EDITORIAL

I am not entirely sure whether or not there’s

any sense in describing July’s releases today,

when they were made available on June 18.

This occurred because we wanted them available at Prosek and the Panthers Cup show,

as well as the subsequent Afterparty internet

event. After that, of course, we weren’t going

to pull them off the store. In any case, the information regarding these has been available

for your viewing pleasure, so these have been

described already and time has been allowed

to formulate opinions and impressions. Sometimes, these can be quite surprising. There

was a commentary made regarding the title of

the Limited Edition kit “Red Tails & Co.”, which

described it as disgraceful with respect to the

other Fighter Groups that the kit deals with.

I wouldn’t come up with that in my wildest

dreams. For me, this item is an extrapolation

of the Spitfire Limited Edition “Eagle’s Call”,

which also honors several Fighter Groups

and the name of the release specifies but one

of them. In Red Tails, we include four Fighter

Groups of the 15th Air Force USAAF in Italy flying the P-51D Mustang. These were the 31st,

52nd, 325th and 332nd Fighter Groups, while

the 31st and 52nd were also covered in the successful Eagle’s Call release. We did it in this

way because we were repeatedly requested to

release a kit named Red Tails, focused on the

history of the 332nd Fighter Group. Although

we get that this is a theme dealing with African-American personnel, we weren’t certain

whether or not the single theme was too limited in scope for a larger release like this.

Actually, this would have been an exception to

our current rules, because the rule is to avoid

too specific a theme in our releases. When the

themes, regardless of what they are, become

too narrow, they increase in the sense of a

monotony. This is contrary to our concept of

what these releases need to look like. Our aim

is to inform and discuss, through the medium

of our kits, a wider theme from history. This

concept would not be fulfilled by focusing on

one Fighter Group, but, would be satisfied if

we focus on all Groups operating in one operational sector at one point in history on one

specific type of aircraft. Then, it begins to

make more sense. That this history also includes the history of our own nation is a bonus,

naturally. All of the units that are covered by

the kit Red Tails operated over both pre and

postwar Czechoslovakia from the fall of 1944,

often over our area of Most, which is very close to a refinery (still in operation today) that

produced synthetic fuels during the Second

World War and became the most targeted location in the country. It is also noteworthy how

often memoirs of people here included the

belief that most, if not all the American pilots

of Mustangs were African-American. We know

now how it was, but some people kept refusing

that simple explanation the pilot in full gear

with the gas mask and glasses looks from distance dark, so it might be confused with darker appearance of the African-Americans just

due to that.

The kit includes three marking options from

each of the Fighter Groups mentioned. The

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INFO Eduard

original intent was that all fighter squadrons

would be represented from these Fighter

Groups, but this didn’t quite work out, because,

for one thing, the options include aircraft flown

by commanders of three of the four FG, and

also because the 332nd FG had, as opposed

to other units, four squadrons instead of the

standard three. But then again, it comes down

to what was actually the standard. With the

15th AF, this was more or less three FS in each

FG, while in the 8th AF, that standard was four

FS in each Group. Either way, this would throw

a monkey wrench into our original concept of

4 x 3 marking options for a total of twelve in

the kit. And this brings us onto some thin ice,

doesn’t it? One Group would be represented by

four aircraft while the others by three. Would

it be discriminatory against three Groups in

one’s favor? Or does it become discrimination

against the 332nd FG by way of taking away its

fourth option? I would say we should be pretty

pleased with the way this all worked out and

I wouldn’t stir the pot anymore. Our ultimate

goal is to introduce the modeler to another

piece of history and to show some respect to

all that had a part in said history and fulfilled

the task at hand with honor. I hope that with

that, we have found success in your eyes.

MORE KITS

In the ProfiPACK line, we have the A6M2 Model 11 out, the first version of this legend to

see combat. The Zero Model 11 flew operationally through 1940-1941 in China. This was

intended to be land based aircraft and lacked

the folding wingtips and arrestor hear. This is

a somewhat neglected member of the family, but nevertheless has interesting stories to

tell, and of its pilots. Noteworthy, and probably

nowhere else documented on another aircraft,

are the two shades of grey on the wings and

fuselage, which apparently were the result of

differing saturation of the paint coat applied

combined with the effects of the sun beating

down on it. In short, this is a peripheral version of the Zeke, and we think that most of you

will find this an interesting version to build

because the Zero is a line of aircraft that deserves to be built in all its variants. We want

to make that a possibility. I hope I won’t get

busted upside the head and get told off that

models aren’t to be sold like this, when I commented last time that the Camel Comic is a

peripheral type and not all that interesting for

most. It may be so, but I have been selling models for thirty years and I fear that I am set in

my ways. Modelers wouldn’t believe me anyway, if I were to tell them that the Camel Comic and Zero Model 11 are must haves.

In 1:72 scale ProfiPACK editions, we are continuing on with the Avia S-199, and in this case

the later version with the sliding hood. This is

the Mule of all Mules and is close to the hearts of us Czech modelers for one reason or

another. Probably the main of these reasons

is that it represents our modeling youth – our

modeling introductions. From today’s perspective, it was far from the perfect kit, but we

were far from perfect modelers, so we were a

match made in heaven. It went together quickly. I had one built, painted and decaled in an afternoon. Our new kit could theoretically be put

together in an afternoon, I guess, but no one

works like that today. Still, the feeling and joy

of a completed kit is unsurpassed. Today, we

are a different standard of modeler, working

with kits that are built to a much higher level,

those quick-builds are a memory to be shared

with friends suffering from similar nostalgia

over a beer. But the memories are nice. I must

confess that the boxart is rendered in a way as

to evoke some of those old emotions for those

of us that have the experience with that old kit.

Enough nostalgia already… There are two new

Weekend Edition kits out. In 1:72 scale, we have

our tested and true Fw 190A-8 and a Z-526AFS

in 1:48. Both kits share the characteristic of

containing striking marking options. It is also

interesting to note that the Z-526AFS often

played the role of German fighters in old Czechoslovak and Soviet films. Or at least, mostly

German. At least once, they appeared on camera in British markings, but whether they

were Spits or Mustangs, God only knows, to

say nothing of the film’s director. Of note was

the crazy Czech film “Halt, or I’ll Miss!” where

a Z-526AFS played, believe it or not, a 52nd

FG P-51 flown by a black pilot. No word of a

lie, when we were prepping July’s new items,

we were completely oblivious to this fact. The

markings used in the film were on a 4th Fighter Squadron, 52nd FG yellow tail and had

partial codes on the fuselage, if I am reading

somewhat blurry photographs from the film

correctly. The pilot, as we know, corresponds

to the 332nd FG and the white nose is more

akin to the 8th AF. What’s up with the white

wingtips I am not sure, but it’s pretty cool to

see these period interpretations of American

aircraft like this. I am almost thinking that

a boxing of Trenér Movie Stars might not be

such a bad idea.

July 2022