. Now I finally have something to do with my Tetrarch Tank!

Now let's drop down to 1/144 scale aircraft, a growing area of popularity again. Eduard has apparently announced a series of Ju 87 Stukas in this small size. Minicraft continues the airliner/Cargo onslaught with a C-54. Trumpeter chimes in with a Mavis flying boat. But the real news here again is Panda. They have announced series of C-130's, F-18E/F's, F-22's, and E-2 Hawkeyes!

Let's bump up the scale to 1/48, arguably the most popular scale. Airfix has announced a series of kits of the Bae Hawk. These are apparently all new toolings, and look like some neat color schemes. AML will release a North American O-47. Everbody has heard about Amtech's new P-61 series, but they also have announced a XP-47H and a XP-72. Still don't know what the new Luftwaffe 46 release is yet. Azur will get into 1/48 scale with a Loire 130 and a Potez 631.Blue Max has some interesting new WWI kits announced, but they're still priced too high. Classic Airframes continues to pick neat subjects. Jules will be retooling a few old subjects along with new Beauforts, Vampires, a Barracuda, a Meteor F8, the hawker Hart family, and Ro 37's. DML has announced it's first new plane in a while, an Me 262 Mistel. Eduard has announced Albatros D V's, W4's, Se-5's, and Sopwith Camels. Flashback will be doing the Macchi M5 Flying Boat. Fonderie Minature from France has announced some biggies. Included are a Do-24T, Martin Maryland, Short Sunderland, Sikorsky R-5's and an H-21 Flying Banana. Grand Phoenix (read Aeromaster) will release the FJ-4B Fury, along with still secret projects. Hasegawa's F-8 is finally hitting shelves, but no word on what's next. HiPM, or Historic Plastic Models, has announced a Heinkel 70 & 170, and a FW 56 Stosser. Hobbycraft finally released their P-59, so maybe this year we will see the F9F series, the Super Corsairs, and or the Canadian Tutor. Italeri is releasing an SH-60 Seahawk along with some ESCI reissues. Minicraft and Sword have both announced new T-38 kits. Mirage has on schedule for this year a series of PZL-23 Karas and F4F Wildcats, and supposedly for next year B-17's and more. MPM will get back into 1/48 with a Fa 223 Drache, Heinkel He 59, and a DFS 230. Special Hobby, who is related to MPM has also announced the DFS 230, as well as a Mistel version. Revell Monogram and Revell Germany are mostly reissuing classics like the B-25, B-26, B-24D, B-29, and the TBD, but have also announced a new F-18E. Roden will follow up on their Gladiators with an OV-1 Mohawk, and Se 5. Trumpeter has a long well known list including the Be-6 Madge, P-40B, F-18E/F, SM79, and Wellington. Probably the biggest news I have in this scale is from Tamiya. According to Replic magazine (which has actually been a pretty good source for Tamiya news) they will announce a B-17 and a F-18E as well as the expected P-47 Bubbletop.

Let's go ahead and jump to big planes while we are talking about big announcements. In the biggest scale, 1/24, the news is almost all Trumpeter, with their Zero and Bf 109G announced for release. But Airfix will also reissue their Harrier. In 1/32 is where all the big news is. Most of you have seen that Trumpeter announced a long list of 1/32 releases includingP-40's, F4F's, an FW 190D, TBF/M's, A-7, AV-8B, MiG 3, F-100, P-38, F-105's, Su-27, and F4U's. But there are other new players as well. Academy's F-18C is about to hit the market finally, and Hasegawa has announced a newly tooled Fw 190D-9. From France, Battle Axe announced a Fokker E III, and Azur will release their first item in this scale, a D520. Hi Tech also gets into it with an Albatros D V. Revell Germany will reissue the old P-38. In new players, Pegasus USA, best known for lowrider rims will release a Spirit of St. Louis, which by all accounts looks great. And we come to Panda again. They have the biggest announements in this scale, both figuratively and literally! They have the requisite TBF/M, P-51D, P-47D, and F-18C/D, but how about a B-17F/G in 1/32!!! They also will release a series of CH-47's in 1/35 along with a series of EH-101, PAH-2, RAH-66, and UH-1N helos. Rotorheads will also remember that Trumpeter announced Mi-4, Mi-8/17, and Mi-24's. Italeri and Academy will release more H-60 variants.

While we are in 1/35, let's talk about armor. Academy will release more M151 variants, along with the M10 late, M36, and M728 Engineer Vehicle. They will also release a WWII Machine Gun set. AFV Club had some interesting announcements including the FH18 in both 105 and 150mm variants, the M3A3 Stuart, an M40, and a M4A3E8 HVSS. Alan will bring out a Bison I. DML will follow up on the beautiful Karl mortar with a Leopold Rail gun, and T-34/76's. Emhar continues in WWI with a Mk V heavy tank, and a scaling up of their 1/72 soft plastic figures into 1/35. Fonderie Miniature has a British Landing Craft announced. Italeri will reissue the M24 again, along with a DUKW with a 105, an M1A2, and an Afrika Korps VW Beetle. Roden gets into 1/35 with a Soviet BMD-1. Not much news from Tamiya at the moment, but they will release some reissues with Eduard parts, and the Krupp Protze with a 37mm gun. Panda will launch into 1/35 with a series of British CVR's and a Leopard A6. Trumpeter still has the biggest kits, with a Karl (No I don't know if it's the same as DML's), the Rail transporter for the Karl, a K5E Rail Gun (Leopold), DF-21 Ballistic Missile, SA-2 Guideline Missiles, and a FAUN Elefant Tank Transporter.

Last, but not least, let's finish with ships. An Apology to the car guys, because I just don't know enough to cover those releases very well. Anyway, back to sea. In 1/350 DML continues it's DDG series with the USS Kidd. Trumpeter will launch a Liberty Ship, the Carriers Essex, Lexington (CV-2), Nimitz, and Saratoga, and a Soviet Kuznetsov in the same 1/350 scale. While in that size, let's talk again about Panda. I don't know if there is any relation to Trumpeter, but they have announced a somewhat similar list of DDG's, a Soviet Sovremenny, and the carriers Essex, Intrepid, Stennis, Lexington (CV-16), Ticonderoga, and Washington. Dropping down to 1/700 scale, there is the The Battleship Arizona, the HMS Ark Royal, and the USS Mobile Bay from DML, and the Bismarck and Tirpitz from Trumpeter. AFV Club announced a U Boat Type XXI. Hasegawa announced the Heianmar Submarine Depot Ship, and Tamiya announced the heavy cruisers Suzuya, and Mikuma. And finally the biggest ship announcement is from Revell Germany, with their 1/72 scale U Boat Type VIIC!

As you can see, it looks to be a busy year. And there is still the Japanese Hobby Show to come in May! I hope to see you all at the Nationals this summer, or come down and visit the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, and drop in to see me while you're at it. Well, now it's time to stop drooling and go build something. Make room in your closet for all this cool new stuff!
Thanks,
Mike Bobe
Bobe's Hobby House
www.bobeshobbyhouse.com

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