were in rough shape. Extracting plastic sprues

from them was becoming an embarrassment.

These old forms were made at a time when

there were changes being implemented in

the composition of materials used in the manufacture of plating dies, which had an adverse effect on copper shells that were, in turn,

reflected in the surface of the forms. The end

result was a short lifespan of the forms. To top

it off, even the kit design was not that great.

That also found itself in the midst of the change

from handmade forms to CAD generated items,

and we had no experience in CAD designs and

were in search of the correct procedures. That

resulted in some rough and incomplete details

and a more difficult kit to build, and was a far

cry from what we can do today. And because

we simply want a Camel in our catalog, if for no

other reason, it belongs among the best known

types in history, we had no choice but to do it

again, and do it better.

Other New Releases

Besides two Limited Edition kits, we have another Mustang, this time a P-51K in the ProfiPACK line. The ‘K’ is a ProfiPACK classic, It has

a list of marking options that are chosen in the

normal way, with emphasis on colour and pilot

histories, as you will be able to tell as you go

through the profiles from the kit below. I can

already hear the choruses of ‘oh God, another

Mustang! Can’t you make something else for

a change?!?’, but we have had a lot of requests

for this version, and the ‘something else’ has

already been covered by the above paragraphs. If you are interested in new impulses and

new, up to now unproduced, items, listen up!

The next four months will see the premiere

of two brand new kits. Along with the Camel

in three versions, we have molds ready for

three new models, so from now to the end of

the year, we are in for some ride that will not

end with the coming of December. In fact, there is no issue with any excess of monotony in

our activities. September alone sees six new

kits, and if you think this is on the boring side,

then I am throwing in the towel. To round out

the new items, I will make reference to three

more. In the Weekend line, we will be releasing

the MiG-21MF in 1:48th scale. The boxart depicts the now famous plane coded 1113, one of

the first two MiGs to serve in the Czechoslovak

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Air Force that featured noseart. The art wasn’t carried for very long and the bird only flew

with it likely just once. It also didn’t fly with any

weapons while so adorned, and the roof of the

depicted castle was not shingled at the time.

But these inaccuracies are survivable by the

modeler. Even the best Robin Hood movies are

not exactly according to history. In the form of

re-editions of sold out kits, returns to the catalog will be made by the Spitfire Mk.VIII and the

Fw 190D-11/D-13. Be forewarned that this Fw

190 won’t be a new release in the Dual Combo

format, but will only include one model. This

has already managed to be covered in discussion forums, but this one, as well as the other

Doras, is getting on in age, and the original releases came about when different standards

ruled. Today, it’s largely about the plastic. Until

recently, the cost of the plastic was a relatively

low expense within the context of all included

components that make up a kit. It made economic sense to include the second complete kit to

make up a Dual Combo, because overall, each

of the two kits came to a considerably lower

price than a single kit. In the first half of this

year, this has not been the case. The cost of the

plastic has skyrocketed due to the cost of raw

materials, and also to the fact that we have had

to outsource some of our sprue production,

and all of these things push the cost of production in the wrong direction. Original cost calculations no longer apply, sometimes wildly so,

and then we have to adjust somewhere. This

can be in the contents of the kit, or the price of

it, and sometimes both. In some cases, we can

maintain the set retail prices, and re-editions

are at the same price as they were previously.

This applies to newer kits, mostly. It’s harder

with older kits, and is not restricted to just kits,

but to accessory items as well, especially with

photoetching. There, the expenses rise even

more dramatically, because the cost of metals

is out of control, to the point of being disgusting.

3D Prints

We have already talked of 3D prints included in

Brassin sets. We have been preparing their high

volume production and subsequent inclusion in

sets for about a year now. The process will now

gradually gain steam. I should mention that 3D

prints have been a part of Brassin production

from the line’s inception some twelve years

ago. This line has basically never utilized handmade masters, and were designed in CAD and

the vast majority of them have been 3D printed. Only in the beginning, we did experiment

with CNC milling, and these mostly focused on

the production of weapon sets. Back then, and

until recently, the quality of the prints was not

good enough to be considered for production.

They were also relatively expensive, so all we

printed were masters that were manually cleaned up and copied for production molds. Those that ever attended a Novemberfest know

the process, because they would have seen it

firsthand. In the last few years, 3D printing has

made massive leaps forward. That, combined

with a decline in the price of the material that

is used for printing, has made 3D print production a realistic path to go down. Many smaller

companies and individuals have been selling

such products for quite a while now. And you

may also be familiar with our own testing of the

waters with the 3D printed spray systems for

the 1:72nd scale Cmelak or the camera frames

for the 48th scale F-6D Mustang. In September,

we also have another two small sets to add,

the seat and the pumps for the Camel. The seat

in particular is very well done, and looks very

‘braided’. Prints will be gaining momentum in

October, and there will be three new, more serious sets, all designed for the Camel: bomb

racks with bombs, and Bentley BR.1 and Clerget 9B engines.

I think that these sets illustrate the progress

of this technology very nicely. For example,

the Bentley engine is in three pieces, two resin

and one photoetched. The main body is a print,

which includes the pistons and pushrods. The

second printed part covers the fuel tubing to

INFO Eduard - September 2021