eDay 2006
16-17.09.06
This year saw the event move venue once again, to be more accessible, moving from last year's venue at Holesovice to the outskirts of Prague. This year's event was tinged with sadness for all those from Eduard though with the sudden and tragic loss on the 27th August of Dalibor Kurak, a key member of the firm from the very beginning, the son of the co-founder of the company and a driving force behind the evolution of technology that has lead Eduard to the very top of the industry. It was rather poignant that two of the projects Dalibor had close association with, their Fw 190 series and Avia B.534, were there in test-shot and prototype form as a reminder of his huge input to our hobby.
As we have already said, the event went to a new venue this year, a rather odd one to Western modellers maybe, as it was in an underground car park, below a huge hypermarket complex? With that said both hypermarket and car park were new and the floor in the car park was high gloss, like marble, which made the tyres of the cars using it squeal like a bad 1970s TV car chase!
We arrived at the event early Saturday morning, but before that we spent most of Friday after arriving in the Czech Republic with a visit to the Kbely Museum. Just a couple of bus stops out from the centre of Prague, we were there in next to no time and spent a happy three-four hours and consumed considerable number of rolls of film. Here are a few teasers, just in case you are still pondering if you should go 'one day'!
This is the sort of line-up of ex-Soviet hardware that meets you on arrival
It's not just Russian hardware, as this SAAB Viggen testifies
MiGs, MiGs, MIGs! A shed full of MiG-15s
Ugly, but certainly very 'Russian', the Su-25 Frogfoot outside
The Il-2 last year looked the worst for wear, but this year it was in A1 condition after restoration and a new coat of paint
Where else in the world could you see an Avia B.534 up-close!
Or do a close inspection of the undercarriage of an Avia CS-199?
The collection holds gems like this Avia S-92 (Me 262A)
Along with this cutaway Jumo engine from the Me 262 (complete with original paint still on the cowls)
The single-seat Avia S-199 is also on show
And how about this, a BMW 'poweregg' from a Fw 190, which the Czechs operated as the S-90. This too is complete with original paint, is that RLM 76 on the side panel?
The museum's La-7 is starting to show signs of wear and, we are led to believe, they are looking for outside sponsorship that will allow them to fully restore this airframe. Any rich MAI readers out there fancy being generous!
eDay
Back to the event, the statistics are quite impressive and probably give you some idea of how big this event is.
282 modellers entered the competition
805 kits were entered in the competition (Adult)
403 kits from juniors were in the competition
Over 50 companies were present and over 4,500 paying visitors came to the event this year.
We had a trawl around the competition area on the Sunday, whilst it was quiet, and here are a selection of models that caught our eye.
Surprisingly there were not many 1:32 kits on display, probably only 10-12, this MiG-21MF was the one that caught our eye
A very striking 1:48 A6M2 Zero
A lovely 1:48 Avia, built from the new Special Hobby resin kit if memory serves me correct
We all recall the stunning photo in 'Pacific wrecks and where to find them', well this modeller decided to do the subject as a 1:72 diorama
A nicely detailed Bf 109G-6, that was surprisingly in 1:48, not 1:32, albeit still a Hasegawa kit
Detailing was not that prominent in the competition, but work such as opening up the panels on the back of this Academy 1:48 CH-46 was what we expect from Czech modellers
Oh, lovely, the photos just do not do it justice. The finish on this Eduard 1:48 Airco D.H.2 was stunning
The rib details, the subtle use of oils, amazing
This is more of the stuff we expect in the Czech Republic, this time a 1:48 Fw 190A
This 1:48 Grippen is the upgraded Italeri kit marketed by MPM
Very even weathering was seen on this Revell 1:48 He 111 in Rumania markings
Stunning weathering and detailing on this Hasegawa 1:48 Ki-84
Even British subjects were well represented, like this Airfix 1:48 Lightning F Mk 6
A very nice 1:48 miG-15UTI built from the Trumpeter kit
Eduard's 1:48 Mirage IIICJ with a bit of extra detail added
They certainly like to remove panels and add detail, as see in this Hasegawa 1:48 P-47D
A stunning example of modelling to illustrate technical aspects, this 1:48 RWD 8 was one of two such models on the tables
This superdetailed L-39 was on a club stand and it is 1:72, not 1:48!
A neat conversion of this Do 217 in 1:48
This Ju 390 V1 was in 1:72 not surprisingly!
An interesting Me 262B, which is in 1:72 can you believe
We fell for this stunning Seafire III in Aeronavale colours, that it was 1:72 just made it all the more awe inspiring!
This was quite an unusual way to display a Gulf War 1:72 Tornado
There were not many aircraft dioramas really, this one had lots of detail to take the attention though
Well, we had a great time, we ate too much and drank too much (sausage and beer at 8:30am on Saturday morning!), but it was all well worth it. The city of Prague is beautiful and well worth a weekend visit for anyone and the Kbely museum is a 'must' for all aircraft fans as it just has so much on display.
For all the news from Eduard, Special Hobby and MPM see the news sections for these firms elsewhere on our website.
Our thanks to everyone at Eduard who made our visit so enjoyable once again, especially Karel Pádár, Vladimir Sulc and
Ladislav Estok who helped in so many ways to ease a couple of Brits visit to their fair country. Next year's even should be around the same time of year, so check out the Eduard website around May-June 2007 for full details.
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