ghodges Posted May 31, 2016 Report Share Posted May 31, 2016 (edited) Built this for the WWI Fellowship Build over on the Christian modeling website; Agapemodels.com Somewhat disappointed in this kit. Eduard is supposed to be "top of the line", and this IS probably the best Pfalz DIII in 1/48....however, there were too many engineering anomalies along the way such as:1) Strut socket holes too small (or pins too large)2) Strut holes not angled to accept struts at correct angle (or pins not angled off strut to set angles properly)#1 and #2 required re-drilling all of those holes!3) Other placement holes, such as for the upper aileron actuators and the elevator/rudder control horns were barely a dimple (not big enough)4) The attachment points for the axle wing were mere points, without any sort of pin/socket arrangement for positive connecting and/or alignment. If I'd had no experience with biplanes, or been without experience "re-engineering parts" (from building vacs and resin kits); the landing gear assembly would have been VERY difficult to build!5) The depressions on the upper fuselage decking where the guns go weren't deep enough to accept the receiver bodies of the guns (probably should have been holes instead). This meant the guns wouldn't sit flat on the upper decking. I had to cut off the lower half of each receiver to allow the guns to fit properly onto the upper deck.6) Kit decals slow to react to solvent. This meant that the lozenge decal edges didn't want to curl around and tighten down on the leading and trailing edges, requiring a lot of touch up on those edges.7) The orange diamond turned out to be slightly translucent, allowing the silver gray stripes to show through upon close inspection.All in all, these are just bumps in the road along the way. Taken all together though, it makes me feel that Eduard needs to concentrate more on their basic engineering for biplane assembly and a little less on the detailing (which was quite nice).Eduard did include some masks, which made painting the empenage easier; as well as some pe parts that enhanced the cockpit and a few other areas. By the way, the prop is painted, and the rigging was done with 6mil Wonder Wire (ceramic wire)In any case, good to have another model on the shelf, and it does make for an attractive scheme! Comments, critiques, and questions welcome, as always! GIL Edited May 31, 2016 by ghodges 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewahl Posted June 1, 2016 Report Share Posted June 1, 2016 Hi, Gil, My first reaction while viewing the photos was "This is sharp!" I'll stick with that assessment. Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Deliduka Posted June 2, 2016 Report Share Posted June 2, 2016 Amazing work Gil! Way to go! I'd like to know where you got that wire from. I have a couple planes and ships to rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted June 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2016 The Wonder Wire has to be ordered from Precision Enterprises at: 802-885-3094 (no web site). This is a true mom/pop operation, but they can take your credit card info over the phone to fill your order, or you can make arrangements to pay by money order (slower, I'm sure). It's about $9.95/pkg, and you get about 10yds of the stuff. I use "6mil", which seems a good size (and even a bit dainty) for 1/48, and would work for thinner rigging in 1/32. I'm not sure what other sizes they may have available. GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiralcity Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 Looks great, nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PawelP Posted June 11, 2016 Report Share Posted June 11, 2016 Gil ... veeery fine ! Airplanes from the IWW are not easy, but each finished biplane model looks amazing. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aAzZ09 Posted June 14, 2016 Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 Very nice work, Gil! I understand the difficulties with basic build vs. fine detail. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonL Posted June 23, 2016 Report Share Posted June 23, 2016 She fine! Nothing to apologize for here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts