EDITORIAL

Dear Friends,

Today’s introduction to this month’s

newsletter isn’t gonna be a long affair,

because, as I write it, I am actually on

vacation and have temporarily readjusted my priorities. Vacations are not typically ideally suited for the production of

intellectually fuelled planning, especially

if said vacation is being spent with family,

friends and other disruptions, welcome

or otherwise. A working man should

also avoid working on his vacation. It’s

what makes it a vacation, after all. So,

having already broken this fundamental

rule already, I will keep this short and to

the point. To top it off, it’s raining outside,

and should the rest of our group return

from what they are doing now early, I will,

again, get nothing done.

Perhaps, you were a bit surprised by our

internet sale that went into effect without

any prior warning before last weekend.

We wanted to get back into the habit of

organizing such things, which we want

to also do over the second half August.

It stems from the unfortunate fact that,

alas, we will not be able to attend this

year’s IPMS Nationals for the second

year in a row. Current conditions and

rules brought out by them will simply

not allow it. Travel to the United States

is not possible, so our participation has

to be put off. We will, at least, have our

afterparty event, and this will run from

August 19th to pretty much the end of

the month, and we will maybe even have

a chat on the theme of new fall releases.

This won’t replace the act of actual participation, but it is at least something.

The epidemic situation is still a complex

one and is wreaking havoc on all our lives. I expected a quicker pace to the lifting of restrictions by governments, but

these governments have been airing on

the side of caution, which is becoming, at

least to me, a source of increasing annoyance. These same restrictions have

delayed our get together at Vnitroblok

premises and is also threatening E-day.

Parts of current restrictions would make

its realization impossible. As of last Monday, the Czech Republic has modified its

rules and when I return from my vacation, we’ll sit down and have a closer,

detailed look at what they mean, and

make a decision by the end of August as

to whether or not E-day is a go or is postponed yet again. We have some alter-

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nate scenarios prepared, but let’s face it,

E-day is E-day. One such alternate event

would be an aviation day, similar to last

year’s event, with the inclusion of aircraft

that would bear a strong connection to

October’s new releases. I will save any

details for September’s newsletter, when

we will be armed with a definite ‘yay’ or

‘nay’ on E-day. At least, hopefully we will

have the answer, because the ability of

governments to nowadays issue clear

and understandable rules consistent

with reality is, bluntly, incredible.

Five´s premier the American way

Let’s look at new releases and the contents of this month’s newsletter. We don’t

have a hundred new items for August,

as we alluded to as a possibility a month

ago, but there are around ninety of them.

Even that’s not a bad number, though. The

most extensive of the new items is Eagle’s

Call, a Limited Edition issue. It is dedicated to the theme of American pilots on

the Spitfire Mk.V. It is THE item we were

preparing to take to the IPMS Nationals

in Las Vegas, and is one of the main reasons for my disappointment on the cancellation on our participation. This is the

first release of our Mk.V family of Spits,

and covers two sub variants right off the

bat, the Mk.Vb and Mk.Vc. The box yields

two sets of plastic, one for each version. The Mk.Vb is of a later arrangement,

with an asymmetric arrangement of the

cannon fairings below the wings. The

Spitfire Mk.Vc comes with, as you probably know, a different wing with a differing

gun arrangement, and a modified landing gear installation. This also changed

the wheel well design for the gear. That

became essentially identical in the later

Mk.IX. Releasing the Spitfire Mk.Vc has

been basically avoided by manufacturers

in the past. The only exception is Special Hobby, that way back when issued

a Spitfire Mk.Vc still using short-run

technology. It was feverishly repackaged

time and again, including by us. This new

one is our work, done in our style. The

marking options include aircraft that

were equipped with Vokes dust filters,

which is, of course, included as an option in the plastic. These also include the

Aboukir filter but is not used when modeling one of the marking options included

in the kit. It will, however, come into play

in later releases of our Mk.V, which will

be numerous. I am also not leaving out

the possibility of releases kits dedicated

to desert Spitfires. These desert Spitfires

represent some of the nicest options for

schemes and markings in the kit, if not

for the Spitfire as a whole. The options in

this kit specifically carry you through the

history of Americans flying the type, beginning with US pilots serving in the RAF,

including in Eagle Squadron, through the

4th Fighter Group, 8th AF of the USAAF,

into which Eagle Squadron was integrated at the end of September, 1942, all the

way through to the 31st and 52nd Fighter

Groups in North Africa and Italy. In the

markings options, you’ll find some big

names along with some well known, and

also lesser-known, aircraft. The marking

schemes are also quite varied. The theme of American Spitfires is as varied as

America itself, with powerful stories and

striking machines. This is consistent with

INFO Eduard - August 2021