EDITORIAL

Dear Friends and Modellers,

we are living in more interesting times than we could’ve envisioned even

a month ago. The pandemic has come

back with a greater vengeance than with

which it started back in the spring. This,

on a local level, can be attributed to, at

least in part, to the indecisions of the

Czech government, and of the public

reaction at large to the situation. With

hindsight being what it is, I can now say

that even our replacement events that

were designed to compensate the loss of

this year’s E-day, were a risky affair, and

I am truly thankful now that no participants or organizers were infected with

the virus. We don’t need to delve into

whether or not this was due to our cautious approach or if we were just plain

lucky. It is said that you make your own

luck. Naturally, we have implemented

anti-virus precautions at our facility as

well. It wasn’t a completely smooth thing

to implement, owing to a general lack of

trust and confidence in their effectiveness, but it would appear that they were

implemented effectively and on time. We

are also modifying the measures implemented as the situation develops and requires. The end result is that we are manufacturing, packing and selling products

and preparing new ones for next month.

That last bit is being accomplished to

a large degree with the use of home office. The postal system is working pretty

much normally, and the only thing being

restricted at the moment are personal

pickups, which are not possible until further notice. As of last week, the mailing

out of replacements has been halted as

well. Because these are all handled right

now, due to the quarantine measures,

by one person, it is not possible to deal

with these in a timely manner. Any and

all complaints are being registered, and

they will be dealt with no sooner than

mid November. We apologize for any

inconvenience that this may cause and

ask for your patience. Should any of the

conditions that bring on these measures

change, we will immediately post them

on our Facebook page. Right now, things

are as I have described them. Bottom line

is that we are doing, and will continue to

do, everything to maintain a smooth flow

of product leaving our facility. We have

a backup team ready to kick in, a team

that is currently working from home, and

are ready to come in should it be required if the current department is hit with

quarantines. As an aside, the situation

in the Czech Republic is really bad and

changes almost daily, so the chances of

4

eduard

something else coming

into play are pretty good.

Again, watch our Facebook page for up-to-date

information.

Let’s get to November’s

new releases. We have

another Mustang in the

ProfiPACK line. This time,

it’s the photo reconnaissance F-6D version. This

is our second attempt to

grab your, the modellers

at large, attention with

a reconnaissance fighter.

The only other reconnaissance type in our catalog was the rather overlooked MiG-21R. We’ll

see how the Mustang

does. On first and second,

closer, looks, it’s pretty

damn nice. In comparison to the standard Mustang, you’ll find a new fuselage,

or, more accurately, the left side of same,

containing the camera windows and the

corresponding clear parts. There are six

marking options, two of which were aircraft stationed in Europe and four from

the Far East battle fronts. At the same

time, we are releasing the BFC item under

the name ‘F-6D & RF-51’ in 1:48th scale.

This carries the catalog number BFC103.

These have another two marking options

attached. The F-6D option is for the plane flown by Major Shomo, 82nd TRS CO,

in the Philippines. Our assumption was

that the inclusion of this aircraft would

be considered absolutely necessary, although we are not completely convinced.

So, we are including it in the BFC item.

The other additional option is an RF-51D

from the 45th TRS from Kimpo in Korea,

dated 1952. It’s our first Mustang from

the Korean War period, and I am hoping

it garners a good amount of attention.

I expect questions to come my way, enquiring about the existence of any plans to

make Brassin cameras. The answer is yes,

but we need to dig up some documentation regarding their installation in the P-51.

The cameras themselves are documented

well, and we are interested in references

showing their installation inside the fuselage. If any of you should have such references at your disposal, your help would

be greatly appreciated.

We have another two items that are

identical to one another, save for their

scale. They share identical names and

marking options. These are the Adlertag

kits of the Bf 110C and D from the battle

of Britain. The massive decal sheet offers

options covering twelve aircraft, including the C-6 version, armed with 30mm

MG 101 cannon under the fuselage (also

known by the later designation MK 101),

and one ‘D’ version covering an aircraft

using the large, underfuselage auxiliary

fuel tank, designated as the Dackelbauch.

These kits are another in our list of 80th

anniversary of the Battle of Britain items,

for which December will see the release of

Spitfire Story: Tally Ho!, aimed at Spitfires

Mk.IIa and Mk.IIb. There are two historical

articles in today’s newsletter dedicated to

the Bf 110 and its use in that battle. The

first, titled Adlertag, was penned by Honza

Bobek and is a bit of a rehabilitation of the

one-ten that has generally been described

as an unsuccessful type, a sort of cannon

fodder for British fighters. However, actual facts depict quite a different viewpoint from the one largely accepted. After

reading the article, you will see that the

Bf 110C and D were full fledged fighters in

their own right; not with the same turning

radius, of course, as the single engine fighters, but, nevertheless, fast, high-performing, and packing a helluva punch. And to

top it off, they could fire to the rear, meaning that radio operators/rear gunners

in the Battle of Britain cannot be so easily

brushed off. The other article this month

is by Melvin Brownless and focuses more

on the personal stories depicting the cruel

reality of war. It is a description of a pilot

of a shot down Bf 110, and the struggle to

survive for both him and his rear gunner.

It’s a riveting account, and is worthy of

your attention. The Aldertag kit in 1:72nd

has the second BFC item dedicated to it,

INFO Eduard - November 2020