Aviattic 1/32 Pfalz D.VIII

[gedmundson]

Lovely job Gary, she looks fantastic. It is indeed a lovely kit, and it's great to see it being built up so well. I'm glad the hints and tips were of some help in the build.

I just noticed you added the altimeter on its springs, well done! That was beyond me......

Hey Nigel, thanks for that. Your review was printed out and sat on my bench for the whole build. Those springs were such a faff...needed to be re-done a few times before things sat right. Wrapped 0.1mm copper wire around a slightly thicker core then trimmed to fit. A bit out of scale, but what the heck 
Cheers,
Gary

[Dutch522]

Stunning work, Gary, not much I can add that hasn't already been said! Looking forward to the eventual appearance of your article, even though I don't really like reading that magazine because it makes me want to build jets and stuff...

Dutch

[William Adair]

That's a gorgeous build. Incredibly inspiring!

[macsporran]

Another superb model from you, Gary. What a beaut.

On the one hand, you make me want to start mine, but on the other you make me tremble at the hill to climb! Models are there to be built though. Interesting how a craftsman of your experience rates the difficulty. But the result was well worth your effort. 
Lovely rendition.

Sandy

[Umlaufmotor]

Excellently built model - the figure of Paul Bäumer is just as excellent.
Gary, I am a secret admirer of your model building skills - and I'm particularly impressed by your figure painting.

Can you tell us which color mixture you used for the Pfalz silver-grey, please?

BtW - My Pfalz D.VIII "Pour-Le-Merite" box arrived yesterday.
Simply outstanding stuff in the box, I am simply thrilled.

Here is an original photo of Paul Bäumer's D.VIII.
Maybe you should - see picture - attach the black, white and red fabric banner to the rudder to identify the "Jasta boss"?
Servus
Bertl

Hi Bertl - your kind words have made my day  Glad you like the model & figure. The figure was actually disappointing in quality, but I did my best to make it work with the model. For the Silbergrau I used Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminum and XF-19 Sky Grey in a 1:1 ratio, and airbrush on a semi-gloss after.

I have seen this photo of Baumer's aircraft before...but not with the back of the tail showing the Jasta leader's banner. I think it would make a great addition to the model. But I cannot make out the layout of the colours or the approximate dimensions - could you help me there? I'd love to add it.
Cheers,
Gary

Hello Gary,

regarding the length and width of the leader's banners, I believe that I have read that they were normally around 5 - 8cm wide and 2.5 to max. 3 meters long.
Usually the banners were painted in the colors of the flag of the German Empire.
Starting with approx. 80-100cm black, then 80-100cm white and finally 80-100cm red.
Made from canvas, the corners and edges were sewn all around.
The colors used did not really matter, the only important thing was that the leader was visually recognizable in the air in the mass of aircraft - the banner was of course clearly recognizable - the colors probably less so.

I thought I got this information from the book
“Die gesamten deutschen Luftstreitkräfte im 1. Weltkrieg” by Major a.D. Georg Paul Neumann, 1920 edition.
But I couldn't find these lines in the book today in a hurry.

However, there are some pictures showing banners on the airplane.
Udet and Kempf quickly come to mind.
Of course also the Pfalz D.VIII by Paul Bäumer.
On Paul Bäumer's Pfalz D.VIII the banner looks as if it were about 20-30cm of light, unpainted canvas and then the black color begins.
Kempf even had a banner on each side of his triplane, these were mounted to the wooden spurs under the wing.

Here is the link to the website of the descendants of the pilot Fritz Kempf.
Very interesting pictures.

http://www.kempf.no/index.html

And this link leads directly to the picture of his Fokker Dr.1 213/17 “Kennscht mi no?”
The banners are relatively easy to recognize.

http://www.kempf.no/Bilder/Varaircrafts/C066.jpg

Servus
Bertl

...... Ah, almost forgot - thanks for the info about the “silver gray” 

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[gedmundson]

Hello Gary,

regarding the length and width of the leader's banners, I believe that I have read that they were normally around 5 - 8cm wide and 2.5 to max. 3 meters long.
Usually the banners were painted in the colors of the flag of the German Empire.
Starting with approx. 80-100cm black, then 80-100cm white and finally 80-100cm red.
Made from canvas, the corners and edges were sewn all around.
The colors used did not really matter, the only important thing was that the leader was visually recognizable in the air in the mass of aircraft - the banner was of course clearly recognizable - the colors probably less so.

Servus
Bertl

...... Ah, almost forgot - thanks for the info about the “silver gray” 

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Thanks for that Bertl - much appreciated. Here's what I did with your info. Luckily I'm still typing up my article and this will be a great additional picture to include & talk about. I remember also your help with the Albatros D.Va and the flare pistol on the right hand side of the aircraft - another "thought I was done, but I wasn't" moment. But thanks to you the model was much more accurate.
Cheers!
Gary

[Borsos]

What a fantastic build, Gary!
I received my kit last week and I am still overwhelmed by its surface details and quality all over.

[DaddyO]

Brilliant work all round Gary (and a nice touch to add the streamer Bertl suggested)

Paul

ps - Good to read that Brad has a love/hate relationship with the Aviattic decals too having been battling to use the transparent ones on a 72nd fuselage I stripped them off and, after an aborted second attempt, used the white backed ones instead.

[NigelR]

Thanks for that Bertl - much appreciated. Here's what I did with your info.

Some icing on a very nice cake!

[AngryJazz]

I really love to look at your beautiful made models Gary - they are all so well executed! Lots of attention to details all around 

[gedmundson]

That really is a great model there, Gary

Love the subtle weathering (chipping) on the fuselage around the cockpit opening.

Regards

Dave

Thanks for that, Dave - it was the very last step of the finishing. I never know when to stop adding those little paint scratches...but try to err on the side of "not too many" 

[gedmundson]

What a fantastic build, Gary!
I received my kit last week and I am still overwhelmed by its surface details and quality all over.

Thanks Andreas - it's quite the kit. I was happy to see Richard add a few spares of the tiny parts, and I certainly needed a couple of them. And completely lost one of the etched metal parts (front support for undercarriage) and had to make one from styrene 

[gedmundson]

Another superb model from you, Gary. What a beaut.

On the one hand, you make me want to start mine, but on the other you make me tremble at the hill to climb! Models are there to be built though. Interesting how a craftsman of your experience rates the difficulty. But the result was well worth your effort. 
Lovely rendition.

Sandy

Thanks Sandy! If you're ready to start your build at some point please send me a PM and I can pass along a few of my building experiences 
Cheers,
Gary

[macsporran]

Gary, you are a gentleman.
S

[Allan31]

Magnificent build Gary, just the right amount of subtle weathering. Glad you added the pennant, nice touch.