Albatros D.II

Eduard, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Eduard's 1/48 scale Albatros D.II is available online from Squadron.com

HyperScale is fortunate to have an ensemble of expert reviewers in many fields of expertise. Rob Baumgartner is HyperScale's undisputed staff expert on WWI.

However, when Eduard's Albatros D.II crossed my desk, I made the rare call to exercise Editor's Discretion and hang on to it.

Sorry about that, Rob.

I have been hankering to try a 1/48 scale WWI kit for a while now, and Eduard's 1/48 scale Albatros D.II seemed to be an ideal candidate. The paint scheme features an interesting woodwork main fuselage with painted cowl and three-colour, non-lozenge fabric upper surfaces. The kit is well detailed but not overly complex.

Eduard's 1/48 scale Albatros D.II comprises 62 parts in light brown coloured long-run injection moulded plastic; colour photo-etched fret; masking sheet; and markings for four aircraft.

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Thumbnail panels:

Plastic parts date back to the original 2002 Albatros D.II release (Eduard kit numbers 8080 and 8081), but the standard is still very high. All the plastic parts are smooth and well detailed with a combination of recessed panels / hinges and raised structural features as appropriate. The only imperfection is a rather large and painful looking sink hole on the front of the pilot figure.

Thse plastic parts are now supplemented with a photo-etched fret featuring grilles, machine gun jackets, turnbuckles and colour harness straps.

The new masking sheet is handy too, as it will make painting the metal cowl ring and deck a much simplified matter.

Markings are supplied for four aircraft:

1. Ltn.d.R.Robert Dycke,Jasta 16b

2. Ltn.Wilhelm Leusch,Jasta 19

3. Hptm Rudolf Freiher von Esebeck,KG2 Staffel 11

4. Jasta 16b Pilot Unknown
   

Decals are thinly printed, in perfect register, and feature good saturation.

Eduard has successfully updated their already excellent 1/48 scale Albatros D.II kit with colour photo-etched parts, paint masks and a gorgeous new decal sheet.

This kit will be an ideal introduction for modellers who wish to try their first WWI biplane model, or for the more experienced hand who wants a beautifully detailed early Albatros in their collection.

At USD$24.95, Eduard's 1/48 scale Albatros D.II represents outstanding value too.

Highly Recommended

Thanks to Eduard for the review sample

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2008 by Brett Green
Page Created 23 February, 2008
Last updated 23 February, 2008

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