King & Country Dispatches -- July 2024 (3 Viewers)

[King & Country]

KING & COUNTRY DISPATCHES
July 2024​

Hi Guys,

Welcome once more to this month’s ‘DISPATCHES’ and one of my favourite times in the King & Country calendar… JULY.
On Thursday 11 July, I fly off to Australia and, first of all, to the great city of Brisbane where I will begin what I like to call the ‘K&C OZTOUR’. This annual trip ‘down under’ started back in 2008 when I had the good fortune to visit and meet with our K&C dealers and collectors in that great country.
During that visit and the many others afterwards I really enjoyed the time to talk, often, one-on-one, with many of those same dealers and collectors. These visits provided myself and K&C with a wealth of great suggestions and comments that helped shape future releases of many a new series… plus lots of excellent ideas for additions to existing ranges.
From Brisbane I’ll then move on the Sydney before Adelaide and finally, Melbourne, all of them terrific Aussie cities that everyone should visit at least once in their life if you ever get the opportunity.
One other advantage of visiting ‘Oz’ at this time of the year… It’s their winter time and I get to leave Hong Kong during our very hot and humid summer for, if I am lucky, beautiful cool days with blue skies and the most amazing sunrises and sunsets.
It’s at times like these that I reflect on how bloody lucky I have been to work and enjoy this great little hobby of ours and meet so many amazing characters all over the world and share their thoughts, ideas and suggestions.
Obviously, not every idea or suggestion can be produced for a multitude of reasons but, and it’s a very big BUT some of the finest and most successful figures, fighting vehicles and even a whole range have come from a simple conversation with a K&C dealer and / or collector during these visits and for that I am forever grateful!
Now, putting all of that to one side, let’s get down to this month’s releases…

1. BEING RELEASED IN JULY…

A. ‘AIR MOBILITY VIETNAM’

Among the most iconic sights and sounds, of the Vietnam War one in particular stands head and shoulders above all the rest… That of the BELL UH-1 ‘IRIQUOIS’ Helicopter better known to the world at large and the ‘Grunts’ on the ground as the ‘HUEY’.
No one can imagine the Vietnam conflict without the distinctive shape and ‘whoop, whoop’ sound of this iconic aircraft which revolutionized warfare by performing an incredible variety of vital military tasks.
The ‘HUEY’ transported troops, supplies, arms and ammunition, evacuated wounded and dozens of other missions in all types of weather over all kinds of terrain night and day between 1962 and 1975.
During that time over 7,000 ‘HUEYS’ flew over Vietnam with more than 3,300 lost-in-action alongwith 1151 pilots and copilots. In addition another 1,231 crew members were killed and those figures do not include ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) aircrew!

COMMEMORATIVE TRIBUTE​

Although, in recent years K&C has produced a relatively small number of exclusive, hand-carved, hand-painted wooden ‘HUEYS’ this is the first time we have designed and manufactured our own ‘Special Edition’ mixed media aircraft model of this unique fighting machine.
Just 200 of each of these first two 1:30 scale ‘HUEYS’ are being produced. Both models include pilot and copilot figures and comes packed in a sturdy, full-colour presentation box with a numbered certificate.

I feel sure that any of these two superb aircraft models will be the main centrepiece of any serious ‘VIETNAM’ collection!

VN183(SE) ‘U.S. Army ‘Dust-Off’ HUEY’
During the Vietnam War aeromedical evacuation units, commonly called ‘Dust-Offs’ evacuated a staggering 900,000 casualties from the battlefield.
The vast majority of these ‘Air Ambulances’ were reconfigured ‘HUEYS’ which were unarmed ‘Dust-Offs’ and could be airborne in just 3 minutes after receiving an emergency call and have their patients back in a field hospital with in 15 minutes from taking off from an LZ (Landing Zone).
Despite large and prominent red-crosses on the aircraft they often faced intense groundfire when trying to extract the wounded.
Although usually escorted by flying bodyguard ‘Gunships’ who would provide suppressing fire. ‘Dust-Offs’ would often still fly into hostile fire zones without escort when emergencies demanded it.
Time after time, these life-saving crews and their ‘HUEYS’ performed miracles in the most difficult of conditions and situations. This particular ‘Special Edition’ model is our tribute to them!

VN189(SE) US Marines Corps ’Troop Carrier ‘HUEY’
Another of the vital tasks of the UH-1 ‘HUEYS’ was delivering troops into battle and/or moving them forward onto forward firebases and other locations where the South Vietnamese road network was either inadequate or dangerously vulnerable to ground ambush.
The introduction of UH-1 ‘HUEYS’ into Vietnam in 1962 allowed U.S. commanders to move large numbers of troops rapidly throughout the country in a short space of time.
In the early days of the ‘HUEYS’ deployment these new helicopters would often surprise the Viet Cong enemy and force them to retreat which offered the opposing American and ARVN Troops a brief boost to their morale and fighting confidence.
All too soon alas, the V.C. came up with tactics and strategies to counter this new airborne threat and battle commenced once more.
This second UH-1D ‘HUEY’ is in U.S. Marine Corps markings and can accommodate a number of K&C’s ‘Grunts’ in the open cabin deck ready to do battle or perhaps move to another location.
This model also has pilot and copilot figures and the same sturdy, full-colour presentation box with its own numbered certificate.

VN182 The ‘Door Gunner’
Another important member of many HUEY flight crews were the “Door Gunners’, and most ‘HUEYS’ had two door gunners. They would fly approximately four to five missions weekly with much of their work being above the Central Highlands of South Vietnam.
Most gunners operated the M60 machine gun although several other weapons were utilized and operated on HUEYS.
As expected door gunners would frequently be the target of enemy fire and suffered a high number of casualties.
Our figure is either walking to his helicopter or perhaps returning from a mission. In one hand he holds his M60, in the other a can of 7.62 ammunition.
On the helicopter itself the official amount of 7.62 ammunition carried was 1,000 rounds of disintegrating, metallic split-link amounting to 500 rounds per gun. Often individual gunners would carry an extra 100-200 additional rounds.
Maybe our figure here is carrying some of those extra rounds in his ammo box.

AVAILABLE: Mid July

 

[King & Country]

B. ‘A TRIO OF VICTOR CHARLIES’

This is definitely not a little troupe of musicians but three, very useful Viet Cong and one N.V.A. figures who are operating under the dense jungle canopy of Vietnam as those ‘HUEYS’ fly overhead.

VN186 ‘Commissar Delivering Orders’
The Viet Cong being a guerrilla organisation had a simplified rank structure with positions such as ‘commander, deputy commander, political officer (commissar), platoon leader and section leader.
These ranks helped establish a chain of command structure within the organisation which was adaptable in the unconventional warfare tactics they employed during the conflict.
This figure is wearing a mix of civilian and military clothes as well as standard NVA (North Vietnamese Army) cotton fighting order and the ubiquitous AK47 Assault Rifle. On his head is an uncamouflaged sun helmet which suggests he is in a ‘safe’ area.

VN187 ‘N.V.A. Shouting Squad Leader’
One junior North Vietnamese Army Squad leader (in charge of 4-8 soldiers) celebrating a recent victory by holding his AK47 above his head. In his left hand he holds a locally-made improvised stick grenade closely modelled on the Chinese Type 67 High Explosive Fragmentation Grenade. Although patterned after an original German design these were poorly-made resulting in many ‘duds’.

VN188 ‘Advancing V.C. Squad Leader’
The third member of the trio Is about to move off in pursuit of the enemy. Again wearing ‘mixed rig’ uniform and holding onto his AK47

AVAILABLE: Mid July

 

[King & Country]

C. A VERY BLACK DAY IN MOGADISHU!’

Introducing the advance party of a dramatic new series that tells in 1:30 scale military miniatures the story of one of the U.S. Army’s bloodiest days in modern warfare…

SOMALIA in East Africa during the early 1990s was a ‘basket case’ of a country. Years of vicious tribal warfare between rival clans had caused a famine on a truly biblical scale. Already more than 300,000 civilians, many of them, women and children, had died of starvation.

One particular clan leader, Mohammed Farrah Aidid, the most powerful of the Somali warlords, ruled the country from its capital Mogadishu. From there he had been seizing most of the international food shipments arriving by sea and air from a shocked and sympathetic world.
America and the United Nations had then dispatched troops to the war-torn country to stop the stealing and help distribute the food to those who needed it most. And for a time that worked until most of these forces, including the Americans were withdrawn.
Almost immediately the plunder of the food aid began again and the situation went from bad to worse…

AUGUST 1993​

As conditions worsened the U.S. once more dispatched a small force of some of it’s best fighting units to Mogadishu. These included a Delta Forces team… the 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) flying a mix of helicopters including the powerful UH-60 Blackhawk and men from the 75th Ranger Regiment.
All of these troops had a clear, simple mission… Remove Aidid from power and restore order!’
Over the course of the following weeks and then several months that mission statement was to lead to one particular day when everything that could go wrong did go wrong in a military operation.
This has been documented in great detail, first in a best-selling book by author Mark Bowden and then a block-buster movie directed by Ridley Scott.
Here is your first look at the ‘Advance Party’ of K&C’s own BLACK HAWK DOWN!

BHD002 ‘Ranger Firing M16A2/ M203’
Virtually all of the Rangers dispatched to Somalia in 1993 were armed with the M16A2, a development of the Vietnam era M16A1, which itself replaced the earlier and much heavier M14.
In 1986 the U.S. Army adopted the M16A2 which had various improvements including a heavier barrel and a larger magazine capacity of 30 rounds of 5.56mm Nato standard ammunition.
In addition all M16A2s can mount the under-barrel 40mm grenade launcher (M203).
K&C’s Ranger is aiming his M16A2 w/ M203 slightly upwards as he prepares to launch a grenade round at the enemy.

BHD003 ‘Ranger Firing His M16A2’
Aiming straight ahead this guy is about to take down one of his opponents.

BHD004 ‘Ranger Kneeling Firing M16A2’
Adopting the kneeling position one of the local ‘bad guys’ is about to learn a very hard lesson. “Don’t mess with the Rangers.”

BHD005 ‘Ranger Firing Upwards w/ M16A2’
During the Battle of Mogadishu many of the enemy were located in the upper floors of buildings overlooking the Rangers on ground level. This Ranger is about to open fire on one of them.

BHD009 ‘Ranger NCO Shouting Orders’
Pointing with his left arm and holding onto his own M16A2 with his right this non commissioned officer barks out commands over the surrounding din and mayhem of this city battlefield.

BHD011 ’Crouching Ranger Moving Forward’
As the battle rages this Ranger is dashing across a dangerous city street from one safe space to hopefully a better one, M16A2 at the ready.

AVAILABLE: Mid July


SPECIAL PREVIEW: Here is an advance ‘look-see’ at just some of the other Rangers and Humvee Vehicles already in production for release in the next few months…

 

[King & Country]

D. ‘HOME ON THE RANGE’

During the ‘Cattle Drive’ boom that lasted from just after the end of The Civil War in 1865 until the mid 1880s there was one piece of equipment that was indispensable to the cowboys that rode all the way up from Texas to the northern rail heads in Kansas and beyond… the humble, broad-beamed, sturdily-built ‘Chuck Wagon’.
Designed by a cattleman rancher himself, Charles Goodnight, this little wagon, usually pulled by a pair of mules, carried virtually everything a crew of cowboys might need on a lonesome prairie drive that could last as long as five months!
In 1866, Charles Goodnight bought and improved a surplus U.S. Army supply wagon, selected because of its extra durable iron axles.
Within the wagon could be stored various items including foodstuffs, bedrolls and, importantly extra ammunition for the cowboys pistols and rifles.
Other necessities such as a large, wooden, fresh water barrel for drinking as well as a ‘handy’ tool box were attached to the wagon’s sides.
A strong canvas cover supported by four bentwood bows also provided cover from drenching rain and a blistering sun.
A final vital feature of the ‘Goodnight’ wagon was the design and installation of the ‘Chuck Box’ itself.
Perched on the rear of the wagon the door facing aft could be let down onto a pair of wooden legs to become a very practical work surface.
Once in the down position, like a Victorian style desk, the ‘Chuck Box’ revealed all kinds of different drawers and cubby holes.
Here the cook would store his everyday utensils as well as some of the food, tobacco and simple medicinal remedies he might require on a regular basis.

CD033 The King & Country Cattle Company “CHUCK WAGON’
The design of this particular Chuck Wagon was based on the magnificent original ‘Chuck Wagon’ that can still be seen at the Briscoe Museum of Western Art in the heart of San Antonio, Texas just a short drive from the King & Country Texas store at 5945 Broadway also in San Antonio.
This original model also offers a host of pots and pans, general supplies and other miscellaneous items together with a detachable ‘canvas’ cover.
Everything is carefully packed in a sturdy, full colour presentation box and the perfect accompaniment for K&C’s own ‘Cattle Drive’ figures and Texas Longhorns.

AVAILABLE: Mid July

 

[King & Country]

E. A STROLL IN THE COUNTRY

From the rugged and sometimes dangerous terrain of the ‘Old West’ to the more bucolic beauty and peacefulness of a small European farm or village…

MK231 ‘The Country Maid’
A young maiden goes about her daily duties… in this case gathering apples perhaps to bake an apple pie or maybe, more adventurously, to crush the fruit and make some thirst-quenching cider. I’ll drink to that!
Suitable for any historical era from the Middle Ages to the time of Napoleon.

AVAILABLE: Early July

 

[King & Country]

F. ‘SEMPER FI’

A late additional reinforcement for our most recently U.S. Marines marching out with full backpacks and folded tent covers…

USMC070 U.S. Marine w/ B.A.R. (Browning Automatic Rifle)
An advancing ‘Leatherneck’ with the classic M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle better known as the BAR.
Although this weapon did not actually see action until late 1918 it did not become standard issue until 1938 when it was issued to squads as a portable light machine gun.
The BAR saw extensive service in both WWII and Korea before being finally retired from regular U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps use in the mid 1950s.
Eventually in 1957 it was replaced by the introduction of the M60. Our Marine is also wearing the 6 larger pouches that could hold 6 individual magazines of 20 rounds in each.

AVAILABLE: Early July

 

[King & Country]

G. ‘BAGS OF SANDBAGS’

During the many years that I worked with my late brother Gordon to build dioramas and displays one of the small but important items that we were constantly searching for was ‘sandbags’ especially in 1:30 scale!
In the beginning we actually used 1:35 scale plastic sandbags produced by the Japanese model company TAMIYA which were useful but definitely ‘out-of-scale’ with our figures and fighting vehicles.
Then we used a plasticene type of material called “BluTak’ which comes in strip lengths of a blue/gray colour we then cut into 1:30 scale sections and hand-shaped them into rough sandbag shapes which we hardened with superglue and, once dried, painted.
The final look was OK but the entire process was long and very time consuming.

FINDING A SOLUTION​

After giving the problem a fair degree of thought I came up with the idea of manufacturing ready-made sandbags using “polystone” (a blend of marble dust and resin) which K&C has utilized for many years in the production of a multitude of our fighting vehicles as well as all kinds of other buildings, other military structures and defenceworks such as gun positions and even trenches.
Quite a few of these included molded sandbags in their design. And then one day it finally dawned on me… why not make individual sandbags that collectors could use in all types of configurations to suit their own requirements and designs?
With that in mind here are a couple of suggestions…

*Please Note: I used K&C’s existing SP115 ‘Vietnam Guard Post’ to sit on top of an elevated wooden platform with some of our new SP129 ‘Military Sandbags’ around the base.

* A home-made Vietnam Helipad topped-off with a whole bunch of K&C’s Military Sandbags … The use and versatility of these little items are limitless.



SP129 ‘Military Sandbags x 24’
A bag of 24 sandbags in two colours suitable for use in any 20th and 21st Century conflicts from the Great War (1914-1918)… the Second World War (1939-1945) and all types of wars and conflicts from Korea (1950-1953), to the Middle East Wars of (1967, 1973) and beyond to the Vietnam War that raged from 1945 most of the way to 1975 and all the years in between.
The modest little sandbag has spanned the decades and jumped into the 21st Century with the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and will continue to be useful for many years to come.
So, if you’re looking for piles of sandbags to help decorate your displays and defend your dioramas you’ve come to the right place!

AVAILABLE: Mid July

 

[King & Country]

2. BEING RETIRED IN JULY…

Not a very big list but some excellent Napoleonic figures… Check them out please!

NA417 Colonel of the Regiment

NA418 Infantry Captain

NA419 Infantryman with Pike Staff

NA420 Drummer Boy

NA421 Reaching For A Cartridge


NA422 Kneeling Cocking His Musket

NA423 Kneeling Ready

NA424 Lying Prone Firing

NA425 Hors de Combat

On that note, I’ll bid you all a fond farewell and… looking forward to soon meeting up with some of you blokes in the land down under!

All the very best and happy collecting!

Andy C. Neilson
Co-founder & Creative Director
King & Country Ltd.​

 

[villagehorse]

Loads to think about, this is big release. Robin.

 

[villagehorse]

As usual a marvellous informative video which is a fantastic way to generate interest for collectors for future purchases. Robin.

Looking forward to your Aussie visit Andy. Keep your seat belt on

 

[Horus]

Some great releases this month, the Huey's being the stars and quite keenly priced for US collectors.
Perhaps if I can find some room, I can consider !

 

[Panzer ace]

Hueys and Mogadishu?

This might be the best dispatch ever.

 

[paxtoysoldier]

Hueys and Mogadishu?

This might be the best dispatch ever.

Dad & I are very impressed with every release this month. But what you mentioned - well - they are so superb that we will suspend our suspension on new figures and get something. Too cool. And not to mention the American West. Andy knows his stuff.
In other news, our dog (and our Avatar) has bunny-slaughtered her second bunny. That's 2 rabbits (one a baby) and 2 chipmunks. Admittedly, the animals are stupid enough to run around in front of a "ratter". But still - Bad! I gave the bunny food as he/she passed. Ugh. Still, we love the country.
Paddy for the Pats

 

[Horus]

Just been zooming in on the Mogadishu scene and there are some great poses both in pipeline as well as those now being released, so I will very likely add a few to my collection, though I'm really going to have to let some of my other figures go to make room.
Andy certainly has done a good job with the buildings in the diorama, which reminded me of somethings you notice when you travel in the Middle East and Africa, is that apart from commercial or government offices, few buildings, unless they are high up, have windows on the ground floor, and the windows do mostly have some sort of security, bars, grills or more likely in Middle Eastern / North African countries decorative screens doing the job of security and of course since it's a different culture, protecting the privacy of the women of the house from the eyes of passerby's, in part I suppose, as certainly in more rural areas away from cities, people still often during the hottest months, sleep under the stars on their roofs, since Air conditioning units are out of their reach financially and the lack of infrastructure, often due to theft and the general lack of care in maintaining buildings, whether they be homes or commercial, only some effort goes into Government buildings and hotels who's clientele are Western tourists in my experience, and even then, things are often not as one would hope !
So yes, Andy has done an excellent job, not only of capturing the flavour of Mogadishu but other large areas of that part of the World, be nice if K&C or perhaps Last Post, made a few building facades for this and other similar ranges, IDF as an example !

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Been patiently waiting for the release of the Chuck Wagon since first hearing about it. Thanks Andy!

PS. Really nice job on the Hueys as well.

 

[MLH13]

Spectacular releases this month, Andy! The Huey's are amazing and the price for these highly detailed choppers is equally exceptional! Thank you!

Mark

 

[BHogan]

An excellent, broad bunch of releases this month. I'm not a modern wars collector, but K&C continues to push the bounds of the toy soldier hobby and find new subject matter. The country maid will be added to my French Napoloenic bivouac display. I'm hoping that Napoleonic retirements will make way for new releases next month.

Brendan

 

[tmanthegreat]

And here I was thinking about scaling back on my K&C collection and you decide to release a couple fantastic Hueys (that make the TCS version look like junk) and then announce the new Mogadishu range as well! All very, very tempting…

 

[jazzeum]

I have the Figarti version so I will stick with that.

 

[wwiibuff]

Some great looking releases for July Andy. I can see several of these making their way to my collection.