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in 1:48, the cockpit for the F-35B in 1:48th from
Tamiya, the engines for the Beaufort from ICM
and the brake chute for the F-4E from Meng.
Although the break chute is specifically noted
as being designed for the Meng kit, it can also
be used on other Phantom IIs. We took this chute
to almost every exhibition we attended last year,
and at many of them it was able to garner at
least as much interest among modelers as
the most attractive kits. Also lovely are the
1:350 scale Japanese naval anti-aircraft guns.
In photoetched and masks, a collection of sets
for the 48th scale B-26 Marauder from ICM and
B-24 from Hobby Boss, and for the A-20 in 1:32
scale from HKM are on offer, and sets for the
S-79 Sparviero from Italeri should also prove to
be interesting.
However, that is not all that awaits us in
June. On Thursday, June 6th, we will start
accepting pre-orders for the Limited Edition kit,
‘The Bloody Hundredth 1943’, B-17F 1:48.
You already know what this project is about.
We have been reporting on it for several months
now, and in the last few days the information
about it on social networks has been very
detailed, and so is the information in today's
newsletter. I'd like to add a few details to all of
this that haven't been covered yet. The Bloody
Hundredth 1943 is our biggest, most challenging
and also most expensive project to date, to be
realized using the plastic from another company,
that we have ever prepared. We have been
working on it since last fall in cooperation with
the 100th Bomb Group Foundation and with HKM.
HKM not only supplied the plastic of their B-17F
in 1:48th for us, but also produced, based on our
design, a mold for conversion parts, allowing the
construction of other versions from our modified
kit, which differ from the original kit with later
variations on the nose. But, it is also important
what we did not go into within the scope of this
project. That includes any modifications of real
or perceived shape issues. We never do that
with repackaged kits. The reason is quite simple.
Such adjustments are not as simple as modelers
imagine. We can replace some parts, make
more accurate wheels, propellers or seats, but
we cannot interfere with the shapes of the kit.
Such partial adjustments always lead to some
unsatisfactory compromise, where correcting
one error can accentuate another. If there is
a slightly thicker fuselage, a bad fuselage
or wing profile, or a badly positioned engine
nacelle, as in the case of HKM's B-17F, the only
possible solution to such a problem is to make
a new fuselage or a new wing, or both. However,
the parts of the internal structure will no longer
fit into it, because in the design of each kit,
everything is intricately interconnected. In the
end, we may as well just design and produce
a whole new kit. I'm writing this because after
the announcement of the project, the usual
recommendations about everything that needs
to be fixed began to come out. But that's not
our goal, don't expect that from us. We will
not carry out any comprehensive redesign of
the HKM kit. In addition, we believe that HKM's
B-17F kit is actually of very high quality and its
possible inaccuracies are not out of the realm
of errors found in other leading manufacturers'
kits. So we start from the HKM kit and must
respect its attributes, with all possible errors.
It is the principle that allows us to work with
moldings of other manufacturers and build our
projects based on them, which, despite certain
shortcomings, are very successful commercially
and interesting for modelers. I believe that most
modelers understand this principle and that our
new project will make them happy despite its, in
my opinion, small shortcomings.
It's the same with the selection of markings.
We have selected seven of the many interesting
100th BG machines, or eleven included as
a subscription bonus. Modelers are proposing
other options, but it is already too late for them,
or they have been dropped from the selection for
some, usually technical, reason. But in general,
it's like an election; there are many candidates,
but few openings. I already explained that the
selection of options for the color schemes of
individual kits is not the result of an ad hoc
lottery. Each kit has a paint selection committee
of usually four, but sometimes five or six,
who carefully consider each inclusion in the
marking options guide. The selection is a three-
round process, in the last round the balance
of the composition of the selected aircraft is
evaluated in terms of the variability of markings
and camouflage schemes, the service of the
aircraft in different theatres of operations or
with different units. With Bloody Hundredth, the
choice was specific, because the kit is dedicated
to only one unit and thus only shows a certain
slice of the wider history, but that does not
mean that the choice was easy. On the contrary,
a similar type of building block usually demands
a lot of work.
Modelers and especially reviewers usually
downplay the marking options in our kits, sort
of taking it for granted and don't deal with it
too much in their evaluations. They usually
just spout off the inclusions of these options
and that’s it. Once upon a time it was different,
there was a time when reviewers had a lot of
comments about our color schemes. Ever since
we changed our style and put more care into
creating color guides, I feel like reviewers are
ignoring them. As if the choice and quantity of
color schemes had no bearing on the quality of
the kit, as if the range of this offering and the
size of the decal sheet had no value. I'm sorry,
because I think that the options offered are quite
important for the quality of the kit. Honestly, who
today will offer you eleven marking options in
a kit, several of them in two variants, in addition
to a beautifully rendered historical background
describing the machine and its crew? I dare say
no one. And I'm not talking about the size and
scope of the decal sheet. There are three decal
sheets in the Bloody Hundredth, all large format.
If you are hesitating, you have a few weeks
to think about it. The sale will run in several
rounds. The first round is a pre-order on our
e-shop, which will start on June 6th and end on
June 20th. Some merchants have also launched
their own pre-orders. After the end of the pre-
orders, the sale will continue from the second
half of July in the standard way, where we will
deliver the kit to our merchants and distributors
and it will be available to them as an August
new release. We will be selling them at the IPMS
USA Nats in Madison between July 17th and
20th. The remaining kits will also be available
from our e-shop. So if any kits remain at all by
August, it looks like the entire shipment will be
sold within a few weeks.
You will find only basic information about The
Bloody Hundredth 1943 project in today's issue.
More information about the kit and the 100th
BG will be made available as smaller, detailed
historical notebooks about the aircraft and the
unit at the end of next week.
Articles
The main historical article this month is Tom
Cleaver's Mustangs in the Battle of Normandy
on the P-51B's role during and after the invasion.
There is also another continuation of the Air
Battle over Ukraine by Mira Barič, and an article
on the Iranian attack on Israel. The issue also
contains a technical article on the use of an
ultrasonic knife in model making by Ladislav
Jareš and a report from the competition in
Čáslav. Of course, there are the now traditional
Boxart Stories, today dedicated to the cover
images of the June kit releases – the Marauder,
Spitfire Mk.Vb, Bf 109 G-6 and the Fw 190 A-2.
The Iron Bunny slugfest is in the books, and
the judges are scoring six beautifully built
Mustangs, all with unbuttoned engines. While
the Mustang as the competition model did
not surprise them and they kind of expected
it, the engine did raise some eyebrows. The
engine is not slated for release til August, so
the competition teams received pre-production
pieces. So, these were a sort of test, and I got
plenty of advice on how to improve it!
Happy Modelling!
Vladimir Sulc
EDITORIAL
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