the desire will be to start these back up, but I

don’t see things as being particularly rosy. The

people behind Pilsen are making some noise

for June, and this is being pondered as a possible timeframe for PilsenKit. I think the idea

is sound, and I hope they go for it. This would

be both far enough away from both E-day and

the start of the school year that it would give

them plenty of room for the implementation

of the plan. We are certainly crossing our fingers for their success!

If there is an E-day this year, and there is

certainly a chance that there will be, we would

like to push it a little further again. A radical

change is our separation from the SMCzR, and

by extension, E-day from the National Championship, put on by the SMCzR. There will also

no longer be a Hobby Category at E-day, which

was the national Championship. This era is definitely done for, but a new one begins: Czech

Model Masters. This will be open to all regardless of club affiliation or nationality, and registration within some organization will not be

a condition. The contest will be governed by

a simplified set of guidelines. I am not saying

this will be a yay or nay contest, and it will hold

on to some rules that stem from those used

at the year before last’s E-day. The judging

personnel will also come from the collection

of people who judged the Hobby category at

that event. The awards will be high caliber and

will be introduced as the year goes on, and we

will also gradually introduce the categories. I

make it no secret that we want Czech Model

Masters to be the height of modelling in not

just the Czech Republic, but at least in continental Europe. The associated events to go

with will come out of the year before last’s

scheme, with the lectures on Friday and a

small aviation day on Saturday. For this year’s

event, we would like to secure the services of

several Zlin Trener aircraft and an Mi-24.

6 eduard

The main theme of today’s newsletter are

new the new ProfiPACK releases, and so, the

premiere releases for the New Year. Actually,

you will be familiar with them, because they

all have been referenced to in the past. But

no one has been able to guess so far what the

secret new release is, and we started that talk

back at the Q and A session in the pizzeria at

Artur’s retail outlet last year. And I will continue to keep that a secret, at least for a little

while longer, but I will say that its release date

is set for December. At least, that’s the idea

as it is now. But, you know how fragile plans

can be. It could be pushed to later into 2022,

but even then, a good time to release the item

would no doubt be found.

As things seem to be turning out, ProfiPACKs

and new Limited Edition kits might not be

affected by the fire all that much. The January

releases, including the ProfiPACK Bf 110G-4 in

1:48th scale is at the resellers. Unfortunately,

the current state of this kit in our inventory is

at a minus 45 pieces, and moulding more is

just not in the cards for the near future. So, for

now, it will not be available from our e-shop,

but we will strive to fix this situation as soon

as it will become possible. In this case, though,

this is looking like about the midway point of

the year. It is similar to both the Weekend kits.

Both the Bf 109G-6/AS and the P-51D-5 are in

the minus column, and they won’t be accessible through the e-shop, either. However,

these we do expect to churn out and make

available through February. They should be

going back into production immediately after the new releases for February are made.

We have seventy kits of the Fokker Fokker!

Limited Edition kit and 137 of the 1:144th P-47D Razorback. In the case of the P-47, these

also represent the last of the accessible kits,

and a restock from Platz will take some time.

The first kits for which we will be stocking

plastic will be for February’s new releases. For

this, we have the ProfiPACK Spitfire Mk.IIa ready. This was to have been the first ProfiPACK

release in the new look box. As it is nowadays, you can’t stop progress, Movement in one

front invariably leads to progress on another.

And this applies, at the moment, to the ProfiPACKs, which when compared to the new

Weekend kits, all of a sudden are coming off

as a bit of a poorer relative, like they should be

the less expensive line! But they will not be,

because the time has come for them to put on

a new coat. This will come through February,

but you can judge the new look here and now.

There are two new Weekends planned for

February, the Ni-17 in 1:72nd scale and the

MiG-21bis in 48th. The Nieuport won’t be an

issue, but the more complicated MiG-21bis

will be. The MiG is put off until the second

half of the year. What is not an issue at all is

the 1:48th scale Do 17 that is being prepared

under the name Kampfstift. The plastic will be

leaving the Ukraine this week, from ICM, and

should arrive on time. So, that makes three

new kits for February. The assortment of new

accessory items remains unchanged. I would

like to point your attention to the Brassin Merlin III engine, released as ‘Spitfire Mk.I Engine’.

At the same time, we are releasing gin bays

for the Spitfire Mk.IIa. I also suggest a peek

at the collection of new LooKs and LooKplus

sets, with items there for the P-38H and F-14A. Both are designed for use with the Tamiya 1:48th scale kits. Also, you will note the

five new decal sheets, mostly covering stencil

data, with the exception of the sheet for the

Fokker Dr.I that deals with the von Richthofen

brothers. This is under the title of Die roten

Flieger, and is for the 1:32nd scale Meng kit.

This was originally supposed to be a release by

the now probably permanently defunct WNW

company. Among the new photoetched sets,

we have an interesting collection for the new

INFO Eduard - January 2021