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Info Eduard - April 2011
EDITORIAL
March was a rather eventful month, wouldn’t
you say? Revolutions, earthquakes, MiG-21s...
not to suggest that as soon as Eduard releases
the MiG-21, there is revolution in Libya and
a massive earthquake in Japan, but you know
how it goes, everything ultimately affects
everything else. In any case, it was an odd
month, and for us, understandably, a very
successful one, nancially, with a lot of small
catastrophes in the background for good
measure. One of them certainly involved
a miscommunication over the mailing out of the
Subscriber Edition MiG-21s and, on the other
hand, the ProPACK kits, to distributors and
retailers. Thanks to the unfortunate formulation
of our advertisement, subscribers expected
that they would be receiving their kits before
the standard ProPACKs would be generally
available at retail outlets. This was not realistic,
as our distribution cycle runs from the beginning
of the month, while distribution of the Subscriber
Edition was planned for, and announced as,
March 15th. In view of the fact that kits typically
arrive at the retailers two or three days after
the ofcial start of distribution, it wouldn’t have
presented a major problem, mainly because we
began to send out the Subscriber Edition boxings
before the announced date. A lack of patience
and an excess of anticipation, coupled with
retailing politics of rst and foremost internet
retailers, can also be blamed. Some announced
the sale of ProPACK kits at a time when they
simply could not have had any of the kits in
stock yet, causing a lot of angst and frustration.
The epitome of this practice is Lucky Models,
that has gone so far as to offer our Subscriber
Edition for ten dollars less than us. In spite of
that, I am sure that we sent none of these kits
to this distributor, although a list of retailers
purchased the kit during the offer (at full price).
The purpose of this conduct escapes me, but I’m
tempted to think it is a diversion of some sort.
In any case, the tense situation settled down
considerably after the MiGs arrived at their
owners’ doors, and ‘MiGset’ turned to ‘MiGjoy’.
What would Colonel Gadda or Hosni Mubarak
do for a similar outcome?
Our MiG was accepted very warmly and with
a lot of enthusiasm by the modeling community.
I don’t remember any other of our kits being
accepted with such high regard so soon.
Personally, I was most pleased by the reaction
of Honza Kase, a well known expert on First
World War aircraft. He stated that, although he
carries a disdain towards ‘stove pipes’, and that
the MiG-21 actually pisses him off, the kit is so
nice that it is time for him to change his mind, and
initiate a collection perhaps along the theme of
‘Weapon that failed to break the Israeli People’.
Besides that, our MiGman Lada Jonas received
a proposal of marriage (not from me :-) ), and
I have been nominated for President. I don’t
know what Lada has in mind, but I am hesitant.
Maybe in ten or fteen years I’d consider it...
a man’s gotta do something. After we release
a Mustang, Phantom, all two-seat MiGs, including
the UTI MiG-9, B-52, and a new Tempest.
And while we’re at it, how about a zero,
or better yet, reverse, tax on models and
modeling supplies. Perhaps certain types of
automobiles could be included. Throw in both
expert and offensive literature, and pills for the
maintenance of the ever important erection, then
we’d be getting somewhere! We still have to
work on the voting system and list of promises,
and your suggestions and impulses are welcome!
In mid-March, we attended the year’s rst
convention at the Panthers Cup in Prague. It was
a very pleasant and well organized event. Our
reps were dominated by questions regarding
the MiG-21, and of other plans. True, if we
wanted to fulll all modeling wishes, we would
have to clone ourselves, which would likely be
cost prohibitive at payroll level, but we did make
a few promises. Ultimately, candidacy cries out
for promises. So far, I’ve been careful with what
I promise, the campaign is still well off, and so
have been limited to other versions of the MiG-
21. The success of the ‘MF’ has certainly woken
us up, and has given us some very positive
momentum.
Already prior to all this, we have had some
further plans for further development, and we
are ready to dub this year as ‘Year of the MiG’.
Originally, we wanted April to be the ‘MiG
Month’, but that would evidently be inadequate.
So the next in line is the ‘SMT’ - that little bugger
with the big hump. I was surprised by the reaction
generated on the Facebook page. The rst night
alone saw some seventy people proclaim their
afnity for this variant, which was unexpected.
The ‘SMT’ really is a purposeful looking beast!
We also will have some really nice T-shirts with
it as well! This kit will be available in May, with
modied photoetched brass and a pair of UB-
32s to boot.
In March, besides nal preparations for the
‘SMT’, we were also focused on the MiG-21bis, or,
more accurately, its enigmatic nose. We headed
off to Berlin, although Hungarian modelers were
also graciously offering help. But, with all due
thanks to our Hungarian friends, Berlin was closer.
From us, its about as far as Brno, and we could
also avoid using the hard-pressed highway D1.
I call this highway former highway. Maybe it was
a highway long time ago, but in the present time
it is slow and danger way of transportation.
Who has a driving experience from LA, that
knows what I´m talking about!
Dr. Willisch from the Luftwaffenmuseum
in Gatow, together with Andreas Beck (IPMS
Deutschland) demonstrated a great willingness
to help, and also patience during our four hour
infatuation with the MiG nose. I won’t dwell any
more on further details (the sun was shining and
I burned to a crisp) about such matters as the
contribution of our colleague Mira Horcicka (who
smashed his head on a spindle type item at the
end of the vertical tail, received quite a lump,
a bit of a hole, lost some blood. You might say
he suffered a ‘MiGraine’. Sorry...I just had to
say it. OK...on to the bottom line. It’s a different
damned animal. Behind the stainless intake ring,
there is a diameter difference of 22mm, with
the ‘BIS’ being bigger. No big wup, in scale, that
amounts to about 0.4mm. What’s worse, though,
is that an approximately 15cm section of the
nose has a different shape, the transformation
from a circular section to an elliptical takes on
a different form, period. So, we are conducting
the relevant changes. Hopefully, we’ll get it
done by Christmas. And, while we’re at it,
we’ll tackle the other versions as well; PF, PFM,
and probably the F as well. Truth be told, it’s
a version I personally am liking more and more.
On a MiG-related matter, we have prepared
new Eduard T-shirts...with MiGs, naturally. Those
of you who visit Facebook will have already seen
them. The shirts are sweet, especially the one for
the ‘SMT’, my personal favorite. It’s absolutely
great, front and back. Not that the other two are
ugly, by any means, but this one has a certain
‘umpf’ to it. The shirts will have their premier
at Moson (Mosonmagyarovar) in mid April.
That these items will be available with other hot
little recrackers at our stall goes without saying.
When I´m writing about the various shows
and exhibitions, if anyone of this year IPMS
Nationals organization staff reads this article,
please contact me as soon as possible on my
e-mail sulc@eduard.cz. I sent couple of e-mails
concerning our tables, with no reply, so I´m
a little bit nervous, I don´t miss Nats this year,
trust me!
Back to the MiG for a sec. In this edition of
the newsletter, besides a built MiG, you’ll nd
an article describing the history of the Trabant.
There is a connection. Think back to our MiGuary