BMW D.IIIa engines fitted to Albatros DVa's?

[Brad Cancian]

Hi all - does anyone know if the BMW D.IIIa engines were fitted to Albatros D.Va aircraft? If so, does anyone have any examples / pictures?

With limited (i.e. effectively nil) aftermarket Mercedes D.III / D.IIIa engines available on the market, I am looking at the Armoury 1/48 BMW D.IIIa for an Eduard Albatros but I suspect they weren't often fitted to the Albatros (I believe these were more fitted to Fokker D.VII aircraft?).



Anyone have any insights or examples for these engines on Albatros aircraft?

Thanks,

Brad

[Luftace]

Hi Brad

Unfortunately I do know know the answer as to whether the BMW engine was ever used on any Albatros D.Va. I am curious to know myself. If you have a Roden 1/48 Fokker D.VII you could use a Mercedes engine from one of those as they come with both a BMW and a Mercedes in each kit on the common engine parts tree. Some of the details will have to be scratchbuilt or sourced elsewhere if you still want to have them for your Fokker kit later. The late Fokker built kit doesn't  require the Mercedes in that version as it is the one I took my engine from, kit 417. PM me for details about how to cast exact copies of the shared kit parts in plastic, not resin, needed to complete the engine (rocker arm boxes etc.) if you need the info sooner than a couple days from now. I will be posting a tutorial of sorts how I did everything in my next update.

Chad

[Brad Cancian]

Thanks Chad - alas I don't have a spare Roden D.VII in the stash, and I stole a D.IIIa from one that I did have way back in the day, so I can't really go down this path either (unless I try and salvage an old junk one and perhaps cast some copies, as you suggest).

I also don't like how Roden (and Eduard) have moulded the ignition wire tubes down the sides of the cylinders as this looks blocky and unrealistic.

I see potential to take the Armour cylinders, perhaps graft them onto a modified eduard or Roden engine block (probably the Roden one, as the Eduard engine block is pretty rubbish), and do something there, but it certainly is a bit of a muck about. 

There's so many aircraft that used the D.III and D.IIIa engines, I would have thought there would be quite a few on the market in 1/48, but alas there's nothing. The Vector D.IIIa appears to now be pretty much out of production. Even Karaya have stopped selling their D.III. We really do appear to have no option at the moment for a decent D.III or D.IIIa engine.   

Looks like i'll have to see what I can do... 

Cheers again!

BC

[Luftace]

Understandable, Brad. Yes, I am replacing the ignition wire tubes on mine as well, wasn't too difficult to remove and clean up once I dove in. Hope you can find a satisfying solution soon and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Chad

[Dirigible-Al]

Hi Brad
Behind a wall a cobwebs in my brain I knew I read something about this. I managed to remember where I saw it and found it this evening, hope this is of use.
Alan.

[skeeterbuck]

Brad,

The Pavla 48-07 Engine Mercedes IIIa is available if that will work for you.

Check it out here:   http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/product_info.php?products_id=3222&osCsid=04i2jojco0hnnakdt5en6sebh3

Their showing 2 in stock. Hope this helps, Chuck

[Brad Cancian]

Thanks all!

Hopefully one day someone will start producing these again.

Cheers,

BC

[torbiorn]

I wanted to say that smallstuffmodels have a wonderful Merc DIIIa but upon browsing the store apparently it is only available in 1/72. Maybe worth checking from time to time if a 1/48 appears.