Eduard 1/48 Albatros D.II By Daniel Clamot

Introduction

The Albatros D.II is one of my favourite WWI airplanes. I own 5 boxes of the standard and the Profipack versions. The reissue of that kit with new decos was then eagerly awaited from me.

The Kit

Compared with the Profipack version (ref.8081), we can see that:

• The sprues are identical. The two types of the upper wing are provided in the new box 8082, even if the proposed decos are only for aircraft without the radiator on the upper wing. Funny to note that the pilot figures is always suffering of that “bullet hit” on his thorax right side…

• The photoetched sheet is exactly the same than the one for the Profipack kit, but this time seatbelts are pre-painted!

• The masking sheet is also identical to the one of the Profipack edition, but edited this time in yellow (as it seems, yellow masks are better than the older one…)

• Well, then the most important difference between the Profipack and the 8082 kit is the new proposed decos, each deco being presented in a splendid 4-view colors:

1. Albatros D.II of Leutnant der Reserve Robert Dycke, Jasta 16b (bearing the Bavarian armorial on each side of the fuselage)

2. Albatros D.II of Leutnant Wilhelm Leusch, Jasta 19 (bearing a stylised “L” letter on the fuselage)

3. Albatros D.II of Hauptmann Rudolf Freiher von Esebeck, KG2 Staffel 11, bearing a white “X” letter on each side but also on the upper side of the fuselage. It’s also important to note that it’s the only one of the 4 proposed decos for which the serial number of the aircraft is known.

4. Albatros D.II of an unknown pilot of Jasta 16b, bearing a very nice horseshoe on the fuselage.
   

All those 4 aircrafts have a plywood fuselage.

Conclusion

This is an excellent re-issue of the very beautiful Eduard’s Albatros D.II. The 4 decos are really nice. I recommend!

My thanks to Eduard, but also to Matt Bitner and IM to have permitted me to review this nice kit.