Eduard 1/48 SE5a??

[eindecker]

I am glad to hear this. Even though it means I will be buying another kit this year. (I am determined to keep my stash within the bounds of what I can realistically expect to build in the next two or three years.) Eduard is one of my favorite model companies. They have always striven for excellence and to give us modelers extra value for our modeling money. They occasionally make mistakes, and are severely criticized by the cretinous accuracy police, but they continue to strive for excellence anyway. I think a newly designed SE5a from Eduard will be an excellent kit, and if they continue their current trend of producing Brassin details along with the kit, it could be an awesome kit.

[LukasTheLight]

Hello again,

I agree with Des - doesn't really matter who is behind it as long as we like the inside of the box
and I agree with Eindecker - Eduard doesn't deserve that severe criticism, I'm following another forum where Vladimir Sulc is answering question from customers and sometimes it shocks me what sort of staff he has to deal with...that is the only reason why Im on that forum, other than that It's way too far from standards of this one. I really like and enjoy the fact that we can respect each other on this forum..

Cheerio
Lukas

[oldalbie]

I'm also looking forward to the SE5a from Eduard.  I found their WWI subjects when they first started appearing.  The company was one of the few that made any WWI aircraft and have constantly worked on improving the product.  I might gripe a bit about the Albie undercarriage but it's not a major thing with me.  I just build'em cause I like'em anyway.

[ALBATROS1234]

perhaps the fact that the ssw was outsourced is the reason for the oversimplified engine and funny looking spandaus. perhaps this is why they felt the need to do the brassin stuff. eduard has gotten their fair share of critique as well as praise their spitfire mk ix series was praised as the savior of all 1/48 spit fans and the 1/48 bf 109 has been dogged as overscale. i am sure all model companies have their fair share of this. i will buy a re-tool se5a from eduard. guess that means the roden i started last year wont get finished. i was trying to do a detail level like a wnw kit by scratching an engine and add fabric wrinkles and recessed wing pulleys. oh well

[the great waldo]

perhaps the fact that the ssw was outsourced is the reason for the oversimplified engine and funny looking spandaus. perhaps this is why they felt the need to do the brassin stuff. eduard has gotten their fair share of critique as well as praise their spitfire mk ix series was praised as the savior of all 1/48 spit fans and the 1/48 bf 109 has been dogged as overscale. i am sure all model companies have their fair share of this. i will buy a re-tool se5a from eduard. guess that means the roden i started last year wont get finished. i was trying to do a detail level like a wnw kit by scratching an engine and add fabric wrinkles and recessed wing pulleys. oh well

Hi Albatros
I would say that Eduard coming out with a statement saying  that the SSW was outsourced is just a limp cop out. Why on earth would a firm with such good manufacturing facilities outsource  any thing, it would just add to the costs. I get the feeling that Eduard is getting heavily into marketing their products T shirts mugs etc. Making a nice kit with a crappy engine and then supplying an upgrade for 11.95 pounds! work it out for yourself. By the way I did buy the kit and the engine was so bad that I did stump up for the Brassin version but not the spandaus, so maybe Eduard got it right !!
Cheers

Andrew

[LukasTheLight]

perhaps the fact that the ssw was outsourced is the reason for the oversimplified engine and funny looking spandaus. perhaps this is why they felt the need to do the brassin stuff. eduard has gotten their fair share of critique as well as praise their spitfire mk ix series was praised as the savior of all 1/48 spit fans and the 1/48 bf 109 has been dogged as overscale. i am sure all model companies have their fair share of this. i will buy a re-tool se5a from eduard. guess that means the roden i started last year wont get finished. i was trying to do a detail level like a wnw kit by scratching an engine and add fabric wrinkles and recessed wing pulleys. oh well

Hi Albatros
I would say that Eduard coming out with a statement saying  that the SSW was outsourced is just a limp cop out. Why on earth would a firm with such good manufacturing facilities outsource  any thing, it would just add to the costs. I get the feeling that Eduard is getting heavily into marketing their products T shirts mugs etc. Making a nice kit with a crappy engine and then supplying an upgrade for 11.95 pounds! work it out for yourself. By the way I did buy the kit and the engine was so bad that I did stump up for the Brassin version but not the spandaus, so maybe Eduard got it right !!
Cheers

Andrew

Hello,

It is truth that Eduard has good manufacturing facilities but after my visit in their factory(Novemberfest 2013) I was shocked how small (compare to their name on kits market) that factory is. They have 4 molding machines for all their production so I think it is pretty impressive that they do that for worldwide market. However.. I think It may not be the way (as they found out) and their future production (and marketing) will be different - nice(r) engine already in the kit and etc.
I've never built WWI subject in 1/48 but still quite excited to see what it's like.

Cheerio
Lukas

[eindecker]

perhaps the fact that the ssw was outsourced is the reason for the oversimplified engine and funny looking spandaus. perhaps this is why they felt the need to do the brassin stuff. eduard has gotten their fair share of critique as well as praise their spitfire mk ix series was praised as the savior of all 1/48 spit fans and the 1/48 bf 109 has been dogged as overscale. i am sure all model companies have their fair share of this. i will buy a re-tool se5a from eduard. guess that means the roden i started last year wont get finished. i was trying to do a detail level like a wnw kit by scratching an engine and add fabric wrinkles and recessed wing pulleys. oh well

Hi Albatros
I would say that Eduard coming out with a statement saying  that the SSW was outsourced is just a limp cop out. Why on earth would a firm with such good manufacturing facilities outsource  any thing, it would just add to the costs. I get the feeling that Eduard is getting heavily into marketing their products T shirts mugs etc. Making a nice kit with a crappy engine and then supplying an upgrade for 11.95 pounds! work it out for yourself. By the way I did buy the kit and the engine was so bad that I did stump up for the Brassin version but not the spandaus, so maybe Eduard got it right !!
Cheers

Andrew

I would say that's too harsh – "limp cop out." We don't know the business and manufacturing capabilities of the company so I would be reluctant to judge their decision without more information. Also, many modelers don't need or want the same level of detail that others do. Many are happy with a basic kit and more interested in the schemes and markings than engine details. For those who are, Eduard offers options with their aftermarket Brassin sets. One could have wished for the inclusion of those sets in the original kit release, but that would have increased the price. This way, everyone has the option.

I don't mean to be too critical of your viewpoint, but I have seen Eduard severely criticized to the point of outrage because they didn't produce the kind and quality of kit that some modelers wanted and I want to speak up in their defense.

Regards,

[the great waldo]

perhaps the fact that the ssw was outsourced is the reason for the oversimplified engine and funny looking spandaus. perhaps this is why they felt the need to do the brassin stuff. eduard has gotten their fair share of critique as well as praise their spitfire mk ix series was praised as the savior of all 1/48 spit fans and the 1/48 bf 109 has been dogged as overscale. i am sure all model companies have their fair share of this. i will buy a re-tool se5a from eduard. guess that means the roden i started last year wont get finished. i was trying to do a detail level like a wnw kit by scratching an engine and add fabric wrinkles and recessed wing pulleys. oh well

Hi Albatros
I would say that Eduard coming out with a statement saying  that the SSW was outsourced is just a limp cop out. Why on earth would a firm with such good manufacturing facilities outsource  any thing, it would just add to the costs. I get the feeling that Eduard is getting heavily into marketing their products T shirts mugs etc. Making a nice kit with a crappy engine and then supplying an upgrade for 11.95 pounds! work it out for yourself. By the way I did buy the kit and the engine was so bad that I did stump up for the Brassin version but not the spandaus, so maybe Eduard got it right !!
Cheers

Andrew

I would say that's too harsh – "limp cop out." We don't know the business and manufacturing capabilities of the company so I would be reluctant to judge their decision without more information. Also, many modelers don't need or want the same level of detail that others do. Many are happy with a basic kit and more interested in the schemes and markings than engine details. For those who are, Eduard offers options with their aftermarket Brassin sets. One could have wished for the inclusion of those sets in the original kit release, but that would have increased the price. This way, everyone has the option.

I don't mean to be too critical of your viewpoint, but I have seen Eduard severely criticized to the point of outrage because they didn't produce the kind and quality of kit that some modelers wanted and I want to speak up in their defense.

Regards,

Hi Eindecker
My point really is that Eduard have produced much finer engines on their other models Fokker Dr1 weekend kit for example for a normal price. There is really no good reason to supply such a poor example of an engine moulding with the SSW on a profipack model kit set and then turn up with an acceptable item for added expense. It kind of defeats the idea of "Profipack" which was to have all the extra goodies included at a higher price included in the box. Call me cynical if you wish but my gut feeling tells me that eduard is trying to squeeze extra money from it's customers by supplying a poor moulding and then giving the customer the option to pay extra for a usable moulding. I'll be curious if Eduard try this tactic again in the future.

Cheers

Andrew

[LukasTheLight]

Hello,

to Andrew - I would wait for their next kit and see... I think It isn't too fair judge them right after SSW kit. I also believe that V.Sulc saying they will be doing SE5a themselves means different approach to new kit. I know that added cost it's a bit cheeky but we all make a mistakes, right?  
Eindecker - I'm with you about Eduard. I think they don't deserve that much of it. If you are free in November they should be doing Novemberfest again this year. I really enjoyed it in 2013 and we got to see all factory - 3D modelling, molds production, decals production, masks, brassin production and etc. We could try all of it and we got entire model made by ourselves. Sorry for off topic but that was a great day and great chance to see some of theirs manufacture facilities and learn something about model making "behind the scenes"

Cheerio
Lukas

[ALBATROS1234]

i am in the middle on this. i can see both sides. but i must say the fact that they are doing any great war subjects is appreciated because only a few years ago they said publically they have "no intention to release any great war subjects in the foreseeable future." on the other hand the kit engine has 5 cooling fins. they have produce rotary engines for 20 years and never one this poor in detail. it looks like it could be a lego engine not a scale model. all in all the kit is decent and i am happy they made it. se5a hopefully they can go above because unless its noticeably better than the roden and/or blue max kits it might not sell too good. eduard should make ww1 kits. this is their roots, they are/were known as the best or one of the best ww1 aero model company. they lost their focus to cater to the spitfire /bf 109 market.....more money. this seems to be their main goal now. it is run like a regular buisness. for a company to be focused on ww1 it has to be driven by passion not profit. so this is their choice. all i ask is they throw us a bone every now and then. it is due to all of the devoted ww1 modellers buying their products for years that gave them enuff money to expand into the mainstream market. dont forget us, the ones who put you where you are today.

[Cirrus]

I bet it's not the Viper powered version.  For some reason the newer kits have modelled the Hispano SE.  Even Wingnuts
have doggedly refused to modify their moulds to produce was a very numerous variant and one that would lend itself to a large variety of markings.   Roden seems to be the only manufacturer to have produced a 1/32 Viper...a decent kit but nowhere near what could be achieved by WN.  Here's hoping.

Den.
 

[WarrenD]

for a company to be focused on ww1 it has to be driven by passion not profit. so this is their choice. all i ask is they throw us a bone every now and then. it is due to all of the devoted ww1 modellers buying their products for years that gave them enuff money to expand into the mainstream market. dont forget us, the ones who put you where you are today.

While attending the '05 IPMS Nats in Atlanta I got to have a nice conversation with Vladimir Sulc, a really nice guy. At the time, I was pleading the case to produce a 1/72nd scale Nie.17. Evidently I pleaded the case well.    In any event, during our conversation, Mr. Sulc admitted that 1/72nd scale a/c was his first love, something he's still passionate about, and in a perfect world, he'd crank out 1/72nd WWI kits till the cows come home. However, it's not a perfect world, he has a business to run, and a profit to make. If the WWI a/c kit market was big enough to support and grow the business, they would have stayed there, but it's not. From 1990 to 2010 or thereabouts we saw, to me at least, an exponential growth in WWI kits in both 1/72nd and 1/48th scale. Before 1990, what did we have?  The ancient Revell/ESCI molds for 1/72nd, and the Aurora kits? Aside from some vacs and the odd resin kit, that was it. In a twenty year period we ended up with far more kits to choose from than I would have ever imagined.   Leave WNW out of the equation and we still have an embarrassment of riches.

Warren