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Building the Wingnut Wings Halberstadt CL.II

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Dave W:
Building the Wingnut Wings Halberstadt CL.II



By Ray Rimell

Reviewed by Dave Wilson

Price: £26 plus post & packing
Stockist: Available through the Albatros Productions webstore https://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk or specialist retailers worldwide.

Contents:

54 pages, text, colour photographs, black & white photographs, colour profiles.

Comment:

The ninth title in Albatros’ now comfortably familiar series on building specific Wingnut Wings model kits is an in depth study of the Halberstadt CL.II kit, released in November 2018.

By now the series of “how to” titles has settled into a steady routine offering a detailed look at what’s in the box then a copiously illustrated step by step walk through of how to get the best from the model build, with handy tips on how to improve what’s in the stock kit.   

Add to this some crisp archive images and several of Ronny Bar’s inspired profile art works and the result is a standalone all you need (with the kit instructions and Windsock Datafile!) guide on making the best possible Halberstadt.
   
Like the Hannover CL.II special which preceded it, and the others in the series, the Halberstadt special can be regarded as an invaluable reference aid to anyone planning to build the Wingnuts kit, or super detailing the Mirage 1/48th kit or the now rather ancient Aurora 1/48th scale model.

The author, Ray Rimell is rightly highly regarded worldwide as a WW1 aviation historian, author and publisher and his Albatros Productions stable is, to me, always the go-to setting for quality assessments of all WW1 kits.

Ray’s work always enhances the hobby and he is also generous in sharing his lifetime of handy model tips to help fellow modellers get the best from their models.

In this title his advice includes some very useful pointers for using Aviattic lozenge decals.



The cover image is a clever blend of Ray’s model in flight with Doug Craner crew figures on a digital composite background by Jerry Boucher. This is a very effective way to showcase the publication.

The layout then follows a now-established format of a general overview of the Wingnut Wings Halberstadt CL.II kits (both Early and Late variants), a look at the plastic and decals, and then an in-depth build log where Ray takes us through all of the construction steps with more than 200 illustrations to illustrate the build step by step.



Ray’s publication focuses on building the Early version of the aircraft and he usefully covers every step including super detailing, and special attention is paid to the Mercedes engine and cockpit.




All of these images are augmented by detailed how-to painting and finishing techniques, especially reproducing a printed fabric effect and the challenging “scumbled” fuselage camouflage finish.




Ronny Barr contributes nine new colour profiles and the publication benefits from a selection of original wartime archive images – all of them previously unseen by this reviewer.




There’s also a handy update postscript to the recent Hannover publication and colour photos of a preserved Hannover CL.V in Norway.

A big plus for these publications is that they are aimed at modellers of all levels, to help a modeller get the best from his particular abilities.

There’s plenty of helpful highlights in this publication, including detailed after-market accessory and decal listings, web links to the manufacturers, a bibliography and a helpful section to decode the aviation jargon attached to these aircraft.

Summary:

This latest Albatros Productions’ modelling special is an invaluable research source for anyone making the Wingnuts Halberstadt CL.II

Verdict:

Highly recommended. 
(Review copy courtesy of Ray Rimell, Albatros Productions Ltd)

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