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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