Strana 5
September 29th to October 3rd, to be precise,
a week before E-day, and that looks like it will
work out. Besides, the production requirement is
lower than in the case of the P-40, and we have
more time. At least for now.
As I said at the beginning, August's new
items are available from our e-shop as of today.
Two, or rather three of them, were specially
prepared for the IPMS USA National Convention
in Hampton, Virginia. All three are in the
Limited Edition series, so we can proudly state
that August is a major Limited Edition month.
Considering that the Royal Class P-40N is also
a Limited Edition, this is probably the largest
concentration of kits of this series in one month
in Eduard's history.
The first of them is the ‘Eyes of the Fleet’ 1:72nd
scale kit, which is an E-2C Hawkeye with Heller
plastic and four markings of aircraft operating
from the base in Norfolk and on ships of the
US Navy's Atlantic Fleet. There is a very limited
number of these kits available for purchase,
only the last few dozen pieces are available for
sale on our e-shop as of today. Given that the
plastic is supplied as a subcontract by Heller,
it will not be possible to increase the number of
pieces available, there will simply be no reissue
in this case. Therefore, do not hesitate and if
you are interested in the kit, order it as soon as
possible. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
It wouldn't be a good idea to hesitate with
any of these August Limited kits, actually. It's
practically the same, but even more dramatic,
with another ‘Virginia themed’ Limited Edition
kit, the F-18C Hornet in 1:48th scale. It was
originally supposed to be a classic Limited
kit in a production run of 2000 pieces. Kinetic
was supposed to supply the moldings for it, but
they didn't. They couldn't complete and send
the delivery of the moldings in time, somehow
things got all tangled up around their production.
So we agreed that Kinetic would supply at least
200 sets of moldings, send them by air, we would
produce the rest of the components, including
the box, and complete the kits so that they could
be sold in Hampton. Even so, it was a drama, the
shipment, even by air, took three weeks to reach
us, and we ended up packaging and sending the
kits at the last minute so that they would arrive
in the States not only before the exhibition, but
also before the increase in the tariff rate, which
was expected to kick in today. Although I am
not sure whether this is the case and that the
infamous beautiful tariffs are already in effect
today or will start to apply at some later time,
in any case the Hornets arrived in New York
the day before yesterday, so yes, on time. The
important information is that 120 of them flew
to America, the remaining 80 stayed at home
and they will be on sale as part of the IPMS
USA Afterparty. Due to the low number of kits
released, we will not be delivering them to
retailers.
The third August Limited Edition release is
again in 1:48 scale. The model is the famous
P-40N Warhawk decorated on the occasion
of the 15,000th produced Curtiss aircraft with
the insignia of the air forces that had Curtiss
aircraft in service. In addition to this ceremonial
scheme, there will be another marking option
in the kit, namely the machine of a Virginian,
Major Philipp E. Colman from the 5th FG from
China in 1944. This version of the coloring is
fashioned after a museum exhibit and bears
the sovereign insignia of the Republic of China.
And you probably already guessed that in this
case there is no shortage of these kits either.
We produced a total of 2000 of them, to be
honest, I don't know how many we delivered to
dealers and I also don't know how many are left,
but there won't be many.
The last August kit to be announced today is
the Bf 109 G-10 Erla in the Profipack line in 1:72.
It is another of our 1:72 scale 109 family. Some
modelers and Bf 109 aircraft experts may be
pleased that we have modified the bulge on the
engine cowling on the right side of the nose to
match the assumed shape of the cowl. There are
not many photos available of the right side of
the nose of the Bf 109 G-10 from the Erla factory,
but we did get some and decided to try to bring
the shape of the nose to a state at least close to
these photos. Hopefully we succeeded. However,
I am afraid that in this case there will definitely
be someone who will criticize the nose without
so much as a hesitation.
So that wraps up the new releases for August
news and we even delivered the reissue of the
Kamikaze Tokkōtai kit to retailers. And to keep
up the scarcity mode of today's editorial, I'll add
that we don't have many of these kits left in
stock either.
EMD
You have certainly noticed that the August
issue of the EMD has not been published yet.
I will not mince words and tell you straight away
why that is. We have quite significant technical
problems with ensuring the content of two
publications, put out as monthly magazines.
Part of this problem is caused by undisciplined
authors, such as myself, who write long articles
that are then not finished in time and thus
complicate the work of the graphic designers
and the editor-in-chief. Therefore, I have decided,
somehow while wearing my director’s cap, that
EMD will continue to be published as a bimonthly
magazine. And in order to compensate for this
decision of mine, which, as I fully understand,
will be received with reluctance by at least
some of its readers, I have started writing a new
series about the history of the production of
plastic model kits and accessories in the Czech
Republic. This saga, which I have named Plastos,
will of course include the history of Eduard,
and also other companies and the life stories
of important personalities who participated
in the development of this industry of ours.
Believe me, you will learn a lot of interesting
and previously unknown information. It will be
interesting, sometimes exciting, sometimes
thrilling, sometimes funny and sometimes even
dramatic. We will start this up in August, I have
already finished the first two parts.
Afterparty
The IPMS USA afterparty will start on Tuesday,
August 5th and end on Monday, August 11th.
Please note that the discount will not apply to
August releases!
If today's editorial seems a bit unkempt, it's
because I'm writing it during what is now almost
a fourteen-hour flight from Prague to Phoenix,
Arizona, so please forgive me that.
Happy Modelling!
Vladimir Sulc
EDITORIAL