Dust off all those Eduard Albatross DV and DVa kits that you have, because Lifelike has released two new decal sheets with new markings not previously produced. And, one is very colorful, in typical Bavarian fashion. The title says DIII, but the markings included on the sheets are for three DV’s and one DVa. With each of the aircraft views is a history of the aircraft and its pilot and various color notes and conjectures about any differences from the markings included.

Aircraft included are the very colorful Albatross DV of Lt. d. R. Wolf of Jasta 5. There are many segments that make up this set of markings, and they all involve some sort of curvature. Lifelike requested that it be mentioned that the use of strong setting solutions is not recommended. The products they mentioned in that statement were Microsol and Microset. Since the decals are printed by Microscale and those two decal solutions are about the least strength that I know of, I have to wonder about the statement. I did not have a model built to try them on, but the use of some test decals on properly prepared surfaces showed that they lay down very nicely and snuggled down into panel lines with little or no prodding. These are some of the thinnest decals I have ever used, which suggests that a lot of water be used when putting them down. They snuggle very quickly.

One inclusion with this offering is a color sheet showing the markings and wood grain patters for every propeller used on German aircraft during WWI. Sadly, there are only two sets of propeller wood grain decals on the sheet. But, for those of you who can produce the laminated wood grain propeller patterns with a paint brush, you have plenty of examples to use.

Continuing with the markings is A/C #2, a DV flown by Lt. d. R. Ernst Udet in 1917 when he was with Jasta 37. This aircraft is silver gray. This is one of the four known aircraft flown by Ernst Udet.

A/C #3 is a DV flown by Vfw. Georg Strasser of Jasta 17 in late 1917. This is a very colorful aircraft combining black, white, and wood grain markings, along with a very distinctive red heart.

The last Albatross is a DVa flown by Lt. Wilhelm Gurke of Jasta 5. It is all red with the typical Jasta 5 green tail surfaces, outlined in red.

From the narrative included with each aircraft, it is very evident that a lot of research was done before this sheet was produced. And, you, the modeler, are given all of the possibilities for differences from the markings and colors on the sheets.

If you go to Lifelike’s web site, you can view the top sheet of all of their decal offerings and you can also order directly from them.

My thanks to Lifelike Decals and to IPMS/USA for the review samples.