Julien Posted November 25, 2017 Share Posted November 25, 2017 Pfalz D.IIIa1:48 Eduard WEEKEND Edition Before WWI the Pfalz company produced Morane-Saulnier aircraft under licence. In late 1916 they hired Rudolph Gehringer as their chief designer to work on an original fighter design. This would become the D.III and it emerged in April 1917. The new aircraft used a plywood monocogue fuselage with plywood strips being formed over a muold to form the fuselage.Once glued together the fuselage halves were covered with a layer of fabric which then doped. This gave great strength to the fuselage and was the same as used by Roland. The wings were of conventional construction for a biplane. Ailerons were wooden and the tail featured an inverted aerofoil section. The Pfalz was well suited to diving attacks due to the strength in its lower twin wing double wing spar. However there were problems with the design and pilots reported they were unable to clear gun jams as the guns were buried in the fuselage. The D.IIIa would cure this by relocating the guns to the upper fuselage decking. In addition it gained enlarged horizontal stabilisers and a more powerful engine.The Kit The Eduard kit of the Pfalz D.IIIa has been with us since 1996, bit has not been re-issued since 2010 according to our friends at Scalemates. The kit arrives on two sprues of grey plastic. There are no signs the moulds have lost anything over the years. Construction starts in the cockpit with a handful of smaller parts being added into each half. To the floor is added the seat, control column, rudder pedals and forward bulkhead. Seatbelts are provided on the decal sheet. The floor and instrument panel (instruments provided on decal) are added into the left fuselage. The engine is built up and provides a good representation of the real thing. This is then also added into the left fuselage along with its support structure. The main fuselage can then be closed up. The tailplanes, rudder, tail struct and lower wing can then be added. The Eduard instructions have you round of the wing tips from the lower wing which are triangular, but strangely on the sprues is a complete lower wing with rounded tips which is not even shown on the sprue layout in the instructions?? The engine exhaust is now fitted along with the guns in front of the cockpit. The upper wing can now be added being careful to line up the wing and fuselage struts. Lastly the landing gear is added along with the prop. For those who are not to great at rigging Eduard have included a diagram to show where it goes. Decals There is one sheet of decals for the aircraft markings. Decals are printed in house by Eduard and look to be good, in register and colour dense. 2 options are provided; which seems the norm for Weekend kits at present. Flown by Oblt B von Alvensleben, Jasta 21, Boncourt, France June 1918 (Box art) Flown by Olbt W Ewers, Jasta 77, Vraignes, France April 1918 Conclusion This is a great kit from Eduard and it is good to see it released in a Weekend boxing. The parts count is not that high that this kit would be a good start for those wanting to try a WWI Subject. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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