Here’s a few pics of my second bi-plane build. It’s the Eduard 1/48 scale Albatros D.III Weekend Edition. I used the kit decals to model a Jasta 5 bird from 1917. The decals work beautifully, but stick very well! Too well, as I screwed up the fuselage band. Luckily, it’s under the fuselage, so it doesn’t show up. If you use Eduard’s decals, use plenty of water on the surface of the model, and get it as close to possible to the exact location before sliding it off of it’s backing paper!
I painted it with a combination of Tamiya, and Pollyscale paints. I also used burnt umber oil paint to replicate the wood grain on the fuselage. It’s a bit too dark for an Albatros, but I think it looks pretty good for a first try.
I added solder to make the radiator pipes, and used a combination of Bob’s Buckles, and Lion Roar 0.5 MM brass tubing to make turnbuckles for the rigging. As for the rigging, I used nylon sewing thread colored with a Sharpie.
I am REALLY enjoying these Eduard bi-plane kits! They are quite a change from my usual WWII armour models. Next up…Eduard’s Fokker D.VII. Thanks for looking, and comments welcome.
Another Beauty Nate. Very nice Build [Y]. One trick I learned in positioning Eduard decals is to add a wee bit of saliva to the model surface where the decal is intended as well as the setting agent. May not be sanitary, but it sure helps with the decal positioning.
Nate, that’s an EXCELLENT build. The finish is perfect. I know what you mean about Eduard decals…they are great: strong and thing, respond well to solitions, but they stick pretty quickly!
Eduard makes some great kits and you’ve done this one justice.
I love your Albatros and want to marry it…nice effect on the prop. Riggging looks good and overall painting is very nice…very cool scheme. WWI aircraft had some really unusuakl schemes. [Y][Y]
Rick,mucker,John,Frank,Mandstein, and Mike; Thank you all for the compliments, I really appreciate them![:D]
I agree with Von Manstein about the colorful paint schemes on German planes from WWI. I have quite a few more kits planned, so stay tuned! I am working on Eduard’s Fokker D.VII dual combo kit right now. It has two full kits, and marking options for four different planes with lozenge camo on the wings. The kit includes complete lozenge for both planes…one in 4 color, and one in 5 color. It also has rib tapes for both planes. The lozenge decals worked fabulously, but the rib tapes are driving me crazy![8o|] They are falling apart, even after I coated them with Micro decal film! I’ve got the bottom wing almost totally decaled, but I think I’ll wait until I get some different rib tape decals to finish the top wing.
Thanks Mike, and waikong.[:D] I’ve been on vacation this week, and have really gotten a lot of build time in! I’m still plugging away at the Eduard Fokker D.VII…still doing the rib tape decals, but it’s going MUCH better now that I figures out a method that won’t crack them. I normally dip the decal in water, put it on a paper towel for a minute or two, and apply. With these rib tapes, I have found that it’s best to dip them in water again just before sliding them off the backing paper. There is a LOT of decals on this plane, but it should look pretty good when it’s done!
I think the wheels look pretty good on this one. I think the small wheels issue is with the Albatros D.V kit. I’ve also heard that the struts for the landing gear are too short. I have a number of the D.Vs in my stash, but haven’t built any yet.[:)]
As a means of offering more background to this scheme;
A friend of mine was doing research at the University of Texas. Among the treasures there he found out the name of the pilot of that beauty. In the Jasta 5 collection I found a page marked; PERSONAL EMBLEMS OF THE JASTA 5 by Bruno Schmaling for the W.R. Puglisi collection. An entry on that list is: Lt. Strobel Alb. D III Leitwerk im blau/weisse Rauten (blue and white diamonds on tail). It was also flown by Ltn. Fritz Oppenhorst. It serial # was D. 2225/17.
“Another famous machine and one frequently and incompletely rendered in terms of markings. It was supposed to initially have been aircraft number ‘6’, but there is no photographic evidence that it was ever so marked. Its number was then changed to ‘0’ and there are photographs that show it with zeros on the fuselage sides and turtledeck, zeros under both lower wings and an ex-works tail with legible serial. At this time it was flown by Uffz. Weiss. After this Strobel, another ardent Bavarian nationalist, took it over in April 1917 and had the vertical tail surfaces painted in blue and white Bavarian Waffenrock - diamond hatch. Probably this inspired Wolf to a similar, but fuller treatment of his D.V later. Strobel flew it for a time with just the tail marking and the zeros elsewhere, but when markings proliferated under Flashar he had the zeros scraped off the fuselage and the blue and white diagonal bands added, parts of the zeros still being visible. There is no reasonable doubt that the zeros under the wings were retained. The blue and white chevron on top of the upper wing seems anomalous because Strobel was not an ace (no victories at all as far as we can tell). Perhaps he was senior enough to lead a Kette and this might explain it. The rear fuselage and horizontal tailplane were in unit markings as was the spinner. It had an Axial propeller.”
Datafile Special Jagdstaffel 5 by Dr. Glen K. Merrill, Volume One, p.54.
Ltn. Fritz Oppenhorst arrived 30Oct17 and left 23Sep18 Js 71. Ltn. Strobel arrived 28May17 and left 14Aug17 AFP 2.
I did the scheme some years back as a diorama called “Home from the Hunt”. It was before the Eduard kit was available. It detailed the return of a pilot from patrol on 24 Dec. 1917. I built this (before the Eduard kit was available for the D.III) from a spare Glencoe fuselage and resin wings. Of course the 4 colour would not have been available. For D.2225/17 to have survived a year at the front or in service with one of the most active Jastas, there had to have been some repairs. Since the angles of the original images don’t allow for clear views of the lower right wing its just my opinion to display this wing as a repair.
