to hold the event. There will be a smaller event

held in its place at the same time, October 16th

to the 18th. The rules will be a bit different and

every modeler will build for himself. There will

be two categories, aircraft and AFVs. In order to

conform to regulations, there will be no audience , and participants will, of course, be seated.

That last part should not be an issue.

So, let’s turn our attention to new releases.

We have three new kits. We’ll start with one that

has evoked a somewhat unprecedented negative reaction on Facebook, the MiG-19. This is

a 1:48th scale Limited Edition kit, built on the

basis of Trumpeter plastic. With respect to the

criticism that has surfaced, something should be

said of the development of this concept. As you

may have noticed, we have been focusing our

October release schedules to satisfy, at least to

some extent, the home market. This is because

these new items are typically introduced (and

made available) at E-day, at the end of September. With the growing popularity of E-day, and

also the significant increase in the home market share, which last year reached 23% of our

worldwide sales, the October releases have developed a strong Czech and Czechoslovak flavor,

and we wanted to match the figures this year. We

were forced to drop the kit count by one, with

the absence of the MiG-21PF Weekend kit, leaving two, the MiG-19 in 1:48th and the Cmelak

(Bumble Bee) in 1:72nd. The MiG-19 kit fits the

Czechoslovak theme very nicely, and since there is no other decent kit of the type around, we

jumped at the Trumpeter item. It’s true that the

kit does not come with a good reputation. A close look at the kit, though, leads to the conclusion

that its flaws are not fatal. But, you have to be

open to the possibility of reaching said conclusion. You could be at the point where you refuse to

accept that the kits shape and proportion issues

are not fatal, and, in that case, you don’t need

to read on. If you want to have a look at the kit

from a more rational point of view, you will realize that the MiG-19S kit has a thicker wing profile

which has been a point of criticism, especially at

the wing root. The MiG-19PM kit has taken a lickin’ for its nose shape. This is warranted, as the

nose is certainly off, at least according to accepted drawings. It’s a very similar situation to last

year’s release of the MiG-23BN, which also has

a nose section that is off. There were a lot of

questions as to whether or not we would supply

a correction. We did not, nor will we supply one

for the MiG-19. The reason is that we do not consider it our duty to supply corrections for these

kits, and to develop a correction that fixes the

issues easily is no laughing matter. Add to that

that plugging in a lump of resin to the nose of

a model is not for everyone. So, we don’t do this,

and we won’t. If someone needs to fix the nose

of the kit, let them apply their modelling skills

and conduct the correction on their own. And

if someone sees these faults as fatal kit issues,

they should avoid buying the kit altogether and

leave it to those who either do not see these flaws as fatal, or are willing to go through the surgical procedure to fix them. It should be noted that

of the eight marking options in the kit, only three

are for the MiG-19PM, with the remainder being

for the PM. There are five Czechoslovak options,

and the remaining three have some relevance to

Czechoslovak modellers. For example, Egyptian

pilots were trained in part by Czechoslovak instructors. The Soviet aircraft was used in firing

exercises in which Czechoslovak pilots took part

in the Soviet Union on Soviet MiGs.

Originally, we planned on releasing the MiG-

INFO Eduard - October 2020

19 kit with a publication. We worked on the

publication for several months, but we were

running into an increasingly significant lack of

photographic material. In short, there are not

a lot of photographs of MiG-19s. We were not

able to find much more than what has already

been published. To top it off, the quality of the

photographs was nothing to be joyous about.

This stems in large part from the fact that the

MiG-19 hails from a time when everything was

hush-hush, and permission to take photographs

was extended to only a trusted few. The rest risked some very unpleasant things, and in some

cases, their personal freedom. So, we decided

to let the idea of the publication go. Some have

accused us of dropping the idea of the book because it points out some of the obvious shape

issues, but this is not the case. The majority of

modellers that want this kit will be well aware of

the flaws, and trying to hide them, seems to me,

to be a silly endeavor.

The second October Limited Edition kit is the

Z-37A Cmelak (Bumble Bee), in 1:72nd scale. This

is our own work, and you can believe me when

I say that the construction of this kit is pleasure

personified! We begin this kit with the release

of a Limited Edition boxing, same as we did with

the Mustang and the Spitfire. Because this is

a Czechoslovak icon, the inaugural Limited Edition kit focuses on Czechoslovak, Czech and Slovak

aircraft. There are a dozen marking options offered and plastic to put together two complete

kits. It’s a sort of a buzzing bee hive! The Cmelak

is interesting from several perspectives, not the

least of which are the variations in the cockpit

and instrument panel colours. For this reason,

it’s a good idea for anyone who builds the kit to

check their references, because the old adage

that the only truth is that nothing is completely

true applies here. One of the interesting points

about this kit involves the instruction booklet.

Given that it is directed more at the home market, its instructions have been prepared in both

Czech and English. The introduction to the type

came to eight pages. The Cmelak, as with the

MiG-19, will have several accessory items made

for it. October releases include additional photoetching for the MiG-19, T-Face masks, steel belts,

two LooK sets and landing gear covers. In November, this will grow by the addition of the seat

and exhausts. The Cmelak will have a sprayer

offered in November, as well as wheels, spreader framework and another spray setup. Truth

be told, it is not certain at this time how many

accessory kits there will be, because we have already identified four different types of spray systems used. So, we will grow the assortment as

it comes and see where it leads us. The Cmelak

will continue in December when we will release

the classic ProfiPACK kit, and be aware that we

are also posting an introduction to the Cmelak

on our YouTube channel.

The last of the October new kits is again the

Spitfire Mk.I, this time in the ProfiPACK line. This

kit represents the later, or maybe more accurately the final, version of the Spitfire Mk.Ia with

a three blade propeller, bulged canopy, armoured tank, internal armor plating, and so on. The

marking options cover an unusual seven aircraft,

and as such, cover all of the evolutionary versions of the camouflage schemes and markings

carried by the Spitfire Mk.Ia from the spring of

1940 to the fall of 1941. There is the absence

of only one scheme, but it was used for a very

limited time only, where the bottom of the left

wing was black and reverted to the original state.

More on the evolution of the Spitfire schemes

is included in this newsletter. The kit itself is not

a major departure from August’s Limited Edition

kit, outside of the fact that early versions with

a two-blade propeller and flat canopy are not

included, although these items are included in

the kit.

Turning our attention to accessory items, noteworthy are the photoetched sets for the P-40E

from Trumpeter in 1:32nd scale, and for the

renewed Bf 110E from Dragon. In 1:72nd scale,

we have sets for the B-25B from Airfix and the

Ju 88A-1 from Revell. In the AFV scale of 1:35th,

we are offering a set for the M4A2 from Zvezda.

For you ship types out there, we have two sets

for the Bismarck from Trumpeter in 1:350th. In

the Brassin line, we have a LooK for the Tamiya

F-14A, and two LooK Pluses for the Tamiya Il-2

and Airfix Tiger Moth, along with several sets of

weapons in 1:48th. In the decal line, there are

two sheets that cover the Bf 109E in 1:48th, for

the Adlerangriff kit released last month. The Experten and Alte Hasen sheets offer a total of ten

options covering well known German aces.

I would also like to direct attention to two

articles by Jan Bobek, responsible for the cover

images of Spitfire Story: The Few and Adlerandriff. It is a very fresh look at plastic kits and

their connections to actual histories. The main

illustration of both kits are also the theme for

a series of t-shirts. A Cmelak t-shirt is also on offer from the company Rezava Vrtule.

In closing, I would like to make one more point

about the Spitfire. There are constant objections

to the absence of a motor-driven undercarriage

retraction hydraulic pump. The hydraulic pump

in our kits is the hand version, because to date,

no one has been able to provide a serial number

and fuselage code of a Spitfire Mk.I with anything but a hand pump. In no case would this

even apply to the marking options offered in our

kits. I don’t really understand the apparently widespread desire to put the motor driven pump

into a Spitfire Mk.I. All the other versions of the

Spit had them, but the Mk.I was different in that

respect. So, why not take advantage of this fact

and have something a little different from all the

other Spitfires? But if you should find yourself

in the position of just simply having to have the

pump in your Spitfire Mk.I, follow the old Goldemund rule that reads ‘a skilled modeller will

find a way!’

Happy Modelling!

Vladimir Sulc

eduard

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