EDITORIAL
Dear Friends and Modellers,
Under normal circumstances, today would be the
day that I inform you of the goings-on at our press
conference at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. But as we
all know, the term ‘normal circumstances’ simply
does not currently apply, and any expansion of the
tradition that is the press conference is being torn
apart by the cancellation of the fair. I must admit to
a certain sense of, perhaps, not so much as harm
from all this, but a bit of a relief. I don’t even know
what became of the plans to move the fair to the
summer months. But even that is a moot point,
because if the fair were to be held in the summer,
we still would not be in attendance. In the summer,
we are expecting to have other pressing matters
to attend to. The pandemic situation is still a very
dramatic affair, and the vaccination programs are
falling behind schedule. This, in such a behemoth
endeavor, is to be expected and should surprise no
one. I expect the systems in place will be fine-tuned
within a few weeks, and the program will begin to
run smoothly. And maybe even here, in the Czech
Republic! And with that, what I am trying to say is
that I expect there to be an increasing relaxation
of the restrictions through the course of the summer. That first event that modellers will be able to
attend, that will be one for the history books!
NOBODY’S PERFECT
I will begin my monthly description of events and
new products by addressing a mistake, which was
made in January. Consequently, the addition of
the SPACE sample in purchased P-51D-5 kits had to
be cancelled. I don’t want to blame everything on
December’s fire, but of course, it is a factor. Everything came together thusly: After the fire, we had
no P-51D-5 kits in our inventory. No Weekend kits,
no ProfiPACK kits. After the reopening of the retail
department on January 11th, it appeared as though
we would not be able to sell any of them. Production then pulled all the SPACE sets that were ready
to be included in orders that contained P-51D-5 kits,
and immediately began selling them on their own.
We then decided that we would take the salvageable Overtrees P-51s, and turn them into Weekend
Edition kits. The repackaging along this line went
quickly, and some 82 P-51D-5 Weekend kits were
put up for sale. Unfortunately, no one realized that
the SPACE sets, by then down to almost nothing in
inventory, were not being replenished, and by the
time the realization kicked in, most of the Weekend
P-51D-5s were sold. And all this took place over the
course of a day, just so you don’t get the idea that
we are somewhat slow over here. In this situation,
it seemed pointless to change the terms of sale.
Unfortunately, during this hectic and complicated
period surrounding the resumption of sales activities, there was also a communication breakdown
that led to customers not being informed about the
Mustangs being sent out without the SPACE sets,
because the marketing department received the
information too late. I truly do apologize for the
mess. It came about as the result of everyone dealing with too many things at once, and the sale of
one item was not our main goal. And how will this
situation evolve? The Mustang should go back into
stock in middle of February Not just the P-51D-5
Weekend kit, but other versions as well, such as the
F-6D. Once the Weekend D-5 again becomes available, we will reignite the offer of the addition of
the SPACE set samples for inclusion. Those, that got
their kit in January, have been sent an email about
further procedures. That will be that anyone who
will put in an order will receive a SPACE sample with
said order, and who doesn’t, will receive it separately. I hope that this will settle this issue to everyone’s satisfaction.
4 eduard
SPRUES, SPRUES, SPRUES
The retail department was reopened after the fire
on January 11th, and resumed operation. It needs
to be taken into account that this was done under
some very difficult conditions. Just during the first
week, residual water infiltrated down into the restored warehouse section on three separate occasions. The overall conditions in the warehouse were,
and continue to be, somewhat unpleasant. We have
had to battle not just that first week, but through all
of January, with various little surprises and pitfalls
associated with the return to operational conditions. The biggest issue faced, and really was predictable, was the lack of plastic for the completion
of kits. This was expected to be the main issue into
February, and the lack was also anticipated to be
increasingly apparent in our endeavors. The majority of items were sold out already through January,
and others will follow suit in February. When you
have almost a million plastic sprues go up in smoke,
it’s gonna get noticed somewhere! Of course, we
started molding plastic immediately with the beginning of January. Priority is given to new releases,
and that is how it will stay, so the beginning of the
molding activity was dedicated to February’s new
releases, and right now that has shifted to those
for March. Those have to be ready to be shipped
by mid-February. This includes the buildup of stock
of all the associated accessory items, too. So, as
an example, for the Spitfire Mk.II, this means not
only getting ready the ProfiPACK kit of the model,
but also Spitfire Story: Tally Ho and Spitfire Story:
The Few. Then, there’s the Spitfire Mk.Ia ProfiPACK.
This is a pattern that will continue. March’s new
Fw 190A-5 will see with it the addition of another
six Fw 190A versions. For some items, this will likely
mean some length of time when they will be delayed, but I am convinced that this systematic replenishing of our catalog will be the most effective, and
by the middle of the year, our catalog of available
items will be more than satisfactory. With respect
to pressing plastic, we are not alone, and already
in January, we have had Special Hobby working
closely with us, and more molding equipment has
just been added to the mix. Our ability to put such
an arrangement into motion has been dependent
on preparing the molds along technical lines such
that firms outside of our specific field can effectively work with them with little to no risk of any
damage. So far, all seems to be working smoothly,
and I am hopeful that molding will be running along
at a good clip through February. We are truly doing
what we can. Unfortunately, what has fallen behind
is the development of the new molds intended for
this year’s new releases. The machinists are busy
with preparing the molds for production, and the
development of the new ones are suffering from a
serious lack of time. But even here, I see reason for
optimism with regards to bringing this up to snuff through February, or by March, anyway. As if all
these complications weren’t enough, in January,
covid was not to be outdone by some dumb fire.
Four of our press operators were sidelined for that
very reason, which amounts to one entire shift. To
compensate and to try and maintain the required
press tempo, machinists, including their supervisor,
took turns in that department, besides their regular
duties. Here, as with other companies who are facing adversity, everyone has to roll up their sleeves.
FEBRUARY NEW RELEASES/ACCESSORIES
So, let’s turn our attention to the new items coming
out in February. We’ll start off with accessories.
I would like to point out the six new EDUARD SPACE
sets. These are designed for various versions of the
Spitfire Mk.I and Mk.II in 1:48th scale, two are for
the MiG-21, PF and PFM in 1:72nd, and one is for
the P-51D-5 Mustang in 48th. That was the set that
was intended for inclusion with Mustang kits purchased in January, and will now happen in February. Because this was part of the process of putting
these new items in production for February, it will
now figure as a part of the normal release schedule
of new items as well. If you intend to take advantage of the offer of these with the kit, then you can
simply ignore it as a new item off of our e-shop.
I must point out that the offer is only valid from our
e-shop. Retailers are not making this offer to you,
and for P-51D-5 kits bought outside of our e-shop,
the offer does not apply. We also have three new
LookPlus sets being released, including for the Mi-24V and the Do 17Z in 1:48th scale. In the classic
Brassin range, you’ll find a list of smaller sets, most
notably of weapon sets. Here, I would also like to
single out one item, and that is the set for the Spray
Booms in 1:72nd scale for the Z-37A. This is Set No.
672253. This set is a sort of a window into the future. A part of the set is not in cast resin, but a direct
3D print. This is a road we’d like to go down, and
take full advantage of the potential offered by this
technology. Our goal is to produce a good part of
resin accessory sets as straight 3D prints by the second half of the year.
Photoetched and mask sets offer several collections
of items designed for interesting models that have
recently been released, such as the 1:32nd scale
Tornado GR.4 (Italeri, 1:32nd), F-104DJ (Kinetic,
1:48th), Il-2 (Zvezda (1:48th), F-4EJ Kai (Fine Molds,
1:72nd) and the Merkava Mk.2D (Takom, 1:35th).
Also, please not the extensive releases of masks
and the six new BigEd sets. In February, we also
have four new decal sets coming out. These include
to sheets of stencil data for the P-38 and the Harrier
GR.7/9, both in 1:48th scale. The other two sets
are classic marking sets covering the Fokker Dr.I in
1:32nd. This is for the MENG kit, originally to be released by WNW. The first sheet is dubbed ‘Die alten
Kanonen’, and is dedicated to the aces in general,
with the second sheet focused on Dreideckers from
Richthofen’s JG 1, called ‘Flying Circus / JG 1’.
FEBRUARY NEW RELEASES / KITS
The new kit releases for February are adversely
affected by the fire and its aftermath. It only affects
the release of new kits, fortunately. The number
of new kits has been reduced to three, and the
MiG-21bis in the Weekend Edition has been postponed from the original release plan due to a shortage of plastic. The MiG will likely be released in the
second half of the year. For the same reason, there
is a postponement of the release of the 1:72nd scale ProfiPACK MiG-21MF Fighter Bomber. So, in the
Weekend line, there remains only one release, and
that is the Nieuport 17 in 1:72nd. This is, in my opinion, one of the nicest kits we have ever produced
which remains, unfortunately, a bit of an outsider
in terms of general popularity as a subject. It was
created out of some rather unlikely circumstances.
We prepared this item in, for us, the record time
INFO Eduard - February 2021