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eduard
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Info Eduard - September 2011
EDITORIAL
The 72nd scale Hellcat released by Eduard has
had a greater, and more positive response, than
I ever dared to dream! The input it has received
at the August shows in the Czech Republic and
in the United States were very positive and
enthusiastic. It’s the same with the written reviews
that have appeared in response to review
samples sent out to modeling magazines, where
the response has been as good as those for our
MiG-21. I will not be hiding my pleasure. On the
contrary, of course, and among other things, I am
taking it as a sign of things to come with respect
to the success of our future 72nd scale releases.
Given our supply of 48th scale kits, convertible
by scaling up or down between scales, affords
us a good opportunity for the expansion of our
manufacturing potential. This is the third time in
the history of our rm that we have ventured into
the realm of 72nd scale, but this appears by far
to be our best effort to date. As is typically the
case, the most frequent question we get asked
‘which versions will be next?’, ‘will you release
a dash 5 too?’, ‘what about a night ghter
version?’, and ‘British.....?’. If you are well
familiar with the Hellcat, check out the plastic;
it will clear the air for you. The concept behind
the kit already allows the building of virtually
any version. So, the impatient ones who typically
need that version that is not yet available, can
purchase this version and have a eld day.
Specically, though, the subsequent version
slated for release is the F6F-5, in October.
A signicant amount of attention was also
attracted by the pre-painted bases, which we
took along in prototype form with us to the
August shows just to get a feel for their potential
popularity and for pre-release tweaking.
You will probably remember them in their
unpainted guise, which frankly speaking,
really didn’t oor anybody. The pre-painted
versions are promising to be at the other end
of the spectrum. At the recent shows, they have
garnered as much, if not more, interest and praise
than any of our other new items. It would appear
that the unpainted version lacks something, and
the need for the end user to apply color to
them to bring them to life adds nothing. With
our proposed pre-painted items, it’s different,
and they are very attractive, require no work
as they are delivered nished, and really only
require a model to stand on them. The opinion
often surfaced that after months of bringing
a kit to fruition, and with the desire to start
another project, the prospect of having to deal
with a display base was not very appealing.
At the moment, we have pre-painted prototypes
of bases of PSP in both 1/72nd and 1/48th
scale, two American carrier decks, and one
Japanese, all in 1/48th. In November, we will
release the PSP planking, with others to follow
through the fall and winter months.
The pre-painted bases go through the same
printing process as the pre-painted photo-
etched brass. Once these hit the market,
I anticipate a bit of a technical problem with
keeping these in stock. I need to point out, rst
and foremost to distributors and retailers, that
they should carefully consider their pre-order,
and preferably with a given amount of extra
stock, because the potential situation, where
there is an signicant increase in the number
of orders from the time of an order being
placed, will be difcult for us to react to, and
many retailers and distributors will end up
as they did with the Tempest.
We released the Tempest on August 1st, and we
were completely sold out by the 12th. Although
I personally must see this as the optimum situation,
it is a pretty standard route for our Limited Edition
releases. A xed and restricted production run
was the intention for this line right from the get
go, and is naturally reected in its title. They are
literally limited issues, with respect to quantity
and also to availability in terms of limited time.
They are kits for the collector, and our aim was
to release collectable objects, something akin to
coins and stamps, that we would release once
and only once. Those who waiver, will have to
track down any of these kits at shows or auctions.
Of course, its best not to waiver, weather you
are a modeler or a retailer. After experience
that can now be measured in years, I dare say
that Eduard’s Limited Edition kits are a good and
solid investment. The price won’t drop, nor will
it uctuate, and they will likely sell at any time
for a good price, if not an excellent one, well
in excess of the original investment. And when
it comes to investments, of how many others can
you say the same thing? Gold? This is certainly
one that until recently has been deemed as very
stable, and, on the other hand, gold has been
considered a good and solid investment by
pretty much everyone, which among other things,
has meant that it may at some point, lose some
of its stability, as shown by recent developments.
Not everyone has made the connection between
good investments and Eduard kits, but one thing
is undeniable, in that you’ll have a lot more fun
with the Eduard kit!
After the selling out of the Tempest kit, I was
met with the usual line of questioning, asking why
we didn’t release a greater quantity of them.
I have partially answered that: we released this
kit in a quantity that is consistent with the Limited
Edition line, which is 1550 units. True, time to time,
that number is higher, and on occasion, we have
even went so far as to re-issue a quickly sold out
kit, but we really have very little experience with
either one of these deviations. I don’t want the
risk of plugging up our shelves with unsold stock
to be measured in months, if not, God forbid,
years. Unfortunately, there are very few true
indicators to go by when gaging the potential
higher popularity of a kit. It should show up in our
pre-ordering system that we have set up for our
retailers and distributors. However, neither one
is willing to go too deep into the realm of pre-
ordering, which I can certainly understand. Pre-
orders tend to come in late, with some retailers
and distributors ignoring them altogether, and
so our determination on a quantity is based,
to a signicant extent, on foggy speculation.
Now, someone will certainly offer me a lesson
in market research. As grateful as I am for that,
these methods have their limits, too, and in our
case, pretty tight ones at that. Results tend not to
be overly conclusive. There is a certain amount
of confusion in market research, coupled with an
increase in hesitation by distributors and retailers
at the moment, when a commitment to a pre-
order is to be made. It comes down to putting
your money where your mouth is, so to speak,
and people become understandably careful.
It has little to do with an economic recession
or depression, and this condition has permeated
through our industry for years, and even in times
of economic boom, it wasn’t much different.
Available goods are ooding the marketplace,
notably from Chinese and Czech sources, and
new items are pouring in through fully open
oodgates. And, of course, everyone starts
mouthing off how amazing their products are
and how it will be protable for all involved.
It ends up that such products plug up the shelves
of retailers, and the resulting hesitation
is something I completely, and I mean completely,
understand. Manufacturers then have to face
this situation with whatever means they have
at their disposal. So, quality of product and
attractiveness for our clients is something that
Eduard strives for. One of our tools that satisfy
these conditions that is at our disposal are the
Limited Edition kits, and their quick turnaround.
If our respective clients know of our practices
and philosophy, they tend to buy quickly. One
byproduct is that the Tempest situation has not
turned out for some modelers as they would like.
That a model was manufactured by Eduard in
the middle of August doesn’t mean that it will
be gone without a trace by this point in time.
On the contrary, models at that time were
generally on their way to distributors, which
means that, especially in distant countries, there
will be a gap of up to several weeks before they
can be acquired by the end user. Most modelers
who could not acquire their Tempest via our
website, eventually got to them anyway. Beyond
that, I can only give distributors and retailers
one piece of advice. Pre-order your kits under
the restrictions of the relevant circumstances.
This way, we can virtually guarantee you the
quantities you want....as long as you order
in time. It’s the old story.....’he who hesitates
is last....’.
In September, we are releasing another
candidate for a quickly sold out kit in the
Limited Edition range, that will likely only be
around for a few weeks. This is the MiG-21MF
in Czechoslovak service. As with the Tempest, we
really have nothing to go by to tell us that this
will be any sort of a ‘bestseller’. Furthermore,
the pre-order stats are suspiciously similar
to those of the Tempest. To the contrary, I am
getting a few little familiar reminders, rst
and foremost, and as usual, concerning price
point. Granted, this is so far the most expensive
incarnation of the up-to-now released MiG-21
kits. The reasons? Well, for one - it’s a Limited