Newsletter - March 2008
NEWS IN MARCH 2008
Norimberg is one of, if not the, most significant modeling events there is. At least that holds true for us. There are companies that insist on ignoring this event. We religiously attend, display our goods as if our lives depended on it, we talk and discuss with our visitors as well as with industry journalists, and at night we take advantage of what the various social events have to offer. This years edition was all in all, a pleasant experience for us…. our partners in crime all had looks of satisfaction when all was said and done. There was no griping, and we were even awarded some awards for our products. This year, there was a total of three awards, two by Modell Fan (for the 1:48 Bf 110 and for the Wellington photoetched sets) and one from Kit Journal (also for the Bf 110 kit). So we had a good time. There was a lot of photo taking, shaking of hands and a lot of positive feedback. No comparison to the ‘good ol’ days’. Our first award was in 1994, and it was a bit of a bomb. We were the first eastern Europeans to receive such recognition, and it was to come with a substantial amount of fanfare. We were supposed to be the rising star from the ‘wild east’ a small company making enough waves to be recognized by the west. You know what I mean…..but we screwed up royally. We had one of our unexpected and often unwanted ‘innovations’. Unwanted ‘innovations’ have become an almost specialty component of our operations. So, we innovated. We didn’t show up. Somehow or other, we didn’t realize what exactly it was that Modell Fan was trying to convey to us, and we inadvertently ignored them. That’s one of our favorite disciplines, one we seem to have evolved to new heights (an unwanted innovation). So the fanfare never materialized, and we picked up our award the next day at Modell Fan’s booth. There was photography, shaking of hands, discussion, and for several years afterwards, we received no further awards from them. You pay for everything. Then, we started to get the recognition again, and I guess we showed enough progress and evolution to convince people that we are not here for a short time. We managed to make the awards ceremony when it was held in a specialized location. A year later, Modell Fan abandoned the ceremony, and began to award the medals at the booths of the winning manufacturers. Those who are boothless, pick up their awards at Modell Fan’s booth. I suppose we could claim, that back in 1994, we were ahead of our time. At that time, we had no clue, but it would appear that a good idea tends to make its way to fruition!
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That first medal brought us many adventures. Almost immediately, we lost it. Twice. That same night, at a social get together, I managed to drop it on the floor. At the moment of impact, the pouch containing the medal opened, and out came the award, and merrily proceeded to bounce like a frog between stalls. That’s right, stalls. With all the dignity I could muster, I followed the medal in search mode, but found neither a hide nor a hair. I dropped on all fours and went on a recon mission. I finally located my prize in one of the stalls. To make matters worse, the medal wasn’t alone in the stall….. Now what do I do? A brainstorm to grab the medal and run was quickly abandoned, as I didn’t really want my hand trampled. So I decided on the ever reliable Robin Hood approach, and spent what seemed like a half hour watching from around the corner. Finally, the occupant of the stall emerged, lovingly grasping my hard earned medal with both hands, staring at it disbelievingly. I leaped from my hiding spot, asking him “is that yours”, and not meeting with the answer I knew I should’ve gotten, wrestled the medal from his hand, exclaimed that it was then mine, and I was gone! So, that was the first happy ending. My colleague Karel Padar wasn’t even wondering where I was so long, and had no idea what was still waiting for him. On the way home some four hours later, in the vicinity of Ostrov nad Ohri and during a serious conversation, we hit a patch of black ice, went over a barrier, and ended up among some surprised, if unimpressed, cows. Admittedly, I was behind the wheel, but I would not like to take the blame for our predicament. The car looked to be in pretty good shape, aside from its location. Cellphoneless, we set off to find some help. Fortunately, Karel took the medal with him. On our return, the car was vandalized, cleaned out of anything not nailed down, and even the wheels had been taken off, though the thieves had no time to carry them off prior to our return. We were back in the Wild, Wild East. We put back together what we could, took apart the barrier, and pulled the car out. But, for our medal, it was happy ending number two.
So, you see, sometimes you have to fight hard for what you want. You can argue all you want against ‘unwanted innovations’, but ultimately, we do as we see fit, with the intent of providing pleasure, and a general advancement of the hobby. Even our pre-painted photoetching is better than it was initially, and the perseverance has paid off. I spent a half day last week comparing initial releases with recent ones, and of this I am certain. This leads to a commentary on the new color etches, and the evolution of the line. It’s a pattern that shows itself over a certain percentage of products. In this case, the issue was predominantly over larger areas of lighter colors. It was an unexpected problem, and it centered only around some colors, and it was a while before we figured out how to tackle this. This happens every now and again, that something new doesn’t behave as it should. The inevitable question becomes persevere and overcome, or abandon the idea altogether. I don’t have to tell you, that I prefer the former. Successfully rising to a challenge is, for me, preferable to giving up too easily.
New technology brings precarious moments, for sure, mainly in the initial phases of development of a given process. But the new state of such a process can be exponentially different, and can even present further options that were not initially possible or even evident. For example, we are able to get color into the relief details of etched brass. This was not at first possible, and printing of the color was only done on flat surfaces where there was no relief detail. The instrument bezels were only printed on at first, and were not a raised detail. Today, this situation is different, and said bezels are not only relief detail, but pre-painted as well. Even the color coverage is better and more consistent, at a level not possible before. And it goes on and on. Technology brings progress on all fronts, save one. We don’t apply tertiary colors, but rather, except for black and white, the colors are the required blend of primary colors. That’s why, if you look close enough, you’ll find a raster on the part surface. Its gotten to the point where its virtually invisible, especially to the naked eye, but it still might reside in the back of some modelers’ heads, but there’s not much more we can do there. At this point, its pretty moot, and the end result is deemed satisfactory and then some.
KITS FOR MARCH
The only kit release for this month is the Fw190A-5 in the Weekend Edition. What held true for the same release of the Fw190A-8, holds here as well. Consistent with the other Weekend Edition releases, there are no masks, photoetching or any other additions to this kit. What is a bit different with this one, though, is a more carefully executed instruction booklet and camouflage scheme in color. The color option covers one aircraft, but it is not duplicated from the previous boxings of this kit. We also chose a bird with full wing armament to avoid in-depth discussions over the wing fairings.
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Fw 190A-5 Weekend 1/48 |
OTHER KITS
April will see more new items. This will include the re-release of the Spitfire Mk.22/24 Limited Edition, and the Weekend Edition of the I-16 Type 10.Airfix have informed us that the Spit will be at our disposal by next Friday, and the I-16s are now being molded here. Both of these are in 1:48th scale, and 1:72nd scale will see the release of a figure set covering RFC personnel from the First World War.
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Spitfire Mk.22/24 1/48 |
MARCH PHOTOETCHING
Here, you’ll find a collection of photoetching for 1:72nd scale armor. It was impossible for us to resist the Dragon Wagon, and those of you who will opt for this item, you are in for a treat! Not to scare you, but virtually the entire cabin is replaced with etched brass. In 1:35th, we have three sets for the Dragon Pz.38(t) Ausf.G, and even here there is a lot of substitution of plastic with brass. The fourth set in this scale is for the LAV-R from Trumpeter.
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22130 M-26 Dragon Wagon 1/72 |
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22131 M-26 Dragon Wagon trailler 1/72 |
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36008 LAV-R 1/35 |
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36020+36021+36022 Pz.38(t) Ausf. G 1/35 |
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Turning to aircraft, 1:32nd scale was bolstered by the addition of another Dauntless set, the SBD-5, and 1:48th by three sets for Tamiya’s Fi156C Storch. This is a competent model, to put it mildly, and the addition of these sets can finish it off quite nicely. 1:48th also sees the addition of another set for the Hobby Boss A-10, and with that, the collection of brass and masks is complete for this item, and the only thing left to do here is to assemble the Big Ed release. In 1:72nd scale, we have a color set for Academy’s Me262A.
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32192+32199+32614+32615 SBD-5 Dauntless 1/32 |
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48573 A-10 Thunderbolt II exterior 1/48 |
49408+48582 Fi 156C-5 Storch 1/48 |
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That’s it for today. Initially, this INFO was short, even a bit dry, and being disappointed, I rewrote it. I hope the excursion into the past of our company didn’t throw you. Our past is really quite colorful, and a collection of some of the happenings would make for some interesting reality TV! In Norimberg, we discovered, among other things, that people have no idea how the name Eduard came about. That may be something for another time. Until April!
Vladimir Sulc
AVAILABLE FROM 3rd MARCH
| Plastic Kit - EDUARD - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| 8430 | Fw 190A-5 | 1/48 | $22.95 | >> Buy now! << | ||||
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| Big Ed - Aircraft - 1/32 | ||||||||
| BIG3262 | P-39D AIRACOBRA | 1/32 | SPE | $64.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| BIG3261 | SPITFIRE Mk.Vb | 1/32 | HAS | $54.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Big Ed - Armoured Fighting Vehicles - 1/35 | ||||||||
| BIG3550 | LVT-2 AMTRACK | 1/35 | ITA | $34.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| BIG3549 | M-1126 STRYKER ICV | 1/35 | TRU | $110.00 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Color photo etched set - Aircraft - 1/72 | ||||||||
| 73302 | Me 262A Schwalbe | 1/72 | ACA | $19.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Color photo etched set self-adhesive - Aircraft - 1/32 | ||||||||
| 32615 | SBD-5 Dauntless front interior self adh. | 1/32 | TRU | $24.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 32614 | SBD-5 Dauntless rear interior self adh. | 1/32 | TRU | $29.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Color photo etched set self-adhesive - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| 49408 | Fi 156C-5 Storch interior self adh. | 1/48 | TAM | $22.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Photo etched set - Aircraft - 1/32 | ||||||||
| 32192 | SBD-5 Dauntless engine | 1/32 | TRU | $19.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 32199 | SBD-5 Dauntless exterior | 1/32 | TRU | $19.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Photo etched set - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| 48573 | A-10 Thunderbolt II exterior | 1/48 | HBS | $24.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 48582 | Fi 156C Storch ski | 1/48 | TAM | $12.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 48581 | Fi 156C-3/C-5 Storch exterior | 1/48 | TAM | $19.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Photo etched set - Armoured Fighting Vehicles - 1/35 | ||||||||
| 36008 | LAV-R | 1/35 | TRU | $22.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 36022 | Pz.38(t) Ausf.G Ammo. Boxes | 1/35 | DRA | $22.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 36021 | Pz.38(t) Ausf.G exterior | 1/35 | DRA | $19.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 36020 | Pz.38(t) Ausf.G interior | 1/35 | DRA | $22.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Photo etched set - Armoured Fighting Vehicles - 1/72 | ||||||||
| 22130 | M-26 Dragon Wagon | 1/72 | ACA | $24.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 22131 | M-26 Dragon Wagon trailler | 1/72 | ACA | $19.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Color photo etched set - ZOOM - Aircraft - 1/72 | ||||||||
| SS302 | Me 262A Schwalbe | 1/72 | ACA | $6.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Photo etched set - ZOOM - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| FE401 | Albatros D.V Weekend | 1/48 | EDU | $7.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| FE398 | Fw 190A-5 Weekend | 1/48 | EDU | $7.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| FE396 | Mirage IIIC Weekend | 1/48 | EDU | $7.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Photo etched set - ZOOM - Armoured Fighting Vehicles - 1/35 | ||||||||
| TP097 | RHINO Anti IED device | 1/35 | $7.95 | >> Buy now! << | ||||
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| Photo etched set - ZOOM self-adhesive - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| FE408 | Fi 156C-5 Storch interior self adh. | 1/48 | TAM | $7.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Eduard mask - Aircraft - 1/32 | ||||||||
| JX076 | Me 262B Schwalbe 1/32 | 1/32 | TRU | $9.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Eduard mask - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| EX245 | A6M5c Zero 1/48 | 1/48 | HAS | $5.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| EX246 | F4F-3/4 Wildcat 1/48 | 1/48 | HBS | $9.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| EX244 | H-21 Flying Banana 1/48 | 1/48 | SPE | $9.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Eduard mask - Aircraft - 1/72 | ||||||||
| CX207 | A-7 Corsair II 1/72 | 1/72 | HBS | $5.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| CX204 | SM 82 Marsupiale 1/72 | 1/72 | ITA | $6.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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