Pegasus 1/72nd Halberstadt D.II By Matt Bittner

History

The Halberstadt series of fighters are not well known outside of the WW1 community. Little is known that these biplane fighters accomplished a few firsts. The Halberstadt D. series was the first German biplane to enter combat. These fighters were the first to use rockets by the Germans. In addition, a Halberstadt biplane was a pioneer when it came to air-to-ground wireless communication systems. Pilots generally liked the robustness of the Halberstadt, to some degree even over the Albatros single-seat fighters. It appears that the Halberstadt was the best fighter around at the time of its introduction.

The Kit

The Pegasus Halberstadt D.II consists of 10 injected plastic pieces, 10 white metal and lengths of strut material. Decals are for one scheme only that of Hannover-built 818/16 in a red-brown/green over clear doped linen (CDL) scheme. Molding is typical Pegasus and is relatively nice. My example unfortunately has two nasty dimples on each fuselage half side, back by the tail. Whether this is in the mold itself, or is just on my kit, I know not. Care will be needed to fill this dimple in without removing the molded in tail detail.

The cockpit consists of an 'all purpose' floor, with a bulkhead molded in behind the seat. This floor not only consists of the cockpit floor, but also serves as the support for the kit's engine. To this is added the control column, seat and instrument panel. The rudder pedals are molded in situ. There is no molded in sidewall detail. Enough to satisfy an out of the box builder, but there is still plenty of room for the superdetailer. Purists may want to sand down the inside of the cockpit, as it is a bit thick.

Once the cockpit is together construction continues by adding the lower wings and tail parts to the fuselage. The rudder should be left off until last, primarily because of the surrounding support structure. All struts, minus the white metal landing gear, have to be scratched out of the supplied strut stock.

My only complaint about this kit - minus the dimples - is the turtledeck, the area behind the cockpit. This is in no means Pegasus' fault, but I wish model companies that make kits of aircraft that had 'stringered' turtledecks would make those turtledecks separate moldings. That way you will not lose the wonderfully molded stringered detail when you sand away the fuselage seam.

Conclusion

This is a great kit. It should be relatively quick to build, once you overcome the dimpling of the rear fuselage halves. The molded in exterior detail is very well done.