1:32 ALBATROS D III (OAW)

A licensed machine from an east German factory

The Albatros D III was among the most widespread German fighter aircraft in 1917 and 1918. Its recognition features were the slim lower surface with two spars, thanks to which the pilot had an excellent view downward, and the smooth monocoque fuselage of plywood. The abbreviation in brackets after the designation means that the example was not built by the parent company but by a licensed maker in the east of the empire; its machines differed in the shape of the rudder, the mounting of the radiator and in details of the construction of the wings.

Camouflage straight at the weaving mill

Toward the end of the war the German air service came up with a solution that has no parallel on later aircraft: the covering pattern was not printed onto a finished aircraft but straight into the fabric. The covering cloth was supplied printed with irregular five- and six-sided shapes in several colors and the machine was painted at the moment it was covered. The saving was twofold, because the work of the painters fell away and above all the weight of several layers of paint, which on a wooden structure meant a noticeable difference. The pattern moreover breaks the outline into small fields, so from a greater distance the surface merges into a vague gray-green area. The upper and lower fabric were meanwhile printed in different tones, lighter below and darker above.

Set contents

In the package there are two national insignia masks. The cross has straight edges and sharp corners, that is exactly the shape with which a decal on corrugated covering most often breaks or silvers. The film can moreover be pressed into the hollows between the ribs of the covering, where a stiff carrier would not bed down.