EDITORIAL

Dear Friends and modellers,

I am writing today’s newsletter on

the train from Florence to Siena, and

a short time ago, I was sound asleep.

I was awakened by the conductor who

promptly fined us each 5 Euros because

we had neglected to stamp our tickets

in Florence. We protested and he was

rather determined and told us that the

usual fine would really be more like 60

Euros. After he left us, an announcer

came on the intercom warning that

anyone without a valid ticket would be

fined upwards of 200 Euros. Then he

thanked everyone for their co-operation. Originally, I wanted to go to Siena

yesterday, but there was a strike. The

station didn’t really look like it was in the

midst of a strike, the trains were running

normally, but to make sure I went over

to the information desk, and they confirmed that indeed, there was a strike.

So we hung out for a while, sang some

Italian songs I learned in Grade 8, had

a meal which was awesome at a roadside

stall, and we headed off for Siena today.

When we went through the turnstile,

there were a couple of inspectors there

who looked at our tickets and didn’t say

anything. Maybe this was their expression of the strike. People can strike in

different ways, I suppose. It occurred to

me that we could validate the absence

of the stickers for our sticker game. We

haven’t had stickers now for a long time

because they are somewhat time consuming to produce and we also didn’t

help matters by ordering them late. So,

that’s why you don’t have them, and if

we fined you, we could make a better

profit than the train station here! This

brings us to the main point here, and

that is that the stickers are again being

sent, but they won’t be around for long

because the print shop raised their prices. The reason, as mentioned, is that

they are labour intensive to produce.

Our economics department has put

a stop to further orders for them.

So there’s my rant and we can get on

to the new items. As has become customary month after month, we have

four new kits ready for release. Three

are new and one is a rebox. In the ProfiPACK line in 1/48th, we have the Fw

190A-2, which is a version that we originally did not want to even produce. We

considered it somewhat uninteresting.

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eduard

Modellers had other opinions on the

matter, so we decided to change ours.

The interesting thing in this kit are the

two separate wings, with two or four

cannon. We included both because we

still think that this version is not interesting enough to dedicate two kits to,

and I personally think that the markings

possibilities for this day fighter are all

the same, pretty much. In the box, you’ll also find a small bag with resin bits

inside for the inner gear doors. This is

a result of our lack of desire on this one

and our ability to improvise. There are

the usual five marking options and the

decals are printed by us. The masks are

standard and the instrument panel has

lenses applied over the dials. With the

masks, we will be phasing out our old

plotter with the traditional knife blade

and replacing it with a modern laser

cutting tool. There will be no comparison in terms of quality of the cuts. The

differences will be very clear.

In the Limited Edition line, we are releasing our anticipated ‚Riders In The

Sky 1945‘. It is in 1/72nd scale and contains the Liberator GR.Mk.VI and GR.Mk.

VIII. Most of the schemes offered for this

kit, as well as the included publication,

focus on No.311 Czechoslovak Squadron. Some of these include aircraft that

were ferried to Czechoslovakia in Czechoslovak markings in the summer of

1945. These No.311 Squadron aircraft

ensured a functioning bridge between

Great Britain and Czechoslovakia and

ferried both supplies and personnel.

But so as to avoid a certain degree of

monotony, we have included two Dutch

and one Canadian aircraft as well. There are a little more imaginative in their

appearance. It’s too bad that among

the Czechoslovak units, a similar mania

towards individualism didn’t flourish of

the type that have been documented

on different MiGs through the nineties.

Incidentally, the MiG-23 Limited Edition

kit BEDNA is sold out. I admit, I didn’t

see it happening so fast. While on the

topic of Limited Edition kits, we will be

re-releasing the Pe-2 Limited Edition kit

in 1/48th. This one doesn’t change from

the first time we released this kit. The

plastic is again from Zvezda, the decals

from Cartograf, and the rest id ours. This

one will be available only to the tune of

a thousand kits and most of those have

been ordered by retailers. The Weekend Line will expand in November by

the Avia B.534 II Series in 1/72nd scale,

and this is such a striking kit that I don’t

even know quite what to say about it.

Turning our attention to accessory

items, There are three new LööK items

in the Brassin line in 1/32nd scale designed for the Bf 109G-6 from Hasegawa. A closer look is deserved by the

MiG-23MF and ML sets we have out,

including the intake corrections. For

a moment, I will move to the opposite

end of the MiG-23. A while back, there was a modelling forum where the

discussion came up surrounding the

asymmetrical, drooped exhaust of the

MiG-23. Careful study shows that we

incorporated this feature into our exhaust, but no one evidently noticed.

Actually, neither did we. But now you

know, and you can be that much more

satisfied with your exhaust on this plane. And those that held the asymmetry

as a fault, and for that reason did not

buy the set, can rest assured that it really is accurate. Also interesting will be

the two new bronze landing gear sets

for the Fw 190A-5 and Fw 190A-8/R2 in

1/48th, same as the set of German Type

98 weapons in 1/35. The collection is

rounded by several weapons sets and

a set of wheels for the B-25 in 1/72. In

terms of masks and photoetched, don’t

overlook the items designed for the F-14D in 1/48 from Tamiya. Also interesINFO Eduard - November 2018