Jump to content

WNW Albatros D.V Otto Kissemberth


TomR

Recommended Posts

Well I decided at least for the time being to put the Ta.152 on the shelf. Got a bit bored of cleaning up all the flashing for now so I'll have to revisit that one at a later date. Anyway I pulled one out of the archives and its probably one of my top three projects that I've been looking forward to building. The scheme that Otto painted his airplanes, all black with a prominent edelweiss is just so striking to me. I've been working on the kit for a good while now and figured I'd post the progress. Having built a few kits now with lozenge wings I know the pace of construction will slow when we get to that point. I'm going to be weathering this bird as I do most of my WWI subjects, very little weathering save for a bit of dirt in the cockpit, mud on the wheels etc. I still need to pull the cockpit back out to put the final weather on the seat so that's still a work in progress. Anyway take a look and any comments are more then welcome. 

 

UxVLqIw.jpg

 

The engine is about 50% complete and the initial coat of engine grease oil paint has gone on. Subsequent steps will help reduce the glossiness of the effect.

 

sElbuna.jpg

 

Here you can see a nice example of some of the aftermarket resin Lukasz produces at Taurus models. I have a few of his full engines plus many of his parts for D.iii engines. His work is second to none. Aftermarket includes overhead rockers, springs, spark plugs and priming cups.

 

hL0UHbZ.jpg

 

Those priming cups are by no means easy to put together (so tiny) but well worth the effort.

 

JgomncD.jpg

 

ST08Ywf.jpg

 

X3DUNAs.jpg

 

o3jiRB6.jpg

 

This is probably the best picture I got of my wood grain effect. So tough to get on camera.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man a bit more progress on the engine. I wasn't happy with how bright and new the aluminum looked to I made up a dark wash to take care of that. Looks a lot more appropriate now. Wiring of the engine is now finished with the connection of the spark plug wires to the magnetos. Hopefully I'll get the engine fully assembled in the next couple of days.

mr8CkLi.jpg

Edited by TomR
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the nice comments guys.

 

NOW WITH BETTER PICTURES

 

So far my building of models has focused on just that, the build process. But since I have enjoyed documenting them here I can't deny that the cell phone pictures, good as they are don't really do justice to the process. So I grudgingly drug out the real camera and was shocked at how I forgot just how good and versatile old Nikon gear can be. I've taken many landscape shots over the years with the 60mm 2.8D lens and I totally forgot just how close that lens can focus. And it's without a doubt one of the sharpest they ever made. Who says a 30 year old lens is outdated! Pair that with a D750 and a decent flash pointed at the ceiling and the picture quality is much much better. And since its been a few years since I've messed with the camera I looked for an alternative to Adobe Lightroom. I found an open source program called Darktable and while it might not be as polished as lightroom it certainly works and its FREE. In any event the pictures should be much better going forward.

 

At this point the engine is done and due to the design of the albatross I should be able to bag it up and not have to touch it until the end of the build. Once again the parts from Taurus Models really were worth the effort.

 

mr8CkLi.jpg

 

m5xZMDm.jpg

 

Adding the oil return line wasn't easy but certainly worth it since it is so prominent at the front of the plane.

 

Va7EdeG.jpg

 

4QEkcNC.jpg

 

Just need to paint the spark advance lever's handle and this panel can go into the cockpit.

 

YGdLGMw.jpg

 

Test fit of the cockpit and engine mount looks pretty good. Time to close it up and start painting I think.

 

BgfmGws.jpg

 

I finally got a nice image of the wood grain effect. By no means is it as good as some of the work I see on the forums but I'm pretty happy with it. Always learning as they say

 

ht45QeQ.jpg

 

Edited by TomR
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Progress is being made albeit on the most tedious part of the build. Having done lozenge decals in the past I guess I knew what I was getting into. All of the undersides are covered and I've started on the upper coverings. I decided to try a new technique for applying the decals by using Walthers Solvaset. It worked reasonably well but I found my previous technique of using Micro-sol and a hair dryer worked much better. Solvaset is still my go to for small decals but it just doesn't seem to work well with large decals. A night or two more of work and I should be ready to put on the rib tapes (another tedious process!).

 

rUxwX5j.jpg

 

UyTsYuE.jpg

 

Ne1RApx.jpg

 

A few minor touch-ups on the wing root of this piece. Shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Jzr5TUz.jpg

 

At this point the fuselage is more or less prepped for paint. I installed the horizontal tail and had to do quite a bit of work to keep it level. All in all I'm happy with it.

1os1g7O.jpg

 

One thing that has me a bit worried is getting the appearance of the all black fuselage correct. As I've never painted anything solid black I'm just hoping I don't get the shade of black to overpowering. I'm going to try some preshading with blacks and greys to try to get a nice final product. As always thanks for looking

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...