Greetings all;
One caution about using turnbuckles. The cables on the Pfalz E.I exiting the wing area did not have external turnbuckles. There were turnbuckles used near the pylon / pulley areas

Now that the Flyboys Nieuport has been photographed and the Pfalz has sat in the curing box for about a week, I will begin the paint application.

Greetings all;
The Pfalz E.I Saga continues... The paint application to the fuselage is done and I am starting on the wings. With my studies of the type while building this I have some comments you may find interesting.

While The Pfalz E. I - VI production airframes (except the Pfalz E.III types) used bleached linen (almost white) from the factory there was that nasty rotary exhaust that front line units had to deal with. For those of you not familar with the problem this castor oil exhaust had to be scrapped or sanded off the airframe after each flight. I have been studying portions of the wing roots near the fuselage and the fuselages themselves. Not only was plywood added to the external portions of the vertical fuselage sides (painted black) but portions of the fuselage and wing root areas ( usually two bays out from the root.) were painted white. Especially on the undersurface of the wing.

I have experimented with adding crossed wire and fuselage structure impressions on the fuselage using dark grey enamel and overpainting in a (slightly yellowed) white. I am adding the external fittings and decals at this time. When I added the rocker arms to the engine cylinders, I had to grind out the interior of the cowling near the front upper quadrant to get the right clearance.

Additionally I have discoverd also that the tallest fitting on the upper forward cowling is probably the oil pulsometer. I am gong to cut it off and replace it with a clear stub of styrene as this was a glass tube covered item originally.

Greetings all;

The wings go on tomorrow. One advantage to using a front spar of brass it the easy adjustment of the wing to get and stay at a horizontal position. The kit's plastic stubs will snap easily after glued inplace unless you have a through and through brass rod to support the wings.

Recently I was asked.



All E.I except prototype were armed from the factory. Several had their gun removed later for trainers.




German organization had these machines assigned to two seater units in the beginig then to KEK units designated to escort and protect two seater units and hunt individual combats.




They displayed an Iron Cross.

Greetings all; Just waiting for the rigging to set up before I continue. You will notice that I commented earlier about the oil pulsator possibly being located on the outside of the cockpit. Having added much of the external details I note that from the cockpit with the kit ammo feed you can not see it. Also this item / tower is not on any of the early production airframes.

The spring represented on kit item PP18 (tail skid) should be replaced with two bungee shock chords going from the top of the skid to the back legs of the support trestle. I replaced the support trestles (PP 34 & 39) with 4 cut brass rods of an appropriate diameter. The kit item sets the tail unit too high.

Greetings all;
Are you letting those compound curves get you down during the holiday season? When you try to apply borders and edging decals and wind up with a twisted mass of folded, contorted, useless heartbreak? Doctor Hertz Van Rental of the Aeroscale Institute for AMS has the answer.


Begin with overspraying the decal sheet with a hobby spray gloss such as Testors Glosscote. Let dry thoroughly. Next cut the section of decal you wish to start with and a section of decal sheet without a decal present. There are wide unused borders that have what we need.

For the first decal I recommend starting with the wing tip. Gavia has given you extras...for a reason. Thoroughly wet the clipped water slid decal and lay it on a paper towel face up.

For wetted the non-decal border area section rub it against the area where you want the decal to ultimately rest. This just puts decal adhesive on the wing tip.

Next with the wing in hand lay it on the wet decal and roll it so that the wet decal adheres to the wing tip and pulls away from the sheet it was mounted on. Usually only minor adjustments are needed.

Even though you wind up using the top surface of the decal to attach to the painted surface of the kit, applying the glue from the non decal border section of the sheet insures it will stay on the wing tip. Additional wetting with decal setting solution allows an easy final placement. It took me a total of 10hrs to apply all of the decals for this build. Using a masking technique may get the job done quicker. Note this is specifically for compound curves.

Pouring over further notes I came across a curious item. The main fuel tank behind the pilot's seat has the filler spout in the furthest rear corner of the access panel on the top of the fuselage. The only place I have seen this is in the Datafile drawings. All real aircraft images I have seen of the Pfalz E.I - V single seat fighters shows the filler cap centralized in this access panel not in a corner.

Greetings all;

The work is done and the photoshoot is later today. I checked the curing box earlier and its looking good if the weather holds out. That means probably by Friday we may have some images to post.

So it's best to remove it then?

greetings, Nico

Hi Nico!
I would check with the references you have first. Of the kit provided schemes I would say yes cut it off...but...If you don't have one in the cockpit this could be considered an alternative to leave it where it is. Since Gavia provided the kit I have replaced the fuselage mounted kit item with a small section of clear HSP...heat stretched plastic.

If the incockpit item were damaged in some way then they might have to restort to an earlier configuration. One hint for the builder is that the kit seems to be based on the Windsock Datafile.

Well here is a bit of fun...finally.

ecided to do something a bit different by taking E.I 479/15 that was photographed in the winter of 1915 16 in pristine condition. Then try to weather it as if it had survived through the Spring of 1916.



Remember the fuel drain under the main fuel tank?

Note the attempt to show the castor oil effect. Where it is sanded down after each flight.

Note the attempt to show the wing fabric translucency and the castor oil exhaust. The underside of the fuselage was very seldom cleaned. The curved line on the wing is a shadow and follows the undercamber of the wing.

Note the rudder cables and the elevator cables enter the same inlets in the fuselage. There were only two inlet openings on the top of the fuselage deck not four.


As I come to a close on this build I find that I have a large sense of accomplishment. The rigging foybles that come with monoplanes usually take a specific delicate path. The photoetch parts help with the needed anchorings. While still a novice at the translucent fabric application I feel good about this attempt. I am still trying to keep it subtle and the sunlight washes a bit out. If I were to do this build over I would drop the horseshoe cowling about 1/8 of an inch further down. The gun jacket needs annealing (heat application) to soften it. Even though the rest of the photoetch does not.

As a kit its only failing is that it is over-detailed. Specifically the fuselage ribs need to be softened as they have received the same treatment as the wings. The wing ribs are capped with wooden battens. The fuselage ribs were not. The other concern was the interior fuselage details and the floor insert raising the structure too high. All in all this is a fine kit with great surface details. Better too much than not enough. I could tell you that the wheels are just slightly indersized compared to certain multiview drawings but even drawings can be faulty. You don’t have to be have to be a “dyed in the wool WWI aviation enthusiast” to appreciate this. The Gavia Pfalz E.I is a finely cut mold. With the exception of the fuselage ribbing the kit is nicely subtle. The fuselage can be sanded down and since you will want to rid yourself of the centerline union seams its easy enough. We can only hope that Gavia will continue to grow and put out great kits like this. I personally would like to see the Pfalz E series continued. Maybe a nice injected Nieuport 24 or 27 type? Who knows? My word to Gavia is keep at it you are on the right track.

My thanks to the lord high imperious Aeroscale wizard, Merlin and Eduard for the review kit.

Hi Stephen!

Again some fantastic work that you've done here! I still can't understand how you WW1 guys do such fantastic rigging! Really impressive... and very inspiring!

Thanks a lot for having shared such a superbe built with us!

Jean-Luc

Greetings all; Just a quick note on the Oberursel U.0 80hp rotary used on this aircraft type. The U.0 was a Gnome copy. I know believe there are no induction pipes on the Gnome types 80 - 160hp. (The air is inducted through the crankcase.)

I had to go back and remove the engine and replace it with another spare without the induction pipes. As you go through this thread you will note I have modified the text and images so not to confuse anyone who reads this from here on.


Thanks to MerlinV, Taz, YavorD & mustang for their input.