The D.III/ D.IV series appeared in the last months of 1917, and represented advanced design by Dipl. Ing. Harald Wolff (chief
designer at Siemens Schuckert). They were very different to the fighters on the front at the time. The engine was the revolutionary Siemens Halske contra rotating rotary engine.
A pre-production order for 20 D.IIIs was placed by Idflieg during the last weeks of 1917; followed by an order for 30 more in February 1918. During April and May some 41 Siemens Schuckert D.IIIs were delivered to the Western Front for operational trials. Many of the planes suffered engine problems, which led some to condemn the plane. Amongst these was Herman Göering. Nevertheless the stubby fighter, dubbed “The flying Beer barrel” by its pilots and ground crew, had a number of redeeming features. It could clime faster than a Fokker DVII or any
allied type then in service. One Siemens Schuckert DIII piloted by Rodschinka climbed to 8100m in 36 minutes. Not only was this a faster climb rate than any other service aircraft, it was more than 1200m higher! (In comparison, the service Ceiling of the Fokker DVII was a mere 6980m) Ernst Udet's Siemens Schuckert DIV. The only WW1 pilot credited with destroying a tank!

Udet's Siemens Shuckert DIV is shown below.


Michael Hesse, Germany, sent us these photos of his completed model

A couple of pics of the beta version built by Marcus. It survived more than thirty chuck flights only to be crushed when redecorating. Oh well, time to print another!

The Siemens Schuckert DIV fighter was even more manoeuvrable than the Fokker DVII. The Siemens Schuckert DIII had a broader chord wing than the DIV and consequently climbed faster and higher than any other fighter of the time. The Swiss Airforce flew this machine until the mid twenties.

This kit, first released in 2003 features bitmap rendering of the surface details. Customers purchasing this kit will be entitled to a free vector drawn update due for release soon. The construction process follows similar methods used in Modelart, Flymodel and Modelik.

I am currently redesigning the Siemens Schuckert fighters using 3d software. My plan is to incorporate all the techniques I've learned over the last eight or nine years and release the new kits in a much larger scale.

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