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lines like we have. This is a vast topic that would
be worth an in-depth article. So I have quite
a lot of background for this, to tell the truth,
I have been dealing with the topic for almost
ten years. I have hundreds, maybe thousands,
of photos reviewed, lots of articles and other
sources, 48 Mustangs that we went over in great
detail and one flight in a Mustang in the back
seat. I admit that at the time, I didn't really look at
how this particular machine’s wing surface was
treated, because when I climbed into it, my main
concern was to shove my 190 cm and 120 kilos
frame into that slot behind the pilot's seat, and
when I was climbing out of the cockpit after the
flight, I really couldn’t see straight for a while
and it was all I could do to stand on my feet. You
can see from this that the priorities of historical
research can be different at different times, and
it was kind of the same with that wing surface on
the Mustang. I'd say in general it was that they
polished the wing first on most units and then
they dropped the practice in general because
they had other things to worry about, plus they
found out that if you hang additional tanks under
the wing, you can polish to your heart’s content,
but it won't fly any faster anyway. You can do the
same for your models. If you don't like our panel
lines, putty, sand, polish and spray paint them.
This will make your building experience all the
more authentic because you will be working just
like the workers and technicians on the North
American production line. If you note that we
have panel lines on the wing of our releases, then
our Mustang is actually no different from other
kits already released, and I recommend that you
take a good look at the kit first and do not make
hasty judgments, because I am sure that there
are some very fundamental differences between
ours and theirs. It's just something completely
different than what you get from anyone else.
I admit that I had the urge to write an article on
the subject of Mustang wings, but I have already
promised our editor-in-chief so much that I don't
know when I will deliver all that I have already
committed to. So I will stick to my original plans
and not jump to other topics. We're not going to
make any changes to our Mustang wing now, and
we couldn’t even if we wanted to, and we don’t,
because we are confident that our interpretation
is the best, given available references.
Articles
That brings me to today's articles. We have
another installment of the Air War over Ukraine
series by Mira Barič. The author confided in us
that he receives various hateful and aggressive
letters. It is clear that they are not from
supporters of Ukraine. We are supporters of
Ukraine and we stand behind our author. At the
same time, we also express our sincere regret
for the victims of the terrorist attack on the
Moscow concert hall and express our sincere
condolences to the survivors and the victims of
this barbaric act. At the same time,
however, we also think that if the
Russian security forces can arrest
a person on the street with a banner
or a quote from the constitution in
a matter of minutes, they should
also be able to take action against
terrorists in less than an hour. Here
in the decadent West, our security
forces can do that. On the other
hand, quoting the Constitution or
protesting against the government
are fundamental rights for us.
We also have two historical articles in this
issue of our newsletter. The Danube article
by Peter Kaššák is about mine laying in the
Danube in 1944, the other by Jan Bobek is about
the downing of Erich Hartmann and one of his
Bf 109s. In addition, we have three shorter but
engaging Boxart stories, about the Wildcat, the
Hellcat and about the Fokker E.III. And I wrote
a travelogue about a research trip to Italy in which
I participated as the main driver and expedition
leader, Jakub Nademlejnský as the coordinator
and Stan Archman as the main researcher. In this
way, I think we achieved par with the recognized
standard makeup of various expeditions of other
institutions, whether sporting or academic.
And that is it from me today.
Happy Modelling!
Vladimir Sulc
EDITORIAL
INFO Eduard
5
April 2024