Albatros D.Va

Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH were responsible for some of the most graceful and effective fighters of the Great War. Their twin gun, semi-monocoque plywood Albatros D.1 arrived at the front in September 1916 and achieved instant air superiority over its main opposition of Nieuport 11 and DH.2 fighters. Followed immediately buy the slightly improved D.II and in December by the much improved D.III with its V strutted sesqiplane wing, greatly influenced by the successful Nieuport fighters. The D.III was more maneuverable than the D.II and its single spar lower half wing afforded greater visibility for the pilot but was also the cause of numerous, and usually fatal, structural failures. Despite much effort this problem was never fully resolved. Nevertheless the D.III remained in production well into late 1917. The D.V retained the wings of the D.III with a redesigned fuselage completely oval in section. It was arguably the best looking of all the Albatros designs but it inherited the lower wing structural problems of the D.III and turned out not to be any real improvement over it performance wise. The D.V and D.Va were produced in greater numbers than any previous German fighter of the war and was only surpassed later by the Fokker D.VII.

The D.Va's specifications as follows;
Wingspan 29.6'
Length 24'
Max speed 106mph
Total number built D.Va 1662 (D.V 900) from August 1917 to early 1918
Armament two 7.92mm Spandau machine guns.

The Kit

This kit was in the second batch of kits released by WNW around 2010. Other variants were released about four years later. This kit has the most rigging of any of the WNW kits I have a so may end up being one of the last that I will build.

While most of the kits in the WNW series can be built out of the box to an excellent level of detail there seems to always be some after market items to enhance things. Many of them are for the engines which are small kits in and of themselves but they can be enhanced with wiring, spark plugs and valve springs. I have not given in to any of this yet and probably won't until I start building and find I have the desire to do some enhancement.

Links to kit builds or reviews

An in box review of one of the later variants can be found here, most of the kit is the same with small changes and different decals and a nice build review here

If you are interested in finding other reviews a good place to look is here. Just enter the aircraft name and search.

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