Scale aviation modeller international

FINAL APPROACH

As already mentioned, a small

acetate sheet is included in

the kit which features a pair of

windscreens, one of which was cut

out and secured to the rectangular

frame on the upper fuselage.

There are a couple of Spandau

machine gun options in the kit: a

pair of solid-bodied plastic ones and

a pair of stripped-down versions

to which are added etched metal

cooling jackets. I chose the latter

option, curling the etched jackets

into shape around a cocktail stick.

The rudder and the large, one-

piece elevator were now itted.

These are designed to simply

butt-it against the vertical and

horizontal tail surfaces, but I chose

instead to drill holes into both the

control surfaces and the tail and

insert thin, wire hinges. These

helped hold the lying surfaces

irmly in place and enabled me

to pose them at jaunty angles.

With the lozenge decals in

place, it was time to drill holes

in the wings for the rigging

turnbuckles. There are faint,

dimpled recesses moulded into

the wings to indicate exactly

where they should be positioned,

and these were deepened to

allow irm ixing points.

Turnbuckles are included

on the Eduard etched fret, but

obviously these are lat in nature

and somewhat basic in appearance,

so instead I chose to use cast-

metal items produced by Gaspatch

Models. These come in sets of

thirty white-metal turnbuckles

attached to their moulding block. I

decided to thread them with Uschi

elastic thread while they were still

attached to their moulding block,

which not only proved to be a very

eicient way of threading the

hair-like strands of thread through

the minuscule holes, but also had

the added beneit of preventing the

tiny buckles from lying of into

oblivion once they were cut free.

The buckles were then

superglued into place, and the

rigging simply draped out of the

way as I cemented the interplane

struts to the wings and fuselage.

Once the cemented struts had

set, I then stretched the rigging

to their upper ends and used

small amounts of superglue to

secure the thread into position.

Turning the model onto its back I

proceeded to secure the upper planes

in place, running liquid cement into

the eight strut joints. I used elastic

bands stretched across the wings

and secured into a polystyrene block

to pin the model down and force

the wing joints together, before

setting the model aside to allow

the bonds to harden overnight.

The undercarriage struts are

of scale proportion, which means

that they are rather delicate, so

care is needed when attaching

them to the fuselage. Once the

cement had hardened, however,

they proved rigid enough to

support the diminutive model.

With the undercarriage

in place the model was given

a inal dusting with a mix of

Humbrol matt and gloss varnish

to achieve an overall eggshell

inish, which I feel gives a slightly

more subtle and pleasing sheen

than simply using satin enamel

varnish straight from the jar.

When the varnish had dried I

realised that I had forgotten to add

the two elevator control rods – Parts

B51 and B52 – which it between

the cowling and the bottom of the

upper plane. It proved a simple

matter to retroit them, however.

The small wind screen too

needed replacing as it had become

dulled during the inal application

of varnish. The spare screen

was cut from the acetate sheet,

though this proved to be slightly

more problematic to retroit,

being now positioned well under

the upper wing. The inal job

was to press the highly polished

propeller home and my Siemens-

Shukckert DIII was inished.

CONCLUSION

This is a fabulous little kit, with

luscious detailing. I learnt quite a bit

about lozenge camouflage during this

build and truly enjoyed the complex

painting process that I felt was

necessary to replace the incorrectly

coloured decals (though I suspect

that most modellers would shy away

from such a daunting challenge).

Those kit decals I did use proved

to be wonderfully thin and well

printed and settled nicely onto

all surfaces, though some of the

raised detailing on the wings was

lost beneath the Balkenkreuz.

I am very demanding of modern

kits and Eduard rarely leaves me

disappointed. Despite those small

quibbles mentioned above, I

would unhesitatingly recommend

this gem of a kit to anyone with a

passion for Great War subjects.

Eduard’s SSW DIII has helped

to reawaken my interest in

biplanes, so watch this space for

more vintage builds in the near

future. My thanks as ever go to

Eduard for supplying the kit.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Aviation Elite Units:
  Jagdgeschwader Nr II by Greg Van
  Wyngarden. Osprey Publishing.

74 • DECEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

ighter based on the iconic Mirage III

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ighter and Mirage 2000D and Mirage

9. Over 600 aircraft have been built,
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aircraft currently being replaced by the much more advanced

platform with other user nations. Mirage 2000 ighters in

system payloads - ive on the fuselage and two on

with two internally mounted, high-iring-rate

30mm guns. Air-to-air weapons include MICA

the world with many being upgraded to new

brought to life in this new MDF Scale Down book, which will

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