NEW RELEASES FROM
KING & COUNTRY!
Hi Partners,
Welcome to April and… one of the most
important months of our year so far!
More about that later but let’s begin
with this month’s new releases which, appropriately enough, start with
celebrating Easter and a new, important addition to our ‘Life of Jesus’
collection…
1. BEING RELEASED THIS MONTH
A. EASTER
‘Easter’, as many of you know, is the
time when Christians around the world commemorate the resurrection of Christ
three days after his crucifixion. It is
considered the most important date in the Christian calendar, marking the
fulfillment of divine prophesy and the cornerstone of faith.
A few days before all of this had
happened Jesus had made a triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem… on a
donkey!
According to the gospels he had come to
celebrate the Jewish festival of ‘Passover’ and was enthusiastically welcomed
by crowds of people all along his route.
This simple image is what K&C has
chosen to add to our ‘LOJ’ series.
LoJ061 'Jesus enters Jerusalem’
Led by a young boy, Jesus and the donkey
make their way through the city.
AVAILABLE: Early April
B. At The Gates
Of The Alamo
San Antonio, Texas and The Alamo itself
has played (and continues to play) a major part in the King & Country
story.
It’s where we have our fantastic ‘King
& Country Texas’ store… it’s also where K&C’s cofounder Laura
McAllister Johnson lives and works and, of course, it is the world-famous site
of the historic Alamo and the inspiration behind our ‘Remember The Alamo’ range
of fighting figures.
Just a couple of month’s back we launched our newest and best Santa Anna’s
Infantrymen to extend this series and now we’re introducing some very useful
reinforcements…
RTA127 ‘Santa Anna’s Laddermen’
Two Mexican infantrymen run towards one
of the Alamo’s perimeter walls carrying a wooden, scaling ladder.
RTA128 ‘Santa Anna’s Shouting Soldier’
One of the General’s soldiers
shouts encouragement to his compadres as he runs towards the walls.
RTA129 ‘Santa Anna’s Soldier reaching for a
fresh cartridge’
Having fired his first round at the
Alamo’s defenders this soldado seeks out another cartridge.
RTA130 ‘Santa Anna’s Soldier reaching for a
fresh cartridge’
Biting open a paper cartridge was this
standard 18th and 19th century military technique to rapidly reload a
muzzle-loading musket.
Soldiers tore off the paper tail with
their teeth to expose gunpowder, allowing them to pour it into the barrel and
then ram the ball in speeding up the firing rates to 2-3 shots per minute.
RTA131 ‘Santa Anna’s Soldier using his
Ramrod’
During the age of muzzle-loading
muskets, ramrods were essential for pushing the cartridge (power and ball) down
the barrel and seating it firmly against the breech.
During a loading drill after using the
long metal rod to ram the charge home the rod is then withdrawn and returned to
its channel on the underside of the musket for safety and reuse.
RTA143 ‘Santa Anna’s Casualties of
Battle’
These 4x unfortunate Mexican Infantry
have paid the ultimate price for making a frontal assault on the Alamo’s walls.
AVAILABLE: Early April
C. ARMED RECONNAISSANCE
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have
always appreciated the value of fast-moving, lightly armed jeep-type vehicles
for use as simple utility vehicles performing all kinds of patrol and command
duties.
Although in itself unarmoured the M151 ‘Mutt’, was often modified with
extra weapons and equipment including radios, and ‘roll-bars’.
This particular
American-made M151 “Mutt’ nicknamed by the Israelis the ‘Shmira’ is on forward patrol duties.
IDF040 The I.D.F. M151 ‘SHMIRA’
‘SHMIRAS’ just like this one, served
with the I.D.F. from the mid 1960s until well into
the 1980s and beyond including during both the ’67 War’ and ‘YOM KIPPUR’ in
1973. They also served in the Golan
Heights and in various operations in Syria, Lebanon and The West Bank.
Our K&C model comes with three
full-figure Israeli paratroopers and a pair of 7.62 General Purpose Machine
Guns… A powerful punch for a small vehicle.
AVAILABLE: Early April
D.
... To The Bitter End
By the autumn of 1944 disaster loomed for Imperial
Japan. The war in the Pacific had taken
a decidedly negative turn for the Japanese Empire with the US Navy steadily
growing in strength and already poised to strike at the heart of the Home
Islands.
In October 1944, American forces had
landed on the island of Leyte in The Philippines and Japan’s commanders there
concluded that only a dramatic and radical force of action could stem the tide
of the American advance… aerial suicide attacks against high-value enemy
targets, particularly US Navy aircraft carriers!
By this late stage of the war in the
Pacific many Japanese pilots of both the Army Air Force and the Imperial
Japanese Navy already knew that ‘their days were numbered’ both in the air and
on the ground. They were outnumbered and
outflown by many more numerous enemy pilots and the
superior quality of the aircraft they flew.
“Why not”, many thousands of Japanese
pilots thought, “die a meaningful death crashing your whole aircraft into or
onto an enemy warship”.
This unique form of Japanese
self-sacrifice was known as ‘Kamikaze’ or ‘Divine Wind’, a reference to a great
storm that destroyed an enemy Mongolian fleet off the coast of Japan in 1281.
Now, K&C are introducing two unique
all-new versions of the classic Mitsubishi A6M5 ‘ZERO’ fighter.
These two ‘Zeroes’ are typical of the
late-war versions of this classic WW2 Japanese fighter aircraft.
JN078 A6M5 ‘KAMIKAZE’
This well-worn A6M5 is painted in
overall dark green on all upper surfaces and fuselage.
As the seated pilot gives his farewell
salute to his flying comrades and the ground crew he
prepares to taxi his ‘Zero’ onto the flight line and take off on his one-way
mission towards the enemy fleet.
Slung underneath the fuselage, on the centre line of his Zero is a single 500-pound bomb which he
will fly together with his aircraft directly into his chosen enemy target.
JN079 ‘Mitsubishi A6M5 ‘Zero’ Army /
Navy’
Although many young pilots did take off
on ‘One-Way Missions’ thanks to the ‘Kamikaze’ movement not all were willing to
sacrifice themselves at this late stage of the war… Some wanted to survive,
difficult though that might be.
This second Mitsubishi A6M5 also
reflects the dire reality of aircraft production in Japan in late 1944 going
into the middle of 1945.
Aircraft factories and airfields
throughout Japan were being constantly bombed and strafed by Allied aircraft on
an almost daily basis. All kinds of aircraft were being produced and repaired
as well as being ‘cannibalized’ for spare parts.
This particular A6M5
has combined parts and elements from both Army Air Force and Imperia Navy
Zeroes to provide one of the more unique aircraft colour
schemes defending the skies over Japan at this late stage of the Pacific War.
In addition to its two 20mm cannons and
7.7mm machine guns this model also has two small bombs attached (one under each
wing).
A standing Japanese fighter pilot figure
is also included.
JN-S04 ‘A Pair of Zeroes’
If you buy both of
these great models you get them at a VERY SPECIAL PRICE!
JN075 ‘Saluting Kamikaze Pilot’
Before flying off on their fatal last
mission it was usual and expected to salute your comrades and fellow pilots.
JN076 ‘Standing Japanese Pilot’
This standing figure is modeled on a
life-size statue of a young kamikaze pilot that stands at the entrance to the Yashukan Military Museum located within the Yasakuni Shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo.
Visitors entering the museum will also
see an actual Mitsubishi A6M Zero on display opposite the ticket booth.
AVAILABLE: Mid to late April
F.
The Beijing Hobby Expo China Fair
Between 17-19 April,
2026 King & Country will be taking part in this annual Hobby Fair which
takes place at No. 135, Xizhimenwai Street, Xicheng
District, Beijing.
Tens of thousands of hobby enthusiasts
from all over China travel to the show to see all kinds of models and
miniatures of trains, boats, planes and vehicles (both civilian and military)
of every kind and description and scale.
And now… Toy soldiers.
King & Country will have a
formidable collection of many of our most popular historic ranges for
collectors to see and purchase as well as ours sales team from K&C Hong
Kong to meet and answer any questions from our existing China collectors and meet
lots of new ones too!
2.
BEING RETIRED THIS MONTH
As usual there are some K&C items
that we are letting go and this month is no exception. Take a closer look at
these very useful pieces and see what could fit into your collection.
Also see the Extra Special Retirements
Video presentation at the end of this month’s Video Dispatches. Here you will
see most of the items complete with K&C’s figures from many different
historical ranges showing the versatility of these display accessories… Hope
you like it!
LAH150 Double Banner Street Lamps
LAH261
Hitler Jugend Street Banner
SP112
Vietnam Firebase Sand Bag Emplacement
SP114
European Walls & Gates
SP119
European Wall Additions
SP120
European Farm Gateway
SP122
The European Farmhouse
SP126 "A Trio of Royal Corgis"
(Set of 3)
VN149
The Sampan Soldiers Set
VN154
The Viet Cong Sampan Set
VN-S03 The VC Sampan Combo
HK152G/M Curio Seller
HK279G/M The
Flower Stall Set
Andy C. Neilson
Co-founder & Creative Director
King & Country Ltd.