FREE 32-PAGE E-MAG FROM EDUARD MODELS

SMN REPORT:
Eduard Model Accessories is based in the Czech Republic, and it’s a company that has earned a good reputation, especially for its photo-etch accessories. Right now, you can find out a lot more by having a look at 'Info Eduard', the downloadable monthly e-mag.

As you might expect, Info Eduard covers most aspects of model making, in particular Eduard’s own output, and it’s a mine of information.

Kit range
So far as kits go, Eduard has four main strands. ProfiPACK is the basic edition, containing a plastic model kit with extra items such as photo-etch sets, masks, plus decals for four to six marking options.

Higher standard
Limited Edition kits offer modded kits from other manufacturers as well as Eduard’s own, brought up to a higher standard, with ProfiPACK-style extras. There may also be added resin details, such as exhausts, engines, and figures.

Basic release
Weekend Edition models offer a simpler and less expensive alternative. Instead of all the extras, the aim is to keep the price down by offering just one option. If it’s an aircraft, for example, there’ll be just the one variant, with a single set of markings.

Top class
Last but not least, Eduard Royal Class are top-of-the-line products. Packed in a black box, there are typically two kits inside, with ten or more decal options, plus an assortment of other goodies. Replicas of medals and insignia, instrument panels, supplements, resin parts, or pieces of an actual machine are often included - hot stuff!

More at SMN on Eduard here.

Download the Info Eduard e-mag here.

AMAZING DETAIL FROM ZOUKEI-MURA

SMN Weekender:

Zoukei-Mura is one of the newer kit manufacturers, and has a product range to match, with just four major items currently in the range, backed up by accessory sets in resin, plastic and metal. Detail - and lots of it - is a prime aim for Zoukei-Mura, and the latest kit of the Douglas AD-6 Skyraider is simply packed with intricate mouldings.

Instruction manuals

These are works of art in themselves, and a match for those produced over the years by Tamiya. Well done, Zoukei-Mura: it had to happen sometime. In fact, of course, when you have kits as intricate as these, a more-than-decent manual is not a luxury, but a necessity.

Big scale

Zoukei-Mura has (so far) concentrated on 1:32 scale, and we reckon it’s a good decision. The subjects lend themselves to this big scale, and even a relatively small machine such as the German Kettenkrad (‘chain wheel) troop tractor (below) is still a reasonable size. To 1:32 scale the Kettenkrad is 91 mm (3.6 in) long, with 51 components.

Shinden pusher-prop fighter

This was a dramatically advanced concept that flew too late to slow Allied attacks on Japan. Zoukei-Mura’s model looks good, as the images show. Bearing in mind the amount of interior detail included in all these big kits, we reckon it would be terrific for transparent sections to be included as an option for display purposes. 

Ta-152 - Kurt Tank’s finest

The prefix ‘Ta’ refers to the designer, Kurt Tank, and the Ta 152 (below) was probably his best all-round design. K-M’s model has 182 parts, and the wingspan when assembled scales out to 452 mm (17.8 in), meaning there’s plenty of room for all that trademake detail. The engine looks particularly good.

Skyraider ground attacker

This latest kit of the Douglas ground-attack aircraft, famous as a bomb truck in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, really does the single-engine beast justice. As for the kit, it’s well up to the standards of the other Z-M offerings, plus there are several extra-part sets to add even more detail to this already detailed product. The cockpit and fuel tank assembly (below) really assembled to make a decent model in its own right - very nice too.

Accessories

Zoukei-Mura has, very sensibly, collaborated with other top manufacturers, so names like Eduard of the Czech Republic have been commissioned to produce photo-etch sets, and Microscale Industries are producing decal sheets. It’s a sensible outsourcing policy that leaves the team at Z-M to concentrate on the big stuff.

Summation

It’s not all sweetness and light - some reviewers have reported problems with component-fit, so there’s obviously a way to go before the learning curve is in the past. Even so, for detail-lovers the Zoukei-Mura kits have to be among the leading choices.

Enjoy the SMN slide show - for much more visit Zoukei-Mura here.

Eduard here.

Microscale here.

Buy kits here.

Interesting ongoing Ta 152 build here.

There's more

More pix of the Zoukei-Mura kits below, led by one of the US Navy AD-6 Skyraiders that feature in the comprehensive Zoukei-Mura instruction manual.

HEADING OUR WAY FAST - P-39 AIR RACER FROM HASEGAWA

SMN report:

Due from Hasegawa later this month is the bright yellow-and-black Bell P-39Q Airacobra that was flown to victory by Alvin ‘Tex’ Johnston, in the 1946 Thompson Air Race. The kit is a 1:48 scale model of Johnston’s max-power modified machine, and it makes a real change to see a military aircraft model produced in colourful civilian markings.

About the kit

The Hasegawa P-39Q is a 79-component kit, to 1:48 scale, giving it a wingspan of some 216 mm (8.5 in) when assembled. There aren’t too many changes from the standard military machine, though the real thing was lightened dramatically, and had an oil cooler fitted under the belly to cope with the high-power nature of the race, and this is featured accurately in the Hasegawa kit. Naturally enough, there are no guns fitted to this speed racer. The kit includes the bigger four bladed propeller used, and the decal sheet for the race-winning Cobra II looks accurate enough. The nose flash might be easier to paint by hand, rather than expect the decals to be wrinkle-free. There’ll be some touching up to do, regardless.

Ace box art

The box art is worth a mention, as it shows Cobra II (and the shadows of three competitors) pulling a high-G left-hand turn around one of the towers that marked the course. It’s attractive and would look good framed on the wall, or mounted behind the finished model on display, if you’re as big a fan of aviation art as the SMN crew.

Earlier Accurate Miniatures version

This was based on the 1:48 scale Eduard kit, and there are plenty of details on this at the website 'Internet Modeler', site address listed below. The entire Eduard kit was included in the AM box (above), though the distinctive four-bladed propeller was not supplied. Actually, the kit markings show the red-and-black Cobra I which was the other P-39 prepared for the 1946 race. Sadly, this machine crashed in a lake before the race, killing the pilot, Jack Woolams.

Pilots and planes

The P-39 was ideal as the basis for an air racer - it had a mid-mounted engine (archive pic above), which gave it it good manoeuvrability, and this, plus excellent low-altitude performance made the Airacobra ideal for round-the-towers air racing. Three test pilots for Bell Aircraft were involved in the race attempt. They bought two ex-military aircraft for a nominal $1 each (yes, one dollar - those were the days!) though there was a lot of work to do before the planes were fit to race. The trio drew lots to see who would fly the aircraft, with Jack Woolams taking Cobra I, Tex Johnston Cobra II, while Slick Goodlin was left as reserve pilot. 

Mods aplenty

Changes to the planes included taking out the military equipment, then adding the new belly oil cooler, extra fuel and oil tanks, a more poweful engine and a big paddle-blade prop. The supercharger engine intake behind the canopy was enlarged and extended for better aerodynamics.

Race-winning performance

According to our sources, Tex Johnston flew Cobra II at 658.4 km/ (409.091 mph) in the qualifier, then won the race at an average speed of 601.7 km/h (373.908 mph). He was in front all the way, and in fact closed the throttle a little towards the end, to save the engine when he realised he was going to win easily.

The Thompson Trophy

The race was a restart of one of the National Air Races that ran from 1929, through the 1930s, but stopping with the onset of World War II. The race course was a left-hand circuit 16 km (10 miles) long, with turns marked by 15 m (50 ft) pylons. The race was a closed course, so made a terrific spectacle for grandstand crowds. The 1946 event was the first race after the end of the war. The Thompson Trophy itself (above) now sits on display in the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC.

Summation

We’re waiting for this Hasegawa P-39Q with our tongues hanging out - other Thompson Trophy racers, such as the tiny Gee Bee machines, have already been modelled - and this will add a splash of colour to the collection. Nice choice, Hasegawa! 

Hasegawa kits by the score here.

Visit Internet Modeler here to see a detailed review of the Accurate Miniatures Cobra I, also to 1:48 scale.

Nice diecast Cobra I available at a discount (below) from Fantastic Flyers here.

SUPERDETAIL CZECH-STYLE - A CLOSER LOOK AT EDUARD

SMN weekender:

Here's the first in a series of inside-looks at the model making industry, and who makes what, when, and where. First off, we visit the Czech Republic, and the respected Eduard brand.


Birth of Eduard
Eduard Model Accessories was formed in 1989 in the basement of co-owner Ctirad Kurak’s house in Most, Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic. Two years before, Ctirad Kurak and his partner Vladimir Sulc had started making photo-etch items for themselves, and once underway, decided that they might be able to expand by selling to model stores. 

Opening up a production line

In 1990, the first Eduard photo-etch item was produced for retail sale, a super-detail set suitable for a 1:48 scale Sukhoi Su 25K. The same year, Kurak and Sulc made more sets, and sales were so good that the duo moved into a proper office and in 1991, they went further still and opened up a production line.

A Sopwith duo

There was demand for other scales as well and so 1:72 and 1:35 items were added to the list. In 1993 Eduard went into model kit production proper, with the first two model aircraft, a Sopwith Schneider and a Sopwith Baby, both to 1:72 scale. The production of plastic models meant another move for the rapidly growing firm, this time into a larger office matched with taking on more staff. 

Fokker ‘Eindekker’ kit

1994 turned out to be a very good year, with the first 1/48th scale kit launch, a Fokker E III. It sold very well and gained Eduard an award at the Nuremberg Toy Fair for the photo-etch components. By the end of 1995 Eduard had ten kits on the market, and lots of photo-etch sets. Eduard also set up a cooperative link with Jules Bringuier of Classic Airframes to produce his models.

Bigger and bigger

In 1996 Eduard purchased a new building in the town of Obrnice. Renovations were begun on the new HQ, as were developments in a new process for moulding models, called LTM. Its use significantly improved Eduard’s kits, and the company continued to improve its modelmaking technology and began using full-metal moulds, allowing tens of thousands of kits to be produced from a single mould. The result was a quantum shift for Eduard - for it took the company from being a strictly short-run producer, to being a full-line manufacturer. In early 1997, Eduard grew yet again, this time by moving into yet another building and purchasing new production equipment.

Manufacturing for others

Eduard also started producing models and photo-etch sets for other companies, including Revell-Monogram and Smer, plus many smaller but no less important companies. The latest is that Eduard continues to evolve and is always looking for new ideas and technologies to improve its products.

Great going Eduard - and here’s to the future.

View ‘Info Eduard’ February newsletter here.