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OEFFAG Albatros DIII, Austrian LFT, 1917


blackbetty

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ok, i cant hold back anymore :lol: , i´m gona join the group build too!

i will be using the Roden kit that i orderd directly from urkrania to combat price policies at the major suppliers :P (got it for 17€)

i dug into my reference stash and came up with quite a bit of stuff:

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doing the A-7 in the 10th aniversary GB and this will be quite a challenge. i hope to finish the corsair until the end of december and the pull off a russ with this one in the remainig three months. problem is: its not a matter of assembling and slapping some paint on. the austrian license built albatrosses had many modifications done by OEFFAG in wiener neustadt. they didnt suffer the structural problems their german counterparts had with the wings. they used austrian schwarzlose machineguns (thank god completely buried in the fuselage, not on top like the spandaus) with blasttubes under the intake/exhaust. furthermore they had the excellent austro daimler engine, whos differences to the german engine can be clearly seen, but in winter they used a cowling that left only the exhaust poking out. spinners were often removed (the later series 253 didnt have a spinner in the first place, but a completely different nose)

as for the paint sheme there were pretty striking examples on these planes on the italian front too. brumowsky flew an all red plane, an idea he got from richthofen during his study trip to the western front

i will do 153.45 that looks like this: (photo of a drawing out of martin o´connors excellent book "air aces of the austr-hungarian empire")

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or i will do 153.52, in which he was shot down (and survived) in february 1918

this plane is all red too, with a different skull, but has brown dots all over it (pics from Petrer Schiemers also excellent albatros book)

stay tuned

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Most cool! It's about time Austria-Hungary was represented on these boards!

 

I have a Nieuport 16 that will (one day) have Russian markings. Definitely an overlooked theater of WWI.

 

Tim W

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Hurray! Blackbetty has arrived! :) Wow, what a cool camo scheme dude. Skulls are always in fashion. :lol: Hey, it's easy to 'do a Russ',...just leave out half the pieces, guess at the colors, and throw the PE away, and use lots of putty. Details? Pesky little things to be ignored. :P

Naw, you'll do this in your own style, and at your own speed...as it should be. Can't wait to see this one come together buddy, it looks like a great kit. Hope you get a chance to share some info on this pilot, and what was going on with Austria (guess that'd have been the Austro-Hungarians at that time in history?) and this front as you progress with your build. Interesting stuff, I'm sure. Looking forward to seeing any update pics on this as it progresses, and I'm glad you're here with another Central Powers entry, the Allied forces are starting to multiply on this GB and threatening to take over! :) Later, Russ

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  • 3 months later...

thanx guys, its been a while, but i had to finish the A7 for the 10th anniversary GB first
building the OEFFAG albatros is not just a matter of painting the thing red and making some skull decals, there are a lot of subtle differences i will try to capture (well most of �em)
first i assembled the motor mount, although i wont fit the engine. the austro daimler looks different compared to the kit engine, since i will use the bad weather cowling that the austrian birds had on at times (this aircraft is in the winter 17/18 timeframe), i dont need an engine ph34r.gif

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one of the main differences to the german plane is the location of the guns: the schwarzlose MGs are buried deep in the fuselage, firing through blast tubes beneath the exhaust, so the fuselage upper deck is closed. the starboard side front of the fuse also does not have the depression for the exhaust pipes. so i first made some cuts to remove the middle and front part of the kit, refitting the wedge further upward

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Alright Blackbetty!!!!! :shrug: Been waiting for you get started on this one. VEEEERY cool project and markings. Bet this is quite the switch from an A-7, eh?! :hmmm: Can't wait to watch this one progress. Those plans look outstanding, and look to take most of the guess-work out of getting that engine cover zeroed in? GO, BB, GOOOOO!! :rolleyes:

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definitely a change from the A-7! still dont know if i will vac the cover or just carve it out of a puttied up skeletton of sheet :BANGHEAD2:

its very good to see some WWI builds here, dave, i havent done any rigging in decades (litterally), so i have to look at some of the techniques used here

some more time till i get into that stage, though

i puttied the fuselage deck

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