BRASSIN

The majority of Brassins are by now 3D printed and advantages are easy to spot. The main

such item for July is the engine for our A6M2

Model 21 in 1:48. As you will recall, we have

already released one printed engine for the

Zero (648694). This is a simplified rendering of

the engine, intended to be installed inside the

buttoned up cowl. The idea of this release is

that the 3D printed engine is a drop fit replacement for the kit engine. The difference is

that the 3D printed part is not limited by injection molding, so is better detailed. The 3D

printed item has all the pistons and the block

printed as one compact piece. And is an easier

assembly than the kit engine. This concept is

also fueled by the market demand that accessory items should be simple and easy to assemble and install. This is an idea, however,

not entirely supported by sales figures. The

theory sounds logical and often on various

internet forums is portrayed as a given, as

something that works without question. But

in reality, it doesn’t quite work like that. One

of the results yielded by this premise is the

photoetched line Zoom, which has never been

able to match the popularity of its larger, classic photoetched sets. The big sets still sell

better than the simplified and cheaper Zoom

sets. Another example would be the small,

single aircraft decal sheets that Aeromaster

put out back in the good ol’ days. It didn’t work

out so well, and the firm itself followed suit. I

am curious to see how these two Engine sets

for the Zero will compare in terms of sales at

the end of the year. This new set, carrying the

catalog number 648749, is a complete engine

with all of its attached accessories at its back

end and separate cowl sections are included

as well. The name of the set says it all: A6M2

Engine Complete. It’s basically its own kit of

an engine out of the aircraft. It, naturally, is

composed of more parts than its simplified

cousin (648694), but thanks to the precision

afforded by 3D printing, it goes together well,

and quickly. With the end result looking like

it does, I dare say that I suspect that the sales race will be won by this over its simplified

version.

Seat for the Zvezda 1:48 scale Su-25 ground

attack aircraft is also 3D printed, the same

pays to seat and drop tanks for the F4F Wildcat (1/72 Arma Hobby) and the very fine rudder

pedals for Luftwaffe aircraft in 1:72. Someone

recently went on a rant on Facebook about

how useless these latter items are. If they

are, in fact, useless, they are still gorgeous!

It’s up to all of you, if they will catch on, or

be relegated to forgotten projects. Among the

new items for July is also a 1:32 scale JP233

Runway Denial Bomb, and is well suited to,

among others, the Revell Tornado GR.1. It’s

relatively large and so it’s a little pricier, but

it looks awesome on the Tornado. It’s one of

those things that, from time to time, we do by

request for modelers. We hope that all that put

in their request for this item will be pleased

with the outcome. Actually, I expect you all to

be very impressed!

3D printed are also two sets for the ship modelers among you. These are of Carley Floats

(life rafts) in 1:350. In each set, there are twenty rafts. There are some cast resin wheel sets,

too, for which 3D printing hasn’t yet offered

any real advantage over. I remind everyone

that our 3D printed sets carry the word PRINT

on the label and in the pricelists.

July 2022

EDDIE THE RIVETER

In May, we introduced a new line of decals in

the new Eddie the Riveter line, offering realistic raised riveting and other details on the

surface of models. The first set was designed

for the Mi-24V from Zvezda (1:48), and for July,

we are offering a set for the Mi-24D. This set is

aimed at modelers who have our Limited Edition kit of this version that includes the Zvezda

plastic, or want to build this version with our

conversion set. I hope we can go forward with

this set without the complaints of the price we

saw earlier. As I have pointed out previously,

the Eddie the Riveter sets are not cheap sets.

The price point is arrived at by rational means.

As always, they are tied to the production cost.

These are 3D decals produced in the same

way as our Space sets, a quasi-3D system on

a color printer that utilizes polymer printing

paints. The prints themselves are not cheap,

and the most expensive component of production is time. One set takes around forty minutes to print. Of course, the size of the sheet

also plays a big role, combined with extremely

labor intensive preparatory work. When it all

gets added up, I confess that the final price

took my breath away, too. And the initial development version was much more difficult to

produce than the production items. In order to

get down to at least what the cost is now, we

needed to do a lot of fine tuning and tweaking.

We have done what we could, and now, once

again, it will be up to the modeler to decide

whether or not this is a keeper or not. Of course, we know that not every modeler will be in

the market for this line. Among other things,

this is not an accessory item for the squeamish. It’s designed more for people who know

what they are doing in modeling. Then, there is

one other factor that needs to be considered

and may help future products of this line. The

Mi-24 is rather large. There’s a lot of surface

area. It’s got a lot of riveting across its surface. When we switch our attention to smaller

items, physically, then the price will come

down. It may still be up there when compared

to other accessory lines, but it will be better.

LööK and Space

In July, the Space line offers some things up

to ship people. We are offering lifebuoys in

not only 1:350, but now in 1:700 as well. ICM

released a 1:48 scale kit of the Gotha Go 242

glider, which, given the current situation with

Russia, is excellent news. We not only have

Space set for it, but also a photoetched set,

too. Space sets are also being released for the

older A-1H/J and Beaufighter from Tamiya in

1:48. These complement other sets being released for these kits. As always, Space sets

include photoetching where photoetching is

the best option.

In the LooK line, where the name of the game

is to replace original kit parts with simple, realistic ones, we have sets for the above noted

A-1H/J and Beaufighter, and also for Zvezda’s

Su-25, also in 1:48. The LookPlus line grows

with the addition of a set for the Hawk 81-A2

(P-40B) in 1:32 from GWH, and sets for the F-104A and C from Kinetic in 1:48.

PHOTOETCHED

The new Tempest Mk.V in 1:72 from Airfix is a kit

that is showing good market potential despite

taking a bit of a kicking from reviewers. We

are releasing a photoetched set for it with a

certain amount of pleasure, because we feel

a certain sense of solidarity with every manu-

facturer that has wound up in the crosshairs

of unreasonably critical reviewers and forum

visitors. We find some solace in the fact that

we are not alone. And even here, I would point

out that our goal is to add to the beauty of a

model, and not correct any mistakes, perceived, relevant or otherwise. In the same scale,

we are also releasing sets for the Revell F-15E

and Arma Hobby’s Ki-84. We will continue to

focus on the latter as well, with at least a set

of wheels and landing flaps. In 48th, we have a

set for the Minibase Su-27K. Perhaps, you will

recall that we have already released a set for

their Su-33. And if you don’t remember, I won’t

be too upset with you. For me, these Russian

Sukhois are all Greek to me.

Turning our attention to AFVs, I would like to

point out sets of PE for two kits, the rereleased

M109 Aladin in 1:35 from Italeri and for the Sd.

Kfz.247 Ausf B in the same scale, put out by

Revell as their release of the ICM kit. The color set for this kit will include, among other

items, radio equipment and dashboard. In the

ship scale of 1:350, we are releasing another

two sets for the USS Constellation CV-64 from

Trumpeter. This will be followed by another set

for this kit in August.

ARTICLES

In today’s Newsletter, there is an article on

the history of the S-199 by Michal Ovcacik. We

Czechs think we know everything there is to

know about this airplane, but everyone will

find out something new in this article. Miro

Baric is here with the fourth installment of his

articles on the war in the Ukraine. The history

of the Fighter Groups of the 15th AF USAAF I

took the liberty of summarizing myself, and in

this English version of the Newsletter you’ll

find an article on Korea by Richard Plos. This

is an article dealing with the F-51D flown by

American and South Korean pilots in the Korean War.

Besides the usual longer articles, we are

initiating a new format of articles for this

month. These are called “BOXART STORY”. As

the name implies, the goal of these shorter,

typically single-page articles will be to shed

light on a historical reality and to describe the

event in question as depicted on our boxarts.

We believe, and hope, that you will find these

to be a point of interest and a source of inspiration.

I wish a pleasant read with our newsletter in

these complex times. I would say that the worsening economic situation is beginning to be

felt in our industry. Sales are not as good as

they were at the beginning of the year, and the

shows are not quite as lively. We will continue

to garner you attention in the coming months

with our new products. We are looking forward to the IPMS Nationals in Omaha, where

we will have our brand spanking new Wildcat.

You probably already know that it will be the

F4F-3 version. In Omaha, we will also introduce our first block of accessories for this new

kit, including a printed cockpit. Those of you

not able to go to Omaha, don’t fret. You will

have access to August’s new releases as soon

as American modelers, because our internet

Afterparty starts on the same day as the Nats

begin – July 20.

Happy Modelling!

Vladimir Sulc

INFO Eduard

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