retail department, packaging of kits and machining and molding, which would entail complete kit manufacture. Unfortunately, we encountered escalating problems with the build
proper, leading to the cessation of the project.
A new solution was found last year in the fall,
when we found a facility of suitable size for
our needs. Its purchase was delayed by typical
Czech bureaucracy, but the deal was finalized
in September. We expect the first renovation
to be completed at the end of January, and we
will move the retail and packing sections into
it at the beginning of February. This on its own
will bring a shortfall in the expediting of mail,
and it will likely last through a good chunk of
the first half of the month. The exact timeline
will be outlined in the January newsletter.
The second phase of the reconstruction will
be more complicated, because it will involve
the setting up of space for the installation of
the presses and tooling shop. This is technically more complicated and the project is in
preparation, and the optimist in me is hoping
for completion by the end of next year. After
this is completed and kit manufacturing is moved, its current space will free up and at the
very least, a good chunk of this space will be
occupied by the Brassin department. And then
there will be nothing stopping it from evolving
further.
New Prices
As long as we’re on the subject of changes,
we are entering the new year with a new price structure. This is a significant change and
a sensitive topic which we have been putting
off to the end of the year. Prices will increase
in intervals of 11 to 15% depending on the price
group. Price increases will impact retail and
wholesale costs in Czech Crowns and Euros,
but won’t affect US retail prices. They will take
effect during the shutdown of the retail department before Christmas, which this year
will be December 19th when we will be accepting the last of our orders which will have
dispatched guaranties by before the holidays.
As with every year, this will be followed by our
taking inventory, and this is when the new pricing will be implemented. So, your last chance
to buy at current prices will be December 19th.
Retail will reopen, with the new prices, probably the first week of January, 2023, and in all
likelihood, this will be on the 3rd or 4th of the
month.
Nuremberg, 2023
It is necessary to now say something about
our participation at the Nuremberg Toy Fair
for 2023. As you all know, I have always maintained the importance of our participation with
this event. Our regular attendance has been
consistent with this notion. Unfortunately, the
need to cancel the last two years due to covid
restrictions was less than pleasant. Participation of firms in the upcoming event will be low,
and what’s worse, many of our retail partners
and journalists won’t be there, either. For this
reason, we decided to tone down our own participation at the event. We are not cancelling
it outright, but we will reduce our floor space
and share it with our colleagues at Special Hobby. We are also cancelling our regular press
December 2022
conference. I am hopeful that this is all just
temporary and the fair will return to its past
glory and significance in our industry in the
years to come. But it may not happen that way,
in which case this may be our last participation
at this event.
And that ends our look at the upcoming year.
In our next installment, we’ll have a look at the
future production side of things, dedicated first
and foremost on new kits for 2023. Now, we
will have a look at new releases for December.
Because these have been available since the
last week of November, I won’t outline all of
them; just the more significant items.
Kits
December finds us continuing on with our Zero
project, originally known as Project Voldemort,
with a Limited Edition kit dubbed ‘Samurai’. As
with most kits currently coming out of this line,
‘Samurai’ is a Dual Combo boxing with two
complete sets of plastic in the package. The kit
allows for the building of two versions of the
A6M3 Zero, the Model 32 and the Model 22. The
marking options contain twelve aircraft, six of
each flavor. When I was a more active modeller
in my youth, the A6M3 Zero Model 32 with its
relatively attractive camouflage schemes was
considered the most striking of all versions.
I hope that you will see it the same way, at least
up to the point when we come out with other
variants that promise to be no less attractive!
In the ProfiPACK line, we have a 1:72nd scale
Bf 109E-3, a kit developed in association with
Special Hobby. SH have released this kit in
several boxings themselves, but I believe that
our version of the kit will capture your attention and interest. Of the most important aspect
of the kit, its marking options, I can say that we
gave it our usual high level of care and there
are six attractive schemes to choose from.
In the 1:48th scale ProfiPACK line, we are returning the Fw 190D-9 to our range. This was
originally planned as a re-edition of the original kit, but because we added an aircraft flown
by Waldemar Wubke of JV44, which is also the
subject of the boxart, we have given this kit
a new catalog number. In the same line,
you’ll also find another straight reissue, the
Bf 109G-10 Mtt. Regensburg, also in 1:48th. This
is a kit that was quickly sold out and is making
a long awaited comeback.
In the Weekend line, we have the P-51D-10
Mustang and Spitfire Mk.IXc in 1:72nd. Both
feature attractive marking options. For example, in the Mustang kit, there is an option for
Man O’ War flown by Claiborne Kinnard of the
4th Fighter Group, 8thAF. This is a bird firmly
etched in the minds of me and my peers thanks
to an old 48th scale Revell kit, sold in the late
eighties in the Czech Republic. I still have the
kit. For the Spitfire, we have the S/Ldr Karel
Cermak flown aircraft, in which he shot down
an Fw 190A-8 in June, 1944 above Normandy.
Accessories
The thing to note this month in terms of newly
released accessory sets is the 1:48th scale
P-38J Cockpit for the Tamiya kit. It is one of
the nicest sets of this type to be released in
the Brassin line. I think it’s an excellent example of the capabilities of 3D printing that are
presented to the modeller that I wrote about
above. This set is unique not only for its level
of detail, but also for the engineering that went
into it, which significantly eases the integration of the set into the model. The installation is even easer and smoother than the kit
cockpit, which is virtually unheard of in the
world of aftermarket accessory items. This
quality could make accessory items very interesting to more modellers in the future, because modellers who in the past avoided using
resin sets due to their labor intensity will now
find them attractive.
Another interesting and welcome item is the
wheel well set for our F6F Hellcat, a kit also
making its way back into our range. The popularity of this set is leading us to thoughts
of developing further sets, such as a cockpit
set and perhaps a wingfold set. It won’t be
easy, though, because when it comes to the
Brassin line, we have a lot of conceptually and
from a production standpoint, intense projects planned for newly released kits such as
Tamiya’s F-35.
One more thing I would like to point out that
is related to the Brassin line. These are nice,
subtle little items for German AFVs in 1:35th
and two sets of American Carly life rafts for
forty people in 1:350th.
In the Space line, we have six new sets for the
month, among which are two 1:72nd scale sets
for the Arma Hobby Ki-84 and P-51B. in the
photoetched department, we have a P-39 set
for the kit from the same manufacturer, and
a new set for the new Mi-4 in 1:48th from
Trumpeter. This is a kit that I am personally
looking forward to. Besides the aircraft sets,
we are also covering ships and AFVs, and we
have the regular lineup of new BiG Eds, with
their Brassin equipped BiG Sin counterparts.
Literature
In the popular article department, we’ve got
the second part about the Lexington from Mira
Baric, and the already ninth volume covering
the air war over Ukraine. This time, we also
have a technical article dedicated to modelling adhesives and their optimal usage by Joe
Blazek. Add to that our still new boxart stories
, dedicated to the description and explanation
of the events depicted on our box covers for
the month.
And that’s just about it for this year. In closing,
I will just reiterate that we are accepting orders until December 19th, after which it will
not be possible to guarantee delivery of goods
from our e-shop at the current prices. The reason for this is the aforementioned re-pricing
of our goods, which will take place during the
holiday shut down of the retail department. The
e-shop will come back to life after we conclude our inventory taking and re-pricing, which
will happen after January 1st, 2023.
So, dear friends, thank you all so much for your
support throughout 2022. I wish you all a very
Merry Christmas and all the best into 2023!
Happy Modelling
Vladimir Sulc
INFO Eduard
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