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!