EDITORIAL

Dear Friends,

The Covid situation can be likened to the end

of the Second World War. We all know that the

end is near, that the Chinese gift to the world

will be defeated in the end, but it just won’t go

away quite that easily. In March, we initiated

weekly Covid testing by an independent certified lab of our employees as per government

mandated requirements. No self test kits or

any other sneaky circumnavigation of the requirements here. Through March, we were

able to isolate three positive cases that have

subsequently been confirmed at our firm and

again by a state laboratory. This has led to the

temporary removal of a total of 26 employees,

either through actual positive test results or

through quarantining due to contact with confirmed cases. Among other things, this does

indicate the competence of the health care

workers that carefully trace points of contact

and those who may be potentially affected

by them. Within our company specifically, all

indications are that the state of things is improving. Departments such as plastic production is seeing a return of people to work and

production is ramping up. However, at the end

of last week, there was no one in the Brassin

production department who could spend time

pouring any resin at all. This will likely be felt

through April, and may even have an effect

on availability of items through May and into

June. To the contrary, photoetching is pretty

much complete in terms of manpower. That

is rather surprising. I myself had Covid in

March, and it went off, fortunately, in a mild

manner. I am pretty happy about that….who

wants to spend time in a hospital? I have to

admit that the condition did whip me a bit, and

even now I am a bit without energy. Fortunately, my colleagues are not suffering from the

same lack of energy, and thanks to their determination, we can present a list now of new

items that are akin to what you are used to

seeing from us.

Silver Arrows and Our Evolution

As the main centre of attention for this month,

I would put the 1:72nd scale Silver Arrows release at the top. The Silver Arrows Limited

Edition kit made its first appearance back in

2014. It was in 1:48th and the box was quite

large, and it was the main attraction for E-day

that year. Today’s smaller edition has a lot in

common with that earlier release, but at the

same time, there are many differences, too.

One thing that will be of interest to many is

the inclusion of the publication, and it’s second edition, developed for this release, is

updated to a very large degree, but just as the

kit itself, it leaves out the MiG-21R. This is one

of the differences. The MiG-21R was dropped

as a subject matter from the new release.

It was included in the 48th scale kit, along

with the PF and PFM versions, and this was

a source of a lot of headaches. The inclusion

of plastic for three separate kits was almost

suicidal, and to this day, the whole thing is remembered as a nightmare, both in terms of

packing and in retail. The three-version packaging also didn’t find a lot of favor among

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our customers. We saw this possibility, and

to prevent anyone from having to purchase

complete kits to use what was already bought, we made available the idea of the ‘Empty

Box’, allowing the purchase of needed plastic

sprues to complete what was in the kit, and

in practically any combination desired. This

seemed like a comfortable thing to provide

our customers, but it intensified those headaches at our end. It was a creative solution

for supporting the contents of the kit, but it

ended up being a dead end. So, this is something we have no desire in repeating with this

1:72nd scale edition. It includes resin details

in the form of seats and wheels. Those that

think that these items are automatic inclusions in the Limited Edition line should take

note that in the 48th scale boxing, they were

not included. Other differences can be seen in

the improvement of the technology used and

in the conceptual evolution of our kits. These

two MiG-21s, the PF and the PFM in 1:72nd, are

in my opinion, the best of our MiG-21s in any

scale. This is not something that you will necessarily read in any review, but the Eduard

kits of the 2020’s are at a completely new level as compared to the kits that we were able

to offer a decade earlier. We have no other kit

in our catalog where this comparison can be

made so well to illustrate the point as with the

Spitfire Mk.I to V. The Mk.I apparently has its

battle to win the hearts of modelers successfully behind it. The usual search for mistakes

online ended in record time, and build articles

that have appeared show that modelers have

been enjoying this kit very much. April’s ProfiPACK Spitfire Mk.I carries on the mapping out

of individual versions and sub-variants of the

early Spitfires over the first two years of the

type’s service career. These are not just the

versions with the flat canopy and two-blade

propeller, as could be expected. We consider the main identifiers of those early versions to be those that were not equipped with

what would become standard features. That

includes full armor protection, Tr.9D or Tr.1133

radio sets, gun heating systems, and so on.

The camouflage options cover the timeframe

from the fall of 1938 to the spring of 1940, prior to the beginning of the German offensive

along the Western Front. There are seven options to choose from.

April Weekends and Stories

Both April Weekend kits are interesting items.

The Pfalz D.IIIa is a return to an older First

World War kit of ours, but the marking options are a result of the latest research and

uncovered information. The boxart is also the

result of new research, and depicts an actual

event that was an encounter between Lieutenant Eugene Siempelkamp and Camels of

No.210 Squadron, RFC. The pilot of the Camel

that was shot down, 2nd Lt. Saunders survived the fight and was taken prisoner. Also a

part of the reality that the scene depicts is the

little Pfalz in the background. It is from Jasta

7, and the pilot of that airplane unfortunately

did not survive. Similarly, an actual event is

depicted in the boxart of the Bf 109G-6 Wee-

kend it. Should you be interested, the details

surrounding this airplane can be found in the

article ‘Horror Over Kalamaki’ in this newsletter. This kit is also interesting in that it uses

three versions of a scheme that was used in

the very first Bf 109G-6 that we released. This

was the kit that was criticized as being oversized, and the one that we pulled from our

catalog and retooled completely. I think that

these marking options are far too interesting

to remain ignored. Red ‘13’ of Heinrich Bartels

was actual the subject of boxart for us on two

occasions, but at one point it was so experimental, that we couldn’t find the courage to

use it again.

There’s no Re-Edition like a Re-Edition

Along with our new releases for the month,

we are also releasing two reboxings of the

sold-out ProfiPACK Z-37A Cmelak (Bumble

Bee) in 1:72nd scale and the 1:48th P-51D. Both

items sold out quite quickly, so rereleasing

them is a bit of a no-brainer. At the same

time, we restocked the 1:72nd scale MiG-21PF

and PFM kits at the end of March. Specifically, the MiG-21PFM is in a ProfiPACK box and

there are also Weekend boxings of both the

PF and PFM. Also, an OVERTREES restock

has been realized for both. The MiG-21PF as

a ProfiPACK kit will come in June as a rerelease. Through April and May, we will give

the same attention to the MiG-21MF in 1:72nd,

which will begin with the MiG-21MF Fighter

Bomber in May as a ProfiPACK item. I think

I should point out the difference here between

a re-release and a re-stock. A re-stock for

a certain item means that we have everything

we need in the warehouse (including boxes,

instructions, decals) and all it needs is to be

packed. And packed they can be the moment

we have the plastic. An item that is up for re-release means that we haven’t got the material to pack the kit (Such as boxes, etc.). In

those cases, we revisit the instructions and

decals, and update the box to our current

standard. Then, we combine everything, print

it all, and release it under the same catalog

number. If there ends up being a more significant change to the kit, such as something to

do with a scheme or the boxart, then we also

change the catalog number. This will be the

case, for example, in may, with the ProfiPACK

Bf 109G-2. With respect to photoetching and

masks, we have a line up for April that is typical in various scales. In 1:32nd scale, we sets

for the Tiger Moth from ICM, complemented

by a Space set, and a set for the forward interior of the A-26C from Trumpeter. In 1:48th

INFO Eduard - April 2021