Newsletter - April 2008
NEWS IN APRIL 2008
Why is Eduard named Eduard? Well, it’s me. Those who know me only as Vladimir Sulc (pronounced ‘Schultz’) might be derailed, but my real name has nothing to do with it. Long ago, it was my nickname, and there were those who didn’t even know me by any other name, such as a fellow by the name of Ctirad Kurak, my first collaborator in the photoetching venture, and one of five founding members of the company. We won’t get into specifics of the actual formation of the company, so for now, just remember the main piece of information...there were five of us.
In 1979, I started my professional career at petrochemical plant ChZ CSSP Litvinov. It was later renamed Chemopetrol, and to this day is a large chemical producer. My immediate superior there was a man by the name of Julius Danyi. As a personality, he stood out. He was the shift foreman, and he new his operation down to the last nut and bolt, and always had an answer to any momentary dilemma. When there was a lull in operations, he would think up hair-brained schemes. He was even easily recognizable in the uniform of the socialist working class. On his head, he wore a cap. It was a knitted cap, a sort of handmade first-attempt on the part of his wife. Such creations are seldom ground breakers, and this item was no exception. It was a foliage green creation, not particularly symmetrical, with flaps to cover the ears, and straps for tying along the bottom. Julius was indebted to his wife for this cap at a time when there was a horrible Soviet television series running, ‘How We Tempered Steel’. An incredible piece of work! Soviet heroes keeping the wheels of socialist industry turning with their bare hands. When Danyi showed off his knitted creation, he somehow or other managed to equate it to those of the Red Army, and decided that he looked like Pavka Korchagin in it, and decided that that was the look for him. In order to adhere to the spirit of the cap, he sewed, on the front of it, a large red star, and of course, it wouldn’t be him if it wasn’t lop-sided. He wore it lieu of the mandatory plastic hardhat. Add to this his pencil thin mustache a la Valentino, and you get a pretty accurate picture of my mentor at that time.
He did read a lot. One of his literary adventures turned out to be fateful for myself. At the time, he was reading a book called ‘There Were Five of Us’ by Karel Polacek. This is literature of a significantly higher standard than ‘How We Tempered Steel’, and Dany, as usual, was absorbed by his reading. I’d say he identified with the hero of the book. Once, when we were in the middle of a debate over how best to deal with a problem that had presented itself, my recommendation was met with a universally understood analogy pertaining to the book: ‘Sulc – you’re as stupid as Eduard Kemling’. And that was that. From that point on, I was referred to as Eduard, and never lost the connection.
Several years after that, around 1987, I began to make resin kits with a friend of mine, Zdenek Sekyrka. This was not a real firm, but rather more of a basement operation. At that time, it wasn’t even possible to form a small firm in Czechoslovakia. Even so, I didn’t want to manufacture anonymous models, packaged in clear bags, with no instructions. So, we devised a method of constructing boxes for our kits, which at that time and under those conditions, was not a straightforward affair. Zdenek devised a clever method of deriving boxes that would suit us from cake boxes which were readily available from the local paper supplier. Eventually, we ate up all the area supply of cake boxes to transform them into boxes for resin kits. I expended a significant amount of effort into a name for my venture, but no ingenious ideas were forthcoming. So when the day finally came to apply something to these boxes, I decided on the name Eduard, and this was the first application of this name in the modeling world. In reality, though, this application of the name ‘Eduard’ and its creation of resin kits carries only a passing connection to the firm today. There was, what was to be a more significant development at that time that started innocently enough. With another colleague, Ctirad Kurak, we figured out how to chemically mill brass with what we had. Initially, there was no entrepreneurial element to the endeavor, and in that respect, the resin kits were a more progressive element. Later, when a certain level of success was being attained, we decided to form a company that would produce photoetched components. Citrad liked the name ‘Eduard’, and wanted to use it for this new firm. Zdenek Sekyrka wanted nothing to do with photoetching, and I was unable to do both etching and resin simultaneously. So, Zdenek and I decided to part ways with respect to these entities, and he kept the resin kits and molds, while I kept the name ‘Eduard’. Somewhere around the middle of 1990, that name was finally used for the new venture, whose business interests were aimed at the hairbrained concept of producing little photoetched detail sets for plastic models. But more on that at a later date, we should get to more important things!
MODELS – APRIL RELEASES
As promised, April sees the re-release of the 1:48th scale Spitfire Mk.22/24 in the Limited Edition. The box format has changed a tad, where the description of the Airfix parts makeup seemed to us to be a bit impractical, so we changed to be consistent with our own format, but other than that, this is the same kit as before. If you will recall, this kit was originally released about two years ago, and sold out very quickly.
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Spitfire Mk.22/24 1/48 |
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The second April release is the I-16 Type 10 in the Weekend Edition. The kit offers the markings of one of the planes that flew in the Spanish Civil War. With respect to the type of release, don’t expect any photoetching in this kit, but on the other hand, you can expect a very pleasant price.
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I-16 type 10 1/48 |
Our trio is finished off with a figure set, this time RFC Personnel from the First World War in 1:72nd scale.
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Personnel RFC 1/72 |
OTHER KITS
May should see the arrival of the first Fokker Dr.I. As related previously, this edition of the kit will be somewhat non-traditional. With respect to the triplane, it would be considered, by most, to be a crime not to have a connection to its most famous pilot, if not the most famous pilot, of all time, Manfred von Richthofen. For this reason, we decided to start the run off with a Limited Edition boxing. This kit will contain two models, the Fokker Dr.I, and the Albatros D.V., alternative parts for the Fokker F.I, as well as figures of both Manfred von Richtofen and his brother Lothar. We also added a figure of Manfred’s dog, and, of course, etched brass, masks and decals. The markings sheet offers up eight options for the Fokker Dr.I, Fokker F.I and Albatros D.V. Most of these are geared towards birds flown by Manfred von Richtofen, and one for Lothar’s Dr.I. As a special addition to the kit, you’ll find a small Pour le Merite. This time, its not an actual replica of the award, but a marking some 2cm in size.
APRIL PHOTOETCHING
In 1:35th scale, we have two new items, the Staghound Mk.I from Italeri, and the sFH 18 from Dragon. The majority of new items this month are in 48th scale aircraft. We have three sets for the Monogram F-105G, and two for the Hobby Boss F/A-18A. Another set covers the Tamiya Fi 156C, and you’ll also find a set of landing flaps for Hasegawa’s A6M5c Zero. Finally, we have developed three sets for our own Hellcat, in case you find room for improvement in the level of detail in this kit. One kit is designed to address the wheel wells, which in etched metal are neither too shallow nor over-simplified. A second set deals with the construction of the wing gun compartments, and the third contains details that were not included in the initial kit.
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36024 Staghound Mk.I 1/35 |
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36027 sFH18 1/35 |
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48576+49387+FE387 F-105G Thunderchief 1/48 |
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As usual, there are four Big Ed releases this month. The one to look for, I think, is the set for the 1:350th scale USS Arizona. There still are not all that many Big Eds that have been released for ships.
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48586+49406+FE406 F/A-18A Hornet 1/48 |
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48588+49411 F6F-3 Hellcat 1/48 |
72473+72474 Wellington Mk.I 1/72 |
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That would be about it for now. We’re off mid month to Mosonmagyarovar, Hungary, where we will be selling kits as vendors. We will be displaying the new Dr.I, and revealing a collection of new Weekend Edition projects. Next time, I will show you more on the Dr.I, and there will be new information on the Bf110 Royal Class, and another piece of Eduard history. I will describe our first photoetching endeavor. Happy Modeling!
Vladimir Sulc
AVAILABLE FROM 3rd APRIL
| Plastic Kit - EDUARD - Aircraft - Limited Edition - 1/48 | ||||||||
| 1121 | Spitfire Mk.22/Mk.24 1/48 | 1/48 | $54.95 | >> Buy now! << | ||||
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| Plastic Kit - EDUARD - Aircraft - Weekend Edition - 1/48 | ||||||||
| 8466 | I-16 Type 10 | 1/48 | $19.95 | >> Buy now! << | ||||
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| Plastic Kit - EDUARD - Figures - 1/72 | ||||||||
| 7503 | RFC Crew 1917 | 1/72 | $14.95 | >> Buy now! << | ||||
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| Big Ed - Aircraft - 1/32 | ||||||||
| BIG3263 | F4F-3 WILDCAT | 1/32 | TRU | $89.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Big Ed - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| BIG4891 | MiG-3 | 1/48 | TRU | $34.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Big Ed - Aircraft - 1/72 | ||||||||
| BIG7239 | P-3C ORION | 1/72 | HAS | $37.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Color photo etched set - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| 49407 | F-105G Thunderchief seat | 1/48 | REV/MON | $24.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Color photo etched set self-adhesive - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| 49387 | F-105G Thunderchief interior s.adh. | 1/48 | REV/MON | $29.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 49406 | F/A-18A Hornet s.adh. | 1/48 | HBS | $34.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 49411 | F6F-3 Hellcat s.adh. | 1/48 | EDU | $29.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 49404 | Fi 156C-3 Storch interior s.adh. | 1/48 | TAM | $26.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Photo etched set - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| 48580 | A6M5c Zero landing flaps | 1/48 | HAS | $24.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 48576 | F-105G Thunderchief exterior | 1/48 | REV/MON | $34.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 48586 | F/A-18A Hornet weapon | 1/48 | HBS | $10.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 48588 | F6F Hellcat gun bay | 1/48 | EDU | $29.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 48585 | F6F Hellcat undercarriage | 1/48 | EDU | $24.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Photo etched set - Aircraft - 1/72 | ||||||||
| 72473 | Wellington Mk.I bomb bay | 1/72 | TRU | $34.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 72474 | Wellington Mk.I landing flaps | 1/72 | TRU | $29.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Photo etched set - Armoured Fighting Vehicles - 1/35 | ||||||||
| 36027 | sFH18 | 1/35 | DRA | $24.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| 36024 | Staghound Mk.I | 1/35 | ITA | $29.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Color Photo etched - ZOOM self-adhesive - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| FE387 | F-105G Thunderchief interior self adh. | 1/48 | REV/MON | $10.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| FE406 | F/A-18A Hornet interior s.adh. | 1/48 | HBS | $10.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| FE404 | Fi 156C-3 Storch interior s.adh. | 1/48 | TAM | $10.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Color Photo etched - ZOOM self-adhesive - Aircraft - 1/72 | ||||||||
| SS295 | B-17E/F Flying Fortress s.adh. | 1/72 | ACA | $9.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| SS301 | Wellington Mk.I interior s.adh. | 1/72 | TRU | $9.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Eduard mask - Aircraft - 1/32 | ||||||||
| JX075 | P-47D-25 Thunderbolt 1/32 | 1/32 | TRU | $9.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Eduard mask - Aircraft - 1/48 | ||||||||
| EX248 | CH-47C/HC-1 Chinook 1/48 | 1/48 | ITA | $9.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Eduard mask - Aircraft - 1/72 | ||||||||
| CX210 | B-24D Liberator 1/72 | 1/72 | HAS | $10.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| CX211 | Lancaster Mk.I/Mk.III 1/72 | 1/72 | REV | $10.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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| Express mask - Armoured Fighting Vehicles - 1/35 | ||||||||
| XT149 | M-4 High Speed Tractor | 1/35 | HBS | $7.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
| XT150 | M-7 Priest wheel masks | 1/35 | ACA | $9.95 | >> Buy now! << | |||
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