Strana 5
just a test of the ability of governments, central
banks and businesses to react to economic
adversity. It could be viewed as a polite crisis,
if you will. It broke out for quite obvious reasons,
caused problems and gradually subsided, mainly
thanks to the quick and vigorous reaction of the
central banks and governments of the affected
countries. The current crisis is different, it is
more of a series of individual crises that follow
one another in relatively quick succession.
In 2022, Russia launched its aggression against
Ukraine, followed by the energy crisis, which in
turn fueled post-covid inflation and continued
to complicate our lives even in 2023. In 2024,
Donald Trump was elected as the US president,
and after he took office, tariff wars broke out
started by the new US administration and the
disruption of the entire world order and trade
relations ensued. When it seemed this spring that
the world was recovering from this rose garden
and the situation was stabilizing, as suggested
even in our own performance, February brought
the American attack on Iran and the subsequent
pressure on the price of fuel, which are further
escalating thanks to the mismanaged American
policy towards Iran. It‘s quite simple, when
gasoline costs 50 Czech crowns per litre (adjust
the price according to the situation in your
countries), you can‘t expect plastic model sales
to go ballistic, to say nothing of some ‘luxury
market’ accessories for them. They won‘t, and if
customers are compelled to save as dictated by
their own finances, save they will. We all have
plenty of reasons to be cautious. Unfortunately, for
manufacturers of basically anything, production
costs then go up, which only complicates the
situation further. We and other companies in our
industry are no exception.
This does not mean, of course, that modelers
now buy nothing. They still buy, but they spend
less, the market has shrunk and model companies
have to try to win over their customers with
interesting new releases. It‘s the same in other
fields, we have nothing to complain about. So
we try to entice you, developing interesting and
tempting releases to do it with. And to do that,
we need to innovate. Those who do not innovate
will not survive. So now, in the following lines,
in which I will briefly introduce you to our new
releases for October, I‘ll subtly sneak in a few
mentions of those innovations.
Kit Releases
The cream of October‘s new releases, the 1:32
scale Hybrid P-51B Birdcage Mustang kit, is still
a major innovation in its own right, even though
the Hybrid kit concept was first introduced
a year ago. However, compared to the previous
kit of this series, the October release brings
one partial innovation, which is a new style
of instructions using computer renderings.
I believe you will appreciate this new instruction
format. Still in development, the new P-51B
Mustang with the Malcolm Hood kit, slated for
November release, has some other minor tweaks,
but overall, this new instruction format can be
taken as a glimpse into the future of our kits.
In addition to the manual, we have also modified
the printing technology of some problematic
printed parts and improved the packaging of all
printed components, which should also lead to
greater customer satisfaction. I would also like
to add that the October P-51B Birdcage Mustang
and the November P-51B Malcolm Hood Mustang
replace the 932011 P-51B Mustang Royal Class kit
in our catalog, which is already sold out.
Unlike kit 932011, these two new items will
not include a pilot figure, Omask wheel well
plugs, or an expanded publication. They will
also feature fewer marking options, five in
total, and the 3D-printed parts will be slightly
modified to be version-specific. Item 932012 will
contain only the parts needed for aircraft with
the Birdcage canopy, while item 932013 will
contain only the parts required for aircraft with
the Malcolm Hood. These two items represent
the standard configuration of the Hybrid series
kits, comprising plastic parts, 3D-printed parts,
a canopy mask, a small photo-etched fret, and
a decal sheet covering five marking options.
In addition to kit 932012, we will be releasing
three other kits as part of our October release
schedule. The most significant of these is the
1:72 scale Spitfire Mk.Ia ProfiPack kit, the first
in a series dedicated to this important aircraft
type. We will continue the Spitfire Mk.I series in
December with ‘Spitfire Story: The Few’, a 1:72
scale Limited Edition kit. This will include two
sets of plastic parts, one for an early Spitfire
Mk.I featuring the flat canopy, and another for
the later Spitfire Mk.Ia version. Compared to
our Spitfire Mk.V kits, we have redesigned the
fuselages for the Spitfire Mk.I, featuring more
pronounced and, above all, more uniform riveting.
In the 1:48 Weekend line, we are releasing
a kit of the German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-5
high-altitude fighter. In our catalogue, this
replaces the Bf 109G-5 Profipack version, which
has been sold out for a long time. These three new
items are then complemented by a kit carrying
the catalog number 11193 ‘15,000th’ reissue
kit, dedicated to the anniversary of the P-40N
Warhawk. This kit will feature a revised decal
sheet from last year‘s release when we needed
to address a few bugs and will be released in
a very limited run of just 1000 units. I imagine
many owners of the first edition will want to get
the new decals. We will make that possible but
will need a bit of patience from those that will
want them, as it will take a little time to put that
together. We will let those interested know of
how to acquire them with a slight delay.
Accessory Items
In the accessories range, we have several sets
designed for the new 1:48th scale Bf 109 G-6 Late
kit from Tamiya and for the Ju 52 in 1:72 from
Airfix. We also have two new sets of 1:35th scale
printed tank tracks, for the Tiger I and T-34 for
kits from Tamiya, and several new sets for 1:48
scale combat vehicle models. The sets for the
He 111 1:32 (Airfix) and Sea Fury in the same
scale from DMBK are also interesting. However,
probably the most interesting will prove to be
the 1:32 scale F-35A gun bay and wheel well sets
(Tamiya). They are very complex, sophisticated
and at the same time the largest 3D printed
sets that we have produced at Eduard. The size
and complexity of the design have an inevitable
influence on the price, which is undeniably high,
and I understand everyone who has indicated
that they won‘t buy these sets for that reason.
On the other hand, we can‘t make them cheaper,
so if we want to release something like this, we
have no choice but to sell them at this price and
hope that, despite the cost, we will sell enough
make their development and production viable.
We‘ve also changed the way these sets are
packaged, which should better protect the sets
from damage during shipping.
Shows
We will be very active at model shows
throughout October and later in November as
well. Last weekend, we were in Pilsen, and this
coming weekend we will be at the Czech National
Championship in Vyškov. On October 17th and
18th, you will find us in Eindhoven, and a week
later, on October 24th, we will be in Nitra. At most
of these shows, except for the Czech National
Championship in Vyškov, we will have a stand
with our full range of October new releases.
There will also be an online Afterparty for the
Eindhoven show.
Happy Modelling!!
Vladimir Sulc
EDITORIAL
INFO Eduard
5
October 2026