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Info Eduard - September 2011
packaging than we envisioned. Our Plan ‘A’ is
to box our 1/72nd scale kits, and ultimately
1/144 scale kits as well, into side opening
boxes. For physically smaller kits, it is becoming
the most effective method, for kits containing two
or three trees. We don’t see any forthcoming
changes for larger kits, and it looks like the status
quo will reign, although we have always seen
a viable method of packaging with side opening
boxes for Weekend Edition kits. There, they
would make sense, if they would speed up the
packaging process. But, in Propack and Limited
Edition kits, it will stay the way it is. So, with that,
I hope I will, someday, be welcomed back at Brno
with open arms. Next week, I need to go there in
connection to our new website, and sometime in
October I will accompany my wife there for an
inventory related trip, which I am also planning
to use for some other needed activities.
Brno, the second largest city in the Czech
Republic, is the informal capital of Moravia,
which is a historical section in the eastern Czech
Republic. Brno is characterized by its own dialect,
a stuffed croc hanging over the entrance to city
hall, a big black phallus in the main square,
that supposedly keeps time (it keeps something,
alright, but how you tell time off of this thing is
beyond me. I tried to gure it out once for almost
an hour, and then I retreated with a distinct sense
of nervousness to the nearest restaurant serving
a home brew), has good beer, cozy pubs, a
great model show at ModelBrno, and a denite
rivalry to Prague. People in Brno have a name
for people in Prague, ‘Cajzlove’ (I am not sure
what it even means, or if it is directed exclusively
at people from Prague, or extends to us in the
Sudeten region). Those in Prague counter with
the assertion that Brno is not much more than an
overgrown village lying at a curve on Highway
D1, where it exits to Bratislava.
Enough about models, lets get on to
photoetching. The boom in 1/32nd scale has
continued, and we will do well to not ignore it.
In September, you’ll nd new sets for the MiG-
23ML and the F-18E from Trumpeter, another
for the F-16I SUFA from Academy, and the rst
set, seat belts, for Revell’s monumental He 111.
We will maintain focus on this kit through October,
same as the MiG-23 and F-18E. October will
see the rst set for the amazing new Mustang,
from you know who! According to my colleague
Padar, there will be more to follow than we are
announcing in the last listing of prepared items.
In 1/48th, we have sets for the F-14A and
Me 262A from HobbyBoss, another is a set for
the MiG-27 from Italeri, and a set for our own
MiG-21SMT. You’ll nd two new items covering
the F-16D from Kinetic and the T-6G Texan from
Academy, both in 1/72nd.
1/35th scale photoetched brass sets bring two
items for the Leopard in the Canadian version
2A6M CDN from HobbyBoss, a third set covering
the BR 86 locomotive, and nally, the anticipated
(based on show reactions to prototypes) color
sets of water plants, that is giving diorama lovers
hissy ts.
That leaves ships. Three ship sets for October
are focused on the 1/72nd scale I-53 submarine
from Lindberg, one of which are for the version
that carried the Kaiten manned torpedo. Another
set, for the Agagi from Hasegawa, is in the
classic ship scale of 1/350, same as one of two
railing sets. The other railing set is in 1/700,
same as the nal two sets. These are sets that
cover Japanese ladders, and the naval windows.
In the Brassin line, we are back with two sets
for our popular MiG-21. September sees the
offering of an early KM-1 seat, and a late MF
cockpit set. I read a while back where someone
was putting forth the claim that we make the kit
simpler than we can in order to sell these sets
and squeeze out more money from the modeler.
Although I freely and happily admit to a desire
to be nancially successful with our kits, but the
noted claim is, simply put, a steaming, heaping
pile of bull crap. The details that we can make
in plastic simply are at the highest level that we
are able to produce. Certainly, our standard
of product has steadily risen, but there is still
a line that simply cannot be crossed within the
limitations of injection molded plastic, and can
only be successfully surpassed by cast resin, and
especially when combined with etched brass.
I have my doubts if it can be any different.
Although, as I say, the technology of injection
molding is ever evolving to higher and higher
levels of quality (P-51...you know who), the same
can be said of cast resin technology. The results
are never equal. If you don’t believe me, check
out classic references.
E-day is getting closer. This year, it is, non-
traditionally, on October 1st, and will, also non-
traditionally, be only one day, Saturday. Vendors
can come and set up on Friday afternoon. So,
it can be said that we are emulating ModelBrno’s
schedule. For now, call it an experiment....we’ll
see what happens after that. Again, this was
not a nancial decision, but was in reaction to
suggestions. That is often something that can
cause problems, but we’ll see how this one pans
out. Next year, we will proceed with a greater
amount of experience behind us. Personally,
I can see us going back to the two day format,
if only because there will be no ModelBrno, and
there will be lot of withdrawal going around.
Besides the shortened schedule, there will
also be some new, surely positive, innovations.
For example, there will be coupons for our
products for anyone who enters a model in any
category. It will be a coupon for 200Kc for the
rst model, and 50Kc for each subsequent model
to a limit of 700Kc. Also, there will be the price
of admission kit, that few will want to lose out on.
This year, it will be an brand-spanking new
kit, never before released, or seen, model.
After last years experiment with the less than
stellar Blanik, we are humbly returning back to
our own production. In the past, we neglected
the development of small kits, suitable later
for similar purposes and would be useful for
an admissions model, and so it was the Blanik.
For this year’s e-day, we have developed
a new piece of work, extrapolated from an older
1/48th scale model. The new one, though, is in
a smaller scale. In a smaller scale, it is downright
cute, and I am sure it will prove popular.
In the second half of September, we would
like to initiate our new website. This newsletter
addresses this theme, and more will be dedicated
to the new site on Facebook.
And that’s enough. Here we are again, in a long
winded intro!
Keep on Modelin’!
Vladimir Sulc