At $20 (or $18.50 plus a bit more for shipping from Bad Cat Toys), a quality 1:56 scale Tiger is a good buy. I have only seen pictures of the New Hobby Master offerings and one positive review on a blog, but with those limitations, the HM tanks appear to be quality items.
Note: I'm not so sure about their planes.
By comparison about $25 to $39 is what is asked at the good places for most Corgi 1:50 AFVs. If you go smaller with the 1:72 dragon tanks, the newest items start at about $16 bucks a pop. So it appears that the Hobby Master Tigers and Abrams are priced well.
I would have liked to stop at your country store and maybe pick up an early birthday present for myself. What were the makers of their products? My guess is that all or most of them were from Model Power, as they are the only folks I know who have an IL-2. Here's some pix of the some of the Model Power offerings. If you can, let me know what brands they carry at your store.
http://www.diecastdirect.com/asp_mod...=Next&pageNo=3