Jump to content

WNW Albatros DV


Greif8

Recommended Posts

I am continuing with my journey in building some WWI aircraft with the WNW Albatros DV "Wooden Wonders" kit.  I chose this kit because I wanted to try my hand at replicating unpainted wood using one of the Uschi van der Rosten decal sets made for that purpose.  I usually let my little girl pick the scheme of the aircraft that I build and this one is no different.  She is still deciding between Han Waldhausen's aircraft or the one flown by Adolf Schreder.  She likes both the moon and star motif on Waldhausen's bird, but is also quite taken by the red lightning bolt arrow of the Schreder DV.  She solemnly told me in her five year old way that she will have a decision tomorrow. B)

 

The two main differences between this aircraft and the DVII kit is that you can't see the cockpit area as well due to the curvature of the fuselage, much like the F4F Wildcat or F6F Hellcat.  So I did not go wild with detailing only adding control cables which you can barely see, the rest is straight oob.  On the other hand, the engine is far more exposed than on the DVII so I am doing some scratch building on it; we shall see how it turns out.

 

 

IMG_1475

 The completed cockpit area.  I did not bother to eradicate the pin marks or remove seams from areas that will not be seen once everything is closed up.  

 

IMG_1478

Another shot of the pit.  The gauges are pretty nice and fit well.

 

IMG_1485

Engine compartment.  I did do a bit of wood graining on the dark wood pieces, though I highly doubt they will be seen when the kit is finished.

 

IMG_1474

I am using some Taurus Models AM on the engine.  The springs were a challenge to install and I did not get everything 100% perfect.

 

IMG_1481

But once all the pieces were in place it looks pretty presentable.  

 

IMG_1487

I am also using a few of the ANYZ fittings for some scratchbuilt lines I intend to run.  You can see two of the fittings in this shot, one at the front of the engine block and

one just to the right of the rear engine mount.

 

IMG_1483

Finally I tried to replicate the asbestos wrapping with Teflon tape.  It turned out fairly well and hopefully will paint up nice.

Edited by Greif8
Grammer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished the engine today.  As it appears that more of the engine will be visible than on the D VII I decided to add some Taurus AM spark plugs and lifters with valves.  I did not get everything perfect with those parts, but the end result turned out presentable.  I also added a few copper lines that I ran between drilled out locations to some ANYZ fittings that I thought looked the part.  I could not get a good focus on the parts I wrapped in teflon tape and will try to get a good shot of that when I post the weathered engine.

 

 

IMG_1490

Starboard side overall photo.  The spark plugs were fiddly to get lined up, a mounting stub at the rear would have made the job easier, but they look pretty decent once painted.  You can also see that I forgot to remove the seam from the water pipe.  As I highly doubt it will be seen once the engine is in the plane I decided to leave it as is; wont make that mistake again though.

 

IMG_1491

Port side showing a couple of the lines I made and the plug wiring.

 

IMG_1497

Close up shot, spark plugs look good seam not so much!

 

IMG_1502

Extreme close up showing one of the valves and lifters and a spark plug.

 

IMG_1504

One of the ANYZ fittings, with line fitted, still need to clean up the join, macro photography captures the good the bad and the ugly!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/28/2020 at 5:17 AM, Dpgsbody55 said:

Looks fantastic.  Your engine detailing is great.  :goodjob:

 

 

:popcorn:

Michael

 

On 1/28/2020 at 8:58 AM, MikeMaben said:

 

Got one of those in the mail a coupla days ago.  :popcorn:

Nice work so far.

 

On 1/29/2020 at 4:51 AM, Out2gtcha said:

Great start!

 

Thank you guys!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I airbrushed the base "wood" color on the fuselage yesterday.  I tried to get a fairly light color but also get a warm tone by mixing a few of my Tamiya colors.  It looks fairly accurate, but of course the proof will be when I apply the van der Rosten wood grain decals.  Having never done that before, it will be a tense undertaking to say the least.  Hopefully I can do it justice and not botch the job; we will know by tomorrow evening!

 

IMG_1509

An uninspiring photo of the fuselage before a sprayed the gloss coat.  More to follow once I start decaling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Making progress with the van der Rosten "wood veneer" decals.  Very concentration intensive work!  I have to get rid of a couple of small air bubbles yet, but things are progressing well thus far.  Of course I have yet to get to the difficult areas.

 

IMG_1510

Still need to eradicate some small air bubbles behind the cockpit, but its coming along.  I am varying the decals to avoid too much "sameness". 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Knightofthesky said:

As he wrote above,  he use "Woodgrain" decals from "Uschi van de Rosten" company...I thougt, there is only one version "woodpattern" availiable? :huh:

 

Nope, there are a fair few to choose from:

 

https://www.uschivdr.com/shopping-categories/shop-wood-grain-decals/

 

Regards. Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, monthebiff said:

 

Nope, there are a fair few to choose from:

 

https://www.uschivdr.com/shopping-categories/shop-wood-grain-decals/

 

Regards. Andy

 

Hi Andy I am using the Item 1005 Fine Veneer Plywood set.  Alex Glass, the proprietor says these are the nicest set he sells.  They do go down well and look really nice when set.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few more photos of the progress.  As expected the areas around the tail fin with their somewhat compound curves were a challenge.  Looks like I'm a bit over half way with this little decaling project.  They do require a great deal of patience and concentration, and also a very steady hand with a scalpel - but look pretty good once in place.  The glare is due to the harsh direct light on my bench, and I am hoping that once I gloss coat the decals they will come to life.

 

IMG_1512

 

IMG_1513

 

IMG_1514

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished putting on the van der Rosten wood decals and gloss coated the fuselage.  This was a learning experience and one of the most intense decaling jobs I have ever done.  The end result is pretty decent but it was a lot of work to get to the finish line on this "sub-assembly".  The decals are excellent but are definitely not for beginners.  By necessity they are very thin and as a result the corners tend to fold over on themselves if you are not very careful when placing them.  They work well and are a bit elastic which helps to avoid any bad wrinkles and to get the decal snug against things like service hatches.  I still have to buff the gloss coat once it cures, but I think the effect looks pretty good right now.  I will use the decals again, and may give the one of the HGW sets a try on a future build to see if they are as good in quality as the VdR set.

 

IMG_1515

 

IMG_1519

 

IMG_1516

 

IMG_1521

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I decided to put the fuselage decals on as I thought it would be easier to do so before I stalled the engine, tail plane, wings, etc.  The decals that came with the "Wooden Wonder's" kit are very nice and went down very well though I cheated with the horizontal black line on both sides.  I airbrushed that as I generally detest "walkway" type decals as I can almost never get them straight.  I will let them cure overnight and airbrush a final gloss coat tomorrow.  After that I plan to install the engine and put the engine panels in place after painting them.  This build is coming along a bit better than the D VII, though that was a very nice kit that built up without a fight as well.  I bought some Aviattic decals for the wings and rudder and hope I can install them better than I managed with the D VII - we shall see.  Enjoy the photos.

 

IMG_1524

 

IMG_1527

 

IMG_1525

 

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...