Gavia 1/48 Albatros D.I By Thomas Solinski

Introduction

Wow, a kit that is so new it’s not even on Gavia’s website, (but it is on Eduard’s)! (From the upper menu select “Products” then from the next screen, just to the right of center select “Plastic Kit -- GAVIA” “Aircraft”.)

It’s 1916 and the Allies are just obtaining air superiority over the lightweight, maneuverable Fokker Eindecker, Fokker D.II and Halberstadt D.II single seat fighters fielded by the Germans in 1915. The allies did this with a combination of lightweight maneuverable fighters of their own, in the form of the DeHavilland DH-2 and Nieuport 11/16 single seat scouts. In response to this new threat the Idflieg directed the German aviation community to evaluate and field an aircraft that would best the little Nieuports. Some manufacturers, like Siemens-Schuckert virtually copied and slightly improved, the Nieuport design right down to the lightweight rotary engine. Another manufacturer, up to that time known only for its two seat trainers and observation planes, allowed its lead designer Robert Thelen to take a new approach, that of putting high power, high speed and heavy firepower in a single seat scout/fighter for the first time. Thelen chose to stay with the company’s preference for 150-180 Hp inline water-cooled engines. To compensate for this weight, he wrapped it in a streamlined monocoque wooden fuselage. Thus the Albatros D.I (and D.II) was born. The D.I and D.II were classic two-bay biplanes with squared tipped wings of equal chord and span. For the first time a fighter aircraft carried two rapid-fire machine guns and had the performance to out-do the enemy. There only two significant differences between the aircraft: the wing on the D.II was lowered slightly so that it obscured less of the pilot’s upward and forward visibility, and the radiators which had been on the sides of the fuselage were replaced with the Teeves and Braun streamlined radiator in the center of the upper wing. The Albatros D class fighters are the benchmark in the ever-upward spiral of firepower, horsepower and speed that have always been the traits found in all fighter aircraft. So, beginning in the fall of 1916, this new benchmark in combat aircraft began its short career of regaining air superiority for the Central powers.

The Kit

Gavia Kit #0150907 is only one of 6 kits available on the Eduard/Gavia web site. I get the impression that Gavia is Eduard’s low run custom shop. My first impression at looking at the kit is that I’ve seen this kit somewhere before. Off to my stash, I found a copy of Eduard’s Albatros D.II # 8048. Further research of Eduard’s site revealed that most of what is inside the box is the plastic from Eduard’s Kit number 8082, the Profipack version of the D-II offering both the early aircraft with fuselage mounted radiators and the later aircraft with the wing mounted radiator. In the box you will find:

• The complete D.II kit

• One new sprue (in a slightly different color plastic) that contains the triangular cabane struts and the longer main wing struts

• A decal sheet for the D.I

• Lastly a nice PE sheet for the D.I

Instructions are in color and are nicely printed on high gloss heavy quality paper 6”x9”12-page booklet. The assembly steps follow the same sequence as the Eduard D.II.

The 16 steps of the instructions conclude with an adequate rigging illustration.

Markings are for FOUR aircraft. They lack references to a particular Jasta, because at this point in the Great War, the Jasta concept is just forming. Each of these paint schemes is detailed in its own five-view drawing. Callouts are for Gunze brand paints.

One other little thing, this kit (as well as the D.II) contains a PILOT! Something I’d thought was long gone in 1:48 kits.

Conclusion

As always I thank Eduard for the review kit, IM and Matt Bittner for the opportunity to enjoy it.