Small Scale Military Headquarters

There are reports that the old Franklin Mint 1:48th scale toolings will be the basis for a new line of diecast aircraft models under the "Air Force One" label. This may also include a few newbies, like a Mig-21. I assume that we are talking about new schemes, but this is, as yet, unknown. Whether a U.S. distributor has picked up this line is also unknown, though this seems likely. More, as new info is available.

That would be really cool. I would love to have a B-17 or a ju-52 or a He-111 I could keep going and going.

Greetings:

Interesting news to say the least. I had seen this mentioned on another forum as well.

I wonder what molds the new company actually has. The reason I say this is because I had heard from a very reliable source that a number of the molds were destroyed in addition to some being seized. So I am not sure if the models do come back that it will be the full lineup as it was previously.

Also hoping they correct some of the issues with the older molds. Some of them had bizarre problems. My favorite was the F-18 in the Blue Angels colors with the wingtip missiles, totally inaccurate. I would also hope they switch to the tampo graphics. I know you see many Franklin Mint planes with issues due to the fact they used decals on some of their models. The Blue Angels Hornet and Thunderbirds F-16 were two of the ones that had the most issues of all. The weird thing about the Franklin Mint was they could never get it quite right. I had high hopes when they had bought the Armour/CDC line (which was where many of the original molds came from) but it really never got better. They were decent models for their time though but quite expensive.

It will be interesting to see what develops out of this. If the new company can get the quality right and update the molds they could be a great competitor to Hobby Master. With Hobby Master faltering a bit, this could be a time for a new company to take a shot at the market.

Corey

That would be interesting for sure.

Lots of rumours surrounding Franklin Mint, and their molds, so who knows.

Have a number of these myself, and they are pretty heavy. Mostly metal, and the bigger ones { twin bombers, B-17 etc} have quite a presence.

Given the cost of models these days, think any new 1/48 in almost all metal, would be fairly expensive.

And not sure what molds they would have.

What I heard from a very reliable source is that one of the Chinese manufacturing companies that produced Franklin Mint and Carousel 1 planes was seized for not paying taxes. All of the equipment (including the molds) were either sold off at auction to other manufacturers or sold as scrap. My understanding is that all of Carousel 1's molds were lost to the scrap yard as were many of the Franklin Mint molds. I don't know which ones though.

I do know that Franklin Mint, like Corgi used multiple factories to produce planes so hopefully not too many were lost.

A return of the Franklin Mint designs would be cool, but based on some of the comments above, I'll believe it when I see it. I recently purchased a few of the 1:48 scale WWII medium bombers: B-25, B-26, and HE-111. The HE-111 and B-26 are quite nice; the B-25 a bit more simplistic. There was quite a bit of diecast in the models, save for the HE-111 that had more plastic than I thought it should.

I agree with Coreyeagle48 that the Armour Collection/Franklin Mint line (AC/FM) left much to be desired, particularly for their price points. It seems to me their earliest attempts, which were all single seat WW II fighters, were the worst. Some ,such as the Bf-109 F/G, the P-51D, and the P-40E/N, had grossly-visible errors . All their early model planes were missing important bells and whistles such as antennas and pitot tubes. As time went on, their models improved somewhat. Their WWII bombers and jets were pretty accurate,IMHO, although some, such as the B-17, had wing dihedral issues. That said, it makes me sick to hear that many of the molds were lost in China, just as what happened with 21st Century Toys. I wish that military model makers would take a good hard look at bringing their manufacturing back to the United States. Wages, particularly in the South, are stable, and you don't have to worry about travelling back and forth to China, cultural and language misunderstandings, polital and economic instability etc. If give the chance, Americans can produce quality stuff. Growing up in the fifties, my toys were all American-made, and were extremely high quality. They were built like brick.....ahem, exterior bathrooms!

Some additional info on this line via Captain Tiger on the DHP. A partial list of FM molds that will be used includes the P-40, B-17, Eurofighter, F-117, F-15 and A-10, with more also to come. New molds made by the same factory for its own customers----presumably in Chinses liveries----will be added later. These include the Mig-15, Mig-19, Mig-21 and Mig-29, plus the Su-27 and SU-30. Also, some Chinese designed jets will be part of the package.

More info trickling in from the Nuremberg Toy Fair indicate that this new line will also include a number of 1:72nd scale models ------several F-16s and F-35s plus an Osprey, for example, along with a group of 1:60th scale mostly Chinese jets and a bunch of helicopters. It seems like a strange mix of selections, cobbled together from existing molds as well as a few new toolings.

That's interesting they are doing a V-22 Osprey.
Are they trying to get the jump on Forces of Valor V-22 announced also at Nuremberg?

No 1/32? I'd love to see a fresh face in this scale...

To be honest, I am puzzled by this whole operation and the apparent lack of distributors, except for one handling the UK market. If I were launching a new diecast warbird line there are many other birds, besides the Osprey, which I'd be considering----especially with FOV doing one. Also, why are so many supposedly "new" toolings being unveiled at the outset? Finally, why aren't there more realistic schemes for the interesting jets like the Mig-17, Mig-19 and Mig-21? Or are they merely creating a line out of a stock of surplus models?

Is this confirned or still a rumor? The FM prices are much less than before, this would explain why.

I have not heard anything new about this venture. I assume that whomever is in charge is trying to line up distributors in the US so I've been watching the leading online vendors for any signs that the new hybrid line is actually coming to pass. As explained, above, it's only based on a selection of CDC Armour/FM toolings augmented by existing Chinese made diecast jet models, featuring Chinese schemes and markings. We shall see.

I'm a huge FM collector. I love the big bombers and such. I'm only missing one or two of the B-17 paint variants they made. I think i need Shady Lady and the Fire Rescue one. I hope to finish those up in a few years. They have gotten quite hard to find at a reasonable price.

If anyone finds links to images or a list of planes being made please post them!