News from Special Hobby 02/2025

Dear business friends,   The International Toy and Model Fair in Nuremberg is over. We would like to thank all business partners who visited us at our stand. We hope that everyone got home safely, as some traveled all the way from the antipodes. We take positive impressions from all business meetings and we believe that they will be reflected in the orders for our products. There was a really big interest in them. The biggest stars were the 1/72 Kriegsfischkutter and the 1/32 AH-1Q/S Cobra. While we are finishing the 1/72 KFK and will launch it on the market in April, the 1/32 AH-1Q/S Cobra is already packaged and is one of the February new releases. But we are planning much more new models for this year. For May, on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, we are preparing the first two boxings of the long-awaited Mosquito with Merlin engines with two-stage compressors. We are also preparing interesting reissues of kits, the return of which is in demand by both our business partners and modellers. The sprues are currently being injected and the return of the 1/32 kit SH32081 X-15A-2 ‘White Ablative Coating’ is being prepared. A new boxing of the 1/72 Vickers Wellington Mk.IC or 1/48 SF260 (upcoming kit SH48215) is also in preparation. This is only a small part of the kits in preparation. The list of upcoming kits, planned up to August, is part of this newsletter. But that is the future of the next few months. Current models and sets are important. You can find them in this February newsletter. We look forward to your orders. A.Riedel SPECIAL HOBBY PLASTIC MODEL KITS

AH-1Q/S Cobra ‘Tank Hunter’ 1/32 Art.no. Scale Barcode 100-SH32090 1/32 8595593131856 World’s first dedicated ground attack helicopter, the AH-1G Cobra was combat deployed in the Vietnam war. In Europe, the need was rather for a specialised anti-tank machine which led to the development of the Q/S version of the Cobra, armed with anti-tank missiles.     ICM’s 1/32 AH-1G Cobra styrene parts are accompanied with our own new grey plastic parts, clear canopy parts, one resin part and a sheet of decals to turn the older G version into the Q/S anti tank helicopter. The decal sheet contains markings for machines of three operators, the US Army, Turkish military and the Israeli air force. The kit comes in limited release only. -    the AH-1Q/S version has never been produced before in 1/32 scale -    limited release -    interesting schemes Read more

Percival P.66 Pembroke C.1  1/72 Art.no. Scale Barcode 100-SH72524 1/72 8595593132297 Re-release of  the Pembroke twin engine transport that was in service with British military from the 1950s to 1980s and so the Pembrokes flew in a wide variety of colour schemes.  The current reboxing has a new sheet of decals catering for four colour schemes one of which was also flown by an excellent Czechoslovak pilot Ferdinand Kepka. -    limited release -    interesting colour schemes Read more

Fairey Barracuda Mk.II “Home Fleet”  1/72 Art.no. Scale Barcode 100-SH72306 1/72 8594071085568    Re-release of already sold out 1/72 Barracuda model. The kit contains three grey styrene sprues and one with clear parts. The decals cover two machines as operated in the Atlantic, one of which carrying a nose art. Our Barracuda offers the option to display it with either an underbelly torpedo or a 1600lb bomb. The kit also contains the underwing armament pylons.    The shoulder-wing Barracuda aircraft was fitted with large Youngman-type wing flaps at aft of the wing trailing edge, it had an unusually looking "L" shaped main undercarriage legs retracted to the fuselage sides and was capable to attack enemy ships using the carried torpedo or bomb armament, which could be dropped both from a level flight or a dive of up to 70degrees. The Barracuda was fitted with an ASV IIN radar and was also used for long range reconnaissance missions. Even though originally designed as torpedo bomber, torpedoes were used only on limited occasions in the Norwegian waters. Barracudas were mainly seen as dive bombers and took part in the Italy landing, several attack sorties on the Tirpitz (at first using the US-made AP 1600lb bombs).  Until the end of the war in Europe, Barracudas kept attacking German shipping in the Norwegian waters from both ground bases and aircraft carriers and they also carried out anti-submarine operations.   -    re-release of a long time sold out model kit -    also available – flying crew and ground personnel figures F72326 a F72330 Read more

RESIN MODEL KITS & SETS

Zündapp KS 750 Headlights, drawbar and other improvements 1/35 / for Academy kit Art.no. Scale Barcode 129-P35037 1/35 8595593132389 The headlight is offered both with and without its blackout sleeve, it comes with a clear glass part missing in the original kit. Besides these, the set also offer a towbar and other smaller items which all give your Zündapp much nicer details. Read more

Panzer I ausf.B Headlight and Jack 1/35 / for Academy kit Art.no. Scale Barcode 129-P35039 1/35 8595593132396 The headlight is offered both with and without its blackout sleeve, it comes with a clear glass part missing in the original kit also with the jack proper for this weight category of Wehrmacht’s military vehicles. Read more

Aermacchi MB-326 Control Surfaces 1/48 / for Italeri kit Art.no. Scale Barcode 129-4492 1/48 8595593132457 Separate control surfaces made for Italeri model kit featuring the Italian MB-326 trainer aircraft that was flown by many air forces world wide. Read more

P-38L/J Lightning Flaps 1/72 / for Academy kit Art.no. Scale Barcode 129-P72038 1/72 8595593132488 Deployed wing flaps and adjacent wing internal structure for P-38J/L kits, made using direct 3D print. Read more

P-40E Warhawk/Kittyhawk Gun Cine Camera (2 pcs.) / for Eduard and other P-40E kits Art.no. Scale Barcode 129-P48026 1/48 8595593132518 3D-printed set that offers two pieces of the underwing cine gun for the P-40E Warhawk/Kittyhawk kit. The set contains two fairings, one of which has the side panel open to show the cine camera to advantage. Read more