EDUARD NEWS IN JANUARY 2009 January 6th, 2009

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1 EDUARD NEWS IN JANUARY 2009 January 6th, 2009 January seems like an appropriate time to discuss more of our plans for the upcoming year. Because everyone s always hot and bothered over new kit release schedules, and because our plans are quite ambitious, I will not waste time and space judging last year and philosophizing over a potentially tough Nobody expects a smooth ride this year, which is no news flash, but I hope our plans will be at least something positive for the start of the new year among all these pessimistic prognoses. Unlike Barack Obama, we can t promise great change, but what we can do is bring you a lot of enjoyment with our kits. Not that there won t be any change; remember, we have introduced several innovative changes in our lines! So, if this year is to be turbulent, it would be a bad time to fall behind. So, what can be expected of Eduard in the coming year? Let s start off with kits First, we decided to use the traditional line name of ProfiPACK for all new kits in the orange boxes. The reason is that these kits are in fact made to an improved ProfiPACK standard, and this basic no-name line was an exception among the other lines. Immediately in January, we will bring out a new Hellcat, the F6F-5. Our Dash 5 will follow the previously released Hellcats, with the same style of molding and detailing. There are two extra bonuses to be found in the box. The first one is the early style fuselage with the canopy window (Dash 3 style), necessary for building two of the four marking options, and the second one are the resin cast late style fat wheels. The price will be the same as for the F6F-3 released one year ago.

2 There will be more high-end releases during this year. The first of these will follow in February: the first member of the 1/32 nd scale Bf 109E family, the Bf 109E-1. The E-1 is often understood to be the predecessor of the E- 3, which is not true the E-1 and E-3 were produced simultaneously, and the only difference was in the weapons. The E-1 was so a so-called light fighter, and equipped with four machine guns, while the E-3 was equipped with two MG and two cannon. Two machine guns were always mounted over the engine, and their 1/32 nd scale miniatures will be surely one of the highlights of our kit. However, there are more interesting aspects to the kit, such as the riveted surface, which is more detailed than on our 1/48 th scale kits, but still extremely fine.

3 We will, step by step, release all of the Es the E-1, 3, 4 and 7, including Trop versions. The 2009 release schedule slates the E-1 for February, the E-4 in May, and the E-3 in October. Bf 109E-4 artwork The Bf 110G in 1/48 th scale should prove to be the second hit of the year. The G represents the second generation of this famous heavy fighter, and our kit fully mirrors the development of the real aircraft. We have more versions of the weapons including Schrage Music, as well as the radar equipment. There are three radar antenna options for the G-4, and both exhaust versions, spelling many marking option potential. We also corrected some of the not so perfect areas of the original Bf 110C/D kits. The first kit, in the form of the Bf 110G- 2, is expected in July, and the Bf 110G-4 in September. Bf 109G-4 artwork Fw 190D in 1/48 th scale. This is the third of the anticipated successes for this year. The Dora follows the older successful releases of the A series, however, with many, many changes and improvements. There won t be a complete engine in the Doras, but the other areas will be detailed similarly to the A series. There will be the fuselage MGs done in the A series style, and the wing weapon wells and the cannon will be improved upon. The warmly discussed wheel well is finally designed to be in both possible styles, with open or closed roof. We are going to release the D-9 in November, and the D-11/13 will follow in early 2010.

4 Fw 190D artwork These three big projects are still not all. We also have the Albatros D.III OEFAG series 153/253 in our schedule. It could be expected that this kit will be a conversion of our old Albatros D.III, but this is not the case! This is an absolutely new kit, new project, and completely newly designed. No part of the older kit was used for the new one! This one is, of course, designed in the style of our latest WW I kits, and this one is probably even more detailed than our Dr.I or SPAD XIII, especially with respect to the surface details. In 2009, we will also re-release two older kits, the Fw 190A-5 and Fw 190A-8 in the ProfiPACK boxing. The kits will be very similar to the first edition of these kits, but with the slightly changed and improved marking options. Except for these big projects, we will continue with our SIDE LINES. I see the WEEKEND edition getting more and more important in the coming months, and we will create more new WEEKENDs to give our customers a cheaper alternative to our luxury equipped PROFIPACK and LIMITED EDITION kits. We will release six new WEEKEND kits in 1/48 th scale by July: the I-16 TYPE 24, FOKKER Dr.I, Bf 110E, SPAD XIII, F6F-3 HELLCAT and P-39Q AIRACOBRA. Spitfire Mk.Vc artwork Turning to the LIMITED EDITION line, we will use our own kits as well as those of other manufacturers to create interesting versions of older kits. Starting in February, we will release the Spitfire Mk.Vc with the short wing, which is originally an MPM product. In March, we will follow up with the Fokker D.VII (OAW) Sieben Schwaben with the well known and very colorful markings depicting the seven dwarfs fighting a monster rabbit. The EE Lightning Mk.1A/Mk.2 will come in April, with Airfix plastic in the box. The Lightning is not the only older Airfix kit in our current portfolio, we also have the Spitfire Mk.22/24, and we will release this kit once again in June, in this case with a complete resin engine.

5 We will also create two kits in the Der rote Flieger style this year. They will be the SPAD 13 in USAAC service and the Fokker Eindecker. Both kits will contain resin figures and a pin depicting a significant symbol. These two WW I kits won t be the only representatives of this style; we are also working on the Fw 190A Night Fighter with the Wilde Sau emblem as such a pin. Finally, I would like to bring to attention the Tempest. Because it is very often requested that we release the Tempest again, we decided to make a very limited edition of this kit in the third quarter of the year. And what of photoetch? Check the list of the January and February releases. You will find the new 1/32 nd scale Zooms in the list, which weren t all that common in the past. We suspect these simple and economic items will be an effective offering in lean economic times. Also, we will create more BIG ED sets, which will be released with greater frequency than has been the recent norm Armoured Carrier UE 1/35 (Tamiya) FE425 A6M5 Zero S.A. 1/48 (Tamiya)

6 49427 LaGG-3 S.A. 1/48 (ICM) C-47 Skytrain interior S.A. 1/48 (Trumpeter) CH-47A Chinook exterior 1/72 (Trumpeter) B-24D Liberator interior S.A. 1/72 (Hasegawa) Also important are the changes to our web page. They will be easily picked out. We also corrected our sale conditions to correspond with the new market situation. And also, we tested a new style of discount promotions, with the Pearl Harbor and Operation Bodenplate discounts. These discounts, 12%, were applied on he selected items related to these historical occasions. We will conduct similar promotions during this year, but don t expect that I will tell you which ones, and when. I ll keep these under wraps until the time is right! So, dear friends, I wish you a prosperous No matter the turbulence, keep on modeling! Vladimir Sulc

7 JANUARY 2009 RELEASES / Available January 1st, 2009 US RETAIL / PRICES IN US $ KIT RELEASES 8222 F6F-5 HELLCAT PROFIPACK PHOTO ETCHED SETS IJN Figures S.A. 1/350 3D x Sd.Kfz.251/3 Ausf.D AFV Armoured Carrier UE TAM SpaePz.2 Luchs A1/A2 REV A6M5 Zero landing flaps TAM C-47 Skytrain landing flaps TRU LaGG-3 Landing Flaps ICM A6M5 Zero S.A. TAM LaGG-3 S.A. ICM C-47 Skytrain cargo seatbelts TRU C-47 Skytrain interior S.A. TRU CH-47A Chinook exterior TRU B-24D Liberator interior S.A. Hasegawa Wellington Mk.III S.A. TRU ZOOM MASK BIG ED FE425 A6M5 Zero interior S.A. TAM FE427 LaGG-3 S.A. ICM FE431 C-47 Skytrain interior S.A. TRU SS317 B-24D Liberator cockpit interior S.A. HAS SS320 Wellington Mk.III S.A. TRU CX229 Mi-26 Halo 1/72 ZVE 9.95 EX260 Hawk Mk.I 1/48 ITA 7.95 EX262 A-4E/F Skyhawk 1/48 ITA 9.95 BIG3270 P-47D-25 THUNDERBOLT TRU 120 BIG4906 CH-47C/HC-1 CHINOOK ITA BIG7244 F-105G THUNDERCHIEF TRU BIG3555 GERMAN CARGO TRUCK 3ton 4x2 TAM 52.95

8 February Releases Don t order, please! These items are not yet available! This is a preliminary configuration, some item or the prices might be changed. KIT RELEASES PHOTO ETCHED SETS 3001 Bf 109E-1 (1/32) PROFIPACK Fokker Dr.I "Hans Weiss" WEEKEND P-51B gun bay TRU P-51B interior S.A. TRU Bf 110C interior DRA Bf 110 seatbelts DRA PaK.97/38 75mm AT ITA M-16 Half Track Multiple Gun DRA M-1127 RV TRU C-47 exterior TRU B-24D exterior HAS B-24 bomb bay HAS CH-47D exterior TRU F-16 ladder F-16CJ S.A. ACA CH-47D interior S.A. TRU ZOOM BIG ED P-40E interior S.A. HAS P-47D-25 interior S.A. TRU SS316 F-16CJ S.A. ACA SS321 CH-47D interior S.A. TRU SS323 P2V-7 HAS BIG3271 P-40E WARHAWK HAS BIG4907 SEA FURRY FB.II TRU BIG7245 F-22 RAPTOR REV BIG3556 DUKW BRITISH ARMY ITA 59.95