Roden's 1/32 scale Pfalz D.III

 

Roden's Pfalz D.III

Ltn d R Aloys Heldmann with his Pfalz.

The Pfalz Flugzeugwerke was founded in 1913 and built a number of derivative aircraft designs, including monoplanes based on the Morane Saulnier Type H and L. By 1916 Pfalz had produced a monoplane e-type very similar to the Fokker Eindecker series. By the end of that year Pfalz was directed to produce the Roland DI followed by the DII and DIIa variants until mid 1917. By that time Pfalz had developed their own biplane fighter, the DIII when it was realized that the Roland design was inadequate.

The design of the Pfalz DIII was influenced by the impact of the French Nieuport and it's sesquiplane, (1 1/2 wing) design, like many other German aircraft manufacturers, notably Albatros. The Pfalz designers, however, did make one significant improvement on the Nieuport's design by incorporating two spars in the lower wing, thus saving the design from the inherent  weakness of most sesquiplanes; an unstable lower wing which could twist about the single spar. This was a significant problem which the Albatros DIII and DV designs never really overcame.

The Pfalz DIII was one of the most graceful looking aircraft to be developed in WWI, and it's sturdy construction, (plywood laminated shell of a fuselage), made it one of the more robust types of that era.

That said, the Pfalz DIII was not an outstanding success. It wasn't particularly nimble,  it's rate of climb was not too impressive and it's plywood fuselage sometimes warped and affected handling. 

Still, it is one of the prettiest of WWI fighters with nice, graceful lines. 

For this build I am using Roden's 1/32 scale Pfalz DIII. I also had a decal sheet and the photo etch sheet from Squadron/Encore's "Blue Max Pfalz", that I got from eBay. I was happy to score those decals since Roden's tend to be pretty fragile.

To begin, I assemble the nice little Mercedes DIII. Roden gives you a good basis for a little detailing. In this case, I tried to simulate the valve return springs with this copper wire wound around stretched sprue. The result looked promising but I have to say that on the finished model, I can't really see them! 

After paint, its very hard to see the darned springs!

Assembly continued with the interior. As usual, Roden gives you a really nice basis for the cockpit. I added a seat cushion and the seat belts came from the "Blue Max" PE sheet.

Everything installed.

When closing the fuselage, I did have some trouble with alignment of the engine in the nose. The engine was pointing ever so slightly downward. It took a little work to get it looking right. Later, I also discovered that the motor ended up pushed over a little too far to the right. I couldn't fix that but I was able to basically hide that problem!

On attaching the lower wings, I found the port wing was hanging a little lower than the starboard wing, so I had to adjust that a bit. Then I applied some dark paint to the wing's undersurfaces. I then masked them and sprayed Tamiya Flat Aluminum. Removing the tape, I then sprayed  a thinned coat of aluminum hoping to create a shadow effect. Not sure if that really worked.

Some pre-shading on the wings'

I had initially planned on doing an overall aluminum finish common to most Pfalz DIII's but decided instead to go with the interesting purple/green camo found on some very early Pfalz fighters. I used a mix of Tamiya acrylics for the purple, and Tamiya XF-27, Black/Green for the upper colors. The undersides remained aluminum.

After applying the camouflage, I then masked the wing-mounted radiator on both the top and underside of the upper wing. After that it was time for a coat of Future. Then, it was time for decals! I used the Encore decals for almost everything except the actual a/c serial number. They are very, thin, yet holding together quite well. They are also very well printed with very fine detail.

Note the rigging instruction placard, The Roden decal sheet gives it as a simple white block but the Encore sheet includes much more detail! I added the decal from the Encore sheet which had the script and even a tiny diagram of the aircraft.

I should mention a new toy I received during this build; a Vertigo biplane jig. It was a little scary at first to even assemble the thing but once I began using it, I was sold. It really helped out when getting the top wing installed and also with rigging and final assembly. 

On the Vertigo jig!

I tried out using resin turnbuckles for this build. I used double ended ones which had a very short length of EZ line attached to one end which was glued to holes on the wings and fuselage. Then, a long length of EZ line was glued to the other terminus of the rigging and then fed through the open eyelet. This allowed me to ensure that the turnbuckle was set at a natural looking angle and permitted me to adjust the line for the proper tension. It took some practice but I think it came out well.

The turnbuckles at the wing root.

With the rigging accomplished, it was now time to fix the radiator and fuel line plumbing. The rear radiator pipe was in a hard to reach spot and it took a couple of tries to get it located. The forward radiator pipe was two pieces which required a little finesse to set properly. The fuel line on the port side turned out to be the easiest part to install!

I was now approaching the home stretch of this build! I installed the control cables on the tail and on the ailerons. Then the final challenge; the landing gear! Always a challenge to get these strong enough to support the model! Strangely enough, my first hiccup was with the tail skid! It was hard to find a good attachment to the tail. Eventually, and with a little super glue, I was able to fix it into place...

Rudder and elevator control lines fixed!

Finally, I carefully installed the pre-assembled gear onto the fuselage using a combination of Tamiya Extra Thin cement and super glue. I then installed the rigging wires to give a little more support. The result seemed sturdy enough. Still a little wobble but more stable than on my Albatros!

Installing the landing gear, again the Vertigo jig proved very handy!

Landing gear installed!

Finally, I did a little paint touch up here and there and called it a day! This build went pretty well except for my problems with the motor and lower wing alignment. I think those two items are probably my mistakes. At any rate, I was able to correct them, or at least hide them well enough to make a decent looking model!

Here are some shots of the completed model, thanks for looking.

I have a Squadron/Encore "Blue Max" Pfalz in the stash. Looking it over I believe I will be able to convert it into a Pfalz D.IIIa model by using the parts given in that kit. The only scratch building needed will be for the horizontal stabilizer. So, there's a future project!

Revell BF109G-6 in Finnish markings, 1/32 scale.

 

Revell's 1/32 scale Bf-109G-6

MT-499 pranged, 1946.

My rendition, from the Revell 1/32 scale BF-109G-6.

This build is actually my second Finnish Gustav model, the first being the 1/48 scale ARII, (nee Otaki), kit, see: https://georgesmodels.blogspot.com/2020/03/amt-me-109g-6-in-finnish-colors.html

When I was building that kit, I found this Revell 1/32 scale kit available for $20! This is a relatively new tooling, actually a completely new kitset compared to the old 109F/G Revell had produced in the late '60s. 

And what a nice kit it is! Revell offers a choice of early or late model G's, with the standard or later tall rudder and standard canopy or the later Erla type. 

Since I enjoy modeling Finnish aircraft, I wanted to do another Finnish G. But this time, I wanted to try a post-war variant.

The Finns used to Messerschmidt fighter as an operational fighter longer than almost any other air force with the possible exception of Spain, who actually continued to manufacture their own into the 1950s. The 109 was the most numerous fighter in the Finn's inventory at the close of WWII, so it was a natural choice to continue to use them. 

After some hemming and hawing, I finally decided to model Mersu # MT-499. My reference, Stenman's and Keskinen's excellent book on the Finnish 109 had one grainy photo and a profile of this A/C. The brief summary of it's history indicate it was received in late August 1944 and delivered to HLeLv 33 at that time. In 1952, it was delivered to HLeLv 31. It was finally stored in March of 1953 with a total of 385 hours logged. That's a pretty good life for an old warbird.

The photo I based my model on was taken after an accident in December, 1946. There are a couple of features that attracted me to this scheme. First, it was a "late" 109G, with the tall tail and Erla hood, both features that I wanted to model this time. It's also displays post-war Finnish roundels but still retains the original Luftwaffe camouflage, (for the most part). 

The start of the build, I managed to amass a large number of decals for this one!

This is the first of the newer generation of Revell 1/32 scale kits that I have attempted to build, (I now also have their new Spitfire Mk IX and 109G-2/4 in the stash). I have to say that I'm quite impressed with these kits. The detail is really quite nice and fit seems pretty good. 

I started assembly, after washing the sprues in soapy water, with the interior. Lots of nice things to be found there, but I did decide to use an aftermarket seat. The Barracuda Studios 109G seat comes with nicely molded harnesses which made detailing the interior very easy. The part is designed for this kit and pops right in. The sculpturing on the harnesses looks just right in my opinion. Everything else in the interior is from Revell, even the decals for the instrument panel, although they were a challenge to apply, being quite thick they required a lot of decal softener to get them to settle down.

One feature I really enjoyed was the fuel line being molded in clear plastic! Careful painting made this feature really stand out. It's a nice touch.

Interior components, look at that fuel line, really nice looking!

Many Finnish 109's were equipped with tropical air filters, so I added one to my build. I used Quickboost's filter, it comes with an open and a closed version, so you actually get two filters with that set, something to same for another build.

Preparing the air filters for installation.

Next came assembly. The interior was carefully tucked away into the fuselage. Care has to be taken in making sure comes together smoothly. The forward fuselage panels take a certain amount of care...

The wings include a short span of spar which helps insure a good dihedral angle for the wings. 

I encountered a few gaps, at the wing roots and at the joint for the outer wing panels. I wish the upper wing panels were molded in one piece, but I can see why Revell did this, to be able to offer different models' wings.

I used stretched sprue to fill the gaps here and that worked pretty well.

The somewhat complex flap arrangement on the 109 is nicely reproduced by Revell. In fact, you don't have to glue them in, they can be posed however you like them. Unfortunately, one small tang on the upper wing panel had broken off, so I did have to cement one of the flaps down to keep it connected to the wing! Still, the result nice looking. I generally don't care for moving elevators, ailerons, or rudders, but Revell has included all these in this kit. Oh well, they worked out in the end.

Time for paint! I always enjoy these mid-war German schemes with the mottled finish on the sides. I used my Badger 105 for most of the main colors, then switched to my Velocity Renegade for the mottling. I was pretty happy with the results.

The photo of MT-499 also showed some bands of dark color on the nose. It looked like a hard line of demarcation along the rear of the back band, so I went with the assumption that the nose sections may have been replaced from another aircraft.

Note the dark bands added to the cowling panels.

I also applied some exhaust stains along the side, it's a feature which seems universal on these A/C.

Decaling turned out to be a bit of an adventure. Of the three different decal sheets I had for a post war, 1/32 scale 109, not one had the correct size roundel for the fuselage! All were too big, being the same size as the wing roundels. I ended up using the roundels from a 1/48th scale sheet for the fuselage. The serial number, MT-499, was pieced together from various sources.

I used some data decals, but not many, from various sheets, none from the Revell sheet, those were just too thick and did not look good on the model.

Exhaust staining, I probably could have gone darker and maybe a little more extensive!

Now time for the details. The Revell spinner has an unfortunate seam that really should be removed . I tried to lessen it before assembly but it still stood out. I eventually had to fill to after assembly which was pretty tricky.

A bad spot for a seam!

Also on the subject of the spinner. The profile of this A/C indicated an all-white one, but I thought that was a little too much white! I decided to give it a segmented scheme, with a black section. This helped hide that seam and I thought it just looked nicer. A study of the photo doesn't rule out the possibility of this feature!

I finally got to the point of assembling all the various subassemblies, etc. The landing gear, I have to say, is rather complicated and I think could have been quite a bit simpler. There are some nice after-market brass sets which are tempting. Maybe I'll try some when I build the G-2/4.

Got her on her legs!

The rest of the build went along okay, although it took me a while to figure out how to install the canopy! A combination of Tamiya tape, Legos and superglue finally got it in place! Stretched sprue was use for the aerial and for the "lanyard" holding the canopy in place,

MT-499 completed!

I enjoyed this build, I'm starting to realize that I appreciate modern model kits and their engineering. That said, there are a few areas where this kit was maybe a trifle over-engineered, LOL. 

Anyway, I have the G-2/4 version of this kit in the stash, I'll look forward to that build, too. Next time, I'll use the Barracuda seat again, along with their spinner and possibly their tailwheel, these are nice features that make  assembly a little quicker.