Pfalz Triplane

I just adore triplanes and this one is a beaut! It was made from the Merlin 1:72, limited-run, injection kit. (Which is to say it was painstakingly carved out of several lumps of solid plastic and white metal.)

Merlin kits are (were?) very limited
edition cottage industry - type kits.

This one was particularly badly
moulded, which is probably why I
managed to buy it so cheaply from
a man at the IPMS Nationals at
Donnington in 1997.
The cowl was white metal and was
simply cleaned up, burnished with a
bit of cloth attached to my mini-drill and
varnished with Johnsons floor polish.

The wings were given a wash of very thin brown enamel which settled next to the moulded ribs in a very peculiar way. It looks pleasing and I have singularly failed to replicate this effect ever since.

I followed the kit instructions as to the colour scheme, namely plywood and linen, but I'm now convinced the 'plane should be in the Pfalz factory scheme of silver overall. I found a picture of M.von Richtofen test-flying one of these and it looks too reflective to be anything but silver ! Ahh well...