David Ullman review of Model Airways Kits

Below, you will find a snapshot of a review of Model Airways kits by David Ullman who is designing the Dr1 Fokker for Model Airways. The complete review

can be found in an upcoming issue of WWI Aero.

In 1998 I saw a magazine advertisement for a museum quality1/16 scale Albatross D.Va kit.  It had all wood and metal parts like the original.  It wasn’t cheap at $199 (as best I remember).  But, it was a kit like I had only imagined.  I had to have it and ordered it immediately.

When I opened the box it was jaw-dropping.  The engine alone had over 100 cast metal parts neatly displayed in small plastic boxes.   There was photo-etched brass sheets and laser cut wood parts. The 47 page instruction booklet and 6 plan sheets were very well done. The whole presentation reeked of quality. I am not easily impressed.  I am an engineer and can find fault with anything.  But, this kit was impressive!

A year later, the 1/16 scale Albatross was finished and I was still smiling.   I had spent a couple hundred hours building a museum quality model (I am slow and meticulous when it comes to models and this was not an easy kit to build).  Even the controls worked.  Everything about the kit lived up to the feeling I got when I first opened the box the first time.  This is such a great kit that one builder, John Reid, took the time to build a diorama for it.