Andy Brazier reviews Eduards 1:48 scale Albatros D.111, Weekend Edition from the perspective of someone never having built WWI aircraft.

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Thanks!

Thanks Jim.
I would like to apologise and thank the Staff member who edited the pics for me, I'm sorry i forgot to caption them .
Andy

Nice review Andy.
Looks like your in for a long weekend
Nige

This machine is known to be assigned to Ltns. Strobel or Oppenhorst. This Alb. D III had the Leitwerk im blau/weisse Rauten (blue and white diamonds on tail) is the Waffenrock of Bavarian ruling house. My build was done to represent the lower right wing as a replacement. The original machine was photographed in the winter of 1917 - 18. Not in Jan.1917. See the Jagdstaffel 5 monographs from Albatros pub.

Ltn. Fritz Oppenhorst arrived 30Oct17 and left 23Sep18 Js 71.
Ltn. Strobel arrived 28May17 and left 14Aug17 AFP 2

Hi Stephen, very nice Albatros. It looks as though your one has the "polygon" pattern on the lower wing, does that make the Eduard one wrong as it has a 3 colour cam on the top and bottom wing.
Andy

Hi Andy not wrong it is just the only part of the airframe you can't see in the photo image see here below for one of them. fourth from the left.

Jagdstaffel 5, Volume One, says this about 2225/16:

"Another famous machine and one frequently and incompletely rendered in terms of markings. It was supposed to initially have been aircraft number '6', but there is no photographic evidence that it was ever so marked. Its number was then changed to '0' and there are photographs that show it with zeros on the fuselage sides and turtledeck, zeros under both lower wings and an ex-works tail with legible serial. At this time it was flown by Uffz. Weiss. After this Strobel, another ardent Bavarian nationalist, took it over in April 1917 and had the vertical tail surfaces painted in blue and white Bavarian diamonds. Probably this inspired Wolf to a similar, but fuller treatment of his D.V later. Strobel flew it for a time with just the tail marking and the zeros elsewhere, but when markings proliferated under Flashar he had the zeros scraped off the fuselage and the blue and white diagonal bands added, parts of the zeros still being visible. There is no reasonable doubt that the zeros under the wings were retained. The blue and white chevron on top of the upper wing seems anomalous because Strobel was not an ace (no victories at all as far as we can tell). Perhaps he was senior enough to lead a Kette and this might explain it. The rear fuselage and horizontal tailplane were in unit markings as was the spinner. It had an Axial propeller."


The machine could have been flown by either or both...

Ltn. Fritz Oppenhorst arrived 30Oct17 and left 23Sep18 Js 71.
Ltn. Strobel arrived 28May17 and left 14Aug17 AFP 2

Thanks Stephen, when i get stuck i'll know where to find you :-).
Andy

By the way this scheme had been previously done by Eduard in their limited edition kit # 1104 and the earlier Profipack #8035 and Aeromaster decal set for Albatros Fighters. I believe that Americal has it as well in their Jasta 5 sheet.

Hey Andy! Definitely NOT 3 colour camouflaged upper surfaces. This machine was from the last batch of Johannistahl built D.III types. The Venetian red (brown) was deleted from frontline operational machines in the camouflage by summer 1917. The area for either the lt. green or dark green was increased. None of the Johannistahl built D.III types ever carried the mauve and green or the 5 colour "lozenge" from the factory.