Re: Pegasus... & Meikraft

Matt Bittner (meba@cso.com)
Fri, 11 Aug 1995 08:06:04 -0500

On 10 Aug 95 at 11:28, C.P. Hart sprecht:

> The Pegasus Siemens Schuckert kit was issued three times that I am
> aware of, I have examples of each. The first was a rather crude attempt
> molded in heavy black plastic with very thick sprue. It is a very basic
> kit with little in the way of detail parts, and really quite few useable
> parts. The second two releases were based on the excellent Czech resin of
> this aircraft (Gannon apparently bought rights to this pattern). I have an
> example of the original resin and his two releases compare quite well. No
> struts were included to my recollection (kit is at home, I am at work).

The first kit you have, is it the early production SSW D.III? The
one with the "full" cowl, ub-balanced ailerons and different tail?
If so, email me. We need to talk. ;-)

> The Meikraft Pfalz D-III kit is directly based on the Czech resin, he
> even copies the original Czech parts diagram on his instrucion sheet. I
> just bought another example of this kit at a local (Denver area) shop this
> week for about $12.00. I think this is a re-issue. It is molded in tan
> plastic, has a black an white printing of the box top and has no decals. I
> haven't held this newest on up to my earlier examples of this kit. The new
> one has a bit of flash around some parts, but in general the mold has held
> up all right. The wings are pretty thin and retain their detail, a real
> plus. Has anyone seen reissues of the Meikraft Albatros C-III? I would
> like to acquire one or two more of these. This was one of his better kits.

The re-release of the C.III is almost exact as the original release.
The biggest difference is lack of decals. The plastic appears a
little more "flashy", but otherwise good.

> Also seen at my local shop, an example of the Meikraft Caproni.
> Priced at $69.95, I won't be giving you all a review.

Unless you're willing to spend considerable time on it, don't bother.
Sure, it's a nice kit, but there's a lot of work to be done. The
plastic is typical Meikraft, but it only consists of the fuselage
halves, wings and tail pieces. Everything else is either photetched
or white metal. And there is a lot of photoetched. Not to mention
the amount of rigging required. I have had the fortune of seeing the
Caproni at the USAF museum, and it was a riggers nightmare. Granted,
I think it's a beautiful aircraft, but just a bugger to model.

Matt

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Matthew Bittner WW1 Modeler, ecto subscriber, new dad
meba@cso.com Omaha, Nebraska

"Not in the face, NOT IN THE FACE" - Arthur, The Tick's
sidekick, and his battle cry
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+