WymanV Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Well...here it is...: I've been wanting one of these for years, and thanks to Terry McGrady (I'll decide later if that's sarcasm or not) I've got one. Here's the styrene: As you can see in the last pic, it's not very...shall we say...delicate. Thick 'n chunky, as I should expect from 1995 Eduard-very much like limited run. Further proof-the engine: There's actually 2 straight pins in there... I've been hemming and hawing about when I'm gonna start this, as it's sure to be the toughest build I've ever pulled off. There aren't even locator holes in the wings for the struts :) But, after seeing Eric Larsen's work on his DML Dr.I on Hyperscale, I decided it's time to get underway. Took this beastie to work this morning and dipped the photo etch in aluminum cleaning acid, and sprayed a "wood" color on the wooden interior bits: It did a beautiful job cleaning the brass up. I'll give it some more dry time before I start simulating the wood grains. But it looks like I'm gonna need every second of the alloted GB time span to finish this Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted March 11, 2008 Author Share Posted March 11, 2008 And an update. I took a shot at the technique from Hyperscale and this is what I came up with: Probably a little dark, but I'll get better as I go I think. Showed it to the girlfriend who thought it looked like mud... I have a half dozen WW I kits in the stash so I should be able to get this down by time I get through them Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 Had a couple 109s to finish up for that group build so there hasn't been much progress-but I did manage to get the floors together: Hopefully I can spend more time on it this week. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
majortomski Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 BEAUTIFUL work so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted March 21, 2008 Author Share Posted March 21, 2008 Thanks! It's going slow, but going well. Not much to show for a lot of work. I've read builds on this kit that state the cockpit is too big to fit in the fuselage: So before I got too far along, I sanded the inner halves down. A lot. I could see my fingernail scratching along the inside from the outside when I called it close enough: Now I can get something done. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted April 20, 2008 Author Share Posted April 20, 2008 Yeah, I know-been a while. Progress is pretty slow when every part gets painted individually, installed and touched up. The cockpit assembly is fitted with the engine. I had to take more material out of the inside of the nose to get the engine to fit and it's still a bit tight, but it's getting transparent so I put a stop to it. Instead of redoing the wood grain paint, I painted the inside of the engine compartment gray/green to represent the inside of metal access panels: I also have the holes for the struts and some rigging drilled out. I went all the way through on the bottom wing, and I'll sandwich the rigging into the top wing with the struts. The bottom wing parts were both bowed so I had to manipulate them under hot water the get them straighter. The 'pit itself is nearly done-still a bit of touchup to do and lay out the lap belts: I built up the steering wheel with some of my liquified styrene, just to give it something of a third dimension. The one thing that bugs me about photo-etch; all the parts it represents aren't supposed to be flat... Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Heff3 Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 I can see now why I don't do WW1 or bi-planes.................. thats a lot of work. Nice stuff, especially the wood grain. Looks good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dixieflyer Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Good job Wyman. I've got one of these in the stash, and just can't bring myself to start it for fear of screwing it up, LOL! How do you plan on doing the woodgrain on the fuse? Are you going to use the "Drago-dille" kit decals? Warren Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 Thanks gents. Yup, I'm doing the wood grain fuselage, but I'm skipping the dragon-it's pretty commonly done and I prefer the lesser traveled path I guess Not a real big update, but after some time sanding and filing and wedging and hammering, the fuselage halves are going together: Yeah, I had to persuade it a little...and this is as persuasive as I got: I think it'll clean up alright. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 Well hey-progress! I know-I've been sitting on this for awhile wondering if I got everything just so and am I ready to finish this up when it occured to me that this is how things DON'T get done. Soooooo for better or worse I jumped back into it again. The fuselage cleaned up nicely, but that's not important now. The wings were as ready as they'll get so it was time for my first shot at the transparent linen look. I made up some masks on the vinyl cutter at work, drawing them up in Flexisign. I started by painting those on the bottom of the top wing and the top of the bottom: Then, I did the pre-shading thing to represent the ribs using Model Master RAL 8017 Schokololadenbraun, because I have a lot of it to use up: Not as neat as I would've liked it for this purpose but I'm learning. Then I built up layers of very thin MM Panzer Buff, as it's the closest thing I have for "linen": Clearcoated for it's protection, as I'm painting all the insignia on this one. In hindsight, I should've either masked the lines representing the ribs, or phased out my beat up ol' Badger 150 in favor of an airbrush that is more consistent. I also should've painted the edges to represent leading edge and outer framework-leaving out the wing trailing edges as they are wire on the real one, where is where that "bat wing" look comes from. It's OK-I have a couple Eduard Nieuports in the stash that'll get the same treatment. Fuselage next. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
slick95 Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Nice! SLICK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
martin_sam_2000 Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 great looking Albatros!!! Have you decided on a sheme yet?? I am truly in awe of people like you who tackle these finicky little models. Sean Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 I'll take advantage of a rare moment of working internet (I'm going wireless Sunday) to say thanks, guys. The colors will be the same as the box art, but just a plain Jane scheme. The decals Eduard provides for the "dragon" scheme are wrong anyway-the left side of the fuselage was more like a crocodile and Eduard just duplicated the dragon. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Old Man Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Shaping up very nicely, Mr. Wyman! I like the 'see through it' test for thinning thick kit walls myself. Holding it up to a light, you can actually gauge pretty well by the evenness of the glow whether you have thinned evenly. Panzer Buff is a pretty good out of bottle linen shade. I am looking forward to seeing this done up. What do you intend to use for rigging? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 Why thankee sor, and it's good to see yours underway. This is my first serious stringbag, so it's trial and error until I find a prefered rigging material. This one will be .005 invisable nylon thread I picked up at Wal-Mart. I have about 7 or 8 more (mostly Eduard) WW I kits in the stash so I'm sure I'll find a favorite by time I get through them. Then I can tackle that Lindberg JN4 :o I did this earlier this week, but with bad internet connection and Photobucket down I haven't been able to post progress until now (I hope...): I fitted the tailfeathers last night and they'll work. I doubt this will be done by August, but at least this GB prompted me to get it started, and it's well under way. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ThatJeffGuy Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Totally awesome Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jack-Swiss Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Wooooooow!!!!!!! that's an absolutely awesome work!!!!!! superb wood finish!!!! Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Old Man Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Why thankee sor, and it's good to see yours underway. This is my first serious stringbag, so it's trial and error until I find a prefered rigging material. This one will be .005 invisable nylon thread I picked up at Wal-Mart. I have about 7 or 8 more (mostly Eduard) WW I kits in the stash so I'm sure I'll find a favorite by time I get through them. Then I can tackle that Lindberg JN4 I did this earlier this week, but with bad internet connection and Photobucket down I haven't been able to post progress until now (I hope...): I fitted the tailfeathers last night and they'll work. I doubt this will be done by August, but at least this GB prompted me to get it started, and it's well under way. Ken That is excellent work, Sir. A period article I have from 'Flight' compared the Albatross fuselage construction to the building of boats, and that does have rather a boat-ish look to it on its own. Please keep us posted on your progress, even beyond the deadline here. Getting mine done in time will be a close-run thing, but there is not a lot more to make, at least. The most time-consuming construction elements will be making four wheels (my spares box is rather lacking in that department by now) and putting together the markings on the vertical tail surfaces. I rest on the hope the modeling gods will be kind over this coming weekend. Regarding rigging, Sir: if you have not seen this piece, pinned in the Classic Aviation forum here, I strongly recommend it to you: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index....showtopic=52937 I always use EZ-Line, got from Bobe's Hobbies in Florida (in fact I just ordered a couple of hundred foot spools and it arrived within three days from calling in the order). It is an elastic line, in three thousands and six thousandths thickness, of which I generally use the smaller. Once you get over the hump of actually starting, and get some under your belt, rigging these things is less difficult than it looks. I prefer the elastic to the monofilament because the holes used with the monofilament are not so convenient to make working in 1/72, at least for me, but in 1/48 I expect things are bit different in that regard. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 Thanks for that-I'll be taking full advantage of that when the time comes. With the tail feathers on: There's a lot of fiddly little pieces of photo etch to deal with before final assembly and rigging. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jack-Swiss Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Fantastic job!!! I cannot wait for the completed result! Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
martin_sam_2000 Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 that is REALLY starting to look good(tho it looked good in the beginiing too!!!!) The rigging is going to be tough..but it should really bring this thing together nicely!!! Sean Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted July 17, 2008 Author Share Posted July 17, 2008 Thanks guys. It's a good confidence builder when I get into the rest of the WW I kits in the stash. Not much to show, but quite a bit of work-mostly due to painting every bit individually. The bottom wings are on. I wasn't comfortable with the little plastic pegs so I reinforced them by cutting up one of the straight pins that came with the kit and fitting them in for reinforcement. There were better ways to make machine gun barrels anyway :) There were also some more holes to be drilled out for tail skid and tail braces too, as well as the fiddly photo etch parts in place: Tip for anyone building this kit-figure out what details molded in the kit are represented by the photo etch and clean them off before you paint. Or-leave the PE off Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Old Man Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 Great to see this shaping up so well, Mr. Wyman! It is really looking superb. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted July 24, 2008 Author Share Posted July 24, 2008 Thanks OM! Quick update-my internet connection has been bolshevik since Saturday so I gotta be quick: I just might make the deadline...<_< Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Old Man Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 Sehr gute, mein Herr! That tightened up nicely. Very good work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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