Tail End Charlie
Looking Back at E-day 2024
Text: Jan Bobek
The 23rd E-day exhibition has successfully ended. Once again, it was held at the Tankodrom Milovice venue and attracted over 3,000 visitors. Among them were nearly 500 members of the Bunny Fighter Club, and the number of registered exhibiting modelers was close to the same figure. More than 1,100 models and dioramas were entered into the Czech Model Masters competition, with hundreds more displayed in club and SIG (Special Interest Group) presentations.
Several dozen Eduard staff members and their family members were involved in the preparation and organization of the event. However, the exhibition, as visitors know it, wouldn't have been possible without the significant contributions of volunteers. We would especially like to thank them for their efforts.
I’ll start by mentioning Luboš Kuna and his IT team, who managed the online registration of models, handled the scoring process, prepared the results lists, and printed the diplomas. The last registrations were processed by this hardworking team on Saturday morning.
Luboš Kuna
Zbyněk Škopán was responsible for arranging the models in the exhibition space on the first floor and coordinating the scoring results leading up to the announcement of the winners.
Zbyněk Škopán
The Czech Model Masters competition could not have taken place without the judges. This year, 36 judges were nominated, with additional substitutes on standby. Jiří Fiala and Jiří Votápek oversaw the coordination of the judges, who were nominated from the following Czech and Slovak clubs: MK518 Děčín, SR-Štefánikovo krídlo, KPM Brněnec, Veselí Lepiči, IPMS Nymburk, KPM Brumov-Bylnice, HKPM Prostějov, KPM Kadaň, KPM Žamberecký Divočák, KPM Litoměřice, SPL Liberec, KPM České Budějovice, KPM GT Cup, KPM Medvědi, KPM Jihlava, KPM Kaznějov, and Prosek Panthers.
Somewhat away from the general hustle and bustle, and avoiding the crowd, were workshops presented by Zdeněk Šebesta, Miloslav Chladil, Jan Novotný, Marek Mrázek, and Daniel Jankovič.
The heart of the E-day exhibition, however, was the area dedicated to discussions, presentations, and the announcement of results. We did receive some feedback from visitors regarding the sound system in the hall. While the acoustics of the space were challenging, I believe sound engineer Marek Nejez did a commendable job under the circumstances.
Special thanks go to Jaroslav Háječek and Petr Švihovec for moderating the talks and announcing the results. Both approached the task with great energy and professionalism. Recordings of the presentations, talks, and workshops are now available on our YouTube channel, where international viewers can enable automatic subtitles in their preferred language.
Jaroslav Háječek
Petr Švihovec
The overall winner of the Czech Model Masters was Petr Pospíšil with his 1/48 scale Zlín Z-126 Trenér. He was awarded a special prize from Annetra and holds the competition’s traveling cup for one year. Additionally, thanks to Annetra, he is now the proud owner of a ZO-91 ultrasonic knife.
No E-day would be complete without an aerial demonstration. This year, last-minute changes were made to the organization of the show, and we would like to extend our gratitude to Milan Mikulecký for demonstrating the historic Avia BH-5 aircraft.
Tankodrom Milovice is a unique venue for a model exhibition. American modeler Johnny Vojtěch, one of the guests in this year’s moderated talks, mentioned during his visit to last year's exhibition that it is the second most impressive venue for a model exhibition he’s ever seen. His top experience was setting up his booth beneath an SR-71 Blackbird at a U.S. show—a plane that certainly wouldn't fit in the Milovice museum hall!
I hope that in the coming years, the E-day exhibition will continue to fit within the hall of the Tankodrom. Our heartfelt thanks go to the owners of the venue, who were incredibly helpful in preparing the space for vendors thanks to mobility of some their historical exhibits.