EDUARD – NEWS IN NOVEMBER 2009 November 1st, 2009 In the past, we have upgraded many kits, and now we are upgrading ourselves. To be more accurate, we are upgrading our living and working space – our company building, here in Obrnice. We have been preparing for a major reno for quite some time, and we were also slowed by the obligatory bureaucracy. Last Tuesday, we finally started this big initiative. The renovations will include the replacement of all windows and doors, and some modifications in room lay-out. It’s a major inconvenience right now, of course, and for the near future, but our space will be much more comfortable and practical after this upgrade. We will also get some additional space to accommodate new machines, which we would like to acquire next year.

Reconstruction – before & after (almost finished)

It is not inconceivable that this will also have a short term impact on production and selling activities. Production of photo etch is stopped for this week (week 45), and the export department will be closed for some seven working days in week 47 through early week 48. Only a limited impact is expected on kit and mask production, and actually zero impact on the much anticipated Brassin line, although this line intro may be finally delayed by about a month. We expect shipments will be delayed ‘til late November, so please, be patient if your shipments won’t be received as fast as usual.

I spent two weeks in October in North America, one week in Chicago at the iHobby 2009 show, and one week with our design engineers in Canada, on a tour of Canadian Spitfires, and we also saw the Bf 109F-4 displayed in Ottawa. This is just one phase of our Spitfire & Messerschmitt research, as we thoroughly study actual examples of the aircraft. We will also see the Duxford Spitfires and, of course, we can’t miss the Spitfire displayed in Prague. For now we continue with basic kit design and right now we are devising a way of doing the bubble canopy as an actual bubble, without the central seam, common for Asian kit manufacturers. So, it should be quite evident that we are well on our way with the Spit, which was a very common question put to us in Chicago. Which Spitfire we will release first remains our secret, but we will surely surprise you…… trust me!

Constructer working on Spitfire

NOVEMBER KITS

The Bf 109E-3 is here. The Bf 109E-4 was highlighted by the outcry over the canopy, and I hope the E-3 will be a much smoother affair. There was one criticism regarding the Bf 109, which we felt to be valid, and it had to do with the wheel disc. The engineering of this part was completely changed, and the Bf 109E-3 will feature newly styled wheels. However, the tires were also criticized, because these were of the tires with different design seen on a museum example, but we are sure the tires what we designed were common on wartime machines. To my mind, these new wheel discs look better and more realistic than the resin ones I saw, although our Brassinators said that they will surely make even better examples. So I ordered the resin ones too, for the aftermarket Brassin line. Why not? With respect to the selected marking options, I’m sure they will prove interesting and eyecatching, and the decals are printed by Cartograf in Italy. The photoetched sets and a mask sheet are naturally included.

Another November kit is a limited edition issue, and is named DIE ERSTE KANNONEN, and offers a dual combo kit of the Fokker Eindecker with two resin figures, and a pin of the German WWI national insignia. The figures represent the early German aces, Max Immelman and Oswald Boelcke, and the selected markings offer their aircraft and the aircraft of two other famous early sky warriors. It is also the reason for the selected name of the kit, as the Germans in WWI didn’t call their top scoring pilots ‘aces’, but ‘Kannonen’, which is a notation equivalent to the later WW II ‘Experten’. The kit has a specific box design, which became significant for our LIMITED EDITION line over past months. These kits are released as collector items, and it is clear that this box matches the other two WW I Limited kits, Der rote Flieger and American Eagles, covering the Fokker Dr.I and SPAD XIII respectively.

The third November kit is small, a 1/72nd scale Albatros D.V in the Weekend edition. Albatros D.V was already released so many times that there is no more comment needed. Weekend edition is generally a good selling line and this kit should not disappoint.

DECEMBER KITS

December is closer than it seems, and our December kit block looks interesting. First, we will be back with the Fokker Dr.I Profipack in 1/48th scale. The first edition was sold out some months ago, and now we have resurrected its production.

There is another Profipack in the December block, the quarter scale F6F-5N Hellcat. Yes, another night fighter, but this time, American. The kit features resin parts from the well known Royal Class kit, the radome, gun barrels, night exhausts and late style wheels.

The third December release is the Avia B-534 in Slovak WW II service in the Limited Edition line. The Slovak Air Force, known as SVZ in WW II, was the biggest user of this aircraft and flew the Avia widely in front line service in the early years of the conflict, especially over Russia. Slovak pilots achieved many victories in the cockpits of their B-534s, surprisingly even I-16s! Slovaks used them until the end of the war, and they also saw combat against the Germans in the Slovak National Uprising in late 1944. So you can understand why we simply needed to create such a kit, honoring the long war service of this magnificent and beautiful biplane! Remember, we are Czechs, and Czechs love their Avia B-534.

JANUARY KITS – DORA, DORA, DORA!

Nothing to add. The Dora is coming, and she is simply going to be GREAT!

NOVEMBER PHOTO-ETCH

As has become the norm over the past several months, the most interesting PE sets for November are in 1/32 scale, and I’m afraid in December it won’t be any different. There are two sets for the new Hasegawa Ki-44 Shoki, and the set for the highly commented SE 5a from Wing Nuts. I’m highly interested to learn how many of these SE 5a sets we will sell. Also two sets for the EF 2000 should prove to be interesting, although it wasn’t easy to create these sets. However, it is never easy to design sets for these Chinese kits...

32238 Ki-44 Shoki exterior 1/32 (Hasegawa)

32652 Ki-44 Shoki interior Self Adhesive 1/32 (Hasegawa)

32646&33042 SE.5a RAF 1/32 (Wingnut Wings)

32234 EF 2000 Single Seater exterior 1/32 (Trumpeter)

48629 TBF-1 exterior 1/48 (Hobby Boss)

48628 TBF-1/TBM-3 bomb bay 1/48 (Hobby Boss)

And speaking of Chinese kits, we turn your attention to 1/48th scale. We have four sets for the Hobby Boss Avenger, and a set for the F-16D by Kinetic. There will be more new sets for Kinetic F-16s in the near future, and some of them could be really interesting. Don’t miss also our two 1/72nd scale sets, for the Re 2000, which was a highly requested item over the past several months when Italeri introduced their kit.

In 1/35th scale, we have two sets for the Academy Merkava Mk.IV and a single set for AAVP-7A1 by Hobby Boss.

36081 Merkava Mk.IV 1/35 (Academy)

36090 Merkava Mk.IV armour shields 1/35 (Academy)

36080 AAVP-7A1 interior 1/35 (Hobby Boss)

DECEMBER PHOTO-ETCH

December will bring some nice sets, such as the DH-2 for Roden’s kit in 1/32nd scale, together with the set for the SPAD VII in the same scale and the same kit manufacturer. There will be new sets for the Airfix Canberra, this time for the B.2/B.20, and the first two long-designed (and unfortunately long-dormant) sets for Monogram’s B-24J Liberator. Before we finished these sets, Monogram was merged with Revell...doesn’t matter, the sets are here, Liberator forever! And I can’t forget the 1/35th scale line, in December we will have five sets, which is quite unusual, and all should be great sellers. So see the list!

32645 DH-2 1/32 (Roden)

EDUARD BRASSIN

We are finishing the first batch of these sets, and we plan on ‘brassinating’ more kits! We expect the first sets in December, which could be late December if our building renovations delay the production of the first batch.

That’s all for November. Keep on gluing!

VLADIMIR SULC

NEW RELEASES FOR NOVEMBER 2009. Available November 1st, 2009

KITS US RETAIL 3002 Bf 109E-3 1/32 Profipack 74.95 1141 Fokker E.I/E.II DUAL COMBO 1/48 Limited 74.95 7402 Albatros D.V 1/72 Weekend 14.95 PE-SETS 32234 EF 2000 Single Seater exterior 1/32 TRU 34.95 32238 Ki-44 Shoki exterior 1/32 HAS 24.95 32640 EF 2000 Single Seater seatbelts 1/32 TRU 19.95 32646 SE.5a RAF S.A. 1/32 WIN 34.95 32652 Ki-44 Shoki interior S.A. 1/32 HAS 29.95 36080 AAVP-7A1 interior 1/35 HBS 29.95 36081 Merkava Mk.IV 1/35 ACA 34.95 36090 Merkava Mk.IV armour shields 1/35 ACA 29.95 48624 TBM-3 exterior 1/48 HBS 34.95 48628 TBF-1/TBM-3 bomb bay 1/48 HBS 29.95 48629 TBF-1 exterior 1/48 HBS 34.95 49450 TBM-3 interior S.A. 1/48 HBS 34.95 49461 F-16D block 52+ S.A. 1/48 KIN 29.95 73332 UH-1B S.A. 1/72 HBS 24.95 73342 Re 2000 S.A. 1/72 ITA 24.95ZOOMS 33037 EF 2000 Single Seater interior S.A. 1/32 1/32 TRU 19.95 33042 SE.5a RAF 1/32 1/32 WIN 19.95 33046 Ki-44 Shoki interior S.A. 1/32 1/32 HAS 19.95 FE450 TBM-3 interior S.A. 1/48 HBS 19.95 FE461 F-16D block 52+ interior S.A. 1/48 KIN 19.95 SS332 UH-1B S.A. 1/72 HBS 12.95 SS342 Re 2000 S.A. 1/72 ITA 10.95MASKS CX247 Bf 109G-6 1/72 1/72 AIR 4.95 CX248 BaE Hawk 1/72 1/72 AIR 5.95 CX249 F-22 1/72 1/72 HBS 5.95 JX096 F-8J 1/32 1/32 TRU 10.95 XT155 M4/M4A Half Track 1/35 DRA 9.95BIG-ED sets BIG3561 LEOPARD 2A6M 1/35 1/35 TAM 54.95 BIG4919 MOSQUITO B.Mk.IV 1/48 1/48 REV 42.95 BIG7253 BAC LIGHTNING F.1A 1/72 1/72 TRU 46.95 BIG5305 FLETCHER 1942 1/144 1/144 REV 99.95

NEW RELEASES FOR DECEMBER 2009. Available December 1st, 2009 KITS US RETAIL 8161 Fokker Dr.I DUAL COMBO 1/48 REEDITION (Profipack) 39.95 8226 F6F-5N Nightfighter 1/48 Profipack 44.95 1146 Avia B-534 SVZ 1/48 1/48 Limited Edition 34.95PE-SETS 32638 Spad VII S.A. 1/32 ROD 29.95 32645 DH-2 1/32 ROD 24.95 36078 Sd.Kfz.7 Zugkraftwagen 8t engine 1/35 DRA 19.95 36089 Sd.Kfz.7/1 20mm Flakvierling 38 1/35 DRA 6525 24.95 36095 M-1134 ATGM 1/35 AFV 29.95 36096 M-1134 ATGM Blast panels 1/35 AFV 24.95 36098 Merkava Mk.IV stowage basket 1/35 ACA 24.95 48632 BAC Lightning ladder 1/48 AIR/EDU 19.95 48633 Canberra B2/B20 landing flaps 1/48 AIR 34.95 49441 B-24J cockpit interior S.A. 1/48 REV/MON 34.95 49463 Bf 110G-4 1/48 EDU 34.95 49468 Canberra B20 S.A. 1/48 AIR 29.95 49469 Canberra B2/B20 seatbelts 1/48 AIR 14.95 73344 SH-60B S.A. 1/72 HBS 29.95 73345 BAC Lightning F.3 S.A. 1/72 TRU 24.95 73347 Seats WWI 1/72 19.95ZOOMS 33047 DH-2 interior 1/32 1/32 ROD 14.95 33048 Spad VII S.A. 1/32 1/32 ROD 12.95 FE468 Canberra B20 S.A. 1/48 AIR 14.95 SS344 SH-60B S.A. 1/72 HBS 12.95 SS345 BAC Lightning F.3 S.A. 1/72 TRU 12.95MASKS CX250 Canberra B.I 1/72 1/72 AIR 7.95 CX252 Su-27 Flanker A 1/72 1/72 ICM 6.95 JX097 EF 2000A Single Seater 1/32 1/32 REV 10.95 JX099 SU-30 Flanker G 1/32 1/32 TRU 9.95BIG-ED sets BIG3562 M-4 HALF TRACK 1/35 1/35 DRA 56.95 BIG4920 F-105G 1/48 1/48 HBS 59.95 BIG7254 BAC LIGHTNING F.2 1/72 1/72 TRU 46.95KITS BIG5306 S-100 SCHELLBOOT 1/35 1/35 ITA 66.95