Introduction

The seven current releases, sheets no 30011 - 30017 continues the growing line of products from Wingnut Wings, that will give us a far wider choice of subjects to portray, than what is already given us in the box.

Given the numberings of the current sheets, we can probably expect more releases of this line of products. A guess is that some of these will be for the coming Fokker DVII, that also offers a wide range of colourful profiles.

The sheets are priced at $19 and the current international free shipping policy also applies to these. This may seem a bit high to some when a full kit costs $59. However, I think this reflects the cost of production. In fact I suspect a pretty large chunk of what you pay for the kits, goes into producing the decals in the boxes." ( Comments by Mikael Terfors edited to fit current issues ).

Sheet #30014 Albatros D.V of various Jastas

This sheet is dedicated to various machines from different Jastas that have "in the field applied camouflage on their fuselages". This includes six profiles of six known pilots.

A - Albatros D.V 2058/17, Ltn.d.R. Alwin Thurm, Jasta 31, late1917 (5 victories). His personal design is a white disk on an overpainted fuselage with some lower edge details resembling transition scales of a sea creature. He came from Jasta 24s on 4 Aug. 1917 and on 31 Dec.1917 was KIA over Asolo after downing a balloon at 10.50 hours in Alb. D.V 4879/17. Not a day later.

B - Albatros D.V serial unknown, Ltn. Hans Herman von Budde Jasta 15, July 1917. His stylized personal marking represents a light blue band around the fuselage aft of the cockpit. Ltn. von Budde had a long association with Jast 15. He came from Jasta 29 on 20 May 1917 and left on 29 May 1917 for Jasta 5 then returned on 17 June 1917. Then he left again on 14 March 1918 for a posting at Idflieg (High Command of the German Air Service). Between 24 July 1917 and 31 Oct. 1917 he served as the Jasta 15 Adjutant (OzbV). Next he was made commander after the death of Ltn. Heinrich Gontermann from a crash in Fok. Dr.I 115/17. This command posting lasted from 31 Oct. 1917 to 14 Mar 1918.

C - Albatros D.V, serial unknown, Ltn.Heinrich Gontermann, Jasta 15 July 1917 (39 victories). His stylized personal marking represents a red band around the fuselage aft of the cockpit. He came from Jasta 5 on 30 April 1917 assigned as Jasta 15 commander. He was IIC on 29 Oct.1917 and died of his wounds on 30 Oct. 1917.

D - Albatros D.V, serial unknown, Ltn Karl Haustein, Jasta 37, 1917 - 1918. This is thought to be one of the aluminum doped fuselage Alb. D.V airframes that had a further treatment of mottling. It carries the typical Jasta 37 livery but has no personal markings. He arrived in 1917 (?) but by Aug. 1918 he was sent to Kest 4b as commander and was there in Oct.1918 but little else is known.

E - Albatros D.V, serial unknown. Ltn.d.R. Kurt Monnington, Jasta 15, 1917 (8 victories). His stylized personal marking represents the Death's Head (totenkopf) Hussar skull-n-bones insignia that was seen on all of his assigned fighter aircraft from 1917-1918. (He was never assigned to that cavalry unit). It is on a white band around the fuselage. There is some ragged camouflage applied to the fuselage spine that travels down the sides. He arrived on 19 June 1917 and left on 28 Aug. 1917 for AFP 7. Then he returned having come from.Jasta 22s on 30 Sept.1917 and was one of the pilots that were in the identity switch of Jasta 15 to Jasta 18 on 20 March 1918 and served til EOW. He also served as Jasta 15 OzbV from 5 Feb. 1918 to 20 March 1918

F. Albatros D.V serial unknown, Ltn Claus von Waldow Jasta 15, March 1918. His personal marking was a stylized leter "N" and was carried on several of his aircraft. He came from Flgr Abt 205A (artillery Obs) on 2 July 1917 and was one of the pilots that were in the identity switch of Jasta 15 to Jasta 18 on 20 March 1918.

What you get in the package

The decal sheet and a small added sheet for items that did not fit on the large sheet came sealed in A4 sized plastic zip locked bag, making it easy to reseal, and keep the decals safe until you use them. A folded A4 sheet printed in full colour serves as a four page booklet that gives you the instructions on application and also the bio of the pilots that flew the planes. The style of the monograph is similar to what we have seen in the instruction booklets from the kits. Full colour profiles are done by Ronny Bar and they are complimented by archival images of the subjects.

One neat detail in the instructions are hints as to which optional parts to use from the kit and which engine option to choose.

The decals are of the same quality and style of what we have gotten used to from their kits. Cleanly and crisply printed by Cartograf of Italy, my samples were in perfect register with a glossy sheen and clean opaque colours.

Small decals such as the prop, weight tables and rigging instructions are also included on these sheets. So are some of the Iron Crosses, that in some cases duplicates what is already in the basic kit.

Lozenge is not a question!

For this sheet lozenge is not required. There was a small batch of the early Alb. D.V series that came to the front in a coat of overall silbergraü - aluminum powder in the dope carrier. It was much like the finish of the up and coming Pfalz D.III. Some of these airframes wound up in Jasta 15, 31 & 37. In some cases they had the two toned sprayed camoufage on the wings and horizontal tail units and the silbergraü was limted to the fuselage. In other cases the entire airframe was painted in the silbergraü.

Conclusion

We are in the golden age of WWI aviation modeling subjects. My suggestion is to get what you can while you can. You never know what the future will bring. Model On!

My thanks to Michael Terfors for allowing me to use some of his text from his WNW decal reviews.

When contacting manufacturers and publishers please mention you saw this review at AEROSCALE