HBM Newsletter Winter-Spring 2003       Back to Main Page

This Newsletter is being written in March of 2003. Ron and Louise are feeling much healthier, but we still have a lot of illness and life problems among our HBM colleagues and their families. We think we can be fully back on track later this year.
Important - change of email address. Please go to your computer's mail program or address book and change our email address to ron.crawford@adelphia.net. We have not moved physically and our postal address is unchanged . We have just changed to a different Internet Service Provider (ISP). As a tip, the broadband cable and dedicated phone line connections are a huge improvement over dial-up systems. Our old email address, rlcraw@together.net, will be valid until the end of March.

Another important change is the addition of Paypal to our payment options. For US collectors this is mainly a convenience issue. It will allow you to use your credit card or Paypal account to credit our Paypal account. Overseas collectors who have access to Sterling, Euros, Yen, or Canadian dollar accounts will be able to have payments credited in US dollars at extremely low cost. Paypal is an eBay operation. You can read up on it at www.paypal.com or you can enter through any eBay portal. When you wish to make a payment, just use our email address and Paypal will make the arrangements. The account is the same as our new email address ron.crawford@adelphia.net.

In April, we will be updating the HBM web site. If you have not yet visited it, go to www.luft46.com . At the bottom of the welcome page, just click on the HBM Models icon. We are finally getting around to a draft of the catalog that focuses just on the WWII types and selected ranges which we will be continuing. Everything else will eventually go onto a sale page that will sell off the remaining deleted items. While you are on the web site, check out the other Luft46 pages. Notably the great sections by Dan Johnson on the Luftwaffe project aircraft that might have become operational if the war had extended into 1946-47. Dan and his colleagues work with model photography and digital imagery is really super.

Also getting an update is the HBM Checklist. We have cleaned up the listings, added in new issues, and eliminated models that are duplicated or not going to appear in designated sets. The latter are moved to a combined file of deleted models . That alone will save us big chunks of time. We will do an email distribution of that in April.

Horn-blowing department. Without making too much of a fuss about it nicely painted examples of our models are already garnering good to shocking prices on Internet auctions. A somewhat more disturbing trend is seeing more and more of our models, X-Models, and Hauk and Hai models offered as Wiking models, especially on the German eBay. This is not an innocent mistake.

There are 8 New HBM Models in the Winter series just released.

Forthcoming HBM models are going to remain focused on completing the WWII
sets.  The Lockheed Hudson, Petyakolev Pe-8 (TB-7). Northrop N3-PB, Convair
YB-60, and Blohm und Voss 138 are already in casting, and close to a dozen
additional types are just about ready for casting. Look for the next  series
to be released about  the end of June.

HBM, VK,  and X-Models Recastings.  Here are the latest recasted models..
These are all first-come-first-served. If we break even on these we will
make  another set in the spring. If you have any of these on your wants
list, we will be mailing those  in late February.

019                 FIAT G.55 Centauro    5.00          .

035                 Reggiane Re 2005 Sagitattario  5.00         

048                 Bloch l74         7.50

053                 Reggiane Re-2000 Falco        5.00

054                 Loire-Nieuport LN 401           5.50

064                 FIAT CR.42 Falco  5.00

085                 Centre 223                 14.00

478            Lockheed "Have Blue" prototype            6.00

500            Daimler Benz Projekt B                38.00


X-6   F8F Bearcat                        8.00

X-8   F7F Tigercat                                  10.00

X-23   Do 335A                          9.00

X-25   Go 244                                    15.00

X-26   Go 242                                    15.00

X-28   Do 335B                                 9.00


VK                 Focke-Wulf Ta 183           6.00

VK                 Consol. B-24D Liberator                 13.00

VK                 Grumman TBF Avenger    7.00

VK                 Nakajima Nate   6.00

VK                 Mitsubishi  Claude   6.00

Please check your wants lists. We are sending those back with current bills
for your additions, deletions, and comments. Please return those to us so we
can be sure that our  back-orders reflect your actual wants.

Price list for new HBM models.

741     Hawker Typhoon 1A (Car door)   6.00

801     PZL Sum          7.00

809     Chetverikov ARK-3  11.00

811     Aichi ³Jake²   8.50

812    Mitsubishi ³Pete²      8.00

813    Nakajima  ³Tojo²     6.00

814   Mitsubishi Zeke 32 ³Hamp²   6.00

816    LeO 246        14.00

Ron¹s wants list.  We are looking for a salvageable  Fredy Martin Schulz
(FMS) model of the Latecoere 521/523. Either built-up or buildable would be
OK.

Close enough to 1/200 are some rather nice 1/192 scale ship models we have
encountered. JD Products has very nicely casted models of the Ohio, Seawolf,
and Virginia classes of nuclear submarines, and should have 2-3 versions of
the 688 Class out by now. They also have a great SSN decal sheet and other
useful fittings. Try jdproduct.com.   Silent Thunder  Models is offering
display models of the 212 (Gato) Class US Fleet Submarine of WWII, along
with a Virginia Class, Fletcher Class DD, and Liberty Ship. These are fully
finished models in mahogany with metal  small parts, made in the Philipines.
Check availability before sending payments, however.

We keep receiving inquiries about suitable figures for posing with 1/200
aircraft. For scale fidelity and variety you really cannot beat the bulk
unfinished figure packages from Preiser. You can order the Z-Scale (1/220)
or actual 1/200 ­ the latter made for architectural models. Helmet and
Mercator also have some nice figures in a true 1/200. Watch your step when
ordering wargaming models for 1/200 use. For reference, the most popular are
10mm, which is 1/160 or N Scale. Those are often superb but much too large
for 1/200 use as anything but  statues in the park. Most are also larger
than 10mm. The bulk of figures labeled as 1:200 are actually much closer to
a true 10mm.  1/300 figures also typically run a size large, but that often
makes them quite usable with 1/200 planes and vehicles.  Could one of the
wargamer readers give us an update?

We are also looking for a firm which can do photo-etching for us. We have
artwork for such gems as a Bachem Natter launching tower,  V-1 launching
rails, and fine details for the armored trains and Dora RR gun, but we need
a reliable and not too costly sub-contractor.

EBay Warnings.  We have  used eBay for several years to add occasional
models and books to our collection.  Several developments are seriously
reducing the utility of buying and selling on eBay. First is just the sheer
mass of real junk that one must wade thru to find the occasional
³treasure². Since the stuff keeps appearing, one must assume that PT Barnum
was right.  We are more concerned by finding that  a lot of the merchandise
offered is now not even in the hands of the sellers. Instead the sellers may
wait until they have your payment before ordering from their distributors.
Further, a number of the ostensibly domestic sellers are clearly operating
from offshore, notably in Russia and other Soviet states.

That¹s about all the news of the One True Scale for now. Happy collecting!