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1/48 Eduard Albatros D.III OEFFAG 253


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The fuselage is closed up and ready for the paint shop.

alb-fuselagedone_zpsd2c7ecb3.jpg

The big question is what to do about the aluminum panels on the fuselage. The graphic I posted showing the markings would have them all painted. But I can't find any primary evidence to confirm that (or the color for that matter). As you can see, I'm leaning to a BMF for the panels.

Eduard indicates the panels are left bare on the varnished fuselage of the kit's markings. That's confirmed by photos in Albatros D.I-D.V by Tomasz Kowalksi as well as this one

Oefd3.jpg

This photo also suggests bare metal panels, but it's hard to tell if the fuselage is varnished or painted. The D.III's wings were normally CDL; assuming that is true in this photo, the apparent darkness of the fuselage isn't a reliable indicator of fuselage finish.

D.iii.253.jpg

Any opinions on whether this fuselage is varnished or painted?

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Painted the wings with Humbrol 74, Matt Linen. I need to do some highlighting of the rib tapes; I also need to paint the aileron hinges and control horns as well as apply a wash to the radiator.

alb-wings_zps0539098c.jpg

I'm painting Stec's personal emblem, the basis for the future Polish Air Force roundel, on the fuselage.

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And here are the finished wings. I masked the upper rib tapes and dry-brushed the lower. I prefer the lower, as it's more subtle.

alb-wingsdone_zpsa98b17b8.jpg

The aileron control is interesting, at least according to the photos of this replica. Control wires attach at the forward part of that grey lever and mid-aileron in the line of the lever. Both wires are routed down into the lower wing, through the wing, and into the cockpit.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally, I have the fuselage painted! I hemmed and hawed a bit on the color and whether to paint the metal cowl, fuselage top, access panels, and vents. During this process, I realized that the one drawing I have shows the alternate MG mounting, where the guns are fully enclosed within the fuselage. I brilliantly choose the mounting atop the fuselage. Gee, I've never made a mistake like that before :whistle:/>

Sigh... Given that I'd already blown that one, I decide for some more, um, artistic license, and left the panels unpainted. With Stec's personal emblem painted on, I now have this

alb-fuselagepaint_zpsd1e0d7e7.jpg

I've got the rest of the bits painted too. I used Albion Alloys brass tubes for the MG barrel extensions. Still need to make a seat cushion for the seat and paint the airspeed indicator.

alb-bitspaint_zps39fb02bd.jpg

I'll have to make rest of the decals, as there are lots of stencils with the airframe number and the kit only provide straight-armed Balkenkreuz for the lower wing and rudder.

[edit1: I was painting the airspeed indicator when it literally disappeared from my tweezers. Gone in an instant; no clue what direction it went or trajectory it took.]

[edit2: Yeah!!! I found the airspeed indicator!!! :banana: ]

Edited by David N Lombard
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The seat is no longer sad :yahoo:

I made a seat bottom from thick aluminum foil, with some texture created by crumpling and smoothing, then I used small tubing to create "buttons".

alb-seatbits_zps2845fbfa.jpgalb-seatdone_zps139cff7a.jpg

Yeah, I need to make some seat belts...

Edited by David N Lombard
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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally, ready for rigging. Installing the pipes between the engine and radiator were, um, exciting. After I finally almost-sort-of-maybe got them mounted--not my best work here--I realized how I could have glued them with reasonable alignment to the wing before it was mounted. Oh well, maybe next time... <_<

alb-prerigging_zpsd39105ec.jpg

I'm going to use 0.006" carbon fiber for rigging.

This is all I'll get to this weekend, gots to work...

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Well, closer, but still no cigar...

At this point, she's fully rigged, but missing the Cross Pattée roundel's on the rudder and lower wing.

alb-rigged_zpsf57259eb.jpg

The Eduard kit only contained Balkenkreuz for the rudder and lower wing, which I know was adopted by German aircraft after April 1918. Sadly, the one drawing I have shows Cross Pattée roundels, which I assume is correct for the Austro-Hungarian aircraft. Also shown with the model are two finished Cross Pattée decals. The left is based on a vector drawing from Wikipedia. The right is a better proportioned version that I adjusted in Inkscape.

Here's the outline of the first version on clear decal paper as well as the cut-out second versions ready to paint.

alb-decal-outline_zps2aecdedc.jpg

alb-decal-cut_zpsc9cf3902.jpg

After that, they were painted with Tamiya black and then clear-coated with glosscote. The decals look great before they're installed...but the film is so thin that I wasn't at all happy with them once set. Also, I saw that the rudder roundel needs a white outline. As I'm painting these, I'll need to do a white decal paper background beneath a black foreground once I find a more usable decal paper.

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Found Formadecal; seems they only have 1/72. While they showed Balkenkreuz on their "Austro-Hungarian" sheet, the aircraft drawings only show Cross Pattée on the Albatros. Looking further in that sheet, the Balkenkreuz is only shown for German-built aircraft. So, at least I know I'm going in the right direction in that regard. But, I'm still seeing conflicting info regarding a white border.

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Woohoo! :nanner:

I found a photo of Stec's aircraft here (look all the way to the left).

OK, I need a Cross Pattée with a white border. Also looks like my guess of leaving the aluminum bits unpainted was also correct.

Ooh, and another photo suggests the cockpit interior with darker wood was also a reasonable choice...

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  • 4 weeks later...

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