Encore Models Blue Max Pfalz D.III Econo-Kit

الوصف

Product description EC72004 1/72 Pfalz D.III Blue Max From the Manufacturer While the Pfalz D.IIIa were historically significant and aesthetically pleasing, these aircraft are seldom represented in the fiction and cinema of World War I. The most notable exception is found in Jack D. Hunter's 1964 novel, The Blue Max, in which the protagonist, Lieutenant Bruno Satchel, is assigned to pilot Pfalz 4201/17. This aircraft would have been a very early D.IIIa with raked lower wingtips and blunt cabane strut ends (as on the earlier D.III). This machine is further described as being finished in factory-standard silver-gray with no insignia excepting black and white iron cross insignia (typically Pfalz did not apply white borders around the cross pattee). When the book was adopted to the silver screen in 1966, Stachel's Pfalz received a very different look. No Pfalz D.III then existed and CGI was years away, so two 'replicas' were built - one incorporated a modified de Havilland Tiger Moth fuselage and the other a custom wooden fuselage. These machines exhibited a mixture of D.III and D.IIIa qualities - guns mounted on the upper fuselage decking (as on the D.IIIa) and a trapezoidal tail plane (as on the D.III). Further the markings were not authentic, most of the aircraft being covered in a 7-color lozenge camouflage (German standard patterns were 4 and 5 color combinations) never applied to a Pfalz as seen in this motion picture. Still, the effect was remarkable and this approximation of an approximation is the appearance this kit seeks to capture.