Hi there,

I've taken the plunge and decided to join in here on the WWI GB. As I've never built a WWI aircraft, I thought this would be a change of scene for a while, and a refreshing change.

Now my knowledge of WWI and early aviation is a little sketchy at best. I knew a Sopwith Camel, RE.8 and a Fokker Dr.1, but that was about it. So this Pfalz is an unknown quantity to me!

After a lot of generous help from Bobs Buckles, I've got an Eduard 1/48 Pfalz D.IIIa Early Version and some of Bobs Buckles to go with it!

After looking it over, it looks a very nice kit. I've pretty much decided to go with the version on the box top. A Black and Aluminium one listed as Jasta 40, Carl von Degelow, Summer 1918... I chose this over the red/blue version purely becuse I like the silver stag thing on the side of it.

Well, here's the inevitable box and contents shot... now it's time to crack on with it!



Karl.

P.S. Forgot to mention that it'll be OOB, unless I feel really brave and try some extras on it!

Go for it and have some fun.
I wish I had a few more kits under my belt as I would like a bash at a WW1 fighter as I have begun to get into them.
I'm looking forward to this GB

Welcome on board Karl.

This will be the third Pfalz for the GB, and as this plane is my favourite WW1 kite, I'm looking forward to seeing how they all come out. It's certainly inspired me to pick up a 32nd scale one when I'm back in the UK next month.

I have a 1/72nd Roden Pfalz in the stash, but won't add it to the growing rank of them on this GB though! Mind you, it would make a nice looking Jasta!

Cheers,

Nick

Nice looking colour scheme on that kite Karl, good choice mate.

OK, I've made a start with it.

I went out today to buy some Umber oil paints from Hobbycraft in order to have a go at the wood effects. I found some Winsor & Newton ones that were oils, but could be thinned with water, and cleaned with water and soap. Sounds good to me as I hate smelly thinners etc, that's why I switched to Acrylics.

Here's the insides of the cockpit area. First of all I gave them a coat of Tamiya Buff (XF-57) as a base, and then a couple of coats of Klear.


Once dried, I put on some of the oil paint and used a stiffish brush to try and create the graining on the wood. I was suprised how easy it was.


I left it for a while and then ran the brush over again to enhance the graining, doing it about every 15 mins or so until I was happy. Here's what I've left it at for now, all I've got to do is wait for it to dry! Could do better, but not bad for a first attempt me thinks! I'm happy with it so far anyway.


Next up will be trying to do the prop...

Karl.

I thinks it great
What sort of drying time for the oils are we talking about ?

Dunno mate!

Still not dry this morning, but mostly there...

Karl.

Right, it's prop time.

I'm not going for complete historical accuracy on this build, just purely enjoying it and doing it the way I want!

I don't know if the real Pfalz had a laminated prop, but mine has (well as long as it works anyway!)

I've given the prop a coat of Tamiya XF-57 Buff, and then coated with Klear.


Once that was done and dried, I've used the Burnt Umber Oil paint to add some darker laminations to the propeller. Once this is dry I will seal it and use the same method I used on the interior to make it Woody.


Looks a bit wierd at the moment, but until it's dry I can't show you any more yet!

Whilst this is doing, I'll be playing at making some seat belts...

Please feel free to comment on it!

Karl.

Thanks Jay, I'm surprising myself as I go along here!

You know, I did consider the fact that I could have done the oils onto the plastic, but not until I'd done all the Buff painting and klear! Would have saved a fair bit of time as well!

Can't wait to crack on with it, but it's taking ages for the oil paint to dry... and I thought enamels were bad!!

Karl.

Thanks again Jay! I might try that then as it's killing me waiting this long...

One thing I hadn't thought of yet, will it take Klear over it OK? and will it be OK to brush it on once the oil is dry?

Karl.

Looking good so far Karl, hoping my SE5A turns out ok.

With Jay's idea I've been able to crack on a bit. Got the Prop finished now, and I'm really pleased with it



I've also made some belts for the seat which look OK for me.


Made up the cockpit section and the engine, they're drying now and I'll be ready to fit them later on...

Karl.

Hey Karl, coming on really good mate. Mines gonna be a late start, but bits on order right now

Mighty fine work on the prop Karl.
If that's the standard your setting this is gonna be a stunning build.

Righty ho! finally got some more work done on the Pfalz this week. Got back to it on Wednesday and made some good progress after nearly 3 weeks of inactivity (modelwise anyway!)

Here's where I was 3 weeks ago, all of the cockpit was done and the fuselage halves were ready to go together. I was really pleased with the cockpit in the end as I was a little worried about it looking a bit sparse. Not being used to cockpits like this led to a bit of trepidation as to how to do it.

Fuselage Halves...


'Open' cockpit view...


In the last couple of days I've done 90% of the painting, and some of the decalling. All thats left to do now is sticking on the top wing and the wheels, then the rigging. If I say it like that it doesn't sound too bad does it!!!!

Here's the current state of play. Please ignore the sh*t tip of a desk. You can only see 20% of the mess here. There honestly is a Pfalz in there somewhere!



No work on it tomorrow as I'm off to the IPMS Cov/Warks show at the Midland Air Museum in Coventry.

Happy Modelling!
Karl.

Karl,
Really nice work there mate.
Don't worry about the cockpit being sparse, cos they were sparse on the real thing. Not like the pit on a Se5a (good luck tango Man ).
What did you use for Silber grau?

Bloody hell! I'm miles behind some of you lot...
My plan is to come in at the end with fanfare, pomp & circumstance. Hopefully that will bull my way to a Flory Wash.
HEHE

Bobby Wash-less

Karl - please go away - you are depressing me.

David.

PS Are you sure you have not photoshopped a real prop into that image? Tell the truth now.

Looking really good Karl, keep it coming.

Bob,

The silber grau is just Citadel Mithril Silver Matted down.





No, it's not photoshopped! Don't get depressed, they're easy to do... give it a go.



Thanks mate!

Karl.

Right, it's rigging time!

For the rigging I'll be using some fishing line along with some of Bobs Buckles. I've only ever rigged one kit before, and that was a Swordfish. With that I used the method of drilling right through the wings for the rigging. With the buckles this is a completely different way of doing things for me...

Anyway, these little buckles are great, I've no doubt that Bob requires ample amounts of Jedi Mind tricks in order to make them. Here's a shot of them to give you an idea of them...





And no!, I haven't made a fake bigger 5 pence piece, they really are that small!

Lots of drilling, supergluing, and whole bucket full of swearing has me at this position...





One word keeps springing to mind... Fu......oh, not that one,... Spaghetti!!

The only problem now is that the cats REALLY love this model at the moment... it's like a bloody magnet to them with all the strands on it...

Happy Modelling!
Karl.

Good luck with the rigging.

I like the look of the black fuselage. It has a nice soft gloss to it. Well done.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarghh! Sorry, just wanted to get that off my chest...

Spent most of the day doing the rigging, and it was about as easy as shoving wet spaghetti up an angry cats arse!

It came out OK in the end. Not as good as I was hoping but it'll do. Had one issue that nearly put an end to this kit. I managed to superglue the tweezers onto the rigging whilst not really concentrating on what I was doing also managed to CA a small piece of wire to my thumb (and not even the stuff I was using for the rigging?!?!)

It's currently waiting for it's wobbly legs to set a bit and I'll try and take some shots tonight. I have a bad feeling about the undercarriage, I get the feeling that it might just fold up when I stand it on the wheels... hopefully it gets a bit stronger.

Right, I'm off for some food and to watch Stargate Atlantis for a couple of hours while this kit sets a bit... some pics later on I promise...

Karl.

Sounds as if you've had an interesting day Karl.

Hmmmm, yes Col, you could say that!

I don't know why because when I did the Swordfish I thought the rigging was a doddle, but this one... Grrrrrrrr.

I'm off to take a couple of quick pics if the thing will stand on it's own legs yet!

Karl.

Spent most of the day doing the rigging, and it was about as easy as shoving wet spaghetti up an angry cats arse




really? never tried that...

You've never lived!

Karl.

Well, It's 99.9% finished. Just a couple of little spots to touch up, but here it is...

I'll do a proper 'Ready for inspection' post tomorrow with some better pictures, need some decent light!





Karl.

P.S. See it in more detail, click HERE

Wonderful stuff Karl - I bet your dead handy sewing a button on

Damn, that looks fine! Classy scheme on a gorgeous aircraft