Pfalz DIII / DIIIa 1/48 Group Build After Build

[Alexis]

Nice job on replacing the wing details and the re-shaping . Sweet !



Terri

[RAGIII]

The Blue Max wings are certainly better after your fix! Looking great.
RAGIII

[andonio64]

Thanks Rick & Terri.
Sunday evening I put pins into the central part of the lower wing and pierced 4 holes in the two lower wings.
Next step is to drill holes in the wings (both upper and lower for both the kits) where to place the rigging or the eyelets.

[andonio64]

Hallo friends, Merry Christmas to everybody!

I went on with the build and while checking the fit of the struts on the lower wings I decided to make from scratch the two struts of the Blue Max...

Here you can see:
No.1 - one strut of the Eduard kit
No.3 - the Blue Max strut in white metal
No.4 - the "raw" piece I cut from a plasticard sheet 1 mm thick
No.2 - the first self made strut ready


Here are both the struts finished:


Ciao!

Antonio

[RAGIII]

Very nice work on the struts Antonio!
RAGIII

[andonio64]

Thank you Rick!

[Alexis]

I'm very late to reply or your latest update , my apologizes . I really like how your scratched struts turned out . I'm not a fan on white metal struts . No flex , they just bend . ( My Bluemax kit has white metal struts ) . On the Eduard kit do you plane on changing the angel of the mounting holes on the wings ? ( it aids I found out when I built multiple Pfalz D.IIIa ) .


Terri

[andonio64]

I'm very late to reply or your latest update , my apologizes . I really like how your scratched struts turned out . I'm not a fan on white metal struts . No flex , they just bend . ( My Bluemax kit has white metal struts ) . On the Eduard kit do you plane on changing the angel of the mounting holes on the wings ? ( it aids I found out when I built multiple Pfalz D.IIIa ) .


Terri

Hallo Terri,
this time it's me to be late! I was not home until yesterday night and usually I don't use my phone to manage my accounts...
While the white metal parts are good for details such as machine guns they are totally unsuitable for long pieces that need to bear some tension such as struts, undercarriage...
So I will make from scratch also the other pieces of the BM kit (undercarriage and cabane).

I did not understand what did you mean when you say to change the angle of mounting holes in the wings of the Eduard kit.
The lower wings are cast together along with the center piece (say the floor of the cockpit) and the upper wings are one piece as well, so they don't have mounting holes...
Are you talking about the holes where the struts should fit?

Please help me understand, maybe there's a problem in the Eduard kit I haven't discovered yet!

I take the occasion to send my warmest wishes of a beautiful 2020 to everybody!!!

Antonio

[Alexis]

Hi Stephen , yes the mounting holes for the struts . The holes are cast so the struts stand straight up . The inter struts are set at an outward angle . By re-drilling the holes to meet that angle of the strut you will get a better fit . I have built 6 Eduard kits and did this with all builds , worked like a charm .

[andonio64]

Thanks Terri I'll keep this in mind. Will have a thought on this.

Antonio

[andonio64]

Hallo Guys and Dolls,
after more than 5 months from my last post here I am again with my pfalz duo build.
Apart from covid and lockdown this year has brought with it other major and minor bad things... one will be probably over this early afternoon, in the meantime here and there I found some time crumbles to go a bit ahead, but the progresses were not meaningful and not always deserving a picture!

I have some new pics that I will post immediately after this re-opening post, in the meantime I ask Dave to move this thread into the "Under Construction section, if possible.
If not I will keep posting here.

Thanks

Antonio

[andonio64]

As I had done for the interwing struts of the Blue Max DIIIa, I made from scratch the cabane struts of the same plane, as the other struts they came in white metal which is difficult to polish and to handle and has an uneven surface I don't like.

Here you can see, for comparison sake:
No.1 - one strut of the Eduard kit
No.3 - the Blue Max strut in white metal
No.4 - the "raw" piece I cut from a plasticard sheet 1 mm thick before being worked
No.2 - the first self made strut ready



Here are the two struts ready, you can see the great flex-i-file tool I use a lot in these cases



I had closed and sealed with putty the two fuselages:





And I took care of the tail of the Blue Max, from the Black Dog resin kit I had purchased.

Holes pierced in the fuselage:



Pins inserted in the horizontal planes



And this is how it looks all together onto the plane...


There is a gap due to the thickness of the Blue Max rear end, although the tail planes are not fully on their place and the gap should show less once glued all together, I think I will file a little the left stabilizer.

I also painted and assembled the 2 Machine guns (Gaspatch), will post later a photo of them.
I drilled two long slots in front of the cockpit to let the 2 Spandaus fit.

Thanks for watching and I hope to show something new soon!!!!

Antonio

[andonio64]

Hi again,
another information I wanted to share with you is that as far as the Blue Max DIIIa livery is concerned, looking around to take again over this build I saw Brad Cancian's beutiful “Müller’s Raben”

(have a look here: https://www.aussiemodeller.com.au/pages/Gallery/Aircraft_A-D/Cancian_PfalzDIIIA.html)

and this took to my mind that I have purchased years ago the Pheon Decals sheet: Jasta 18 Volume Two "Raben’s Ravens"

So I decided to make that version.


The Eduard kit wil stay as the Man in the moon with pipe of Hans Burckhard von Buttlar, a duo of Jasta 18 pilots!

[Alexis]

Nice to see these ones back on the bench , both are coming along really well so far


Terri

[RAGIII]

Great to see you going on these two again! The two fuselages look amazing glued together. With a bit of work on that left side I am sure you will nail the tail plane and elevator! I am looking forward to your progress!
RAGIII