[melsharkskin]

Having become constitutionally incapable of building a model without any metal in or on it, I found myself in a problematic situation when confronted with Roden's lovely 1/32 Pfalz D.III kit. This is one of my favorite Great War subjects, and here was one in that nice big scale!

But there was no metal for the Pfalz that I could find. I checked with Eduard, with whom I have pretty close relations, and they said they had no plans to do anything for this kit, nor did any of the other usual AM suspects. Not even a resin prop replacement or anything!

So, since I had the very nice pair of frets Eduard had made for the Roden Albatros, the smaller one being in color, I began matching, first, the metal access hole covers. These many holes are represented on both kits as just raised plastic shapes. The PE was a perfect fit, so I sanded off the raised plastic and curved the metal parts to fit the fuselage. And on it went until I came to the radiators. Here, surely, is where this journey will come to an abrupt halt.

The upper and lower Eduard radiator pieces are close enough to the width and length of the raised moldings of the radiator on both sides of the kit's upper wing. However, the Eduard radiator is bifurcated and the one depicted on the kit wing in plastic is split into three parts cordwise. Does anyone know which is accurate?

Also, I wonder if anyone sees pitfalls in my using these parts on the Pfalz that I have overlooked. One problem is that I lack detailed drawings of the Pfalz, though I do have the outstanding Flying Machines Press book (which includes that beautifully detailed photo of the D.III with one half of the plywood fuselage removed to reveal everything inside).

Many thanks to all of you for your continued help on my projects with, at three years, my still being a "newbie" at WW I subjects.
TOM