Message from the CEO

Dear friends,

thank you for your support and sympathy. We appreciate it very much!

The fire broke out yesterday in the morning on the second floor of the building, in the storage of plastic sprues. The reason is still unknown, it is probable that there is a fault in the electrical installation. Nothing happened to any of our people, at the time the fire broke out, no one was in the area of the fire from us. Our people were taking an inventory of the sprues there, the fire broke out when they left for a snack. There was also maintenance company working on the elevator in that room, it seems that one of them was intoxicated by smoke and being taken to hospital, so he was the person mentioned in the reports.

The fire destroyed over one million sprues for about 200,000 models. Furthermore, a three-month supply of shipping boxes, the large parcels, various sizes, burned down. The delivery arrived last week.

Fortunately, firefighters managed to keep the fire in this upper floor. It did not get to the second part of the building, that´s newer extension, separated by the wall of the original building and connected to the affected area by two stairways and connecting corridors. Thanks to this, other components for model packaging, instructions, boxes, decals, etchings, masks, etc. have been saved so far. The packaging area is not damaged either, but we will definitely have to leave it.

In packaging part of the building, shipments are also prepared for some Czech shops (MN Modelar, Artur, Pecka, etc.). These are also undamaged. The question now is how do we manage to get them out and send them. We will probably get a crane through the window.

The finished products and sales department are on the floor under the fire area. Surprisingly, there is not much damage there yet, there is also little water that flowed from the upper floor on stairway and on the columns of the hall. Some products are wet, but on a small scale. If we manage to get the goods out and move, I assume that we will be able to save about 80%. Of course, we need to quickly find other suitable storage and shipping facilities.

Unfortunately, there is a risk of the roof of the building collapsing, where the reinforced concrete structure was obviously damaged. We will see how the structure will behave during its cooling and whether the internal stress will not tear it. And if so, whether the ruins of the roof will fall only within the 2nd floor, or whether it will break through the ceiling of the 1st floor too. I hope it doesn't happen. Keep your fingers crossed! The building is from the beginning of the 20th century, it is obviously robust and structurally oversized. Perhaps it will resist. The commander of fire fighting teams said that if this fire would happen in a modern industrial building, it would burn to the ground.

Thanks to two gentlemen - fire fighter and modeller Josef Choreň and the commander of the units, that they took me to the building after the fire was extinguished. I was able to find out the current state thanks to them. I have to say that it calmed me immensely, really immensely, and lifted my spirits. All day long we shivered so that the fire would not penetrate into other parts of building, to the components of the models etc. I had been personally there since flames whipped from the windows of the 2nd floor and one window after another cracked and shattered glass. I was sure that the finished goods on the first floor were definitely lost, And if it would not be destroyed by fire it will be destroyed by water. Surprisingly, when we walked through these areas, they were either undamaged or with relatively little damage.

As for our sales department, the plan was to close it on Monday or Tuesday next week and start inventories. The plan was to reopen it between January 6 and 8. What will happen now is unclear. We will see if we will be able to save stocks and when and in what way we can resume the activities of the sales department. If everything goes well and in optimal way, it would probably be in the second half of January.

If we could not save the stock from the damaged building, we would temporarily open a sales department in Obrnice. In January, we would sell the January news, to which we would gradually add more items as we renewed and put them back on sale. Then we would move to new premises.

We will have the biggest problem with topping up the models, because we will have to completely restore the stock of plastic sprues. That will be a lot of work. We will go for it from the latest production and we get back against the flow of time, producing gradually older and older items. Unfortunately, the plastic parts purchased externally are gone forever, so Delfins, for example, will not be there unless we make a new purchase. The same is the Tornado, which unfortunately is gone including pin up posters, or the Bf 108 in 1/32. However, the sprues for latter one are available from company in Prague, which can be purchased relatively easily.

Friends from Special Hobby will also be involved in producing of our plastic parts . In SH, they have been producing for us for a long time, and in the afternoon „George“ Šilhánek and „Fredy“ Riedel promised me the allocation of larger production capacity for our needs. We are grateful for that, thank you!

Thanks again for the ideas for our support. We all appreciate it very much in Eduard, really. There is not much you can do for us at this time. In January, when we start again, the best way to help us is with your purchases. The e-shop will now remain closed until we are able to sell again, and until it will be clear what we are able to sell and when we will be able to ship. We will keep you informed about the development of the situation.

Happy Modelling!

Vladimir Sulc,

CEO, Eduard – Model Accessories 

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