karimb

My thoughts are with you Jennings. I was on the airplane flying back to see mom when she passed three years ago. The searing pain remains, but the great memories of our moments together I cherish every minute, and it makes me smile and keeps me going forward until the day we are reunited. May she rest in peace. Karim

Mr M, superb mustang. Beautifully done and exquisitely weathered! thanks for sharing with us Karim

Hi Peter thank you fro the kind words. For the base colors i used white that i distressed by micromeshing and then i used brown to do some shading and filled randomly the panels with mostly radome, tan, buff and i think desert yellow. Everything got a clearcoat and then was polished in prep for the decals. i will share some posts here that i think might be helpful in answering your question. Thanks again! lets see if the links work. They do

Rod, thank you! Thanks a million! Ryan thank you for the kind comments! Mr M, thank you fr leaving a comment! Thanks! Thanks Troy. It is very colorful indeed and i am happy you like her! Thank you! Brian thank you !

Thanks Rob! Herr Baron thank you for the kind words! Petr thanks for checking in and leaving such kind comments! Kensar thank you ! Larry thanks for the kind words. Im happy you guys liked her Thanks Gaz! Kev thanks for the kindness! Martin thank you for your kind words! Jaro bro thanks for checking in! Wolf thank you for your kindness! Model_Monkey thanks for the kind comment i will make sure to let Bernard know! Thanks Mark, lets see how she will fare on the contest tables!

Thank you Rigor!

Thank you Wunderbar!

After 7 months of work, the Albatros D.Va (OAW) is finally complete...The build is based on the Wingnut Wings kit and finished as Hans Von Gössel's flying skull, circa mid 1918. The kit was extensively modified in order to make the small details more accurate. Additions were Bo Monroe's 3D printed wing radiator and Fuel tank, HGW Models textile harnesses and Yahu photoetch instruments. I completely scratchbuilt the air valve assembly behind the starboard instrument panel and linked the piping based on the NASM plans for the restored Albatros (the restoration book was of tremendous help with the plans and detail photos). The kit received a new windcreen made from thermoformed clear acetate to thin it to scale, and the coaming was modified to add wrinkles and retaining washers for the leather. Master brass jackets were used for the Spandaus. For the engine, i had run out of Taurus resin overhead cam so i just scratchbuilt the valve springs, the induction manifold was wrapped with teflon tape and the heat shields were made from lead sheet and MENG styrene bolts. Taurus resin spark plugs were used and everything wired using Modelkasten rubber thread. Rexx metal exhaust attached. The Niendorf propeller was my first hand carved propeller and i used different veneer sheets and then coated it with MR. Paint clear. The wooden fuselage is finished with Knotless decals from Uschi van der Rosten and a few filters. The decals are just flawless in their application and in the result you get. I initially had the rigging attachment points 3D designed and printed by my friend and ALM Studios team mate Imad Bouantoun, but they turned out too big due to their hollow nature and limitations on SLA printing so i ended up scratchbuilding those using styrene and thermoforming the domes with styrene sheet to be able to use the Gaspatch Models albatros specific turnbuckles. Rigging tubing is from Bob's Buckles and rigging is done with EZ-Line thin. The lozenge linen is Aviattic and is superb as are all the linen decal series from that manufacturer... Alot of additions and scratchbuilt items which would be too long for me to itemize here, or which i might have forgotten over the period of time since. The figure is to give a sense of scale and was painted by my friend and ALM Studios team mate Bernard Bassous. You can find all the juicy details in the build log . Id like to thank everyone who encouraged me to push the envelope so to speak. As i mentioned on the wip log, it looks like the stars were aligned for this one! Thanks again, Stay safe and happy modeling! Karim

Hello gang... For this update there will unfortunately be no photos as there is nothing really worth photographing in terms of step by step or work in progress type photos. The Albatros is finally finished and sitting in the middle of the shelf, reigning over every other single model i have built in the past ten years. The wings lined up exactly on the strut locations which is typical Wingnut wings, and the rigging went smoothly and was very enjoyable. I added the scratchbuilt flare rack on the left side and finished off by adding the photoetch latches to the lower wing panels. I also painted the bottom of the tail skid iron and finally installed the various subassemblies like the wheels, the home carved prop and other little parts. Touchups were made to the parts that either lost their luster or where paint had flaked off due to handling during the building phase. I am in the process of preparing the text for the RFI section and posting her there... The stars were really lined up for this one, so to say! Thank you to everyone who has checked in during the build and encouraged me and pushed me to go beyond my skill limit! You have all a part in the end result ! Karim

Herr Baron! Thank you

Misha thank you !

Troy, my pleasure! i am glad to read you are enjoying the work in progress!

Gaz thank you for your kind words i am really happy you like how she is turning out. The radiator is really something to see once it is installed and everything is in place it is really something! you can actually see all the piping and what is underneath at certain angles...

Brian! thanks for such kind words

There was the same bundle for sale on ebay for around 245 US$ IIRC but might have been a total coincidence! Congrats on the purchase though!

I had my eye on this one on eBay and had pressed follow on it. I was this close to bidding but i ended up buying something ww1. It got reposted the second time around and i think you nabbed it. Congratulations

Close to 2500 posts... How time runs when i think it feels like i joined LSP yesterday and then i realize it's been years. Exquisite builds on show and helpful members have always pushed me into trying harder to go a step and above in my own builds and i thank everyone for that... Our tenth chapter of your regular programming. We are at the end stages of the build of the wonderful Wingnut Wing Albatros. In this update we cover the top wings with the Aviattic Lozenge decals and they behaved exactly as expected. I have then weathered the decals with a home made concoction of sand colored oils and darker brown oils to form a filter. Chipping was done with Prismacolor pencils on the Balkenkreuz and Ammo Mig products were used to weather areas like the aileron attachment points and the area around Bo Monro's 3D printed radiator. I used gaspatch turnbuckles on the aileron linkages and Bob's buckles for the rest of the rigging attachment points. The Radiator got additional attachment straps made of lead sheet and i used Meng styrene bolts for the attachment details. That pretty much puts us at a point where we will install the top wing and rig the Albatros and finish by adding up the remaining little details and some touch ups here and there! Next update should be very soon and probably the ready for inspection will be put up at that point! Karim

Torben thanks for the kind comments and for stopping by!

Thanks Andy for stopping by and leaving a word. I am happy to be back!

Thanks Gaz and thanks for stopping by!

Mike thank you for taking the time to visit ALM Studios and for the kind words... the website is giving us a bit of trouble with the CSS programming for the flipboxes but we are in the process of getting those fixed... its only us working on it in our spare time so hopefully we will have some spare afternoon to get it fixed. Thanks again for the kind words!

Thanks the Dude!

Thank you my good Sir!

Hey Maru its been a while. Thanks for stopping by and leaving such kind words... the shoulder is doing better, and you know how slow it is but i am finally back at flying, i actually just got back from my first flight back in the saddle and its work almost everyday from here on...again on the road tomorrow morning

Thanks Ryan for stopping by!