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