Editorial

Dear Friends,

So I have to say that this April was a good ride. Over the more than thirty-five years of our company's existence, we have experienced various historical events, starting with the revolution and the overthrow of the communist regime in 1989 (yes, Eduard was already a functioning entity back then and we thoroughly enjoyed the revolution), through the terrorist attacks on New York on September 11th, 2001, to the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank and the economic crisis of the late 1990s. All of these events were social and economic upheavals, changing the economic situation and significantly affecting the way business was conducted. To be honest, changing established patterns out of necessity is always difficult and the need to change your behavior and do things differently is not a comforting affair, and when such changes take place, they mainly cause stress and anxiety. Positive feelings only come with time. You may be wondering what the hell was going on here and what actually changed. Well, change it did. The crisis in 2008 was a strong impetus for innovation for us. We introduced the technology that we use to produce our kits today just after 2008. We bought new machines, introduced the production of technically new molds, establishing the path to the current standard in Eduard model kits. The same is true of the Brassin line, they are also a child of the crisis of 2008. Preparations for the production of the cast sets began in the spring of 2009 and the first Brassins were released in January 2010. We had 3D printers in the process from the very beginning of the line, since the masters were always designed using 3D design programs, and then they were printed and refined to be then turned into molds for resin casting.

The situation today is similar. After the covid episode, which was probably the golden age of the modeling industry, all the companies that had survived until then recovered and experienced two years of unprecedented prosperity. There were shocks in the form of inflation, supply disruptions, the Russian attack on Ukraine, and right now we have another incarnation of the post-covid crisis in the form of US President Trump's tariffs. The start to April was tense. We had to deal with the shock brought on by the introduction of US tariffs, forcing us to a new modus operandi with our American partners and implement it in practice. Maintaining the US market is absolutely crucial for us due to our commitment to it, we export 20% of our production to the US, and we certainly do not feel that we are robbing America in any way. In the end, we found a solution that should maintain the current level of our American prices. But how it all turns out is of course up in the air, the model market will be hit not only in America. Chinese companies are most likely out of the game in America for at least some time, which is certainly not something we are happy about. We do not need the liquidation of competing companies and their elimination from the market, we need them for our life and prosperity, as I have explained several times in the past. So we hope that the whole situation will settle down again. But it will never be the same as before the tariffs. The world has started moving and it will not just stop. We’ll see where this road takes us.

We’re not stopping, either. April's positives include two significant events, Easter Prostejov and the Moson show. We were in Prostejov at Easter and in Moson in Hungary a week later, both events were great, well-organized and, from our point of view, very successful. Both seemed to be better attended than last year, at least from the point of view of our tables, which were full of activity from morning to evening. We had our May releases at both events, and the 72nd scale MiG-21bis proved to be a great success at both. At Moson we had the MiGs sold out by noon, and the P-40E in the Pacific Star kit joined a few hours later. We also had the first sprues for the MiG-21F-13 in 1:48th for display purposes, in Prostejov just the canopy, which is of course an interesting piece of plastic in and of itself, and in Moson we added two more sprues, the fuselage and the wing, and the reactions were extremely positive. We don’t think that this comes as much of a surprise; the kit will probably be the best we have ever produced both in terms of the execution of surface and internal details, and in terms of buildability. The release schedule is also already taking shape. The F version will have its premiere at E-day in the form of a Limited Edition series kit, dedicated to the service of the MiG-21F-13 in various world air forces. This issue will be derived from the Czechoslovak Limited Edition kit, dedicated to the production of the MiG-21F-13 at Aero Vodochody and its service in the Czechoslovak Air Force. The form of this kit will be decided next week, but in any case it is certain that this kit will include a book about the Czechoslovak MiG-21F-13 by Martin Janousek, and that it will be sold by pre-order in general and from retailers. We will only produce as many kits as we have orders, and the ordered kits will then be shipped a week before E-day with the option of pick up at that show.

We still have a long way to go until E-day and a lot will happen before October 4th. However, as long as we are on the topic of all these shows, why not say something about this year's E-day, no? We took the opportunity to visit the venue in Litomerice a week before Easter. The Gardens of Bohemia exhibition was taking place there and we wanted to see the area in action. Jirka Fiala, who is significantly involved in the activities of the judges, wanted to see the main exhibition hall, where the competition models will be. And of course, the other halls too, because we will be occupying a total of five halls at the venue. You don't have to worry about that, the halls are not far from each other, and they are mainly concentrated around the central area where the food court will be located, which will be inside military tents. There will also be direct access from the catering area to the hall, where there will be workshops and a space for tables, where visitors will be able to enjoy refreshments from the catering tent in case of inclement weather, which is a bit of a threat in October. Regardless of the weather, it will also be one of the areas for sitting and chatting. There are several of these in the area, and they will certainly be put to good use, because one of the reasons why modelers go to these shows is for the opportunity to meet friends and have a good chat with them. That is why, in addition to the classic Pot Q and A, and other lectures, which will also be in a separate hall, we are preparing a chat session in the ‘Cafe by the Lake’, which is between the Q and A hall and the workshop hall. The plan is that various personalities from our company and the model industry will take turns behind the counter, making coffee, pouring beer and chatting with modelers. It will be an experiment, we have never done anything like this, but something tells me that it will be interesting and fun. From our company, I will be there, as will Katka Borecka, and Jakub and Martin Nademlejnsky, and from other companies we will also invite Fredy Riedel from Special Hobby, Jindra Sterbacek from Modelar and Petr Muzikant from KP, and in general anyone with the courage to show up will be welcome.

The lecture format is also being formulated and we have secured pilots who flew MiG-21Fs to be there, and we are working on getting someone who still remembers the Avia S-199 to attend. This is quite important, because it will coincide with the release of our S-199. As with the MiG, for which we already have all the molds milled, we are working very hard on the S-199 to have it ready to go on sale at E-day. In fact, we want to have both models completely ready by September, and during September we will present them at a series of meetings with modelers. One will be in Prague, one again in Prostejov, and we are planning the very first presentation of both kits in Pilsen at the Pilsenský Velbloud (Pilsen Camel) competition. We'll be explaining the concept of the kits, which will be quite novel and innovative, and there will probably be the first units in plain white boxes up for grabs. And here too, something tells me you'll like both of these little things.

To conclude this editorial, let's move from autumn back to spring. At the end of May, preorders for the 48th scale Royal Class P-40N Warhawk will begin. This is a continuation of the P-40 project. The N model is the most beautiful and interesting Warhawk in my opinion, and it will be a colorful and attractive affair in all its releases yet to come. Presentation of the aircraft selected for the Royal boxing will begin during May. We will start the preorders on Friday, May 23rd, and the kit production run will again be determined based on the number of preorders. We will produce as many as there are orders from the e-shop and from dealers. Along with the Royal Class P-40N, it will be possible to order everything from the e-shop assortment, as well as selected accessories, which, like the Royal Class itself, will be among the new releases for August. We will then ship orders to customers in the second week of July, to dealers from July 15th. We will talk more about other new products for August in the next editorial. It will be an interesting month, because just as the November lineup of new items sold on E-day will be distinctly Czechoslovak, the August lineup will be very American. In addition to the P-40N, there will also be a 48th scale F-18C, which will be our boxing of the Kinetic kit. As an example.

But more on that next time. Today, enjoy looking over May’s new releases, the main focus of which is the 72nd scale MiG-21bis. This is also reflected in today's newsletter, where you will find, for example, an article describing the armament of the MiG-21bis and among new releases, a number of printed accessories, of which, in my opinion, the most attractive is the exhaust nozzle.

Happy Modelling!

Vladimir Sulc