HISTORY

of course the time mattered. Zdeněk in particular tried to prove

to me that quality is always in the first place and things were

sometimes on the edge. Once he called me saying he had to

show me something. At that time they were finishing the masters for Fokker E.III in 1/72 scale and naturally were behind.

We all waited for masters to advance to the next stage because

without it we did not have work for people in molding and also

we needed to start selling the kit as soon as possible. In this

situation Zdeněk announced that we had a problem. It was his

favourite magic script which drove people crazy. This time it

was an issue with the wing. Having asked what the essence of

the problem was he put a serious face on and stated that the

wing’s profile is by 1.5 mm thicker as it’s supposed to. And it needs to be redone and in a better way. I was staring at him with

a dropped jaw, this was too much even for me. When I came

to senses I told him to let the wing be that it did not matter.

He started a lengthy reasoning why redoing it was absolutely necessary due to the irreversible harm to our reputation if

not redone. When I insisted on my decision we stopped talking

for several days. Then I left for US for two weeks and upon

my return smiling „Sekosh“ (Zdeněk‘s nickname) awaited me.

It raised the red flag, smiling Sekyrka meant trouble. Zdeněk

was that character who infuriated people around him. To tell

the truth he smiled at the end of the shift if earlier that day he

angered a lot of people, ideally all of them. Then his face was

glowing like a full moon. At that moment his face was glowing

so you can understand it made me nervous. The explanation

could be expected. He had redone the wing to make it thinner

by 0.15 mm. If I ever had an urge, really serious urge, to punch

any of my coworkers, it was him in that situation.

At the end of the century, in 1999-2000, our kits were already

pretty competitive, our confidence grew and we were looking

for better and more profitable theme than our traditional biplanes. Earlier we had tried something different, we had worked

with Jules Bringuier on the Classic Airframes project where

we were replaced by Jiří Šilhánek and his MPM and we had

made Tempest, Yak-3 and Bell X-1 short run molds in collaboration with Mr. Vandělík. We learned one fundamental lesson,

WWII fighters sell much much better than majority of the WWI

aircraft. We learned how to work with bevels, tolerances, material shrinking, achieved the stability of rather tricky galvanic process, we learned to mill and tweek the molds, we tamed the injection molding machines. We also learned how to

make the easy-to-understand assembly instructions, trained

the specialists in many professions and created an able and

knowledgeable team around Zdeněk. Our confidence grew

again and we started to think about the next step, how to push

the envelope. The logical step were WWII fighters and other

aircraft so we launched the Airacobra project. And we discovered the limitations. It turned out that we could create nice

details but WWII planes featured higher number of them, they

were more complicated, there were more surface details and

masters preparations took longer time, and was more expensive. In this situation Zdeněk initiated the intense lobbying to

introduce computer design and CNC milling. It was successful,

there were more employees who shared the same opinion and

Dalibor Kuřák, our IT guy, brain and leader of the technological

progress not only in the computers, jumped the wagon with excitement. We chose the software, machinery, bought it all and

in the meantime trained the new machines operators and first

designers. First two, Standa Archman and Venca Pospíšil converted from resin casters to designers and Láďa Jonáš came

from the outside of the company so we started. It was not easy

but we learned it as well. The first computer designed project,

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milled on CNC machines, was an engine for the otherwise still

hand-made Bf 108. When we went through all that hassle and

things started to look competitive Zdeněk announced he will be

leaving. He said it was clear to him that the future of the industry is in the computers and CNC machines and that is not his

cup of tea. He loved his hand work and resin in the first place.

He quit and left for Aires. Jindra Balon left with him. Zdeněk

was right. The future of the Eduard‘s model production is in the

computer design and machinery. The role of the technological

development leader after Zdeněk was taken over by Standa

Archman and Franta Toman, an experienced tool maker, who

return from his travels around the world. Thanks to them, and

other experts from our team, today we occupy significant place

in the industry.

Of course we continued to meet with Zdeněk afterwards to discuss the news. He followed our production, from time to time

he reviewed some of our models. He did not witness the Airacobra debut, when we released the kit he was already at Aires.

It does not change the fact that Airacobra was his and Jindra’s

masterpiece and will remain associated with him forever. In

Aires Zdeněk was a chief technological officer and production

manager. Well that’s how we would have called his position

had he done the same job in Eduard. All in all, he was doing

there what he has always wanted, resin detailed sets. In 20

years working for Aires he most likely handled any and all products the company ever produced. Occasionally he took part

in other projects, for example on masters for car and bus models for Mr. Večerník. The last year he participated in the AB+K

company’s project, a Japanese biplane model in quarter scale

including resin sets for it. In the past couple of years Zdeněk’s

health deteriorated. On May 9, having spent several weeks in

the hospital, he passed away. For many years the modelers will

benefit from the tremendous work he left behind.

His contribution to the technological progress in our industry is

mostly obscure to majority of the modelers. It is however enormous and invaluable. I hope that my personal remembering

this Czech and international modelling personality will highlight his life and achievements for you.

Rest in Peace!

Vladimír Šulc

INFO Eduard - July 2021