EDITORIAL

Good day, ladies and Gentlemen

Welcome to the final newsletter of this year. As

matter of course, this will apparently also be

the next to last newsletter released under our

current publishing system. As you know from

before, we are about to embark on a change

to the Triobo digital publishing platform. This

should happen in January, when we will publish the newsletter in its classic form, but we

will simultaneously put one up on a trial basis

using Triobo. Then, both yourselves and us will

be able to test out the new system’s functionality, and if it works well, February’s newsletter

will come out only through Triobo. I can deflect

any skepticism regarding the release of new

items by assuring one and all that Triobo will

not be generating any reader discomfort. On

the contrary, it’s a logical step consistent with

our progress as a whole over the last several years. From our initially humble marketing

capabilities, we have turned what is basically

a flyer into a company e-magazine that assures something for pretty much everyone in

a good read before bedtime or at the breakfast

table. Given the current range of our published

newsletter, which includes at least three detailed historical and technical articles and four

boxart story editions added this year to each

issue, we are at the point where an innovation

raising reader comfort is at hand. Our evolution will not end with the implementation of this

new system, either. The near future will also

see further changes that will improve graphics. It’s also no secret that we are kicking in

some changes to distribution, a part of which

will affect our long awaited printed version.

That idea still presents itself as a little beyond

our capabilities, but we believe that through

the course of the year coming, we’ll get there. It will likely take the form of a quarterly

collection of historical articles. And if you’re

worried about the printing option of our monthly newsletter, don’t be…

Brassins and 3D Production Prints

We are at the end of the year, and as you can

see, right from the get go I’m diving headlong

into the favorite part of this time of year, an

assessment of our successes achieved and

a look at future plans. Its ‘favorite’ status also

makes it a bit of a dangerous endeavor, because the interpretation of the successes is

often off by those who make them, and virtually everyone misses future plans to at least

some degree. I am no exception, and as an

example, I can cite the fact that my plans for

the release schedule of kits typically come out

at around fifty-fifty, despite them coming out of

detailed planning involving my colleagues six

months prior to the end of the year. But then

it just pleases me that much more that the

planning for the evolution of the Brassin line

came out pretty much spot on. This concerns

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INFO Eduard

the switch over to 3D printing where previously, everything was cast. This is a good example of a switch whose dynamic can be almost

hellish. From last fall, when we integrated 3D

printers into our production system, to the midpoint of this one, we switched the majority of

our production to straight 3D prints. The remainders of the products that are still cast resin

are wheels and the landing gears that are in

bronze. This month, another two 3D printers

should arrive, giving us a total of six and I expect our printing capacity to rise through the

year. The reason why we are investing and focusing so much on these innovations is simple.

3D printing offers a completely different level

of quality. It represents the biggest breakthrough in the industry since the introduction

of cast resin sets by Francois Verlinden some

thirty-five years ago. Compared to casts, 3D

prints are more precise, geometrically stable

with time, don’t require removal from casting

blocks that sometimes can affect fit and can

be quite labor intensive, and they don’t require

the same level of cleanup and don’t present the

same fit issues. 3D prints are used in much

the same way that the plastic parts of a kit are

used, and the only real complication that remains is the need to use CA glue for installation. And that’s not typically a big issue and is

something most modellers have mastered.

A significant issue that is resolved by the use

of 3D printing concerns health. A segment of

the population is allergic to cast resin materials, but no such problem is known with 3D

prints, at least with the use of our 3D printing

materials, which were developed to be bio

compatible. Another advantage of 3D prints is

that they are simpler because the number of

small parts in a given assembly can be printed together as one, where the same assembly

could not be cast, to say nothing of injection

molding. A good example are the pushrods on

a radial engine, various cabling offset a distance from the main block of a given item, and various structural elements of aircraft, such as

landing flaps. The height of this idea is represented specifically by the speedbrakes on the

F-16 in 1:48th. These will be released in February, and when you see them, take a good, close

look at them. It’s worth it. Landing flaps are an

example of this type of product that is gaining

in popularity very quickly. But in order to not

get too long winded on the subject, and to keep

from repeating things that have already been

discussed at great lengths, I will just mention that this is a great example of a successful

innovation and something which we will intensively continue to develop. It is interesting to

note that the Brassin department was formed

twelve years ago as a result of some of our

people being displaced by another innovation,

our switch from electroplated molds to direct

CNC milling of Certal plates. We didn’t want

to just let these people go, and the fact that

they had experience with making molds and

casting polyurethanes, epoxies and synthetic

rubbers played only a small role in that. Back

then, we recognized that we were undertaking

a large innovative step and it required from

us a lot of work before it would bear any fruit. But exactly what that fruit would look like,

and what kinds of doors it would open up with

kit production for us was vague. Although 3D

printing was already around at the birth of the

Brassin department, used for the manufacture

of masters, no one could have anticipated the

level of modernization it was to bring in terms

of manufacturing accessory sets!

The New Warehouse

and Associated Move

With the coming of new 3D printers would

come the potential of a major lack of space.

This was coming either way, and our main facility in Obrnice has no more room to expand

into. We have been looking for a solution to

the problem ever since we had that blaze two

years ago. Immediately after the fire, we began

preparing for the construction of a new warehouse, into which we would have moved our

December 2022