WHAT AVIA MEANS TO US
For modelers not only from the former
Czechoslovakia, but also from neighboring countries, one of the symbols of their
modeling beginnings are the 1/72nd scale
Avia S-199 and CS-199 kits with impressive cover art by Jaroslav Velc. These
kits were among the best ones produced
in Eastern Europe in the 1970s. The detailed history of every marking offered in the
instructions of these fifty-year-old kits is
rather uncommon practice for some manufacturers even today. It was possible to
build these S-199 kits during one afternoon, which in itself was a great benefit for
many modelers. They could also be converted to Messerschmitt Bf 109F or G, as
the sale of kits of these types was prohibited in the East at the time for ideological
reasons. This censorship by the Communist regimes, however, made kits of German WWII aircraft a scarce and valuable
commodity, paid for in the case of S-199
conversions with the hardest of Eastern
currencies – one’s own labor.
August 2022
There were many discussions over the
proper procedure for scratchbuilding of
the parts necessary to turn S-199 into
Bf-109G! The biggest challenge was usually a new spinner. Those who were lucky enough to have a friend or relative
who had the lathe in his work got the 109
spinner beautifully done, others clamped
the appropriate piece of material in a drill
to be able to create as circular cross section as possible. The bulges on the wings
were either left or sanded off and replaced with new, small ones. And of course, a canopy had to be made to cover the
cockpit. Who among the modelers today
still knows how to pull clear parts out of
acetate foil heated over a kitchen stove?
In preparation of kits of both aircraft, we
designed them to be a bit more detailed
and complex compared to the Avia kits
we grew up on. We also decided to follow
concept of Mr. Velc’s paintings. Adam Tooby rendered the cover of the Avia S-199
with the bubble canopy in a composition
inspired by the painting of the original kit.
The difference is the view from the other
side plus the planes carry different markings. Piotr Forkasiewicz chose a somewhat less dynamic composition for the
two-seater CS-199, but his painting also
pays tribute to the Avia and the original
boxart by Jaroslav Velc. Avia fighters
mean a lot to us, modelers from Czech
Republic and Slovakia, just as they meant
a lot to the post-war Czechoslovak Air
Force. There were more than 500 of these
aircraft in service, which were used to
train the basic cadre of pilots who moved
on to modern MiG-15s and other types.
Many of them served in military and civil
aviation well into the 1980s, and throughout their service they passed on their
invaluable experience to the next generation of Czechoslovak pilots. Their legacy
lives on in Czech and Slovak aviation to
this day.
Jan Bobek
INFO Eduard
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