A pre-order is the act of purchasing a product before it is released. We see it as a means to gauge interest in the products of our assortment. It allows us to finetune and optimize the production process to ensure that demand and supply is matched as best as possible. It makes no sense to invest in the production of products not wanted by the market. This only leads to delays in the ability to deliver and results in dead stock. This benefits no one.

We are aware that pre-ordering allows to collect revenue before products are delivered to the customer. It is often used as a pretext to finance an operation. Rest assured ... we don't like to take money out of people's pockets without a promise. We don't think this is a fair business practice.

We decided for ourselves that preordering is allowed ... only when we are relatively sure about delivering the product to the market. We have discussed this at length with a variety of people and the result of these interactions showed that a release timeline between 3 - 6 months is deemed as acceptible.

At some point ... we would like to arrive at a situation where can state that a product will be shipped at a certain date and a certain hour ... for the simple reason that it engenders trust in our ability to execute. At this point ... we are not at this stage yet ... but we will working towards that.

In the week prior to SMC we had an internal meeting to discuss current status in order to gage the feasibility and decide on a go/no-go for pre-ordering. The resulting decision was a go on the basis that Fokker D.VII OAW 3.0 is production ready, besides finetuning and submitting it to tests by an internal build panel.

The Fokker D.VII OAW models shown @ SMC are standard prototypes ... even though they gave a realistic view on what to be expected.

Following tasks remain to be done:

• Finetuning ... Fokker D.VII OAW 3.0 has been designed, engineered and prototyped in record time. In order to be ready for SMC not all parts have been finetuned. Finetuning consists of optimizing certain parts such as the struts ... as well as determining the optimum number of parts for certain subassemblies ... such as the inline D.III(a) engine.
• Incorporate feedback from the internal build panel. We will hand out prototypes to a diverse crowd to understand the build process, gather feedback and iron out teething problems before we release product to the market.
• Finalize research on each of the offered schemes. This is done in conjunction with historians that are enthusiastic to help us to ensure that each scheme is as historically accurate as can be. To give an example, Fokker D.VII OAW 3.0 Wilhelm Leusch appeared to be part of the 6300/18 production batch sporting flat profile engine louvres in the forward section. This is part of the adaptations to be made on the standard prototype. Will this be perfect ? No, because the only one that knows is the pilot that flew the plane. There will always be a level of imagineering.
• Retrofit Ronny Bar's aviation profiles accordingly based on this research. As the aviation profile represent a core element in our graphical identity, they must be identical to the build.
• Ordering of boxes and sleeve art. To date we had to hold off to order boxes as we are not sure if parts will fit into it as we want to maintain the same box size across aircraft. Not only does this ensure economies scale, it allows for. a consistent boxing experience.
• Develop the decals by scheme. Our going-in position is to cover an aircraft with laser printed and laser cut decals. But we might resort to using masks for certain areas of the aircraft.
• Develop instructions and on-line educational content Our instructions will be next level consisting of an off-line component (printed) as well as on-line (links to educational videos). The combination of both should ensure that you are properly guided to make Fokker D.VII OAW 3.0 shine at its best.

Fokker D.VII OAW standard prototype is based on a Late version. It speaks for itself that we will prioritize these first in order to ensure timely go to market. Within the offered schemes, this pertains to Fokker D.VII OAW Wilhelm Leusch and Fokker D.VII OAW Franz Büchner. The Mids and the Udet Early will follow next. We hope to have everything released within a 3-6 months timeline.

Preorder will be delivered on a first come first serve basis ... by scheme. Therefore ... it could very well be that someone who ordered a particular scheme first ... will be delivered later.

Let's take a practical example to illustrates this clearly.

Person A orders Scheme 1 on October 21st. Person B orders Scheme 2 on November 1st. Scheme 2 is ready for delivery on January 1st. Scheme 1 is ready for delivery February 1st. Person B will receive his/her kit sooner than Person A.

If you don't specify us anything ... the A2 Billboard will be the one that corresponds to the scheme you have ordered. If you wish to have another one ... just let us know and we will amend accordingly.