Albatros D.Va (OAW) - 1:32 Wingnut Wings

[Viking]

Albatros D.Va (OAW)
1:32 Wingnut Wings

The Albatros D.III and D.V's were the most numerous fighter in German Service on the Western front throughout most of 1917 and early 1918. They always suffered from structural weaknesses, most notably with the lower wings which were single spar. This provided insufficient strength to withstand some more extreme manoeuvres, and the lower wings could be torn from the fuselage.

The D.Va was an attempt at a strengthened version of the D.V with deliveries beginning in October 1917. Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke received an order for 600 D.Va's in October 1917 and incorporated their own ideas for strengthening into their production aircraft. All of which helped to make the OAW produced D.Va's nearly 100 Kg heavier than the original Albatros built D.V.
Nevertheless it soldiered on until the end of the war as the Fokker D.VII gradually (but not completely) replaced it.

The latest release from Wingnut Wings comes as a welcome surprise, with a very striking painting of a Jasta 18 'Ravens' D.Va in action against a pair of SE5.a's.

The box contains the familiar plastic parts and etched brass from the existing D.Va kit, with new decals and colour schemes. As the differences between the D.Va and D.Va(OAW) are mainly on internal structure, this is perfectly sensible. OAW specific parts such as wheel covers and fuselage lifting handle are also provided to take care of the few differences.

The instruction manual is printed in full colour on heavy glossy paper and contains a wealth of information, both on how to build your model, and specific details of the full size aircraft. I particularly like the contemporary black & white photos, as Wingnut Wings seem to come up with ones I have never seen before, and the captions always seem to point out something to add to your personal knowledge store.

Nobody does instructions as good as Wingnut Wings, in fact nobody else even comes close. The coloured assembly drawings are clear, with colours also flagged if necessary, and illustrations of complete sub assemblies have helped me to understand an assembly sequence many a time.

Sprue A.
This holds mostly interior and other delicate parts, and also the D.Va specific ailerons and control column with its aileron cable pick-up from the lower wings.

The mouldings are first rate, with all the bulkheads featuring lightening cut outs, and there is no flash or sink marks at all.

Sprue B.
Here we find the upper and lower wings, tailplanes, and rudder. All are moulded as single parts, i.e. no halves to be joined, which enables very nice sharp trailing edges to be achieved. The wings are very nicely cambered and feature fine rib tapes.

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Anchor holes for the rigging lines are present, which makes me wonder how on earth they can do that on the master mould.

Sprue C.
A simple clear sprue with three options of windscreen for which ever version you choose. Crystal clear and flawless mouldings.

Sprue D.
Two are supplied, as they cover all the parts that are required in duplicate, such as guns, wheels, and struts. Also included are the OAW specific wheel covers, as well as the standard Albatros ones.

Sprue E.
Is for the Mercedes D.IIIa engine, along with a choice of four propellers. Being such a widely used engine, this sprue features in several of Wingnut Wings German kits and several parts are marked as 'not for use'.

The detail moulding is superb, the crankcase, rocker arms, and intake manifold being particularly nice.

Having built several of these already, I can vouch for the fact that they look stunning when made. The only thing I add is ignition wiring from either thread or fuse wire.

Sprue F.
Dominating here are the two fuselage halves, which have the finest detail inside and out.

All the little brackets, clamps, louvres, and inspection covers are there. Also offered are a choice of a Daimler-Mercedes or Teves & Braun radiator for the upper wing, and various sections of pipes.

Photoetch.
The small fret offers fretted jackets for the twin Spandaus, which in my opinion are essential in this scale. Plus there is a four point seat harness, gun cover, and cowling retaining strap.

Decals.
Two A4 sheets provide a very generous amount of upper and lower 5-colour lozenge strips, more than enough for an Albatros, whilst a further A4 sheet contains a large range of rib tapes, with a choice of plain linen, pink, or blue. Impressive.

The scheme specific options are printed on one and a half A4 type sheets. A huge range of items are supplied, for the fuselage spirals, tail stripes, badges, spinner rings, etc. Each option seems to have it's own version of the German crosses for the wings & fuselage, and all these are present on the sheets.

As usual we have all the instruments as decals, which can be read with a magnifying glass, and my favourites, the propeller manufacturers logos

This is as complete a package of decals as you are ever likely to find in a mainstream kit.

Colour schemes;

A) Albatros D.Va (OAW) 6553/17, Jasta 73, mid 1918



B ) Albatros D.Va (OAW)?, Jasta 18, May 1918



C) Albatros D.Va (OAW), Hermann Leptien, Jasta 63, mid 1918 (7 victories)



D) Albatros D.Va (OAW), Hans von Gössel, Jasta 71, mid 1918 (1 victory)



E) Albatros D.Va (OAW), Friedrich Ritter von Röth, Jasta 23b, early 1918 (28 victories)



Conclusion.

Although not a totally new release, this is still very welcome as it does give us another sub variant of the widely used Albatros, and therefore another canvas for the numerous schemes they wore. Wingnut Wings have cleverly provided the colourful boxtop Jasta 18 machine as an option, which as it does not require a natural plywood fuselage should be fairly simple to do. Having already built this kit from the 32009 D.V release, I can confirm that it goes together beautifully and makes a stunning model. It's another box of pure modellers delight.


[EDIT] 30/05/2015 Review kit built and posted in Ready For Inspection [/EDIT]

Highly Recommended

Review sample courtesy of

[andy wood]

Hello Viking

Do cowling panels have the bevelled/creased edges peculiar to the OAW DVa?

[Viking]

Andy,

I'd say not.

I've just compared the cowling panels on sprue F with the same sprue from my other DV.a kit in the stash (#32015) and both Sprue 'F's are identical.

John