Nuremberg 2025 announcements
Hi,
Nuremberg Spielwarenmesse is over for this year. There's a lot of interesting things coming out over the year, so I thought I'd make a news post about some of the cool stuff and provide some links to manufacturer's pages.
Let's start with Airfix.
The British company is steadily improving their range, and -not surprisingly- concentrating on British subjects.
First off, in aircraft: a new tooled 1/48 SEPECAT Jaguar. Very welcome and highly anticipated.
Spitfires have always been a popular subject in scale modelling, and this year Airfix is giving us three new ones, all in 1/48th scale. There's the unique two-seater variant TR.9, the Mk.IXe, which comes with Belgian decals, and one of the final Spitfire versions: the reconnaissance PR Mk. XIX.
On the ground, there's the amphibious Stalwart truck, in 1/35th scale.
Additionally, Airfix are giving us new versions of the B-17 and B-24, a Gannet supply version, a number of vintage re-issues and much more.
Find all the news on Airfix's website here.
Miniart has been steadily releasing high-quality, very detailed kits for years now. New in the air is the first Fw-190, a D-9 model. Judging by the way they're treating the P-47 and Junkers F13 (which are getting more and more variants), it will not be the last! The range of Sd.Kfz. 234 and M3/M5 Stuart variants is also growing. New for Nuremberg is the announcement of the RSO, a German all-terrain, full-tracked truck.
More news and photos from Nuremberg at Miniart's website here.
ICM is continuing their Blackhawk helicopter variants. The first one (the Special Forces MH-60L) was well-received. There's a Ukrainian variant coming out, as well. Fans of German subjects are catered for, too. An Hs-129 'Duck' and the He-217 bomber stand out, but also the British Hampden 'flying suitcase'. All in 1/48.
On the ground, a 1/35 British command truck has been announced. 'Monty's office caravan' will be a nice companion to the figure set ICM released of Montgomery and Dempsey last year.
ICM website. Like Miniart, ICM continuously releases new models, without really waiting for Nuremberg to announce them.
Italeri posted a preview for 2025 on their website (click the 'download attachment' link). Highlights are a Lancia Fulvia in rally configuration. In 1/32 scale, Italeri is continuing with their series of Italian fighter aircraft of WWII, this time it's the Macchi C.200's turn. They are also releasing new 'Complete sets' of the Jeep and Porsche 911, and some collaboration sets with War Thunder. I like these, as they're a great start for anyone interested in the hobby.
Heller's website is listing all the new announcements. Pretty interesting are the 1/72 E-2C Hawkeye, the 1/24 Renault R4 Fourgonette, Peugeot 205 and a 2CV Fourgonette. They're also re-releasing a number of 1/43 scale cars.
Some news from Russia: Zvezda is steadily releasing new (mostly Russian subject) models. There's a nice-looking American ambulance coming, and a new Tu-144. 
Zvezda is also changing their logo, "curiously" deleting the Russian flag. :-) Their UAZ469 announcement shows the new logo and box design:
On the other side of the world, Tamiya is re-releasing a number of 1/24 cars: the Renault R5 Turbo Rally, Audi Quattro, Toyota GR Supra Custom, Porsche 962 Jägermeister version, and the Mercedes Benz 500 SEC. No pictures on their site yet for most of these, but the Renault looks great:
The 1/35 Military Miniatures series gets a new French addition: the Hotchkiss H39 early war light tank. You get the option to build a French or German version in one box:
My Tamiya rep could also tell me that Tamiya has won a BMW license, so hopefully they'll make new motorcycle and car scale models of the German manufacturer (and Mini, which is also owned by BMW these days).
There's much more to come this year. Revell is going in the direction of 1/32 jets, Trumpeter is making a 1/48 Fairey Battle and Border has displayed sprues of their 1/35 (!) He-111 bomber.
So this was a short glimpse into 2025. Fun times ahead!