[WWI] 1/32nd Pfalz D.III quicky review

[Stephen Auslender]

MessageAndy,
I thank you for the review of the 1/32 Pfalz D-III. I shall purchase one as soon as my finances improve. Right now the plumber owns me, lock, stock and barrel.
The only thing I have to point out is how easy it is to make over the design decals in a different color. Re the moon with a pipe being in the wrong color.
First, one gets a sheet of white decal paper. Then trace the outline of the moon with a pipe onto tracing paper. Next, lay the paper onto the white decal paper and cut out the pattern. Presto, a white moon with a pipe decal.
Or, with today's enlarging and reducing copy machines it is no problem to copy any design onto paper, rubber cement it onto decal paper and cut out both. Then discard the outer paper and you have the decal.
Yes, I know there are always modelers who cannot do this simple task. I know of one older person who's shaky hands cannot handle this task. So it is unfair to say that all should be able to do it. But it should be a relatively simple task for anyone with a minimum of modeling skills.
A question on the color of silver. How did the silver paint weather the elements? Did it perhaps dull over time to look more like a gray? Anybody know? I'm not talking about today's automotive pigments, which are rather robust. I'm thinking in terms of silver paint produced 90 years ago.
Stephen 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Andy Bannister 
  To: wwi at wwi-models.org 
  Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2007 12:21 PM
  Subject: [WWI] 1/32nd Pfalz D.III quicky review


  Received my Roden 1/32nd scale Pfalz D.III from Hobbyterra today (yes, I do buy the occasional subject in "other" scales!).
  First impressions are quite favourable, though there are a lot of nasty looking moulding 'sworls' in the upper wing which may need a coat or two of Mr. Surfacer to sort out; same as their SE5a kit. Similarly, the structure moulded on the inside of the fuselage shows up faintly on the outside and may be visible under a coat of paint, especially if one opts for one of the silver schemes (which the majority of Pfalz D.IIIs would be).
  I'm not convinced by the rudder, it's oddly shaped and too small I think, and the nose looks a bit short to me though without reference to a reliable set of this plans in this scale I can't be certain.
  With the exception of the rudder, all the control surfaces are moulded in place but with hinge gaps big enough to slide a 32nd scale hand in! This is an area that will need some work to look right, but I always cut control surfaces off and re-position them anyway so I'm not too bothered by it.
  Decal sheet looks nice - the pipe smoking moon is printed in silver which I think is incorrect, I believe it should be white. Pity, because that's one of the more colourful options and the one I would have picked. Roden have chosen to go with a natural wood interior and they quote the outside colour as 'light grey' - not neccesarily incorrect depending on your interpretation of  "silbergrau" I suppose, though personally I would opt for a colour closer to aluminum as I did on my manly scale D.IIIa.
  I don't think it's quite on par with Roden's Albatros kit in this scale but I'm pretty happy with it and the Pfalz is definitely in my top 5 favourite OT aircraft so it's nice to have one. Hopefully they'll do a D.IIIa as well. The fuselage & horizontal stab are  on the same sprue so replacing them with dedicated D.IIIa parts would be a simple matter but both wings are on a common sprue so I don't know how they'd handle the different lower wingtips. 

  Andy 

  CEO, Editor in Chief, Choreographer, Teaboy
  www.warpedplastic.co.uk 
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