I just came home from a two week trip to the Czech republic and I would like to share some of my experience with you. If any of you have the chance to go there then these tips might be handy.
As most of you probably know, the Czech republic has a very active modeling industry with brands such as MPM, Eduard, Azur, Pavla etc. I suspect that the local market for these product is good because the Czech republic has some very nice hobby shop's.
MPM has there own chain of shops where they sell there own products (MPM, Azur, Special Hobby) and several other brands such as Tamiya, Revell and Eduard. Not only do they sell kits, they also stock books, super detail sets, easy masks etc. I went to 3 different MPM shops (Prague, Brno, Plzen) and the service was good in all three. Only let down was that they they did not stock Pavla and Sword.
Besides these MPM shops there are several other shops to be found such as Vagners in Brno and Blue Max in Prague. These shops also carry a whole range of modelling products.
The prices for Czech kits are good, imported kits are more expensive. I found the Eduard was considrably cheaper over there (for instance a 1/48 Profipack Bf-108 for € 10)
Kits are also sold in other shops such as reject books shops and liquidation sale shops. These shops do not have a fixed product range but real bargains can be found in those shops (for instance a 1/32 revell Heinkel He-162 for € 14,-)
For aicraft lovers the airforce museum in Prague is a must. Not only do they have a large number of soviet jet fighters but also Czech sport planes and pre-WWII aircraft. Highlights are rare Czech build Bf-109 and Me-262.