EDITORIAL

Good day, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We’re closed. Although you are certainly

able to view and study our March release

listing within these pages or at our e-shop,

any purchases will have to be postponed.

I understand that this sounds a little nuts,

but it is not the result of some underhanded

marketing ploy. It is a function of the fact that

we are moving our entire retail department. It

is also the reason why no sales will be going

through our e-shop for the next seven days.

As you will have probably already noted, the

new items were available for early purchase

from last Friday, and they will be available

from our retail partners as well.

The move is being made from within the city

of Most, where we suffered our fire claiming

a lot of our plastic some two years and three

months back, to a facility which we purchased

just outside of the city last year and have

been renovating for our needs. The village is

called Sedlec, and borders an industrial park

that houses, for example, a former brewery.

That has long since been relocated. Our new

facility is located about 4km from our head

office in Obrnice. Our renovation is being

done in steps. In January, immediately ahead

of our departure for Nuremberg, we moved

all of our plastic to the new facility which we

call ‘the Barn’, but is officially labeled as ‘Hall

No.2’. The relocation of the retail department

is the second phase, and the third will be the

move of the tool and press shops. This will

include our design offices that fall under

kit production. If everything goes as it has

been up to now, that third phase should be

complete by the end of the year. On the one

hand, it complicates our life quite a bit, the

third phase being the most complicated. The

move of the heavy equipment will be the most

logistically ambitious activity Eduard has ever

embarked upon. It will also likely have an

impact on the meeting of release schedules

for the beginning of the year. This will mostly

centre around the 48th scale S-199, but there

will be a negative push against other projects

such as the MiG-21F. But, there is the other

hand, too, that will open up a more effective

workspace for us, and not just with respect

to the production of kits. The move will be

to the benefit of the Brassin department

as well, because the space freed up on the

main floor of the main building in Obrnice

will be allocated to them. This will give them

somewhere between 6400 and 6500 square

feet, and that will house their printers and

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INFO Eduard

other pieces of equipment very nicely!

This is all still in the relatively distant future.

And you know how plans are. They have

an awe-inspiring ability to not go the way

they’re supposed to, they have an ability to

fail, and so on. At the moment, it’s the retail

department’s turn to move on up, and we

began this today. We moved all the furniture

and the IT equipment and tomorrow we’ll

pick up with packing up stock items from

the shelves and the latter’s disassembly. So,

keep your fingers crossed and please, be

patient. If everything goes according to those

aforementioned plans, we should be open for

business again next Wednesday. If you need

anything from us, you can still write. We will

be on-line and answering questions. Just

bear in mind that we will be rather busy and

there may be a delay in our responses for

a short while.

Nuremberg

The Nuremberg Toy Fair was different this

year. From the point of view of our industry,

it’s pretty simple to describe. It was small.

All in all, there were six manufacturers

represented: us, Special Hobby, Italeri,

Airfix, Revell and Tamiya. There were some

colleagues that produce accessory items

present, AK Interactive, Vallejo, and Art Scale,

which is also a retailer, but they do produce

some masks and decals, along with some

cutting saws. And that’s it. Beyond that…

crickets. There was Zvezda, but they were

in a bit of an undercover mode in an office in

the service centre. In proportion to the new

conditions, our table space was reduced and

shared with Special Hobby. Retailers and

journalists were fewer as well, and notable

absences were Asian and American. But, it

wasn’t as bleak as I am perhaps making it out

to sound. There were fewer of us, but there

was correspondingly more time for things.

The discussions were not mechanically

geared to business and there was a pleasant,

friendly feel to it. There was also more

general ‘chatter’, if you like. All in all, it was

an interesting experience and I am happy for

it. The atmosphere at this year’s Nuremberg

Toy Fair reminded me of the old Chicago show

RICHTA because, among other reasons, our

exhibition hall at Nuremberg was, apparently

for the first time, open to kids, and kids came!

There were no Scout troops in attendance like

in Chicago, but it was nice to see, regardless if

it was because of the recent crisis or a simple

organizational decision. It was a change and

change is good. It wasn’t a revolution, but it

was a step forward within the bounds of

reason, and that is, in my estimation, the

best way to move forward. Ultimately, what

bothered me the most was the cold in the

exhibition venue, and the stall that sold

steaks on a bun that was closed. That was

probably my greatest piece of enjoyment that

I looked forward to. I will need to find another

little gem to look forward to, and I am worried

that this one will be tough to replace!

Don’t fret too much if these little philosophical

musings don’t give you all that much.

A dedicated, in depth look at Nuremberg

follows in the pages of this newsletter edition.

New Releases for March – Kits

Of all of our new releases, which total 86 this

month, modellers most gravitate to new kits.

This month, there is nothing that is super new,

there is no kit taking a bow for its premiere,

but even so, it is an interesting mix of scales

and aircraft from various periods in history.

March 2023