Eduard 1/48 Prvni doma Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

I've seen some interesting kit concepts before, but this one is a first for me. When 'Prvni doma' arrived, I was quite surprised how heavy the box was given that this was an Eduard kit. On opening the box, it became obvious what was happening - this is Eduard's first book that just happens to have a couple of kits in the box. We've seen the Detail and Scale Pearl Harbor monograph included with a couple of Revell kits, but those were still about the kits. This release is about Czechoslovakian aviation history.

When Germany started to annex surrounding territories in the early days of what would become World War 2, Czechoslovakia was broken up and demilitarized. That didn't stop thousands of Czechs from escaping to serve in other armies to help push Germany out of their homeland. Prvni doma is one such remembrance of those heroes, in this case a group of pilots that served in the Soviet Air Force and would later serve as the foundation of the rebuilt Czech Air Force after the war.

The book that documents this part of history is Ceskoslovenske Lavocky by Jiri Vrany, a 104 page book that is filled with excellent period photographs and color profiles. Given all of the research and work that went into this title, it is a pity that it is only published in Czech. The book, like the title of this kit, is targeting the home audience primarily. The book and the subjects of this limited edition kit focus on Lavochkin La-5FN and La-7 operations during and after World War II. I hope Eduard will republish this in English or Russian so I can read this more clearly (my Czech is very rudimentary).

So what about the kits that come with this book? In the box we have Zveza's 1/48 La-5FN which was previously released as a Eduard limited edition as kit 1183. This kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on four parts trees plus one tree of clear parts, one fret of Eduard color-printed photo-etched parts and a pair of Brassin resin main landing gear wheels. Also in this box is Gavia's (Eduard's) 1/48 La-7 kit which was most recently issued as Profipack 8098. This kit is molded in gray-green styrene and presented on two parts trees plus one tree of clear parts, one fret of Eduard color-printed photo-etch and another pair of Brassin resin main landing gear wheels.

Oh yes, there's another book in this box - it is a 28 page reference containing 27 color profiles for the decal sheet included with this release. Among the subjects covered here:

• La-5FN, bort 39, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Josef Stehlik
• La-5FN, bort 58, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Frantisek Fajti, commander
• La-5FN, bort 02, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Frantisek Chabera
• La-5FN, bort 12, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Frantisek Sticka
• La-5FN, bort 69, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Ladislav Valousek
• La-5FN, bort 20, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Tomas Motycka
• La-5FN, bort 74, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Frantisek Vaculik
• La-5FN, bort 17, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Leopold Srom
• La-5FN, bort 23, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Antonin Vendl
• La-5FN, bort 48, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1945
• La-5FN, bort 24, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Stanislav Hlucka
• La-5FN, bort 13, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Pavel Kocfelda
• La-5FN, bort 71, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1944, flown by Frantisek Krut'a
• La-5FN, bort 31, 2nd Fighter Regt, VVS, 1945
• La-5FN, bort 91, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1945
• La-5FN, C-13, 4th Training Sqn, Czech AF, 1947-1948
• La-5FN, bort 84, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1945, as flown y L'udovit Koza
• La-5FN, bort 95, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1945, as flown by Ondrej Kostik
• La-5FN, bort 78, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1945
• La-5FN, bort 48, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1945, as flown by Jan Setvak
• La-5FN, bort 23, 2nd Training Sqn, Czech AF, 1946
• La-5FN, bort 91, Training Sqn, Czech AF, 1946
• La-7, Bort 49, 1st Mixed Division, VVS, 1945
• La-7, Bort 93, 1st Fighter Regt, VVS, 1945
• La-7, Bort 06, 1st Fighter Regt, Czech AF, 1946
• La-7, Bort 11, 2nd Fighter Regt, Czech AF, 1946
• La-7, JV-8, 2nd Training Sqn, Czech AF, 1947

This is an interesting release which gives a glimpse into the men that volunteered to fly with the Soviets in the same way that many Czechs, Poles, Free French, and others made their way to England to fly for the RAF. Even if you can't read Czech, the kit instructions are the same clear references as previous releases and the two references are very well illustrated. Grab a piece of history!

My sincere thanks to Eduard for this review sample!