Halbertstadt D.II

by Robert Baumgartner

Halbertstadt D.II

Pegasus' 1/72 scale Halbertstadt D.II is available online from Squadron.com

Kit
Advantages
Disadvantages
Recommendation Recommended to the experienced modeller.


The Pegasus release of the Halberstadt D.II was a much needed addition for modelers of 72nd scale WWI aircraft. Now we have a kit that will build reasonably easily into a faithful replica of an important German aircraft.

The usual style box contains 12 white metal and 9 plastic parts. Two lengths of strut material, one of rod, and a small decal sheet completes the package. Generally all parts are well molded with good crisp detailing. The only blemishes were a small sink mark on the rear fuselage halves and a bit of inconsistency with the wing trailing edge thickness. Both can be fixed easily with a little care.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images of the kit parts:

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The flowing lines of the Halberstadt are not easy to capture but Pegasus has done an admirable job. The parts match Ian Stair’s drawings very well in the Albatros Publications - Halberstadt Fighters by Peter Grosz.

Sadly the photos were taken before it was realized that the radiator pipe was lost in the trenches as was the windshield. This being due to the model taking an unexpected test flight. The white datum line will also be added at a later stage.

Fuselage

Construction commences with the cockpit and the kit provides the basics to get you started. Supplied items are a plastic floor and instrument panel, with the seat and control column being in white metal. All sit on a plastic floor, which is thoughtfully extended to provide a stable platform for the engine. It is easy enough for the modeler to then add any extras according to taste. Recommended items being the pressure pump, magneto switch, throttle, etc. Seat belts were made from thin strips of metal foil and painted accordingly.

Plastic strip comes to the rescue when adding the interior structure as does stretched sprue for the pilots control cables. A bonus on the decal sheet means that instrument faces do not have to be found elsewhere. With no locating pins inside the fuselage, the floor requires a little bit of fiddling to ensure the correct height of the items that it supports.

The 120hp Mercedes engine is in white metal and cleans up very well. If you had taken care in the previous dry fitting stage, the fuselage halves will come together perfectly. Caution is needed when cleaning up the upper fuselage join so as not to destroy the beautifully rendered stringer detail.

Wings

As previously mentioned, the wings on my example showed the trailing edges to be of varying thickness. This was fixed by sanding the underneath of the wings until a constant thinness of this area was achieved. To provide strength, the wings were drilled out at the roots to allow brass rod to be inserted. Corresponding holes in the fuselage and a drop of “superglue” ensured a secure join.

I decided to try the supplied strut material, which I have previously avoided due to its apparent lack of strength. I was pleasantly surprised that due to the short lengths needed, it kept its form pretty well. Care must be taken with handling though as I found out later.

The instructions provide templates for the length of strut material needed. The same is true for the rod, which needs to be cut for the axial, tailskid, and cabanes.

Those of us that rig with “invisible thread” have to be careful in not applying too much tension on the wings. This is a sure way of showing up the weakness of the extruded strut material. Before assembling the top wing, the modeler must decide whether to put in the various mid wing support struts now or later. I chose the latter and had a tough time lining everything up.

The tail assembly was a breeze to fit but I chose to substitute stretched sprue for the rudder and tail skid supports. I thought the supplied rod was a little over scale.

Finals

The white metal undercarriage was used and due to its softness, should only be added near completion of the model. It required little in the way of cleaning up except the straightening of the legs to the correct angle. The exhaust was maneuvered into position and fitted a treat. The white metal propeller and wheels are well cast but the tyres on my example lacked definition when meeting with the wheel covers. The machine gun is also white metal but its inaccurate proportions did not lend itself to being used.

All parts were sprayed using Xtracolor paints, which gives the model a hard glossy “shell” on which to apply decals and weathering. Pegasus thoughtfully supplies both Methuen and Federal Standards references for the colours so the modeler can choose there own favourite brand of paint.

As the paint was drying, the model decided to test its aerodynamic abilities and thus required a rebuild. He white metal undercarriage did not survive so replacement items were made from Strutz. This is airfoil shaped extruded brass that comes in many sizes and saves a lot of models from the spare parts box. Sadly two more rebuilds were needed soon after when the rigging went slack due to the stresses of the previous flight.

Decals

Markings options are for a Hanover-built machine (as evident from the white serial number and datum line), 818/16 from 1916. The decals are superbly printed and due to the thin carrier film, need no decal softeners are needed or required. It was pleasant to see that the white of the cross outline was opaque enough to not allow the camouflage demarcation to show though. Axial logos for the propeller were supplied but did not survive my aircrafts first flight test. The characteristic white datum line of Hanover built D.IIs is not supplied but can be easily added from spare decal stock.

This 1/72 scale Haberstadt D.II is another fine kit from Pegasus that fills a gap in injection molded WWI kits.

It builds relatively easily into a fine replica straight out of the box but also leaves room for the super detailer. The difficulties I experienced were mainly of my own doing, and should not put anyone off from trying this kit themselves.

Recommended. 

Thanks to Squadron for the Review Sample.

Model, Images and Article Copyright © 2001 by Robert Baumgartner
Page Created 23 September, 2002
Last updated 04 June, 2007

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