EDITORIAL

Dear Friends,

I am reporting to you now from Phoenix, in the state of Arizona, where

along with my colleagues Martin Ferkl

and Martin Finger, we are representing our company at the annual IPMS

USA National Convention and we are,

of course, introducing our August

releases. The star of those August

releases is the Bf 109G-10 Mtt. Regensburg in 1/48th scale, and this is

a ProfiPACK kit. The differences between

the G-10 and other versions of the

Bf 109G are generally well known. Most

significantly, the G-10 had a bigger and

more powerful engine and this resulted

in a larger, more bulbous cowl, which

is encompassed by two basic versions,

100 and 110, one of which has another

two subvariants stemming form it. In its

day, it carried the nickname Pferdearsch, meaning Horse’s Ass. I think the

censors will excuse the mild vulgarity

of the term, but it is historically accurate and so should not become a victim

of today’s politically correct climate and,

unlike the swastika, it is not forbidden.

As a sidenote, this slang term is associated with July’s Facebook quiz. Going onwards, there was also a simplified cockpit canopy, known as Erlahaube, and

a tall rudder, also an item with different

versions, depending on the manufacturer. In all this, the G-10 is a bit of a ‘buried dog‘, so to speak, and the differences are not necessarily a huge deal, but

they do exist, and in this hobby today, it

is worth paying attention to them. For

this reason, we will be releasing three

kits representing the three versions of

this variant coming from three different

production facilities. The first is the type

that was produced by the mother plant,

Messerschmitt, at Regensburg. This will

be followed by the version built at Wiener Neustadter Flugzeugwerke. Under

the WNF also comes the production

run Diana, and these, in the interest of

tactical diversification, were produced

in train tunnels at Tisnova in Moravia.

The final one will represent aircraft built

by Erla in Leipzig. Today’s release of the

Messerschmitt produced variant differs from its forthcoming stablemates,

among other things, with a small fairing

over the wheel wells, while the other

two had an elongated fairing over the

entire chord of the wing. At the time

when the G-10 served with the Luftwaffe, German aircraft were no longer

so strikingly marked as they were even

4

eduard

a year earlier, and with the prospect of

having a P-51 chasing you down, it’s of

little wonder. It wasn’t overly easy to

search out some interesting marking

options but we were successful. We

have five options of aircraft with some

interesting markings and histories to

boot. The all-grey or blue-grey White 44

from NJG 11 when it was adorned with

British markings is the subject of a BFC

offering. This aircraft has at times been

identified as a G-6AS or G-14AS, perhaps because of that small fairing over the

wheel wells. But the serial number does

put this aircraft down as a G-10 built at

Regensburg. Our own G-10 production

will continue in October with a Limited

Edition kit of the Avia S-99/C-10, which

was a post-war service aircraft used

by the Czechoslovakian Air Force, and

these were WNF/Diana G-10s. There

weren’t a lot of these flying, and it is

a very Czechoslovak oriented theme,

but for E-day, when this kit will go on

sale, it is a relevant theme.

There are two more Limited Edition

kits to point out. After a lot of questions

and requests from fans of Soviet Air Force aircraft, we have decided to release

our tested and true Airacobra in the

markings of that specific user. It is being

released under the name BELLA and will

be a Dual Combo kit, incorporating two

complete kits with ten marking options.

A bunch of these options are new finds

and have never been available in any kit

before. Some are newer interpretations of known schemes. An example of

such an aircraft is the well known P-39

flown by Grigori A. Rechkalov, a famous

ace with 44 kills. It has in the past been

depicted in an all-green scheme and in

our interpretation, it is still green, just

in one tone. I think with that, it gained

in the interest department. This kit will

also have its own BFC connection, and

will include an all-grey P-39Q from the

213th GIAP with a four blade propeller.

The final Limited Edition kit falls under

the name EVOLUTION and this is a kit of

the L-39C/ZO Albatros, again in 1/48th

scale. The kit is based on the Special

Hobby L-39 and includes two marking

options. The C version has markings for

a Soviet trainer which is said to have

been flown by Russian president Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin from time to

time. The dragon motif on its sides is

rather striking, and we have used this

before in one of our first Limited Edition releases in 1/72nd scale, and it sold

out incredibly fast. The ZO version has

markings for a sharkmouthed Hungarian aircraft and a stylized Hungarian

flag on the tail that is no less attractive

than the other offering. The package

naturally includes masks and coloured

PE, which goes for the other two above mentioned models as well. Again,

this kit also has its BFC component, but

this time a little more involved than the

others. This one has a bonus figure...of

a bear. And riding this bear is...well, you

know who. See the pictures for yourselves. If you’d like this set, don’t hesitate,

because they will go fast, and there are

not many to go around. We’ll either sell

them out, or they will be banned.

The release of new kits, as usual, is

rounded out be the WEEKEND line, and

in this case it is of the Spitfire HF Mk.VIII

in 1/72nd scale. The marking options

cover two aircraft, as normal, and one

will be known from the 48th scale ProfiPACK kit, while the other one is new.

But, compared to the previously mentioned stuff, this is not likely to change

anyone’s life in terms of excitement. But

even that’s not always a bad thing.

A look at the accessories that are

coming out this month, the LÖÖK sub-line gets a couple of new items. As

last month, there are two new items

in 1/32nd scale, one for the Fw 190A5 from Hasegawa and the other for the

Spitfire Mk.IX Early Version from Tamiya. The star of the Brassin releases is

without a shred of a doubt The DB 605

INFO Eduard - August 2018