EDITORIAL

Dear Friends and Modelers,

After several years, May is once

again the month of the MiGs, but in

this case, in 1/72nd scale. After a long

wait, careful development, preparation and fine-tuning, we are announcing the release of our MiG-21MF in

1/72nd. The design of this kit is an

evolution of the larger 1/48th scale

kit that was released earlier, but the

developments of the seven years

that separate the two is naturally evident in it’s design and concept. This

smaller version is simpler as might be

expected. We took to heart above all

much of the review comments on the

Spitfire Mk.IX and VIII regarding complexity and carefully considered every sub assembly, just how complex it

can be in order to, on the one hand,

preserve a high level of detail, and on

the other to make the kit build-friendly. As a result, there are parts of the

kit that were assemblies of individual parts that are now one piece. The

assembly sequence overall has been

simplified. Thanks to this fact, the

kit is easier to put together but has

been in essence preserved, and in

some respects surpasses the details

of its larger predecessor. This applies

to, for example, cockpit details. Simplified construction is evident in the

spine, fin and rudder assemblies.

This is similar to the 48th scale kit in

that its a sub-assembly, but instead

of the three basic and several detail

parts of the larger kit, here this is

a compact, one piece affair. That in itself will simplify overall construction

of the kit. It’s similar with the cockpit,

intake and nose cone, which is now

glued from the outside after gluing

and painting of the entire model.

The installation of the cone after the

assembly of the model allows easier

addition of nose weight, although

truth be told, no nose weight is required. It’s not a tail sitter.

What is perhaps a little more complicated are the offered colour schemes for the kit. We divided the MF

version into two individual editions

according to the factory where they

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were built. To separate the two and

to allow some overview, we dubbed

the version built at Factory No.21 in

Gorky (today Nizni Novgorod) and

known in Czechoslovakia as ‘the

Greys‘ MiG-21MF INTERCEPTOR. The

second version, representing those

aircraft produced at Factory No.30

in Moscow, will be called MiG-21MF

FIGHTER BOMBER. This version we

have our own in-house name for

since these aircraft served in Czechoslovakia in the well known green

and brown paint scheme. This might

be understandable, given that trying

to follow Soviet designation systems

would be an exercise in futility. I admit I still have confusion in my own

head as to which version was built

where.

Further differences in these versions will be further described on our

Facebook page as well as elsewhere. It can be expected that all those

who are interested will be very well

informed. I must admit to being a

bit surprised at the reactions of experts, who during the initiation of

the project intensively lobbied for an

intense rendition of all details only to

complain and criticize that the same

things were just minor items. Basically, I would probably agree, and

I understand that they feel they lost

a good opportunity to school us in

their reviews. Well know Gabor has

already identified a fault on the vertical tail, so he now has a theme.

I think this is so minor as to be unnoticeable. On the other hand, adding

the tail section issue he found with

his famous intake issue with the MiG-21bis would be kindof a cool idea

that may well look good on a t-shirt.

So, today we are releasing the

MiG-21MF INTERCEPTOR that represents the airplane built at Gorky,

Factory No.21, known in Czechoslo-

vakia as the Greys. This version was

less widespread than the green/

brown camouflaged aircraft that

served in Czechoslovakia and later

in the Czech Republic (Slovakia didn’t receive any of these aircraft and

there were twenty Greys in the Czechoslovak Air Force), in Poland, East

Germany, in Bulgaria, Romania and

in Mali which bought three aircraft

from the Czechs who didn’t fly them

much and their alternate fate would

have been to rot at the end of some

runway. This is also the reason why

the kit contains no marking option

for a Soviet or Russian aircraft. The

options include five aircraft from five

user nations, the odd man out being

Bulgaria. If you are just yearning for

a Bulgarian MiG-21, you’ll have your

chance in two months, when those

markings will be included in the Royal Class boxing. One other Czechoslovak Grey will be available to the BFC

membership version of this kit. It will

be availble at www.eduard.cz, from

today, along with the basic kit. The

BFC offer with the catalog number

BFC043 is only available to the BFC.

Turning our attention to accessory

items, along with the kit we are releasing a wide sortiment of details,

first and foremost in the Brassin line.

The first of these are being made

available now in May along with the

first ProfiPACK, and more sets will follow in the following months, I believe that these MiG-21MF kits will be

at least as successful as their 1/48th

scale predecessors in 2011, where in

just the Czech Republic half of the kits

produced were sold. The standard is

that we sell about a fifth of the kits

produced to the home market.

The release progression of other

kits will be as follows: in June, we

will release the Royal Class kit, which

will include a total of twelve marking

INFO Eduard - May 2018