EDITORIAL

Dear Friends,

Vaclav Sorel, a man who’s books, encyclopedias and comics, shaped several

generations of Czech and Slovak modellers, suffered a stroke in January of

this year, which has caused him to be

bedridden. Currently, he is going through a very difficult recuperation period,

that, after several months, is bearing

some fruit. Unfortunately, his accommodations, necessary for his recovery,

are very expensive and taxing for his

family. We, IPMS Nymburk, and at Eduard, have come together to provide at

least some financial relief. As a result,

we have co-operatively organized an

endowment fund on Vaclav’s behalf in

the form of a fundraiser, which will all

go towards his accommodations and

other needs. We are now turning to

you, fellow modellers, modelling clubs

and model companies with a request

for you to join us, and your participation

in this effort. Any amount will be greatly

helpful, and appreciated just as much.

We believe that this collection will help

greatly in getting Vaclav, who until this

condition hit, was full of life and energy,

back to his normal self, and back into

his passion and new projects. We hope,

and anticipate, that we will see his in-work projects, books, comics, and film

based on his book Tvrz, the shooting of

which is slated for this year, come to

fruition. We also feel that we modellers

will be instrumental in bringing our Great Mentor back out of this experience.

Thank You!

The link to the collection:

https://znesnaze21.cz/sbirka/uspesny-navrat-do-zivota-pro-vaclava-sorela

Zdenek Sebesta for IPMS Nymburk

Vladimir Sulc for Eduard MA

On to today’s new releases. Do you

have any idea why the Kunkadlo is

called the Kunkadlo? It comes from the

translation, and refers to the distinctive

whining noise made by horses, which

the Clerget engine of the airplane resembled. For this reason, the airplane

became gradually known as the Simunek Kunkadlo, or Whiner. The plane

was built by the Simunek brothers,

Vladimir and Bohuslav, between 1924

and 1926, and was so designated VBS.

At the time, the brothers were students

at the ChVUT, and later, Vladimir became a test pilot while Bohuslav an aircraft engine designer. They worked on

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eduard

their project during vacation time. The

initial flight was undertaken by Major

Skala, who was well known for his long

distance flight to Tokyo in a Letov S-16.

On his way back, he crashed in Russia,

and ended up completing his journey by

train, returning with the rudder of the

aircraft, and this item is in the possession of the museum in Kbely. The Kunkadlo itself is on display at the National

Technical Museum in Letna. In more recent years, it is one of the most often

built flying models in our country, with

a number of built examples in various

scales that would be difficult to count.

I built it myself in 1:20 scale, powered

by a rubber band, as a kid. As was the

case of all my other rubber powered

joys, it suffered from that one flight too

many, and so I turned my attention to

plastic models. Those were, in turn,

typically wrecked by my kids. But, why

did we go for the Kunkadlo. It is a technological demonstrator. We have some

new procedures that needed testing

out, and this is its big contribution to

us, but when this item was spotted by

modellers, there grew a demand for it.

So, here you have it. Originally, we contemplated this for the admissions kit for

our next E-day. However, due to the desire to release something different and

generally provide something new and

interesting that is not epidemic related,

we decided to release this as a more or

less normal kit. We know that at least

some modellers will be pleased by this

unique item, one that is beyond any

shadow of a doubt, not in the stash, and

something they have never built before in plastic. Even if it is a rarity, it does

carry a pretty decent historic punch,

and those that know it, understand that

the original itself was more or less a big

model unto itself. One that can be built

in an afternoon and finished in a weekend. To top it off, this airplane seems

to hold a certain attraction with the ladies, so it’s even an opportunity to build

up a few brownie points with the wife,

who may appreciate that you have finally built something nice. However, as

the local restrictions begin to ease, and

people now are even able to hit the bars

once again, we’ll see just how many of

these will really get built. It is apparent,

that the interest is there. Initially, we

were planning on releasing only a mere

1,000 kits, but those were immediately

swallowed up by retailers, so we raised

the number to be produced even before the boxes were printed. I am pleased

about this, because from outside of our

borders, we were getting inundated

with questions such as ‘what, for God’s

sake are you people doing? Why don’t

you release something people actually

want?’ Well, it appears that this is turning into something people want. Certainly Czechs. Our Czechs understand

us, and we understand them.

The second kit for the month is a Limited Edition item that had an adventure

circumnavigating Africa. This precipitated a certain delay and at least as much

panic, because this information made

the jump from the distribution leaflet to

the general modelling public. When the

B-26 Marauder kits were being loaded

on the cargo ship, the coronavirus was

pretty rampant in Asia, but it was somewhat universally accepted that that

was where it would stay. It didn’t. It hit

Europe before the ship did. While on

its journey, the ship was diverted off its

normal route through the Suez Canal to

a longer but less taxing trip around Africa. It hit Hamburg with a ten week delay. It was expected that offloading, processing and delivery would take another

ten days, which began to smell a little

like a catastrophe, but the courier came

through for us, and the kits arrived in

Most last Monday. The first 1,000 pieces

were packed by Tuesday, and were sent

out to the retailers. Of the entire supply,

there are some four hundred left on our

e-shop, so if you want one, don’t hesitate. These are likely to be gone this time

next week. It’s worth it. It’s a beautiful

INFO Eduard - June 2020