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Dear Friends,
Today's special issue of the newsletter is
dedicated to an extraordinary kit, ‘The Bloody
Hundredth 1943 / B-17F’ in 1:48th scale. This
kit, released in the LIMITED edition line, falls
under the group of items based on moldings
purchased from partner companies. In this case,
the plastic is supplied by Hong Kong Models,
HKM. This time, however, the cooperation
between our companies goes further than is
customary in similar endeavors. Specifically
for this kit, we have designed an additional set
of clear parts that cover variations used on the
B-17F nose that were not a part of the original
HKM release. We designed the new parts to fit
the HKM kit specifically. The mold for it was cut
at HKM in their Chinese tool shop, and the parts
are produced by them.
Among the modellers who responded to our
posts detailing information about this kit, there
were obviously many people who have not come
in contact with this line or its concept. These
people sometimes have unrealistic ideas about
our ability to correct the mistakes of the original
kit used, as supplied by other manufacturers.
It needs to be noted that correcting the mistakes
of the original kit is not our goal with the LIMITED
edition series kit projects. In truth, such a goal
would rarely ever be financially feasible to shoot
for, so please don't expect it from us. The aim of
the accessories and conversion parts included
in the kit is to improve upon the possibilities of
the original product, offer a higher level of detail
and offer a greater number of marking options
while maintaining the best possible success in
terms of outcome vs goal. In this regard, we feel
the biggest problem is that the original B-17F
kit released by HKM, as well as all other kits
of this type released to date in any scale, only
had an older version of the nose of the aircraft
used in the first production blocks of the B-17F.
Perhaps this was because all manufacturers
were scrambling to release arguably the most
famous B-17F, the Memphis Belle, an early-
series F-10-BO aircraft (production number
3470, USAAC serial number 41-24485) that had
this original nose version. However, it was the
nose of the B-17F, a type of which 3,405 units
were produced in three factories over more than
one and a half years, that underwent complex
and intensive development. Its goal was to
strengthen the protection of the aircraft from
the front hemisphere, from which the attacks
of enemy fighters were concentrated, based on
combat experience. Various later development
versions of the nose equipped the aircraft that
we selected for our kit, as well as machines
that we want to include in another project in the
future, ‘The Mighty Eighth, 1943’, which will be
dedicated to the important contribution made by
the B-17F to the entire USAAF 8th Air Force.
An important component of each of our Limited
Edition kits are the decal sheets that relate
the tightly bound stories of the machines and
the crews that flew them. The composition
and range of options of these, as well as the
number of options proper, are specific to
Eduard kits and, I dare say, absolutely unique
among manufacturers of plastic aircraft kits.
In this kit, there are seven basic options, that
is, seven machines, of which four are offered
in two versions covering different periods
of service of these aircraft. In addition, kits
that were pre-ordered prior to the kit's official
release include four additional bonus options.
That's a total of fifteen options that you can
choose from. We have carefully assembled
this collection of aircraft to document the
B-17F's period of service with the 100th Bomb
Group. Each of these birds has a great story
behind it. The full version of the stories of
the aircraft and their crews, selected for the
kit, can be found in today's special newsletter,
an abbreviated version of the instructions in the
kit. As you can probably guess, the manual itself
is a monumental work in the form of a historical
notebook with the appropriate thickness.
If you are missing one specific bird in this kit,
then you are right. And that would probably be
‘Royal Flush’, perhaps the most famous Flying
Fortress of the Bloody Hundredth. But it's by
design! We kept ‘Royal Flush’ out to represent
the Bloody Hundred in the aforementioned ‘The
Mighty Eighth, 1943’ kit. We expect to release it
in about two years, and please note that this is
the working name of the kit, and that could still
change to something else.
As is customary with our LIMITED edition kits,
this item also includes masks, photoetched
and resin parts. At the same time, there are
a number of additional aftermarket kits for this
kit, available separately as optional upgrades.
These are ready and are available also
(naturally) for the original HKM kit. We modified
these by removing the parts that are included in
the kit from the new sets, so you don't run the
risk of buying parts twice when purchasing the
additionals. Of course, that would cause a very
annoying redundancy. This mainly concerns the
set of photoetched for the cockpit and nose of
the aircraft. We used the spark plug wiring and
a few small parts for the kit from the original
engine set photoetched. We did not create a set
as an aftermarket item for the new kit, as there
would be very few remaining parts in a modified
set without the plug wiring. If you absolutely
want these parts, you can get the original set
for the HKM kit, but expect to have the wiring
twice. Another dilemma is with the set of seat
belts. These are, in their entirety, components
included in the kit, but are etched in brass.
At the same time, however, we are releasing
an additional set, identical in shape and color,
made of steel. Also missing from the new
accessory sets are the superchargers and
exhausts, which are also included in the kit.
There is no point in you getting the original set
for this kit.
‘The Bloody Hundredth, 1943’ kit is one of the
most demanding and complex projects that
we have ever embarked upon in the more than
thirty-year history of our company. It is a big
project not only in scope, dimensions of the
resulting model, the volume of material used
and extremely complex logistics, but also in the
effort put in by all of us who participated in it.
It is a result of cooperation of three entities
from three continents. In addition to Eduard
and HKM, a European and Asian company
respectively, this project could not have been
implemented without the participation and
active cooperation of the 100th Bomb Group
Foundation, whose activities encompass not
only the United States, but also Great Britain
and the Czech Republic.
At this very moment, as you begin reading
today's special edition of the newsletter, full
of exciting stories of pilots, aircrews, ground
crews and other members of the Bloody
Hundred, our project is far from over. Although
we have everything done and ready, we are still
waiting to take delivery of some plastic. A small
number of them, 300 complete sets of plastic
and all of the sprues of the new noses, will
arrive by plane on June 20th, and after the kits
are completed, they will begin their next journey.
This time across the ocean, to the United States,
where these kits will be the first to go on sale
during the IPMS National Convention in Madison,
Wisconsin. The rest of the plastic is traveling by
train from China to the Czech Republic. In the
current international situation and the ongoing
Russian aggression against Ukraine, it is
a path full of pitfalls and dangers. The risk and
our nervousness stemming from it increases
every day. Nevertheless, we believe that the
plastic will arrive safe and sound, and as part
of complete kits, they will become a centerpiece
of the model collections of all of you who bought
The Bloody Hundredth, 1943!
Happy Modelling!
Vladimir Sulc
EDITORIAL
INFO Eduard4
Říjen 2022