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Kit: Eduard (1:48)
Here is the new Eduard Albatros D.III Oef 253. I used Mike Grant decals for the Austro-Hungarian sworl fabric, and also for the Polish Kosciuszko Squadron markings. Kit is mainly out of the box, it comes with parts to build 153 or 253 series. Additions include Bob's buckles turnbuckles, Marty Digmayer laminated wood prop, and my own scratchbuilt wire wheels using the Harry Woodman method. I also had to hand paint the white number on clear decal film and apply it to the upper and lower wings and fuselage sides. The markings are the aircraft of Captain Merian C. Cooper, former AEF pilot who volunteered to fly for Poland in 1919.
This is the Eduard 1/48 scale kit. Built basically out of box with addition of radiator cooling lines and wooden prop from Marty Digmayer. I used the kit lozenge on the wings and oversprayed it with Tamiya clear smoke to darken it up. I used Americal Gryphon lozenge on the tail, slightly lighter to look like an older D.V fuselage & tail with new wings installed at the factory for testing only, since the DR.1 never went into production. This is a nice kit, one of the first to use the new molding technology, it is a completely new fuselage & interior from the original D.V & D/Va kits, and uses the same parts as the new tool D.V kits. Highly recommended for a strange plane to add to your Albatros collection. Just wish they would do a Nieuport triplane as well!
Kit: Tom's Modelworks (1:48)
Tom's Modelworks D.Va (converted to D.V). It is out of box, with Americal/Gryphon lozenge and decals for Jasta 5 flown by Flashar. Prop is laminated wood by Martin Digmayer. I painted the fuselage Testors Gunship Gray which was close to the gray on the Americal sheet - much darker than most of the Jasta 5 aircraft I have seen done, but it looks good. Tail colors are Testors Insignia red and Beret Green.
Manfred von Richthofen's Albatros D.V - Eduard 1/48 scale kit. This is built straight from the box per IPMS oob rules. Rigging is stretched sprue from the kit drybrushed with steel paint. Fuselage was painted Polly-S flesh and drybrushed with Testors brown for grain. Replaced panel from headrest is from Superscale medium wood decal cut to shape. White borders of fuselage crosses were overpainted flesh to simulate scraped off paint, and were applied over the wood finished fuselage. They appear lighter than the wood background, as recently scraped off white would also take off the varnish coating and expose natural wood. The wings & tail were painted red, decals were applied, and when dry were overpainted with a second light coat of red allowing the crosses to remain visible under the paint. This shows what can be done with the Eduard kit out of the box. It won 2nd place Aircraft in Wings & Wheels Fall 1997 show.
Kit: Glencoe (1:48)
Albatros D.III (oef) 153.11 flown by Frank Linke-Crawford. This is the Glencoe 1/48 scale kit, all parts were used, modified & added to. Interior was detailed with Fotocut parts & styrene. Engine was detailed with valve springs made from thin speaker wire (1 strand) wrapped around a pin. Bolts were added from Elmer's glue, and aluminum tubes were used for exhaust pipes. The fuselage had lots of red spot putty to get a reasonable shape for the rear fuselage/horizontal stabilizer. The wood was painted as follows: base coat of Polly-S flesh, drybrushed with 2 or 3 shades of brown enamel, brown colored pencil to outline panels & add a little more grain, clearcated with Testors gloss. Decals are Americal/Gryphon Brumowski distribution for upper wings, fuselage & tail. Personal markings are also from Americal's Luftfahrtruppe Fliks 31-41 sheet #95. This has markings for 2 of Crawford's and several of Brumowski's aircraft. Tom's Modelworks Albatros D.Va photoetched set provided fittings for fuselage and radiator detail. Just goes to show with a lot of work the Glencoe kit can be made into a winner. This was done long before the Eduard or Blue Max kit came out.
This is the Eduard D.V kit built basically out of box, only additions were metal struts of the correct length made by Dale Beamish. The decals were made on an ALPS printer. The aircraft is Ltn. Ernst Udet's Albatros D.V, Jasta 37, Moncheaux Airfield September 1917. It is based on drawing by Dan-San Abbott.