Pfalz D.IIIa Eduard in progress

Alec K
A biplane?!? Taking a seat for sure. Your engine looks nice and greasy 🙂 👍

Jakub Fiala
Thank you, Alec! Yes, this is my very first project of WWI plane 🙂

Mark Sherwood
Good luck. 🥸👍

Simon O'Gorman
Really impressive.

Jakub Fiala
Thank you, Mark and Simon!

Guy Rump
Looking good, following. 👍

Alec K
Cockpit looks excellent Jakube 👍

Ludvík Kružík
Jakub, the construction progress so far looks very good.
Maybe you'll find a liking in WWI models. 😉

Jakub Fiala
Thank you, mates!
Ludvíku, i must say, that i am enjoing it so far. But there will be more challenges later( riggings, lozenge....) So, i will see. But i believe, that WWII will remains my priority 🙂

bughunter
I'm a bit late in commenting do to my holiday - nice work so far!
Since there are some pitfalls: do you want a fun build or should it be correct?
Which specific serial do you plan to build?

Jakub Fiala
Thank you, Frank!
I want to build 8244/17 of Jasta 54. This marking is, according Eduard instructions, just a reconstruction based on the description in the flight log, revealed in the Jasta Color book. So, in my opinion it will be difficult to buid it 100% correct 🙂 However, I will of course be grateful for any advice and recommendations

bughunter
Ok, on a Pfalz D.IIIa the engine is different. The very simplified Eduard (the pipe work on the lower end of the cylinders is the water, what you have painted dark red - but this is not much visible later) engine shows a older 160hp Mercedes D.III. This is especially shown by the valve train, which can be seen on top of the engine.
Two bolts on top, and the valve in the middle: [img1]

The later 185hp Mercedes D.IIIa was also available for some Pfalz D.III, and nearly all of Pfalz D.IIIa pictures shows this stronger version. The drawings I know too. The engine is a little bit bigger, but the valve train looks very different - four bolts and the valves rockers comes out of the side:
[img1]

Roden has a better representation of this engine (same sprue on all kits), and it is also more correct in size. That means I cannot get it into this model 🙁

No worries mate, only an expert will notice on the finished model 🙂

And regarding the wings: I strongly recommend Aviattic decals. The ones printed on clear paper (normal) and the ones printed on white for rib tapes. Or you use the Eduard rib tapes. I have some build logs explaining the usage.

Jakub Fiala
Thank you very much, Frank, for your help!
While going through the photos and drawings of the engines, I noticed that each type is different, but I was quite confused as to which engine was the right one. In the end I didn't deal with it and just tried to scratchbuild some visible details that are missing from the kit. For example the air pump, pipes and hoses leading from the radiator on the upper wing etc. I use the WnW manual and kit ( borrowed from a friend of mine) as the main source of information 🙂

Thanks for the advice on decals. I'll try to get the Aviattic ones. But I don't know if it will be easier for me to use the lozenge decals from the kit, which are already prepared in the shape of a wing. I will see...

Alec K
Regardless the path you take, I am sure this will be a superb build 🙂👍

Michael Kohl
Following with interest.

Jakub Fiala
Thank you, Alec! I hope I won't disappoint you 🙂
Welcome here, Michael.

bughunter
Yes, the WNW manuals are a good source! You can download the manuals as PDF, the web site is still available.
But I suggest to download all what you need (also for other projects) soon. The site was away for a while already and I heard rumors that it was paid then for some additional time only.

For the Linux users among us, I suggest using "wget" with the recursive option so you can get all the PDFs, reference images and more to your hard drive without making millions of clicks,

CaptGPF
Ditto - following!