forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: Brad Cancian on July 21, 2020, 07:05:02 PM
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Hi all - it's been about a year since my last WW1 build, and I am feeling nostalgic... so...
(https://i.imgur.com/UZtiDkx.jpg)
Pardon my highly inaccurate and theatric 'comic book' German... but... any guesses?
Yep, it's the old Airfix 1/72 Albatrs DVa:
(https://i.imgur.com/hK0xh1H.jpg)
This kit dates from 1957 making it around 63 years old! (that's 24 years older than I am...). This is the boxing from the early 2000s, picked up for $4 at a swap and sell.
With this build, I wanted to re-kindle that child like feeling of building something for fun, with minimal modifications, and not a care for accuracy. So that's what I intend to do with this kit. To correct the aincient Airfix kit's flaws would be to scratch build an entire model. So, in the spirit of fun, this one will be out of box.
Well, I say out of box, but I can't help myself. I have made a couple of changes, but these are very basic, limited only to things I just can't live with.
Firstly, I intend to use the pilot figure. So the empty kit cockpit has been filled by a basic (and highly inaccurate) mock up, just to fill the space. The seat was from the spares box, with basic tape for seat belts.
(https://i.imgur.com/DuHlINW.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/A91tTGz.jpg)
The kit engine consists of an unusable set of cylinders with large sink holes in the middle. I therefore had to replace this with a roden engine from the spares box, modified to fit the airfix cowling (which also had a little surgery done).
(https://i.imgur.com/B3aK0Tf.jpg)
The kit wings had massive mould release holes, and the wing ribs have that old school 'starving cow' look, and needed some sanding down. I kept the characteristically bad radiator, as it points to the 'old airfix' nature of this one.
(https://i.imgur.com/Fkimpcv.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/I7azqo5.jpg)
I used the kit wheels, with some minor modifications, but I did have to replace the undercarriage axle with a scratch built item.
(https://i.imgur.com/sirfAgk.jpg)
The kit prop is terribly undersized, so it will be replaced. The spinner is a little undersized so needs some fattening out. The elevators didn't really fit too well so these needed a little work. I also separated and re-positioned the elevator.
The lower wing fit was also terrible and needed some filler and sanding. I also re-scribed some of the panel lines on the fuselage, as these are raised in the kit.
Here is the kit as she stands -
(https://i.imgur.com/5SzHO9M.jpg)
So, feeling a bit nostalgic with this one as it progresses - it's just good to get back to that basic spirit of modelling - the quest for simple fun!
Cheers,
BC
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Simple = magic.
vB ;)
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Great start on a vintage build!
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I built a newer boxed version of the same kit a few years back, and it is indeed a shocker.
Really impressed with your work on this Brad!
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Might be simple , but very effective . Nice work Brad and nothing wrong with your comic book German . Will you be doing a base for this one ?
Terri
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Lovely to see this Brad. These ancient kits have given many hours of fun for over half a century. A real pleasure to see one giving so much enjoyment still.
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It is turning out great!
I can only remember when in the '70s I built that violet-blue model in half an hour...
Two years later I put the dogfight double version together and painted it again in one day :D
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My Stepfather bought one of these kits for 39cents back in 1965. Robo was a bit of a packrat and ended up giving me the kit in the late '90s and I built it in '99 as von Hipple's Dragon ship. It was the first model I used aftermarket parts with, (resin engine and PE cockpit interior and MGs). I guessed on the white chevron on the top wing and after it was done, I came across a photo clearly showing my guess was correct. It got badly broken when the wife took a hammer to my built models and unbuilt kits. It was rebuilt and now sits prominently on the 1/72 shelf of my display case. I believe it was from the first or at least an early production run. The details were very crisp. You could count the slightly raised rivets on the propeller blade sheath. Great little model that brings to mind the fun of building a kit in a day. Get up on Saturday morning, mow the grass for $3.00, ride the bike a mile to the local hobby shop and buy a kit and paint. Ride home and have a finished kit by dinner time with change left over for a trip to the local movie house after dinner.
Definitely will be watching what you do with this one and wishing you as much fun with your model as I had with mine.
sp
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I built this one in 1967 in the Goring Jasta 27 scheme of black and white. I recall the project well as it was my first experience with "Invisible Thread" for rigging which was a vast improvement over cotton sewing thread commonly used in my modelling circle. My sole reference source was the good old Aircraft in Profile booklet, I don't recall how I handled the raised headrest or if I just ignored the requirement! Great little kits they were with their plastic bag packaging and those horrible decals of the day! Definitely a pleasant reminder of simpler and happy times a very long time ago. Great project Brad, and sure to be an enjoyable one.
Cheers,
Lance
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So cool, memories from a far past and happy times. Worthy inspiration to dig drawers and cabinets, looking for ancient kits and join the nostalgic board!
Ciao
Giuseppe
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Thanks everyone - it's really nice to see that many of us share the same great memories and fondness for these old kits. Airfix was a huge part of my modelling childhood, so it's always great to revisit their old classics.
She may be an old kit but I think there's still life in the old girl :)
Cheers,
BC
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Yeah same here Brad - In the late 60's I built the entire range if 1/72nd WW1 models from Airfix. They were all rigged but with cotton!!
They were in a display case I made with sliding perspex doors.
It was for my then father in law, who had it in his work room.
Those were the days - going to the local store and hunting through those plastic bags with the fold over information card stapled to the bag.
Struggling with tube cement and either Airfix or Humbrol enamels.
The kits cost a lot less then than now,
Mike
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This is really sweet to see, Sir.
I must have been about ten when I built this. That purple was used in the camouflage scheme fascinated me, and still does.
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Pretty much the same as the others here. Built a bunch in the late 60's/ early 70's. The Airfix Craftmaster boxings in the US were $.29 at A local Drugstore. Your build is looking great and does bring back memories!
RAGIII
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Now I really feel like I'm left out of the group . I have never built Aixfix kits except for their new tooled P-51D in 48 scale . I grow up on Monogram and Tamiya . ...I feel so sad now
Terri
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Now I really feel like I'm left out of the group . I have never built Aixfix kits except for their new tooled P-51D in 48 scale . I grow up on Monogram and Tamiya . ...I feel so sad now
Terri
You're not the only one, Terri. I my first Airfix kit was only build two years ago.
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Now I really feel like I'm left out of the group . I have never built Aixfix kits except for their new tooled P-51D in 48 scale . I grow up on Monogram and Tamiya . ...I feel so sad now
Terri
You're not the only one, Terri. I my first Airfix kit was only build two years ago.
Once I started doing 1/72 I preferred Revell to Airfix. It could owe something to being more familiar with Revell, but Airfix was new, and while it had all the RAF subjects, its plastic seemed a little clunky compared to Revell. Their WWI stuff in 1/72 is beautifully moulded. I wouldn't mind having one of their Nieuport 17 kits even now. I did a good deal of Monogram 1/48, WWII Navy planes particularly, and of course in 1/48 started out with Aurora. And those wonderful big Revell 1/28 kits. Those were a revelation.
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Hi everyone - some small progress thanks to the drying time of oil paints... I now have a 'wooden' fuselage. I decided to deliberately exaggerate the wood grain for this scale. Why? Because that's what 11 year old me would do! :D
It started off with a base coat of lightened Gunze radome, with some oil paints streaked and stippled over the top:
(https://i.imgur.com/9cbffSu.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/iAj6nIr.jpg)
Then a clear coat of tamiya yellow:
(https://i.imgur.com/TVHxmC5.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZmyAA8q.jpg)
I'll do some 'smoke' outlining of the panels when it comes time to do the weathering and washes.
I also added some green and lilac to the wings (the later of my own concoction, but again I wanted to keep it a bit stereotypically 'purple', but still be believable). No fancy lozenge here folks!
(https://i.imgur.com/0DpGG99.jpg)
Now, the important question... do I go with the 'famous' box-top livery of Richthofen's red tailed / red nosed machine, or do I do something different? Perhaps a Jasta 12 or 16b machine with a black tail, and a black personal marking? That's quite "German", right?? Perhaps Baumer's Edelweiss marked machine from Jasta 2? Or do i go with something with a little more colour? A Jasta 10 machine with a yellow nose and coloured tail? A Jasta 4 machine with the wound ribbon around the fuselage? A Jasta 76 or 77 machine with blue tail...? What do you reckon...? Inputs welcomed! ;)
Cheers.
BC
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Looking wonderful Brad.!
The wood grain effect isn’t necessarily too far out of scale either - if the plys are cut in a certain way across outer tree rings then the lines you see will be widely spaced anyway..
As for which one to mark up, one of my considerations is where will it sit on the shelf, and can I make it appear as a contrast to the other models.
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Your DV is really looking great Brad. Hard to believe it is the Airfix kit! As for markings, since this is a nostalgia build perhaps there is a good scheme in the Old Contemporary publication,Aircraft in Profile series?
Personally I would love to see you do a Jasta 4 wound ribbon bird 8)
RAGIII
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Looking very neat Brad. As for color, the brighter, gaudier, and more spectacular the better ........ that's what I'd bet an 11 year old "you" would do!
Cheers,
Lance
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Looks amazing, I love the wood grain and bright colours.
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I love the wood. Grain may be over scale, but it is some of the best oil paint grain I have seen done and the color is light like so many reports mention about Albatri. The green and mauve wings are just right too. This is shaping up into a real gem.
sp
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It is difficult to believe that this is the old Airfix kit. I made one of these a few years ago for the same reasons as you - nostalgia. You are certainly turning a sow's ear into a silk purse - the wood grain and wings are very good indeed. As for markings I agree with Lance - choose something that is really garish as you probably would have done when you were 11 years old.
My nostalgia build was of a zebra striped aircraft - but you have already painted the fuselage.
Stephen.
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Thanks all! I tend to agree that some splashes of colour might go well.
To that end, i've had an idea for some markings. The 11 year old me would have read McCudden's Flying Fury, where he describes the famous "green tail", a particular Albatros that he and 56 squadron faced in late 1917 and early 1918, and for which he held quite a lot of respect due to its pilot's flying skill. His description of his adversary's colours reads:
"We got close enough to open fire, and I engaged an Albatros, who was painted with a red nose, a yellow fuselage, and a green tail. He also had the letter K, on his top-plane. This Hun was destined to be always fighting my patrol somehow, and for the next three months we were continually meeting him."
This description has confused historians, as it sounds allot like Jasta 5. However, McCudden goes on to describe the colours of the adversary squadron in this way:
"By now I was in the middle of these Albatroses and saw that they were a patrol of good Huns whom we had fought before. They all had red noses and yellow fuselages, but each had a different coloured tail. There was a red, light blue - who I had sent to sports - black, yellow, black and white striped, and our dear old 'green tail'. By Jove! They were a tough lot."
Modern thinking is that his famous adversary was not from Jasta 5, but from Jasta 35b.
I am thinking perhaps an interpretation on McCudden's famous adversary might be interesting...? Red nose, green tail, "K" in white on the upper wing (and maybe fuselage, also in white, which might have been harder to spot in the heat of combat)... Thoughts?
Cheers,
BC
PS - if anyone wants to read more historical research about who "green tail" was, see here - http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34568
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Stripes , nuff said ;)
Terri
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I think "Green Tail" is an awesome choice Brad!
RAGIII
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Personally I would love to see you do a Jasta 4 wound ribbon bird 8)
I went with this in the end... more to follow... ;)
Cheers,
BC
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Personally I would love to see you do a Jasta 4 wound ribbon bird 8)
I went with this in the end... more to follow... ;)
Cheers,
BC
Great choice Brad 8) One can pretty much do any color tail and spinner and be fairly accurate !
RAGIII
PS: Not Just because it agreed with Me ;D
RAGIII
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So, a sneak peek....
(https://i.imgur.com/GVHfXwp.jpg)
This is modelled on a reasonably well known Jasta 4 machine:
(https://i.imgur.com/3QQzlUv.jpg)
The spiral bands are black decal strip. Trying to wrap a straight decal around the Albatros' compound curved fuselage and still get the right number of bands and the right spacing was not fun, but I got there in the end. The decals still need several more applications of decal softener to get them to settle down, then detail painting, a clear coat, and shading / weathering / washes from there.
Cheers,
BC
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Very nice updates, the overall look is appealing and makes me tempted to build one of those same oldies.
Looking forward to the completed model.
Ciao
Giuseppe
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I absolutely Love this one Brad! It is a great scheme in that it has color but still shows of the woodgrain. Using decals for the ribbon is amazing...I had to rsort to masking and painting! I am looking forward to the next phase!
RAGIII
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Good choice on the livery, Brad.
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Thumbs up Brad :)
Terri
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Thanks for the memories Brad - I so remember buying this model at Woolworths in Sunderland for 2 shillings and sixpence. Great times!
Your work on it looks super.
Cheers,
Gary
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Hard to believe that's the old Airfix model!
(11 year old Jeroen would have slapped Humbrol 63 on the fuselage and used his imagination to turn it into wood :P )
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Thanks again all!
I now have some shading and a wash down:
(https://i.imgur.com/WdlUENc.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/IQq9cBb.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/v0eb2FX.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/7UuS2DO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/a8bP9ti.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UXWV2kO.jpg)
Pretty happy with the little beastie so far, even if some of the details are not so refined. Speaking of which, I did have to replace the absolutely atrocious guns with some roden guns from the spares box (roden to the rescue again!).
Next the really fun part - actually getting the struts on... no idea how well they fit, but given this is a 60+ year old kit, i'd hazard a guess and say not so well...
Cheers,
BC
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Pretty happy?
I would be! :o
Excellent work, Brad.
vB
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Making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear..
This is wonderful work.!
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Damn, that's beautiful work, Sir!
You're making that old kit the model it always aspired to be.
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I didn't know WNW made a 1/72 kit!
At least, it looks like a WNW kit.
Oh, its a Brad kit. No wonder.
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Simply beautiful Brad! I always admire your shading and subtle effects!
RAGIII
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Proper plastic and paint mastery Brad!
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Brad
Whatever sort of wash you used, especially around the metal cowl parts really sets everything else off. That is particularly hard to do in 1/72. You have really dragged an Albatros out of an Airfix bag. Great modeling!
sp
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Really like how your shading turned out and the wash :) Sure brings life to her 8)
Terri
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Thanks guys! The old airfix kit isn't scrubbing up too badly with a small amount of TLC.
SP - the wash is just an oil based black / brown wash, with a little bit of dry brushing with a light grey to pull out the rivet detail on the cowls. I tried to preserve these from the base kit - even though they are not accurate, they are a characterising feature of the airfix kit (one of many), which I liked to retain :)
Cheers,
BC
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Thanks Brad
I totally agree about the rivets.
sp
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She be done!
See here - https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11390.0
(https://i.imgur.com/EXQDiNE.jpg)
Cheers to all for joining me on the journey!
BC
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What a beautiful result, Brad! Very difficult to compare that to the original kit... You have improved it out of this world! Regards, Marc.
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It's a Beauty Brad!
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A 1/72 Airfix kit??? You wouldn't know from the finished product!!!! To me the wood grain looks restrained and in scale. Wow!!!
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Simply beautiful, Sir!
A real treat for the eyes.
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Excellent result.
I always wondered about two things with the Albatros: Why is it that the fuselage and elevator parts are much finer and the fuselage even has a polished surface and the wings and small parts were so crude? (Maybe done by two seperate teams?) And why did Airfix never update this kit in say, the late seventies when they did the Pup?
I remember the lilac parts in their bags in the mid seventies when I started modelling, but never dared to build one because of the struts :o . About 2002 I finally built my retro build but its far behind yours. Very lovely.
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Great thread and even better results Brad!
RAGIII
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That was quick, brilliant result Brad. That's a little beauty! :)
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You've turned a sow's ear into a silk purse. WELL DONE!
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NICE!!!!