[Serpiko]

PROS:
- Cheap
- Simple build
- Very good decals
- "Texturized" canvas surfaces

CONS:
- Worn out, imperfect mold
- No cockpit details
- No windshield



THE PLANE

Like it or not, human flight owes its own existence to technology, and therefore technology has always played a major role in turning the tides of aerial warfare, ever in the "romantic" age of the first "knights of the sky", as proved by the success of Fokker "Eindecker" (monoplane) fighters.
By "simply" introducing the first fixed forward-firing synchronized machine gun, these crude, slow, fragile machines gained a neat edge in combat effectiveness over their opponents, thus becoming the infamous "Fokker Scourge" and granting Germany months of air superiority since their deployment in mid-1915.
The E.III was the first version built in large numbers. Flying these planes, pilots such as Oswald Boelke and Max Immelmann developed and refined maneuvers, tactics and principles ("Boelke's dicta" and "Immelmann turn", just to say...) that were to be adopted by fighter pilots from any country and time, and still valid in the 21st century.



THE KIT

I bought this kit at €4,90 in a local shop. It is clearly a re-issue of an old kit, since the small single sprue appears very "vintage". It also suffers from the age of the mold, since there's quite some flash,sink marks and molding "edges"; some parts show minor deformations. I should also mention that, at least in my kit, The whole sprue was somewhat "misaligned": apparently, the upper side of the mold didn't perfectly match the lower side, so that most pieces have a very little "step" along their centerline axis. However, it is a matter of just a fraction of mm, and it didn't hamper the building, only requiring a bit of sanding to smooth some edges and tiniest bits.
As you can expect from a small-scale kit of this age, it is quite basic, with a detail level ranging from decent to absent: the main weak point is the lack of any cockpit detail but a "seat", which actually is just the rear cockpit wall with a step to fix the provided pilot figure. Even with that, a hole will remain in the front side, revealing the fixing cap of the engine. Moreover, since no clear parts are provided, the finished model will be missing the windshield, unless you get one elseway.
On the positive side, wings and tail controls show an adequate "canvas" look, thanks to both the molded protrusions of the underneath structure and a moderate "cross-pattern" surface. Such "texturized" effect is present on the fuselage too, although less pronounced and without structural details. Another positive feature of the wings is that they show the correct junction points for the tensioning wires, thus making the rigging job much easier. Remarkably, the fuselage-main gear joint is designed to ensure both ease of building and good strenght.
I considered the plastic between the cylinders to be part of the engine detail. Oddly, it is flat on the front side (visible) and rounded on the rear one (mostly hidden).
Decals and markings are provided for one machine, Ernst Udet's mount in winter 1915-16.



BUILDING

The low number of parts makes for a quick build (when it's time to add strings, well, that may be a different story). Once you've removed the excess of plastic, The fitting among parts is generally good, even in the relatively complex engine bulge/wings root joint; in any case, dry fitting is adviceable with all the engine section. The lower side of the fuselage may be a little tricky, just because it is "soft" and may end up not perfectly following the curve of the side. As I said above, the main gear is cleverly engineered to make it as easy as possible to build.
Although the tail surfaces are designed to be built neutral, if you wish, the rudder could be easily set either left or right; elevators instead would need a minor modification to be set in a different position.




PAINTING AND DECALS

The instructions sheet refers to the main color as a mixture of 75% light olive and 25% yellow. But I didn't want to mess with paint mixtures, so I chose a simpler sand beige instead (as seen on many E.IIIs). While the red fuselage band are provided as decals, the white one has to be painted.
Although there are decals for one version only, they are really excellent. From the tiny serials to the huge wing crosses, all of them are finely printed, very thin and soft enough to let the underneath "canvas texture" show through, while still being quite sturdy and elastic. Even more remarkably, the ones forming the fuselage bands wrap around it matching perfectly the sharp corners, provided that you painted the white intermediate band correctly... which is simpler than you may think, since its location and tilt angle are precisely indicated in the painting diagram, with measurements from nose and tail tips.
Transparencies show a tendency to become opaque, but such areas are either minuscule or easy to cut off.




Weathering the surface according to the internal frame was almost mandatory, or else the fuselage would have looked too flat. Similarly, adding all the strings is necessary to give the model a proper look.




EXTRA ADDITIONS:

- All strings were made with black fishing line.
- Added a copper wire ring to the top structure, in order to ease the wiring job.
- Added actuators and control cables to tail surfaces.
- The molded-in ammo belt was "sliced" in an attempt to make it look segmented.
- Self-built control stick.
- Pilot scarf made with soft paper.




CONCLUSIONS

Not a state-of-the-art kit, but it's a pretty easy build with first-rate decals. At such a low price, you get a fair enough value for your money: it's OK as a beginner's choice or as a quick job to "relax" among more demanding projects (like it was for me).

GREEN LIGHT!