After some years of collecting documentation, asking questions and doodling plans I've decided that it is time to pony up and build a Pfalz DIIIa. One of my objectives in this is to build a scale model to my own plans. There are people who follow the "building for God" school of modeling technique and who produce beautiful museum scale models. This probably won't be one of those. I'm shooting for more of a Pfalz shaped object. My design goal is to produce something along the lines of a BUSA product. That is to say, recognizably scale but with some compromises to ease construction and setup at the field. The thread started by Abufletcher and the pictures of Seth Hunter's efforts have been an encouragement. If one felt the need to duplicate the wickelrumpf construction it would be possible on my design by applying a veneer of 1/64th ply strips to the fuselage but at least at this point, I'm not feeling the desire to do so. The reason is that in most photos of the aircraft the veneer strips do not show. Although I am shooting for a scale outline and will be adding some scale detail this will primarily be a sport flier and not a competition airplane. If it turns out well enough to take to a local fun fly or a local dawn patrol I will be happy. As for the scale outline, one of the main resources, the Wylam drawings have been criticized for their inaccuracies. All the same they are still among the most detailed drawings out there. I have tried to use other sources where possible. The Herris book, "Pfalz Aircraft of WWI" is a great item to have as is the Windsock datafile by P.M. Grosz. The forums on the Aerodrome website have also been helpful. In particular there is an individual who is engaged in producing a set of 3d drawings of the full scale aircraft. Using these sources I have tried to correct the outline as much as possible. I wish I could remember which thread I saw this bit of sage advice in; "Sometimes there just isn't good documentation. You just have to suck it up and build the best you can".
To get my toe wet I started with building the rudder. It has a laminated outline with an aluminium tube and I soldered up a set of brass hinges.