EDITORIAL

Dear Friends,

I would, first off, like to thank all of

you that attended the apex of this year’s

modelling season, E-day, at Lyse nad Labem. I would also like to thank you for

your patience over the small anomalies

that crept in, like the longer than anticipated line-ups at our tables, and some

of the participating entrants for which

the supply of the 1/72nd scale bonus

model of the Spitfire Mk.XVI fell short.

For the first time in thirteen years, we

took the show on the road outside of

Prague with the knowledge that to

some extent, we were entering the realm of the unknown. Today, a week after the show ended, I can say in hindsight that coming to Lyse nad Labem was

a good choice, and that we have found

us a home for the foreseeable future.

Favourable response has outnumbered the complaints by a wide margin,

and we believe that the things that do

need to be addressed will, in fact, be

taken care of in relatively quick order.

I am pleased that there are quite q few

voices calling out for the event to be

expanded to two days, which is a nice

change from the past voices criticising

that particular format. I think that this

is the result of a rich programme within

a limited time span resulting in the feeling that there is not enough time to

do everything that can be done. This

is certainly true and I must admit that

when we sat down and figured out the

programme itself, this was our goal. The

show was also a competitive success

as shown by the 2,000 entries and the

quick judging procedure and the overall

work done by the team built around the

SMCR modelling club. Even the awards

ceremony, a typically boring affair, had

a good tempo to it, along with a good

atmosphere. A very successful aspect

to this year’s show was the train hauled by a vintage steam locomotive that

was possible to take from Prague to the

show, which, along the way, was mock

attacked by a Spitfire Mk.XVI piloted by

Radim Vojta. This was another feature

of the event that we would like to keep

and develop over time. I served as the

engineer of the locomotive while it was

‚attacked‘, and as engineer, I was tho4

eduard

roughly pleased. I was less impressed

by the Pot Q & A session. In my view,

it was somehow weaker this year, and

I attribute that to the topics becoming

somewhat theoretical and abstract, taking time away from discussions regarding topics such as new releases that

are being planned. I would’ve liked to

have spent more time on the upcoming

Limited Edition kit ‚Riders In The Sky

1945‘, dedicated to the Liberator Mk.VI

and VIII in the RAF. Incidentally, corrections to the included publication went

into overdrive all of last weekend, including Friday. This will be a very attractive

package with a good deal of emphasis

on Czechoslovak No.311 Squadron,

including those aircraft that helped to

ensure the supply bridge between Czechoslovakia and Great Britain immediately after the war. Normally, it is normal

to discuss relatively distant release topics, despite the near ones being often

more than interesting, which can be

said of all November’s releases, among

which will be, besides Riders 1945, also

the Fw 190A-2 1/48th as a ProfiPACK release and the re-release of the Peshka in

the Limited Edition line, also in 1/48th.

The A-2 will be interesting in that the

kit will include both wings, with two or

four cannon, and the Peshka, which will

be limited to 1,000 kits, will have two

BFC offers connected to it. One will be

the markings of the female bombing

regiments of the VVS and the other will

be a post war, three tone Czechoslovak

Air Force plane. There will also be a BFC

offer relating to the Fw 190A-2 covering the fighter-bomber version of this

aircraft. December’s Tempest was touched upon in the Pot. The Tempest is at

a farther advanced stage of preparation

than might have been gleaned from test

shots. In fact, we are immediately prior

to completion. We have all the moulds

completed, and we just need to get test

shots out of most of them. Our goal is

to have the Tempest for sale at Telford

during the second week of November

and then take it to the home market for

Plastic Winter in Bratislava, Slovakia on

November 24th. It should also be noted

that the first version to be released will

be that of Series 1, which were aircraft

equipped with long cannon housings

protruding from the leading edges of

the wings. In December, we will be releasing another two items in the Limited Edition Range dedicated to the end

of the First World War, the fall of the

Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the

formation of Czechoslovakia. It will be

dubbed LEGIE and it will be in 1/72nd

scale, essentially a clone of the just being released VIRIBUS UNITS in 1/48th,

which are OEFFAG 153 and 253 aces

of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It will

cover pilots from different nationalities

under the Habsburg dynasty.

When it comes to theoretical and

ethical questions that touch our field, it

is good to bring them out into the open,

and I am hopeful that in time, some

important issues will be addressed. Internet discussions on these themes in

the last while have supported the notion that questions of ethics are irrelevant because they are a far second to

making money, which is the only thing

that manufacturers and retailers should

involve themselves with. I feel, contrary

to the holders of this opinion, that making money with no respect for ethical

issues is a road to hell. I have heard something similar on other fronts before, such as surrounding Czech football

(soccer). I fear that the current state of

Czech football is in very large part due

INFO Eduard - October 2018