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surfaces to be positioned. For the Bf 109 G, this
means separate slats on the leading edge, and on
the trailing edge, the ailerons, flaps and radiator
flaps. I understand that this element may appear
to some as controversial and a complication of
assembly, but I can assure you that this is not
the case. All these parts fit absolutely perfectly,
they have few sprue gates, and gluing this whole
assembly in place is easy even for beginners.
I understand that due to our release schedule
surrounding the Royal Class and Limited Edition
kits, the former in a Dual Combo boxing, with two
sets of molds and covering a number of subtypes
with different combinations of details, these kits
seem complex. The instructions are complex and
require a thorough familiarization. But if you also
take into consideration the later editions, namely
the Profipack and especially Weekend releases,
then there is nothing dramatically complicated
about these kits, which can be considered pretty
typical for 72nd scale. Yes, unlike the competition,
the kit has a unique wing dynamic, which means
some six extra parts. However, I do not consider
it unreasonable, and certainly not impossible,
to make a kit today, even in this scale, with
not offering the option of lowered flaps. I am
quite sure that we would then record the same
frequency of complaints about the outdated
concept of the kit, as we now record about its
perceived and constantly justified complexity.
One of the essential attributes of our kits is the
large number of alternative parts. It is in them
because we create complete lines of subtypes
of selected aircraft, and that simply cannot be
done without alternative part options. This is
the essence of the technical development of
every type of machine used over a longer span
of service career, not only aircraft. It is no longer
well possible to complete this development with
one or two versions out of many. After all, we
have worked for many years to ensure that our
kits map the development of individual types of
aircraft in this way. In theory, we could divide the
alternative parts into several smaller frames
and put only the one correct frame in the kit
of a specific subtype and thus save on plastic
that would otherwise be thrown away later.
But if you take the time to study the technical
development of a historically significant aircraft,
which you have a great opportunity to do in this
issue of our newsletter, you will find that thanks
to the interweaving of the characteristics of
many development and production versions, it
would actually be one helluva road map. So, in
the interest of preserving the sanity of all kit
designers, to say nothing of those who package
the kits, we just do it the way we do it. I believe
it's called logistics. In the case of the Bf 109 G-10,
this means that I used 68 parts from the kit to
build one Bf 109 G-10 WNF and had 104 left over.
This includes small parts that are duplicated or
tripled in the kit to account for parts that going
flying off in some direction from tweezers that
had just that much more pressure applied to
them than they should have. Now that I've written
it like that, I'm wondering if I counted the unused
parts correctly. But that’ll be a right ballpark
figure. In short, don't worry about it. Just keep
the rest of the parts in your spares box, which
is a lot better than being an environmental
terrorist and throwing them in a river for the fish
to wonder what the hell’s going on. They can be
used, ultimately, to spruce up older kits that are
not quite up to the same standard, such as the
aforementioned Bf 109 G-6. So, despite all the
ecologists, I still believe that no carp or whale
has yet died as a result of eating the rest of the
plastic from a kit, and I simply believe that model
makers will never voluntarily throw any plastic
part out. The fact that something falls under the
table and is instantly pounced upon by the carpet
bastard is another story, as we all know.
In recent years, the assessment of
construction kits in the media has visibly shifted
to a focus on the plastic. As if there was nothing
else interesting about the kit, as if its value and
quality were determined solely by the quality of
the plastic parts. But when I watch the behavior
of modelers working their way through the
racks of kits at shows and take note of what
they are interested in first when looking at
the box, it is almost never the plastic. The first
thing most modelers are interested in is color
schemes. They look at them, study them, and
then only briefly examine the plastic. That's how
it's always been, and that's how it always will
be. Camouflage, markings, pilots, preferably
some aces and the action depicted on the box
art, are the things that interest, entertain and
attract modelers. That's what always comes
first! Not every manufacturer understands this;
that's why most kits have an average of three
marking options, and often only two and not very
imaginative ones at that. They are often many
times repeated markings and very often simple
schemes. One is sometimes more colorful, with
some kind of emblem or nose art, and the rest
is something simpler. It’s sort of like dangling
that proverbial carrot before the donkey without
getting him too excited. This style stagnated the
nineties with heavy boredom, exactly what we do
not intend to do. As I wrote last time in the article
about the Mustang, the world is evolving, and
even the modeler is looking for some enjoyment.
Anyone who regularly follows Eduard knows
where to find it.
There are ten marking options in the initial
Royal Class Bf 109 G-10 kit. These cover not just
German versions….four of them are for foreign
users. They are aircraft of the Hungarian, Italian
and Croatian air forces, and the fourth non-
German machine is a post-war Czechoslovak Avia
S-99. Probably the most striking is the Croatian
bird, which also has an interesting history behind
it. Not that the other options are worse off, but
the Croatian one is a bit of a breath of fresh air.
Decals are ours, the so-called ‘peelable’ ones.
I will remind you for the one hundred and sixtieth
time that peeling is optional, strictly voluntary,
decals provide the same quality performance
without peeling off the carrier film. If there is
anyone reading this who still has an aversion
to our decals, please give them a chance. For
example, here in the Royal Class kit, there is
such a large sheet of decals that it would be a
shame not to learn how to work with them using
spares. It just takes training, practice and want.
After all, you can't even peel an egg without it, so
what are you waiting for??
In this series of late Bf 109s, we have a set
of molds for five subtypes: the Bf 109 G-6/AS,
the Bf 109 G-14/AS, the Bf 109 G-10/R6 (Erla),
Bf 109 G-10 (Messerschmitt), and the Bf 109
G-10/U4 (WNF). We will release them gradually
in different editions over the next two years or
so. The entire series of 72nd Bf 109 F/G/Ks will be
completed next year with the Bf 109 K-4. I believe
that you will not be intimidated by their perceived
complexity and that you will have royal fun
building them, because, if I say so myself, Royal
Class equals Royal Fun!
Happy Modelling!
Vladimír Šulc
INFO Eduard
7
September 2024