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Kit: Aurora (1:48)
Albatros C-III Kampfstaffel 20
A Secret Santa gift in 2002, I finished this one just before the Secret Santa gift for 2003 arrived. It is the old Aurora kit. I went with flat white for the wings. The fuselage wood effect was done by air brushing Model Masters enamel Wood. I then used a painter's sponge to smear on Model Masters acrylic burnt sienna. Then a lot of Future. The only things I added to the kit, other than rigging, were the camera on the port side and the decals for the fuselage bands and to get the "20" on the white square.
Kit: Eduard (1:48)
Albatros D-V Leutnant Walter Boning Jasta 19
This is the Eduard kit in 1/48. The decals were mostly Americals, although a few came from Aeromaster/Eagle Strike sheet. I went with the red and white fuselage band because I think the dark color of the "B" is different from the band. Who knows? The light wood effect was done by painting the fuselage with Model Master Modern Desert Sand. I then used a painters sponge to smear on Horizon Paints "yellow brown".
Kit: Revell (1:72)
153.10 Flik 41J
The Revel kit in 1/72. This one started out originally as being Frank Linke-Crawford's D-III with the falcon on the fuselage. I was using the decals from the Hit Kit Albatros D.III (Oef) kit. The decal shattered into a million piece when wet. After spraying a coating of clear gloss over the remaining decals, I opted for one of Brumowski's aircraft. The swirl decals were from Americal (Sheet # 56, Brumowski Distribution). This is the first small scale airplane that I ever successfully rigged.
Leutnant Hermann Frommherz Jasta 2
The kit if the Eduard Albatros in 1/48. It is built straight from the box, except for the radiator pipe which I got from the spares box. The decal are very delicate and require careful placement. The fuselage band is oversized, so some trimming is necessary. The "Blue Maus" is done in Testors Light Blue from a spray can.
Ltn. Hans Waldhausen Jasta 37
The kit is the old Aurora D.V. It sort of looks like a D.V. No major changes were made to the kit. Decals were from Americal (lozenge) and Aeromaster (Fuselage). Tailplane was painted instead of using decal provided by Aeromaster(a little too small for the tailplane). Good color profile and article about Waldhausen in Over The Front, Winter 1989.
Jasta 9 This is the Eduard kit in 1/48. Very easy to build and all the parts fit without any major trimming, putty, etc. The wood effect is accomplished by air brushing a base of Model Masters Wood and then using a sponge to smear on an acrylic Burnt Sienna, followed by Future for the gloss varnished look. The underneath color is Russian Topside Blue. The 3 color top camo is: Model Master Olive Drab, Polly Scale Italian C. Green and Panzer Red Brown. The Gray is gloss Light Gull Gray. The Kagero book "Kaiser's Aces" indicates this was Kurt Student's Albatros, although I believe this to be incorrect. All of the other photos simply show it in a lineup of Jasta 9 airplanes.
Albatros D.III: Leutnant Strobel, Jasta 5, July 1917. I originally started doing this one for the cookup. It crashed, but I liked the markings so much I decided to try again. This was a long serving aircraft in Jasta 5. Originally, it was supposed to be marked with "6" and then it was changed to "0". On a photo in the Jasta 5 Datafile you can see where the 0 has been faded or partially removed. When the 0 was added, it was flown by Uffz. Weiss. Ltn. Stroebel added the Bavarian themed tail and fuselage band. I used the decals from the Limited Edition Eduard kit for the red outline on the tailplane. They went on all right, but only cover the top and bottom, not the sides. So, I masked using Eduard's easy-mask as a template for blue masking tape and airbrushed the red on, using Testors Red from the small bottles. The 3 color camo was Olive Drab and Burnt Sienna from Model Master enamels and Italian Camo Green fom Polyscale acrylics. I used SAC Bomber Green because I was getting a little tired of always using gray and it looks "gray-green" to me.
This is the Eduard kit in 1/48. I decided to use the lozenge provided in the kit. It doesn't look quite right to me and I would use the Americal lozenge the next time. I tried Model Masters radome tan for the CDL and liked the result. The gray is Model Masters Gloss Gull Gray. The top wing crosses were not outlined in white on all the W.4's. Someone on the List was kind enough to send me a photo of one being pulled out of the water with plain black crosses. This version is of a W.4 at the Warnemunde Air Station in the Baltic Sea, May of 1917.
Offizierstellvertreter Hermann Habich was a 7 victory ace who flew with Jasta 49. This is the Eduard Albatros D-III(OAW) kit in 1/48. I made this one primarily because of the cool checkerboard scheme on the fuselage. The decals come from Eagle Strike Sheet 48159, Flying Circus Part III. I decided on using gloss gull gray for the struts and cowling. The lozenge is from the kit.
Flik 42J Ltn. Frans Graser
This started as part of a group project for the 2003 Over The Front convention. It is essentially the Revell kit in 1/72 with hypodermic needles used for the machinegun blast tubes. The swirl decal came from the Americal "Brumowski Distribution" sheet.