Albatros D.III
Weekend Edition

Eduard, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Eduard's 1/48 scale Albatros D.III Weekend Edition is available online from Squadron.com
 

The Albatros D.III was a biplane fighter aircraft used by the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) during World War I.

A modified licence model was built by Oeffag for the Austro-Hungarian Air Service (Luftfahrtruppen). The D.III was flown by many top German aces, including Wilhelm Frankl, Erich Löwenhardt, Manfred von Richthofen, Karl Emil Schäfer, Ernst Udet, and Kurt Wolff, and Austro-Hungarian ones, like Godwin von Brumowski.

It was the preeminent fighter during the period of German aerial dominance known as "Bloody April" 1917.*

* Historical summary courtesy of Wikipedia

Eduard originally released their 1/48 scale Albatros D.III as a ProfiPACK Edition way back in 1999. Doesn't time fly?

The model was greeted with much justified praise upon its release. It was well-detailed, accurate and broken down as simply as possible.

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18 years later, the plastic still looks good. This time around it is a Weekend Edition with 57 plastic parts and markings for two aircraft. There is no photo-etch or masks, but there is a correspondingly low price.

The shiny plastic is presented in a sophisticated shade (to me eye!) of medium grey and the moulds are holding up remarkably well - no flash or sink marks on my sample as far as I can see. The fuselage features crisply recessed panel lines, while the wings and tailplanes boast subtle stretched fabric effect.

The plastic detail in the cockpit looks good. Decals are supplied for instrument dials and harness straps.

Lower wings are presented as two halves attached to the fuselage with two shallow locating pins on each side.

The upper wing is full span. It sits upon two V shaped interplane struts and two single-piece cabane struts.

A rudimentary rigging diagram is offered in the instructions.

Markings are for two aircraft:

• Lt. Werner Voss' aircraft attached to Jasta 2 in Proville, France, 1917. This features painted wings and woodgrain fuselage with some colourful markings.

• Manfred von Richthofen, Jasta 11, Harelbeke in Belgium, June 1917. What else could it be? Red fuselage and upper wings with blue wing lower surfaces.

Decals are printed in the Czech Republic and they look good.

Eduard’s 1/48 scale Albatros D.III stands the test of time.

Considering this model was first released nearly 18 years ago, it certainly remains a worthwhile contender for building. It is well detailed, mouldings are still very crisp, and the absence of photo-etched parts means that it will be an even faster build than before.

Still Recommended!

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2017 by Brett Green
Page Created 17 January, 2017
Last updated 18 January, 2017

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