1/32 Roden Werner Voss Pfalz D-III and a Wingnut Wings Pfalz D-IIIa 8284/17 flown by Jakob Pollinger

Started by Louis Gardner · 59 · 1 day ago
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    IAN Convey said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    You have convinced me , I have ordered a Roden 1/32 Pfalz D111 from Poland , nil stocks in Oz.

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    Louis Gardner said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    IAN Convey (@firelockg)
    I do sincerely believe that you will like the kit. I have been working on my Roden Albatros D-III and so far it has been pleasant. I don't doubt that it was hard to get one. I got lucky and grabbed the last one that Sprue Brothers had in stock. I also got their last Roden Albatros D-III OAW kit. They should be arriving any day now. I will post up some pictures when they do.

    You can find them on Evilbay, but the prices are usually higher, unless you order them directly from the Ukraine. I have ordered some stuff from there before, and so far, I have not had any trouble. The shipping time is often delayed, but considering the circumstances over there, I can not complain one bit.

    I look forward to seeing what you think about them.

    And thanks again for the kind offer to send me the Hat in the Ring decals. Now I can build the Flag Bus SPAD XIII that has eluded me for years.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Great that you pulled the trigger on the Roden Pfalz, my friend @lgardner!

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    Louis Gardner said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Spiros Pendedekas (@fiveten)
    My dear friend, so am I. Today it arrived in the mail, and I couldn't wait to pop the lid on the box to see what it looked like inside. If it fits as well as it looks, this should be a very nice model. Please stay tuned as I get to work on it. Time will tell...

    IAN Convey (@firelockg)
    John Healy (@j-healy)
    The Roden Pfalz D-III arrived today. It looks very nice in the box. I know the cockpit and interior areas surrounding it were painted in a Gray color. Do either of you gentlemen know if the engine bearers and surrounding wooden structures in the forward fuselage section were also painted in the same Gray ?

    Or were they a varnished wood color?

    I vaguely remember seeing some photos of a Pfalz built aircraft on display in a museum in Europe, (possibly Poland), and going from memory, I believe the engine compartment in it was also painted in a Gray color.

    Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

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    Louis Gardner said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    OK ! I have some great news !

    The Roden Pfalz D-III has arrived. It is the correct one needed to build my Werner Voss Pfalz D-III. It has the MG's mounted inside the fuselage, and they are not exposed. It also has the earlier style wing and cabane struts. Plus it has the smaller horizontal tail. I should be able to build the correct model of the Voss Pfalz, without having to modify anything, or cut up parts on the WNW D-IIIa model.

    You can't believe how stoked I am right now. Yes it doesn't take much I guess... 🙂



    These are some pictures of the sealed box. I was very fortunate and grabbed the very last one that Sprue Brothers had in stock. It was meant to be I guess...

    This is the box art once the shrink wrap was removed. It took out some of the reflections and allows us to better see the box art. Pretty cool illustration I think.

    Now on to the contents inside:



    This shows the wings. Thankfully they are molded as single pieces.

    The under camber looks very good too.

    This is the fuselage tree.

    This shows the exterior plastic. The molding looks to be nicely done.

    This shows the stringers / longerons and some of the molded on bulkhead lines.

    This is the earlier style horizontal stabilizer. This is what was used on the early D-III. They were enlarged on the later D-IIIa. The chord dimensions were considerably wider.

    Now we are looking at the area where the MG's were mounted inside of the fuselage. This arrangement was changed on the later D-IIIa after combat experience showed it was hard for the pilot to reach the MG's while flying if he had to clear a jam or a stoppage. So the mounted the MG's on top of the fuselage on the later version.


    There are two different style props included. I'm guessing that one is an Axial style, and the other one might be a Wolfe, but I'm not exactly sure to be honest. I will do some research, and I may possibly "borrow" one from the WNW Pfalz D-III kit, because it also has several styles included. Chances are they will be better molded and have nicer details.

    This is the Daimler Benz D-III engine parts tree. It is the same one found in the Albatros D-III and D-III OAW kits. I have almost completed building the engine in my Voss Albatros. I can tell you they look very nice when completed. I hope they will fit inside of the fuselage with minimal fuss.


    These are the cockpit and fuselage formers. The spinner, exhaust, and axle spreaders are also located here.

    This is a close up showing the details of some formers, and the spinner. I believe the WNW kit also has two different style spinners. One has an open center. If this is the case, I might "borrow" one from the WNW kit as well. It would likely fit on the spinner better if I kept like parts grouped together. Time will tell.

    Now we are looking at the landing gear and wing struts trees. There are two identical ones in the box.

    This is a close up of the main wheels.

    The MG looks OK. It will probably look just fine since it will be buried deep inside the fuselage, hidden away from the open.

    This shows the older original style wing strut ends. They were more squared off and not tapered.

    Over all, I am very pleased with how these parts look in the box...

    Now I can't wait to get cracking on this one.

    Building a Voss Pfalz D-III has been on my bucket list of "to do" kits for many years now. Building this one and his Albatros will take care of two kits that have eluded me over the years. Since we have this "Great War" group build going on, there's no time better than the present.

    Thanks for stopping by, and as always, comments are encouraged.

    Good night.

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    John Healy said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Looks like a plan, Louis!

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    Louis Gardner said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    John Healy (@j-healy)
    Thanks John ! By chance do you know about the color of the wood in the engine compartment on the Pfalz ? I know the cockpit was a Gray color and not natural varnished wood. Do you think the engine compartment and forward fuselage section was also painted in a Gray that matched the cockpit ?

    Thanks in advance.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Good plan, my friend @lgardner!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    I fully understand you are eager to start with this one, Louis @lgardner

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    John Healy said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Hi Louis. I’m pretty sure it was gray as well. The fuselage halves were all painted internally in one piece. I’ll look at my Windsock Datafile and magazines later today for more info.

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    John Healy said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Louis, WNW and Windsock both say greenish-gray. Wingnut recommends Humbrol #90 which is RAF Sky. To my eye, Sky is yellowish gray. I ended up going with a lightened Humbrol #31 gray/green.

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    It looks like you have quite an assembly line of biplanes, Louis (@lgardner). Looking forward to seeing how you add all the rigging to the models.

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Every time I read this and the related group threads, I end up looking at 1/32 biplane kits. I really need to refrain from this for now. They interest me for sure, but I don't want to get a waiting list of future builds a mile long. So I am contenting myself to watch these progress for now, telling myself, that sometime in the future, I will pull the trigger and give it a go.

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    Paul Barber said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Agree @gblair would be unlike, Louis to do anything by halves!

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    Louis Gardner said 1 month ago:

    Thank you all very much for your continued support and wonderful comments on my various projects.

    Spiros Pendedekas (@fiveten)

    John vd Biggelaar (@johnb)

    John Healy (@j-healy)

    George R Blair Jr (@gblair)

    Carl Smoot (@clipper)

    Paul Barber (@yellow10)

    Unfortunately tonight I am pressed for time. I will try my best to make a better reply to each of you when possible.


    I have started working on the WNW Pfalz engine. It looks very promising and as expected the details are incredible. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when finished.

    I have decided that I will build all of the Roden Mercedes engines since I have cracked the code on how to build them and also super detail them easily.

    I want to build them while they are still fresh in my mind.

    So I will make all 5 remaining engines and then store them in the respective boxes to be used as needed when the kits are built.

    As always comments are encouraged. Thank you for stopping by and have a good night.