Page 24
INTERVIEW
of fellow editors, friends and authors. Although
his wife says the drawing is still very apt nearly
20 years later
And how and why did the rabbit
get to Eduard?
In 2010, I stopped posting on my blog because the
Czech platform on which the blog was running
was about to be shut down. However, I have
republished some posts, especially my stories
written in Prague Czech, on my new blog Czech
Flying Rabbit.
2010 also marked a significant milestone in the
lives of my rabbits. When you and I were on
a cycling holiday together, you told me you
wanted a new friendly mascot. Eduard‘s knight
in armour seemed a bit inflexible and you were
looking for an alternative. Word got around, and
my rabbit went into Eduard‘s service. It was mid-
2010. That‘s also when the INFO Eduard magazine
was modernized and historical articles, some of
them written by me, started to appear in it.
You and Jan Zdiarský started sending me
requests for rabbit drawings that appeared in
various parts of INFO for products or articles.
Soon they also appeared on Facebook, which
Eduard was starting at the time. Gradually, the
rabbit drawings settled down to one drawing in
the editorial, and occasionally one more would
appear on another INFO page. The rabbit no
longer had a bandit tape or cigarettes. Only when
it‘s the director‘s rabbit representing You, he has
a cigar, despite You being a militant non-smoker.
I even tried to make four comic stories for Eduard,
with one of the scripts by Martin Ferkl, but it‘s
so time-consuming that I‘ve abandoned further
attempts at comic stories for now. The comics‘
creators have my deepest admiration.
It was also the time of the famous
MiG-21MF advertisement with the
parade of rabbit cars.
Yes. The big milestone in the rabbits‘ lives was the
launch of the 1/48 scale MiG-21MF kit in spring
2011 and the promotional video by Miguary Song.
The tune was based on Long Way to Tipperary, but
I composed new lyrics for it. Eduard colleagues
took care of the rest. You can recall it here.
According to my colleagues‘ spec, I drew rabbits
that mimicked the MiGs from the different Air
Forces whose machines were depicted in the
kit. The Vietnamese lady who was selling in the
shop near our house burst out laughing when she
saw the Vietnamese rabbit at the end of the video.
She recognized the scooter the rabbit was riding
and remarked that it was a Piaggio and pretty
expensive.
The
rabbit then made its way into
the name of the Eduard club and
onto the club T-shirts.
Two years after the rabbits invaded Eduard‘s
media, Eduard decided to start a customer loyalty
club called the Bunny Fighter Club, or BFC.
The name of the club was associated with
the MiG-21 “Bunny Fighter”, whose fictional
markings were part of an activation kit that, if
purchased, allowed one to become a member
of the club. With the activation kit, the customer
also received a BFC T-shirt with a rabbit on it.
And I have to admit, it‘s an amazing sight to see the
modelers wearing our shirt at shows. To all who
wear our t-shirts at shows, I say a hearty hello.
I spotted a club member wearing a BFC t-shirt the
other day while visiting a Czech castle, but before
I could say hello, I had to head to the Knights Hall
with my group and the really big modeler headed
for the hunger room.
We also made a video in Hungary
with a real MiG-21MF, which we
painted blue and stuck a rabbit sticker
on its tail.
Not only on the tail! Along with the release
of the first activation model, you published an
article in INFO 11/2012 about the fictional Czech
rabbit aviator Eduard Kleinkönnig, who fought
with the “Bunny Fighter” in the Carrot War! Here.
A duel between Bohumil Fürst of No. 310 Squadron
RAF and Werner Goetting of I.(J)/LG 2. Acrylic
on cardboard, 1994. Painting for the publishing house
Naše Vojsko.
A duel between the Me 262 of JV 44 and the P-47D
of the 365th FG “Hell Hawks”. Acrylic on cardboard,
1994. Painting for Mustang publishing house.
Japanese Navy fighter seaplane Kawanishi
N1K Kyōfū (Rex). Acrylic on cardboard, 1994.
INFO Eduard24
January 2024