BX 32nd Albatross D.III

[Haggis]

Jay

 

Looking good my man, I can tell it's going to be a stunner.

 

I remember Jack Dee talking about the school run, all you have to do is after about a week, mention to Mrs Laverty that some of the Mums are really slim and look a lot younger than they really are and voila, no more school run Having said that I quite enjoy the school run and there is nothing wrong with looking at the menu when you're on a diet!

[cpl]

Hi Jay

Words are not enough well done . Cant wait for the next part, tanx

[brad cancian]

G'day Jay,

 

I've been keeping an eye on this one, but this is my first post here on the forum. Jay, welcome to the world of WW1 modeling! I have only just gotten into it in the last 12 months and I must say I love it. However, as much as I hate stepping off on a not so positive note, and at risk of forever setting myself up as someone universally disliked on the forum, I have a few comments regarding the replication of wood finishes.

 

The replicaiton of wood finishes is probably the most difficult thing to achieve and do well on scale models. A big-up to you for your efforts, but to me it just doesn't look very convincing (putting my steel helmet on!! - Please note this is only MY opinion!). Your wood grain is very apparent, the oils you are using seem too stark against your base coat, and the grain is in all sorts of directions, which was not the case on these aircraft. Let me quantify these statements.

 

Although I myself am way off getting the technique right, I think the key to a good wood finish in any scale is the idea of "scaled grain", that is, the smaller the scale, the less obvious the grain on the model. The biggest visual cue that will make the eye see "wood" will be the change in tonality as opposed to the replication of individual grains. Even in 1/32, the grain of the wood is not going to be terribly apparent - take a look at period photos of Albatros fighters, even photos up close - the individual grains are certainly not apparent, but the tonal variations are. This means you need to either keep your base coat colour close to the colour of the oils you are using, or use thinned oils to cover the surface to produce less distinct individual "grains". Tonal variations can also be achieved by lightening or darkening the oil colour you are using for the grain. Also, a number of varnish coats will aid in blending all of the colours together to give a nice tight tonal variation. When painting the grains, be aware of how the subject was constructed in real life. Albatros aircraft were constructed of wetted and formed plywoods. As such, the bends used to form the curves of the fuselage would be in line with the grain, otherwise the wood would have been too hard to bend and keep shape. As such, on aircraft such as the Albatros series of fighters, the grains should all run from nose to tail.

 

Here's a technique I have been playing with to replicate the Albatros fuselage wood covering - by no means the best way to do it at all and I have far from mastered it, but it is quite similar to your technique so I shall outline how I do it - feel free to disregard this technique if you see fit. Below is a pic of the results of this technique on my Eduard 1/48 Albatros D.III (OAW), it could easily be applied to 1/32 scale - I personally think it is a bit too "orange" but as it was an experiment, I wasn't too fussed. And yes, I did go against what I said above and painted the grains in different directions... Here's the pic:

 

 

I start with a base coat of Tamyia buff. I then create a thinned mixture of Windsor and Newton yellow ochre, mixed with a very small amount of burnt sienna - this colour is close to the buff base coat but is notecably different. This is then brushed over each individual panel, keeping the brush strokes light and the grain in the same direction for each panel - do however make sure you cover the entire panel in this mixture. I then create tonal variations by mixing in a little more burnt sienna or a dash of white, and repeating whilst the oils are still wet - this also helps to blend the colours together over the base coat. I try to vary the grain to create knots and interesting tonal variaitons. I then let this dry for a week. Next, I spray about 5 separate coats of Tamyia clear yellow over the fuselage. These coats serve to blend it all together. To create a more weathered look, I go around panel edges with a light coat of Tamyia smoke.

 

Again that is just how I do it, and no doubt alot of you think it doesn't look right either, but we come here to share the joy of the hobby as well as share techniques (including me!). Please, please don't take this as a criticism of your fine work, I certainly am impressed with your work so far - I am looking forward to seeing the finished product!!

 

Best regards,

BC

[Guest LSP_Jay L]

Hi Guys;

 

Jamie;

Cheers mate! I think I may enjoy the sightseeing...er I mean school run so I wont begrudge doing it too much, but still, the excersise will probably do me some good as well.

 

Thanks for the coments cpl, and welcome to LSP! I'm glad you are enjoying the build.

 

and Brad, welcome to LSP as well! You are definitely right, it is a great place to share ideas and techniques and I appreciate your comments on the wood technique. Dont worry about putting a steel helmet on around here. Things are much more civilised here. People can disagree with each other without getting nasty and personal, and if it does happen there are plenty of guys who will step in and make peace quickly. Basically everyone here is grown up adults and can deal with each other respectfully.

 

What you will find about me as that I look at modelling as more an artistic expression as far as I am concerned rather than attempting to replicate what one guy decides is the correct method of doing something. I'm not saying that it what you are trying to say, and hopefully you will understand what I mean by that. It may sound really pretentious but I simply model what my minds eye see's using the techniques I know. As I get better at these my models get better. I would rather have something that is uniquely mine but not as good as someone elses rather than something I copied from someone. I do pick up techniques and methods that I find useful and interesting, but they always come out differently as I adapt them to my method before using them, if that makes any sense! Some of the greatest modellers I have ever seen here do things differently than I do , and I have to stop myself from saying something like "I would do it this way" as they end up with a beautiful result that is uniquely theirs.

 

I had contemplated doing the wood grain as one way, as to my mind it seemed logical as I know that manipulating wood is far easier when working with the grain as opposed to against it. But that wouldnt look as good. This way breaks up the model a fair bit and provides some interest. Your method looks very good and the results on your albatros are very nice indeed, but they arent anything that wasnt around before I started this project and I always like to adapt methods to my own style. when I was looking at the photographs in the Windsock datafiles, I noticed that the differences between planes and props was immense and varied greatly from plane to plane depending on the manufacturer. Alot of the artwork included in the windsock files includes profiles with different angles of woodgrain on the panels, and this to me seemed an attractive way of doing it so I did it this way. I thought the idea of using the clear yellow is a good idea, although it may be a tad drastic tonal variation for me. I may try "dying" some varnish with some artists acrylics parhaps yellow ochre or raw sienna next time.

 

The "In the Works" section here always benefits from as many contributions as possible and I think everyone would benefit from having your stuff here and everyone can learn from your techniques. I'll look forward to seeing some of your stuff there, as your Albatros above is a real little gem.

 

Cheers guys,

 

Jay

[Guest LSP_Jay L]

We've had some very good progress over the last couple of days, and the lower wings are on.

 

I painted the fuselage stripes on and chipped them a bit. I've also added the photoetched metal details.

 

I also found that the nose is on a funny angle, although I am not sure as to whether or not this is my mistake or Battle Axe's. The engine fits well into its frame inside the fuse, yet the right machine gun is going to cause me soem fit problems and like I said the resin nose plug is at an akward angle, so it may be that I have fitthe engine poorly. I've added some plastic strip to the front to build up the top. I've since added another microstrip piece on and this has sorted out the propeller fit, thank god.

[Guest LSP_Jay L]

Both of the wings are painted and ready to be added, as soon as I finish there framework. I usedthe same technique on top as I did on the bottom and I was pleased with the way it's come up. however, Mike I agree with you, the Lozenge looks much better!! Next time it will be a lozenge pattern!

[Chris Hannover - Germany]

I´m deeply impressed Jay!

 

Great work on your Albatros mate! As i mentioned earlyer, the wooden area looks like real wood! Very nice.

 

Cheers,

Chris

[Koala]

Coming up a treat Jay. I can see that when complete, this kit is going to ooze character - which for me is the thing in a finished model.

 

Just out of interest... Were the timber panels on the fuse made of laminated timber (eg. ply) or made of single thin sheets? If the former, then grain running "opposed" to a curve would be more likely. If the latter, then less likely. Just idle pondering on my part...

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing the washes go on - its gunna be a beauty.

[Guest LSP_Jay L]

 

Just out of interest... Were the timber panels on the fuse made of laminated timber (eg. ply) or made of single thin sheets? If the former, then grain running "opposed" to a curve would be more likely. If the latter, then less likely. Just idle pondering on my part...

 

Good question mate. I know that alot depended on where it was made, but I know that alot of it was plywood and that the Austrian built ones were slightly better wood and wood-working than the Albatros or OAW built ones. I have to admit that I dont know alot of the finer points of the wood and only made a couple of assumptions based on my limited knowledge of working with wood, from the profiles, and small amount of info I read from the books I have. I'll go and have a good read today and see if the process is mentioned.

 

And thanks for the kind words as well K!

 

Cheers mate,

 

Jay

[Guest LSP_Jay L]

I've read through the books (well skimmed actually ) and cant find anything that specifically refers to the wood aside from some photo captions in the book dedicated to the OEF version.

 

I have had some great progress on the model over the last couple of days and I am in the process of joining the wing as we speak. I may be making a mistake as I havent yet attached the undercarriage, but oh well, live and learn!

 

Here is a pic of the exhaust fit into place along with the Machine guns. The exhaust will get some enhancement during the weatheing process in the form of some CMK Stardust weathering pigments.

[Guest LSP_Jay L]

Here is an example of the eduard 48th scale wire stretchers in place. I cannot see how these would look right on a 48th scale plane as they are perfect looking here. They would be massive in 48th. I can't wait to rig this thing now!

[Guest LSP_Jay L]

And here is the final pic for now, with the decals added on. The kit decals werent all that bad, albeit very thick, they needed alot of decal softener to get them to settle.

 

I cut them out as normal when I applied the upper wing crosses but soon realised there was alot of film, so I trimmed these ones right back and this worked a treat!

[Chris Hannover - Germany]

Hi mate,

 

that exhaust looks way cool! Very real!! Great work also on the wire strechters. I agree, that looks like the right size and on a 48th scale model they would look a bit too big.

 

Nice Jay, keep it up.

 

 

Cheers,

Chris

[bsarnoffca]

Looks beautiful, Jay. The engine and exhaust are perfect.

[PietvWdV]

Wow! How did you do the exhaust?

 

The wood effect is really coming into it's own now.Well done!