Three Pfalz D-III and IIIa's, MAC Distribution 1/72

[Dric]

Excellent idea, I will look forward for your diorama

[vincentm]

Thanks all.
Warren, yes I'm using adhesive aluminum foil. It seems to be able to stretch along almost any shape. The removed panels were made from ordinary aluminum sheet (food package), and embossed on the kit itself to give them their shape.

The hanger is painted and finished, I've stuck it onto the frame which is the diorama base. So I'll have to wait until the plaster is poured and painted like earth to make more pics.

Meanwhile hopefully I've managed to give the karmans their rounded shape using Milliput as a putty. Pics soon.

[vincentm]

I've removed the engraved radiator sliding shutter and rebuilt it from scratch. The handle will be added in the last build stages:


Small wooden table for the diorama. The top was made from a piece of the roof of an Italeri wooden building, while the legs were built from match wood (real wood is best to figure...wood, whenever you can use some)


Attaching the lower wing to the fuselage is tricky, the fitting being poor. To get a correct alignment of the wing, I've added a plasticard guide (the white bit on the rear) and also had to add plastic at the front of the lower center section:


Lower wings have been cut away and removed on von der Marwitz's a/c, and wing spar attachment points were added. The joint between the fuselage and the karmans leaves a crisp line that will have to disappear.


I used Milliput for this, and wet swabs (is that the right word??) to smooth it:




The tailplanes were added. I've also used adhesive aluminum tapes to rebuild the reinforcement plates. The arrows show the main differences between a D-III and D-IIIa.


Next, all three planes had their rudders and elevators installed, except Stark's machine for which the elevator will remain uncovered and will be put in place after painting:

[PrzemoL]

It is a feast to one's eyes. Especially for those who like the Speyer-based-firm aircraft and their copies in the small scale! You are doing marvels with these little ones. Having built two Roden's D.III I was often wondering if MAC's are better. I see, that they are similar, Roden's kit had also serious fit problems at the wing-fuselage joint. You have solved yours in a fine way. I am looking forward to see this project completed!

[frame]

Incredible job. I do not know what it cost you to achieve such detail in this small detail, but I can only say to keep still because your project turns into a small shedyorar. I have a question for you: I saw that in the joint smoothed kit with cotton buds, but with what you've soaked?

best wishes
Hristo

[WarrenD]

I am enjoying watching this build so much, you're doing some great work.

Warren

[RAGIII]

I agree with all of the others. Your work continues to inspire! I have the WNW pretty high up on my List and only hope I can do half as well as you have in a MUCH LARGER SCALE!
RAGIII

[coyotemagic]

Truly magnificent work so far, Vincent! 
Cheers,
Bud

[IanB]

These are coming on really nicely, very impressive!

Ian

[vincentm]

Thanks!!
Przemol, I still wonder which one of the MAC or Roden kit is the best. I thought the Roden one would be more difficult to build because the upper front fuselage is a separate part (2 optional parts either for a D-III or D-IIIa being provided), and I was afraid I would damage the finely moulded metal panels and hatches when sanding down the joint. In the end, on the MAC kit I had to entirely scratch-build those panels and hatches because they were just scribed panels...
I also found out that the shape of the rear end of the karmans is wrong on the MAC kit (it's closer to that of a Spitfire than a Pfalz D-III), so I had to sand the lower wing rear lowerside to get the correct shape back.
Moreover, engines are copies of Roden ones which are far better...To conclude, there is a lot of work on this little kit, although the overall shapes and dimensions are fine.

Frame, the cotton buds were soaked in water. Water allows to cleanly smooth the Milliput putty without leaving any traces, and I wanted above all to prevent any further sanding to preserve my aluminum hatches.

RAG, I wish I made 1/32 plane models! The dispatching of parts on the WNW kit is far better thought than on both 1/72 kits...especially at the karman side, as well as for many more details. If only Peter Jackson could have the idea to produce 1/72 model kits...

I have made some pics of the finished hanger and lozenge decals I've drawn and printed. More soon.

[vincentm]

Here are the pics.

First the hanger. Doors will only be glued in place when the plaster is poured, to prevent them from being buried in. The 2 a/c are in place, the third one will have it's own base.


And here are the lozenges I printed. They can be cut either "spanwise" or "chordwise" like on Aviattic sheets. It looks like Aviattic decals whatsoever, but I wanted a blue with a little less purplish shade on the upperside. On the lowerside, the violet is a little too pinky, think I'll have to fine-tune my image file before making more prints. The blue is also a little bit too dark IMO.

[Ernie]

The multi-Pfalz project is looking amazing, Vincent!
Excellent work!  The wood on the hanger looks great.

Cheers,
Ernie

[vincentm]

Thanks. I took a look to all those old wooden hangers or garages I can see while having a walk in my village. I think the planks should even look a little more greyish but well, it depends on the age of the wood.

[Squiffy]

I think your wooden planking looks very good. True, wood does go grey with age if left exposed to the elements but these hangars wouldn't have been more than a couple of years old - three or four at the most? If the wood was creosoted then I think your colour is fine as it is.

[vincentm]

Thanks. Yes, I noticed the most important is to figure different shades for the planks, and the way some of them get darker at one end. When this was done, it started to look like a wooden building. For the colors, I didn't exactly know what to use as I'm not yet familiar with wooden hangers. I put a first coat of Humbrol 119, then a coat of future to protect it, and the following effects were made with oils (dark brown and black). Then a drybrush with light tan was added to the edges.