One of my favorite phenomena related to collecting is the "what's next?" question that almost always follows the announcement of a new aircraft or tank.  The question goes something like this:  "I've waited all my life for a . . . P-53, now, what's coming after that?"

We've already had many customers ask us what will be the next paint scheme of the SBD.  The short answer is that it will most likely be a Midway bird.  The SBD is the hero of Midway, a battle that will go down in military history on equal terms as Hastings, Gettysburg, Spanish Armada or Trafalgar.  This second 1:18 SBD Dauntless should be ready to go later this year. 

The paint scheme has NOT been finalized so take what has been written by Internet diecast specialists on another site with a large grain of salt.  Their scant experience with the nuances unique to the 1:18 and 1:32 scale plastic aircraft and tank markets is leaving their readers misinformed.  1:18 scale collectors want to know exactly which specific aircraft livery they are getting and what the price will be in the end.  At this point, Merit has not disclosed (or possibly even chosen) the exact bird to model for the next version but it will probably NOT be the one shown in the picture to the right.  Exchange rates, factory charges, cost of raw material, and the cost of any needed tooling or production changes, may have an impact on the price of Version #2.  It is possible these costs will be higher making the plane more expensive than the Coral Sea version.  How much of an increase, if any, we don't have any way of knowing at this point.  Obviously, we'd like to see the highest quality aircraft at the lowest possible price.

Bad Cat will offer the Preorder on the S2 version of the SBD when we get a clarification on the exact plane that will be produced, a closer estimate on when it will be delivered, and how much it will cost.  It could be several months before we have all of this information, however.   Sometimes the posting and timing of Preorders can be problematic but these are great problems to have!!