LFG Roland DIII, mdesign 1/48

[Ssasho0]

Hello everyone, and a very Happy New Year! 🎉
It's been ages since I last posted anything here. Honestly, it's been even longer since I tackled a WWI bird. But 2026 is kicking off with a proper Great War fighter, and I'm hoping it'll reignite my mojo for these quirky rigging nightmares.
A little while back, Mitko Mitkov (the mastermind behind mdesign) reached out and asked if I'd like to test-drive one of his new kits: either the Roland D.II or D.III. We struck a gentleman's agreement. I'll build it, review it honestly, and feed him all the nitpicky feedback so he can tweak future runs. Full disclosure: the kit was a gift, but this will be a no-sugarcoating build log. Promise!
I've known Mitko for years. He used to be in our local modeling club, he's a fellow WWI aviation nut, and he's a way bigger history nerd than I'll ever be. The guy has written several books on early Bulgarian and Balkan aviation (one of them is in the photo: "On the Wings of the Enemy". Cool title, right?). Super knowledgeable and a cracking good modeler to boot.
Okay, enough chit-chat. Let's get to the juicy stuff: the kit itself.
This is a full 3D-printed resin beauty in 1/48 scale. No decals for the main markings (but vinyl masks are included for the crosses and such), plus a tiny decal sheet for stencils. Instructions? Scan a QR code and squint at a PDF on your phone or tablet. No printed booklet, and no clear parts either. Just a 3D-printed template to cut your own windshield from whatever clear plastic you've got lying around.
Packaging is basic but bulletproof: a sturdy cardboard box stuffed to the gills, with smaller parts in their own little protective box. It's not fancy or Instagram pretty, but it gets the job done perfectly. Thumbs up.
This is my first ever full 3D-printed kit, so expect a mistake or two. My WWI skills are also a bit rusty, so fire away with tips, advice, or gentle roasting in the comments. I'm aiming for mostly out-of-box build, but if something screams for a quick tweak, I'll probably do it. Just for fun and a decent looking shark on the shelf.
First impressions: The fuselage comes in two halves, but not split lengthwise like normal. Instead, it's cut horizontally across. Smart move for hiding seams, but it makes superdetailing the cockpit a total pain. My solution? I'm not bothering. Problem solved! 😏
Interior detail is pretty basic. Plenty of room for the scratchbuilding heroes among you. But the exterior is insanely crisp: tiny inspection panels, delicate iron sights, a gorgeous engine... all so fine and fragile and yes, I already managed to ding something. Classic me!
Detail where it counts, and it looks stunning.





Let's dive in!
Step 1: Support removal hell
Open the box and you're greeted by a forest of supports. Not unexpected with 3D printing, but man, it's tedious. Carefully snip, file, and pray you don't obliterate that beautiful surface detail. I find it about as fun as cleaning flash off a short-run kit, but it's part of the hobby tax. A few supports left tiny pinholes, mostly on undersides or hidden spots, so a quick fill-and-sand session sorted them. No big drama.

Step 2: Dry-fitting, planning, and painting
The PDF instructions are okay, but could use more color callouts. Fit is insanely tight. Even snugger than Wingnut Wings. Dry-fit everything, but be very careful. Some parts are so delicate that forcing a test fit can damage them when pulling apart.
I painted the engine using refs from a WnW booklet, did the woodgrain with oils over acrylic base, and slapped color on the main cockpit bits. Then glued the fuselage halves, filled the seam with CA, sanded, repeat until smooth. That's where I am right now. Fuselage closed and looking pretty shark-like already.

As always, recommendations, tips, or constructive criticism super welcome. Let's make this a fun group build vibe. More updates soon! 🚀

[2996 Victor]

Excellent! The mdesign Roland D.II is sitting in my eBay watch list (so many other things to buy), so it's great to see one of these under way. The detail on the parts certainly looks exemplary.

Looking forward to seeing your next update.

Cheers,
Mark

[Umlaufmotor]

Glad to see you're back, Ssascho0.
This is going to be an interesting build report ? I'll sit quietly in the corner and watch 

The Roland D.II and D.III, especially the D.II, are important aircraft that no WW1 model builder can do without.
They played a major role in the Kaiser's Fliegertruppe, particularly in the Balkans and Bulgaria.
I had high hopes that Wingnut Wings would release the Roland D.I/D.II and D.III. sad.

A VERY SERIOUS REQUEST:
Can "mdesign" scale up the 1/48 D.II and D.III kit to 1/32 scale and print it out?

Servus
Bertl

[Ssasho0]

Glad to see you're back, Ssascho0.
This is going to be an interesting build report ? I'll sit quietly in the corner and watch 

The Roland D.II and D.III, especially the D.II, are important aircraft that no WW1 model builder can do without.
They played a major role in the Kaiser's Fliegertruppe, particularly in the Balkans and Bulgaria.
I had high hopes that Wingnut Wings would release the Roland D.I/D.II and D.III. sad.

A VERY SERIOUS REQUEST:
Can "mdesign" scale up the 1/48 D.II and D.III kit to 1/32 scale and print it out?

Servus
Bertl

Hi Mark, Hi Bertl,

long time no see I kind of lost desire to build any military models with the war in Ukraine, which is too close for my liking. I am super happy to see that you are back building and showing your builds on the forum here so we all can learn from the master!

On your question, I talked with Mitko this morning and he will be scaling it up to 1/32. With that being said he is improving the kit at the moment based on feedback received. So far he included metal rods in the wings to make them sturdier and prevent sagging, he made the wing ribs way less pronounced (they have to be aggressively sanded at the moment) and he is considering splitting the front half of the fuselage longitudely to allow access for detailing. It is a learning process and a journey for him, so any feedback he receives from builds is more than welcome!

He is also working on his second kit - Armstrong Whitworth F.K.3

[NigelR]

Always good to see another producer take on WWI and these kits and this looks interesting. Glad to see he is open to feedback, IMO those ribtapes are definitely overdone and already he seems to be addressing that. Best of luck with the rest of the build.

[Umlaufmotor]

Hi Ssasho0,

That's really, really good news for me that the model can be scaled up to 1/32 and that he's going to do it.
I have no idea if he wants to put it into production, but I'll definitely order one - maybe two, we'll see.
The Roland D.II would also be very welcome in 1/32 scale, perhaps even more so than the D.III.
After all, this version also played an important role for the early German aces.
I would also order the D.II in 1/32 scale right away.
Regarding the longitudinal split of the front fuselage:
Mitko knows that the fuselages of the Roland D.II/D.III were manufactured using a "wickeltechnik" ("wrapping technique") -- he could actually manufacture the fuselages in two halves each, a visible fuselage seam would not be entirely wrong and would not need to be filled.

Greetings from Bavaria
Servus
Bertl

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[PrzemoL]

An intersting topic. It is indeed great to see more and more kit producers offering kits for our niche.

And a fine progress on this Roland!

[Ssasho0]

Alright ?let's keep the momentum going with more Roland D.III progress! This build is still zipping along thanks to the low parts count and excellent fit. No seam lines to chase, no marathon filling sessions.
What you DO have to watch: those fit holes. 3D printing shrinkage strikes again?every socket for struts, axles, or whatever ends up a hair too snug. I pinged Mitko about it, and he's will be tweaking tolerances for the next batches. For my unlucky kit, a decent set of drill bits became my best friend. The landing gear was the real comedy show: those "rectangular" holes? Yeah, they're flawless circles now after a gentle reaming. 😏

Let's talk about Paint!
Full resin means starting with resin primer, then a solid black base coat. Why black? I'm chasing that weathered, used-and-abused fighter look. Black basing adds lovely subtle depth and variation underneath.
No boring white pre-shading. Instead, I grabbed the actual camo colors (palette in the shot below) and laid down squiggles over the black. Then lightened each with a touch of buff, squiggled again to hit the darker patches, added more buff, and blended it out. Every layer got progressively more diluted and the green - brown parts look really close to each other, flowing into one another.
Buff is my secret weapon, it's so close to natural linen that the "paint" looks genuinely sun-faded and worn. Same process for blue, green, and brown, keeping fading consistent across everything.
Next: a filter or two to unify the tones and crank up the grime factor. Praying it doesn't go full mud-pie.
Now, markings time! Instead of decals, the kit comes with vinyl masks for the insignias. Confession time: I absolutely hate masks. My track record? Close to zero success. I always manage to mess something up, paint bleeds, edges lift, usually a disaster. But I figured it was time to grow up and learn properly. Watched a couple of YouTube vids, took a deep breath, and gave it a go.
Holy smokes... it actually worked! The results were way better than I expected. Guess I finally cracked the code. Good for me (and my ego). 😅
For the black and white crosses, I skipped pure black and white?they're way too stark and modern-looking. Instead, I went with a very dark gray for the "black" and a very light gray for the "white." It ties perfectly into the faded, dirty vibe I'm after. No crisp parade-ground markings here?just a beat-up frontline bird.



Landing gear woes (and fixes)

As mentioned, those fit holes needed enlarging including the big O-shaped ones for the axles. Well... I snapped one of the pieces. The resin is super hard which is great for crisp detail, but that also makes it very brittle. Be extra careful here, don't repeat my dumb moment. Gentle persuasion only!
Glue alone wasn't going to cut it. The mating surfaces are tiny, and this has to hold the whole kit's weight. I drilled a 0.3mm hole through both parts, threaded in a short length of steel wire for reinforcement, then glued it all together. Crisis averted.



I also had to widen the strut attachment holes and drill fresh ones for the rigging. The kit includes tiny molded stubs where the rigging lines are supposed to attach?handy for beginners to get the angles right, I suppose. I just snipped them off and drilled clean 0.3mm holes instead. Planning to use some Gaspatch 1/48 turnbuckles I've got stashed away somewhere.



Painting and masking are done, gear is prepped and repaired, rigging prep underway. Next steps: attaching struts without snapping anything else (fingers crossed), then full rigging adventure and more weathering
As always, tips, roasts, or "dude, you're doing the masks wrong" are more than welcome. Let's keep this one rolling?next update coming soon! 🚀

[SolentModeller]

I ordered this as soon as I heard about it. Feeling a bit stupid now it seems the kit will be improved soon. Presumably what is in the post is the original, substandard, version. I shouldn?t have been so enthusiastic. For the next model I?ll wait a few months so any improvements have been made and I get a better kit than the original version. In fact none of us should order the first release.

[Ssasho0]

I ordered this as soon as I heard about it. Feeling a bit stupid now it seems the kit will be improved soon. Presumably what is in the post is the original, substandard, version. I shouldn?t have been so enthusiastic. For the next model I?ll wait a few months so any improvements have been made and I get a better kit than the original version. In fact none of us should order the first release.

I don?t agree, the kit is perfectly buildable the way it is, yes there are things that will be improved, but this is a first ever kit and this is normal. Also they are not big issues, but raher small and annoying, not big things that make you bin it. Next kits should have those quality of life improvements from the get go.

[SolentModeller]

You are certainly correct. However my point stands. What modeller will order a new kit if they know there is a good chance it will improved quite soon?. Will you?. Best wait a while and see what happens.

[Richtrad]

As I seem to live under a rock, I was unaware of mdesign. I would certainly want to get a copy of a LFG Roland D.II or D.III if a 1/32 appears. Excellent paint job btw.

Warren Q

[Alexis]

Interesting kit .....




Alexis

[RAGIII]

I have also been following your build on FB. Your painting is awesome and the markings really set the whole thing off! Lovely work!!
RAGIII

[Ssasho0]

I just finished this one, it is an excellent little kit. Easy to build, great detail, low parts count, good fit! More pictures in the competed models section