Perhaps
the most underrated fighter from 1917-18 on the Western Front was the Pfalz
D.III and D.IIIa fighters. Pfalz built very good machines and never received the
credit it was due. At one time, Pfalz aircraft constituted a full 25% of all
front-line fighters in service. The only real strike against Pfalz was that it
was a Bavarian firm and not a Prussian one.
Most
of the German High Command was Prussian. By the outbreak of WW I all of the
German States were unified under Prussia, except for the somewhat autonomous
kingdom of Bavaria. So we have the High Command in Prussia and the Royal
Bavarian Army under the King of Bavaria with its own Headquarters and staff,
therefore there was always friction between the two.
By
1918, due to the overwhelming numbers of the Allied Forces advances and the
shortage of German aircraft and pilots, the preferred German attack was made
from above and in mass. After you positioned yourself, you dove on the enemy
guns blazing and escaped without getting entangled in a dogfight. The Pfalz was
perfectly suited for this kind of tactic. The aircraft was strong and fast in a
dive, plus you could put it in a very steep dive and a hard pullout without fear
of catastrophic failure, as was likely to happen with an Albatros or even Fokker
aircraft.
No
Pfalz D.III or IIIa was brought down in tact or recognizable until 1918, and it
was treated as a new Albatros D.VI aircraft by aeronautical journals until one
was brought down intact in France. In its anonymous fashion, however, it gave
British pilots trouble and scored victories over their best ships. Only the SE-5
could dive with it and even it had its limits. Not until the French SPAD X.III
did the Allied Forces truly have a fighter capable of chasing one in a dive. Its
major weakness lay in its slow rate of climb, so altitude was always to the
advantage of the Pfalz pilot. In the fine art of balloon destroying, it had no
peer. The D.III and IIIa were flown by many prominent German aces, many which
flew them to the end of the war.
The
model represents the mount of Leutnent Karl (also spelled Carl in many texts)
Degelow (30 victories), who flew a black Pfalz with his distinctive leaping
silver stag markings. After WW I, he fought against the communists in the
post-war revolution that swept over Germany. When WW II broke out, he joined the
Luftwaffe as a Major and survived the war. He became a businessman post war and
died in Hamburg, Germany on November 9, 1970.
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Building
the model:
The
kit has a little flash around the parts and will take some cleanup. The
instructions are quite nicely done with drawings and a rigging diagram. There
are decal options for three a/c (all D.IIIa). You still get all the parts to
make ether the D.III or D.IIIa, but you’ll have to come up with some D.III
markings, should one take that route. It is important if you build Karl
Degelow’s mount to use the D.III’s triangular lower wing, because he flew an
early Pfalz D.IIIa, which retained the pointed lower wing of the D.III rather
than the rounded lower wing of the D.IIIa (many thanks Kyle Bodily for this
advice). The wings and struts are very thin and the wings have excellent under
camber detail. The engine is excellent and would make a fine model in itself.
Cockpit
and engine:
The
cockpit is simplistic, but has good sidewall molding for the support bracing. I
airbrushed the interior sidewalls and flooring MM Acryl Wood, then used dry
brushings of red brown, raw umber, and black (ever so dry and little on the
black). All was given a gloss overcoat and support bracing done with Microscale
model railroad Wood Dark Trim Film strips. Seat was painted MM Acryl Leather and
given a semi gloss. Harness and belts are done with dirty white painted strips
of masking tape and silver auto striping tape. Two instruments were done with
Waldron punched disks of white trim film and Reheat Models Instrument Gauge
decals. Rudder bar and control stick were painted graphite, with dark wood
handles on the control stick and a silver trigger button. Port sidewall throttle
was brushed black.
After
all was done, I did a light ink wash and finished with an overspray of clear
flat on the interior. The gauges were given a drop of Future.
The
engine was fist painted Aluminum, then the top brushed in Polly Scale Steam
Power Black (model railroad color again) with the radiator pipe brushed
aluminum. The carburetor was painted bright silver and the feeder pipes from it
painted RLM 66. The exhaust was first painted black, then Gunze Burnt Iron, and
finished with a wash of Pactra Rust. I opened up the end prior to paining and
the depression was given a black wash. The radiator tube was painted Polly Scale
Copper. I scratch built the twin fuel feeder tubes from aluminum beading thread
on the port side.
The
guns were painted black, and brushed in MM Gunmetal. I replaced the forward
sights with photoetch pieces. The gun feeder and extraction chutes were done in
silver.
The
propeller was painted MM Wood, dry brushed in raw umber, and the spinner painted
black. The wood prop was given a gloss coat in the final assembly.
Exterior:
First
and foremost, I had to carefully find the location spots for the rigging using
1/72 drawings. It took an entire day at the workbench to make 20 tiny rigging
eyelets from fine phono pick up wire. These were CA’ed into predrilled #79
holes. It is tedious, but it makes rigging a snap in the finish. All rigging is
done with smoke-colored invisible thread of 0.008-in. size.
One
of the difficult tasks with this kit is cutting each rear fuselage tail out for
the large D.IIIa horizontal tail. It takes a steady hand with a Dremel tool
cutting bit to thin the inside and a good knife, file, and sanding grit to get
it right and have the tail fit at the correct angle. I trimmed off all control
horns and replaced them with wire passed through predrilled holes (#79 bit
again) in the final assembly. Control cables were done with smoke-colored
invisible thread.
The
main landing gear strut assembly proved to be a big problem too. Due to its
fragility, I broke the darn thing three times, twice after I had the assembly
attached and painted! Through much prayer and meditation, I got them CA’ed
back correct each time (the Lord works in mysterious ways!), touched up and all
worked out fine in the end (tap wood). The only thing I did to the rid skid was
add some fine wire for its final placement. The main strut assembly and
wheels were painted black, though the instructions would have them painted
silver-gray. The box art showed them black and it was much easier to do so (I
didn’t want to wreck them again). The tires were painted RLM 66 (a special
blend I mixed with just a touch of brown added) and the tires are washed in
thinned earth brown. The rear skid was painted wood, dry brushed in the usual
manner and the braces painted graphite. The skid’s front bungee was painted
the same RLM 66 as the tires.
Painting
and Decaling:
After
masking the cockpit opening and the engine and gun opening, I sprayed the entire
model in Polly Scale Reefer White for the rudder color and as a primer.
The
upper and lower wings along with the cabane and outer wing struts were painter a
silver-gray mix I made using one part flat white to four parts silver (I used MM
Acryl paints). The upper wing was masked and the radiator painted Alcad II
Duraluminum.
The
lower wings were masked and the fuselage and landing gear painted Polly Scale
Seam Power Black. Masking was removed sace that of the cockpit opening and all
was given three light coats of MM Acryl Clear Gloss for decal prep.
Kit
decals were used, but not before I tested one I wasn’t going to use and saw it
disintegrate, which prompted me to coat all to be used with Microscale Superfilm.
This held them together and I had only a few areas to touch up after their
application and drying. Solvent did not react with the decals well, however and
some warm, thinned Elmer’s was applied and the areas pressed into place.
A
little earth brown was dry brushed under the lower wing to simulate dirt being
thrown up by the wheels, ditto for the rear at the skid. After rigging and
touching up a few places, all was sealed in two light coats of clear gloss and
finished in three light coats of clear flat, which was buffed slightly with a
cotton swab and an old T-shirt when completely dry.
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The
figures:
The
figures are white metal 1/72 miniatures from New Hope Design in the UK. They
were airbrushed in a metal primer and painted with acrylics. Shadowing was done
with artist’s inks and highlighting with pastel powder before a final spray of
clear flat. Areas requiring a semi-gloss or gloss finish were done with a
brushing of semi-gloss clear, gloss clear, or Future (goggles).
Overall
conclusion:
This
was my first venture outside of 1/48 for World War I aircraft since I did the
old Revell Fokker E.III in the early 90s. I can tell you that the molding is a
world apart from the old Revell molds. But the kit is not for the novice. It is
too fragile and a lot of clean up is required before paint and assembly begins.
As can be seen, it builds into a beautiful kit and only took me three weeks from
start to finish, fast by my work pace, especially for a stringbag.
So
if one has a few kits under their belts and is hankering for a Great War
subject, I can highly recommend this kit or others in Roden’s 1/72 line. Many
of these are former TOKO molds, but they are still quite good. Do I plan another
1/72 World War I kit? You betcha!
References
used:
"Pfalz
D.IIIa, Windsock Datafile 21", by P. M. Grosz,
Albatros Productions LTD
"German
Knights of the Air 1914-1918", by Terry C. Treadwell and Alan C. Wood
"Aces
High, the war in the air over the western front 1914-1918", by Alan Clark
"Above
The Lines" (A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces of the German Air
Service, Naval Air Service, and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914-1918), by Norman R.
Franks, Frank W. Bailey, and Russell Guest.
Caz
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