forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: Luftace on August 29, 2022, 12:38:11 PM
-
Finally, my first build log on this forum. I will be building the 1/48 Albatros D.Va by Eduard and making many improvements to the kit as I go along. I hope to keep it entertaining and informative so that perhaps it can help others in their future builds just as I have learned so much from reading build logs over the years. Here we go!
(https://i.postimg.cc/3NxBxgQW/20220826-154018-1.jpg)
The kit that I will be using is the Weekend Edition, kit number 8406. I will not be building this specific aircraft though. Instead I will be building Otto Fuchs D.Va of Jasta 77b circa 1917 or so. Here are some pictures I found on the web of his aircraft and a color profile. Also a book I just got on the very subject. It is already proving useful.
(https://i.postimg.cc/jStR4v69/R-2.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/tgsw-3Vcw/R-3.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/gJL3YGTf/20220828-212058.jpg)
And an overall view of the parts out of the box. I had already removed the fuselage halves and landing gear struts before I took the photos.
(https://i.postimg.cc/NFk4gpz3/In-Collage-20220827-170122689.jpg)
I started by thinning out the front of the fuselage cowling to give a bit more wiggle room for the replacement engine I intend to use. I will be using the Engines and Things resin Mercedes D.IIIa, but I am still awaiting it to arrive to me in the mail.
(https://i.postimg.cc/XYmw6RvZ/20220826-154423.jpg)
Next I thought it would be a good idea to scribe around all the molded on framing in the cockpit to sharpen things up so that things will be tidier later on when a wash is applied after final painting.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Hkx2g04N/20220826-154329.jpg)
After seeing Brad Cancian's current build of Eduard's Albatros D.V kit, I really liked what he had did with adding plastic stock instead to add more definition. Hope you don't mind Brad, your build is very well done and inspiring to say the least, so I may borrow some of your tricks to improve my kit as well.
Here is the basic addition of strip stock to the side walls.
(https://i.postimg.cc/s25Zd188/20220827-123554.jpg)
I have more progress to show, but will leave this here for now and make another post shortly.
Thanks for having a look, it is really nice to be here with you all.
Chad
-
Next installment.
Looking at pictures of the cockpit on the full sized aircraft, I noticed that the wood frames were cut in such a manner to allow more material where the stringers were notched in, essentially bulging out in what appears to be almost half of a circle. I thought I could replicate it easy enough, so this is what I did.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Wb4cKMvh/20220828-203731.jpg)
First I punched 2mm discs from .5mm sheet styrene. .5mm is the same width I used for the smaller framing strips on the side walls. Then I sliced off a segment from the punched disc. Each disc yielded me two usable segments. I just eyeballed the size. I then place the segments on the vertical frames where the longerons intersect. The result looks like this.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Fshb5XhH/20220828-203944.jpg)
It matches my references much closer now and I find the detail and curves it adds rather pleasing.
I then turned my attention to the cockpit floor. Eduard has the floor extending to the rear bulkhead, when in fact it should only span one frame section. The frame that it should stop at is not present in the kit, so i just traced the front frame Eduard does provide onto some styrene of a suitable thickness and cut out a copy of that. I then measured how long the floor should be to span between the two frames and cut it to size accordingly. I also drilled out the compass mount on the floor since I wanted to replace it with something more detailed. I am still doing a bit of research on this, and I am beginning to think I would have been better off just removing it with a blade and sanding the floor flush rather than drilling it all the way out. This I will get back to later as I need to study this a bit more before I make a decision.
(https://i.postimg.cc/x8fmPY6Z/20220826-205414.jpg)
I had planned to use the seat and the frame it sits on as provided in the kit. By including the missing frame as previously mentioned, which is directly under the seat and its tube frame, I realized that surgery would be necessary to make either one work with each other and I did not like the prospect of trying to make a clean job of it. Instead I opted to just scratchbuild the seat frame and rails from round styrene stock.
(https://i.postimg.cc/ncgq78tH/20220827-133303.jpg)
Here are the parts completed. The original kit part shown for comparison.
In case someone wants to do this also, here are the measurements. The four round sleeves on the seat rails are stretched cotton swab tube split on one side so that they can open like a "C" shape when place over the round stock.
Seat rails running fore to aft: .5mm round stock, 16.5mm length, 2ea
Seat mount bars: .5mm round stock, 13mm length, 2ea
Seat mount brackets: Stretched plastic cotton swab tube, cut to 2mm sections, 4ea and split on one side.
Seat mount brackets (attached to the seat bars at the ends in the photo): .05mm thick sheet styrene cut into rectangles, 2mm width x 1.5 mm height. A single hole was drilled in each one centered at 1mm from the top. the top corners were trimmed off as a start to round them off. These were glued with the seat bars passing through the holes leaving .5mm over hang on the outside of each bracket. Once cured, they were rounded off the rest of the way with sanding sticks.
The idea is to glue the seat bars directly to the rails and later slide the 2mm sleeves on the rails underneath each of the brackets to complete those assemblies.
Here is a picture for better clarity of the sleeves cut from stretched cotton swab sticks. It is shown on the end of a pair of tweezers spreading it apart to be able to slide it onto the seat rail.
(https://i.postimg.cc/2SQkFttp/20220827-165456.jpg)
That is all I have for tonight. I hope that someone will find this information useful. If clarification is needed on anything, please ask, I am more than happy to help. I look forward to hearing what you guys think so far.
Chad
-
Really nice start so far :)
Alexis
-
Wonderful scratch work you are doing. I’m following with great interest!
-
Great "super-detailing" already Chad, and judging from what you've shared of your previous Builds this will be a genuine treat to follow. I can really appreciate what you are doing in 1;48 Scale here as it was my scale of choice for many years until my eyesight, steadiness of hand, and stiff fingers all reached their "Best Before Dates" due to advancing old age!! Never to worry though, I'm still functioning in 1;32 Scale and there's still 1:24! Your extra efforts on the frame/stringer junctions and the seat frame are very impressive, this is already looking like a spectacular model and something we can all learn from, thanks for sharing your skills and ideas here on our Forum.
Cheers,
Lance
-
Very good color scheme!
I really like the detail work inside the cockpit.
Great work.
Servus
Bertl
-
I'm loving the work on this one Chad, and i'll be watching along with interest - I might steal a few of your tricks myself ;) ;D
Cheers,
BC
-
@Alexis
Thank you!
@Tim
Thanks!
@Lance
Thanks, much, glad you like the build so far, more detailing to come. Good to hear you are still able to enjoy the hobby even if it now requires building in a larger scale. I would love to build in 1/32 but just don't have the space for it.
@ Bertl
Thank you, cockpit detailing is my favorite part of model aircraft.
@Brad
Thanks much, it would make me more than happy if I could see someone learn something from me as well and apply it to their own builds.
Thank you all, you are very kind and I feel very welcome here. I am making a little more progress, more scratchbuilding to come. I just have to get enough done to have enough to post about. Hopefully more updates by this coming weekend.
Chad
@
-
Truly great start. I will be watching with interest.
-
Thank you PrzemoL!
So, I've been keeping busy on this since the last posting, making tiny parts and such. Here is some of that progress.
Starting with the flight controls in the cockpit.
(https://i.postimg.cc/pdfBBccD/20220829-220413-HDR.jpg)
The unmodified control stick still on the parts tree. I tried to clean up the mold parting lines on the front and back of the stick but was less than satisfied with it's not-so-round profile, appearing slightly chunky to my eye. Out come the tools.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Hnh0LqjC/20220829-221826.jpg)
I measured the main shaft center section before cutting, it is 6mm long.
(https://i.postimg.cc/kX2FHghM/20220829-222746.jpg)
I will replace the missing section with 1.25mm Evergreen round stock, cut to 8mm length. I drilled the top and bottom pieces out using successively larger drill bits until I had the proper size drilled out to a depth of about 1mm on each piece. The cylindrical walls are now paper thin (even less actually!) and care needed to be taken to not damage or distort them.
(https://i.postimg.cc/mZXyVHj6/20220829-223531.jpg)
New shaft glued in place. The top was filed flat before attaching the upper part.
(https://i.postimg.cc/d31mwssB/20220829-224506.jpg)
The completed main stick assembly, with the removed part placed next to it.
Next, I wanted to improve the rudder pedals.
(https://i.postimg.cc/QtjJYgvv/20220829-220426-HDR.jpg)
The kit part is a little undersized and leaves much to be desired. I decided to replace it with an Albatros rudder bar from Tom's Model Works.
(https://i.postimg.cc/B6NcrL0b/20220831-201815.jpg)
There it is to the right hand side closer to the fret edge. Looks much better, but what to do about it being so flat and 2-dimensional?
(https://i.postimg.cc/pX3YMMgf/20220901-202817.jpg)
I did some experimenting and found that if I used Mr. Metal Primer on the photoetch parts, "sprue-goo" will bond to it. Without the primer, the rehardened plastic just pops right off with the slightest flex or prod with a blade. Holds very well once primed though.
(https://i.postimg.cc/mgxM6NHV/20220901-205400.jpg)
After letting the plastic cure over night, I was able to trim back any excess from the front and back edges and lightly sanded both sides which had been coated with the sprue goo to make them even. I then drilled out the mounting hole in the center of the bar with a #80 drill bit. Not bad! Should look very nice under some paint, and it has some volume to it now.
I then began improving the rudder bar tube frame itself.
(https://i.postimg.cc/cC2YWf5x/20220901-231007.jpg)
While still on the parts tree, I snipped off the mounting pip for the kit rudder bar and drilled a hole all the way through with a #80 drill bit. Keeping the part on the tree made handling much easier when doing this.
(https://i.postimg.cc/9Mzrfr9r/20220903-105845.jpg)
I glued a piece of stretched sprue through the hole to be able to mount the rudder bar.
(https://i.postimg.cc/XJvngmNh/20220905-114540.jpg)
I scratchbuilt the bar that the rudder cables are attached to. This view is from the front to show that I laminated 3 thin pieces of sheet styrene, the center piece being narrower than the top or bottom one so as to leave a gap at each end to be able to attach the cables later.
(https://i.postimg.cc/KcMPb8y0/20220905-120013.jpg)
All of the rudder bar parts ready to be assembled. I did add a small piece of Evergreen "C" channel stock under the tube frame just forward of the stretched sprue mounting pins. On reference photos it appears to be boxed in a bit here, so I am just trying to replicate what I see.
(https://i.postimg.cc/nLS4FszP/20220905-115943.jpg)
Finally, one last image showing all of the parts test fitted onto their respective pins. They will be glued later after being painted.
I have a good bit more to show still, but will end this post here for the time being before it gets too long. Hope you guys like it so far, I look forward to hearing what you think.
Chad
-
For the next update, I shall continue on with the control stick.
(https://i.postimg.cc/1th7sPQk/20220905-205024.jpg)
I made the arm that the aileron cables are connected to by laminating 3 thin pieces of sheet styrene together, cutting the middle piece and spacing it so that it would leave a gap for the cable to pass through.
(https://i.postimg.cc/g21z3M8Y/20220905-205057.jpg)
Here I am trying to show the small gap in the arm as described above.
(https://i.postimg.cc/sXY628fv/20220905-205216.jpg)
The arm test fitted to the control stick.
I don't know the nomenclature for all of the extra pieces to the control stick, so I will describe it as best I can and hopefully the pictures will help here too.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Y2Y6JVbW/20220905-215254.jpg)
The slanted bar going from the horizontal part of the stick connects to the vertical control stick just under the hand grip in what looks like a "U" shaped flat metal bracket. i eyeballed the size of rod to use and cut a thin strip from styrene sheet. The strip I held with tweezers in the middle and bent the overhanging ends up to form a "U" shape. I measured the total length of this secondary bar to be 10mm, and going by pictures, decided that the rod part should be 7mm and the "U" part making up the remaining 3mm, leaving it longer than needed for now. I glued the two pieces together and set them aside to set up. Next I drilled a hole all the way through the top of the control stick from the side where the "U" would attach to. I pushed a piece of stretched sprue through the drilled hole and snipped it off leaving two bumps on either side of the stick to serve as the attachment points. Next I glued the bar assembly to the stick and trimmed off the excess styrene from the "U" at their attachment points.
(https://i.postimg.cc/L5mygThv/20220905-215344.jpg)
I made the control lock lever from scrap styrene trimmings laying on my bench. Basically just a sliver bent into an inverted "L" shape, trimmed to size and glued in place. Sorry that these are difficult to see with everything being white styrene right now. Hopefully I can get some better pictures later once I start getting a coat of primer on everything.
(https://i.postimg.cc/VsFZQ3Hh/20220905-215308.jpg)
I wanted to improve the rather plain kit seat, and after seeing how @Servus Bertl's improved his on his 1/32 WNW Albatros build I decided to give it a try myself. I don't have any in progress shots of this, but if you would like to see how it was done please go check out his fantastic build here: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=13288.15
(https://i.postimg.cc/B6w47pXv/20220902-224850.jpg)
Improved kit seat with scratchbuilt cushion.
(https://i.postimg.cc/nLpFXMyn/20220902-224909.jpg)
The cushion was carved from sheet styrene, with further contours added with some sprue goo dabbed on and smoothed over with more extra thin liquid cement. The buttons are punched styrene discs pressed into drilled out recesses.
I improved the rear bulkhead by making a cut-out where the control wires will pass through. Also, since it will be fabric covered, I cut out some thin sheet styrene to represent this panel.
(https://i.postimg.cc/J0KpNkk8/20220905-215434.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/ZKK7TVG5/20220905-215542.jpg)
Last thing for tonight will be the scratchbuilt pulleys for the aileron control cables.
(https://i.postimg.cc/DzPqGJm6/20220901-203459.jpg)
Here are the pieces ready for assembly. I initially made one bracket then used it as a master to cut out the other three. I lost two to the carpet monster along the way so had to make more than I had originally intended. Discs were punched using my punch and die set, that part was pretty easy. What wasn't so easy was getting the hole drilled into them as centered as possible. There were a few rejects of these too until I had four I was happy with. The discs are 1.8mm drilled through with a #80 drill bit. This was tedious, but patience paid off.
(https://i.postimg.cc/D08sRx6p/20220902-224723.jpg)
The discs were doubled up and threaded onto a piece of stretched sprue, held in place with extra thin styrene cement.
(https://i.postimg.cc/90RRLrXv/20220903-100154.jpg)
The pulley discs were given a coat of Model Master Acryl Rust. Not shown, but the inside of the pulley brackets were simultaneously painted with grey-green from Lifecolors' WWI German Aircraft acrylic paint set.
(https://i.postimg.cc/jjc75pkk/20220903-092313.jpg)
The pulley brackets had a triangular stiffening flange on the outside of each part. I replicated this by gluing rectangles of sheet styrene in place then using my side cutters to trim them to shape once the glue had set.
(https://i.postimg.cc/6pN2hWkm/20220903-103609.jpg)
Now the assemblies were brought together, the brackets placed over the stretched sprue axles and glued in place, the excess sprue being nipped off afterwards.
(https://i.postimg.cc/vmZ7w7Qn/20220905-114625.jpg)
Here are the pulley assemblies after they were given a coat of the grey-green to the remaining unpainted areas.
That is all for now. The fun part will be doing all the rigging later with a partially closed interior, but I have some ideas of how to tackle that and will share with you all in due time. Thanks for having a look and as always, feedback is always welcomed.
Chad
-
Chad,
That's some "first class" work there. Thanks for the tutorial.
Kevin
-
Thanks much Kevin! Thanks for having a look and hopefully you and others may find some of this useful.
Chad
-
Beautiful.
@Luftace
I love this little datail work.
Superbly done.
It is relatively (!) easy to install the aileron control cable in the correct scheme and lead it outside the fuselage.
If you drill a small hole on the left and right side below the pulley, you can lead the cables outside the fuselage before joining the fuselage halves.
Then glue the fuselage halves together, stretch the cables and glue them with a drop of super glue in the hole.
Then smooth out the glued area. The wing connectors cover the glue joints.
This is how I did it on the 1/32 models - unfortunately I don't know the Eduard model well enough if these steps would be feasible there.
Greetings
Bertl
-
Thank you much Bertl, I am very humbled by your kind words. Also, thanks for the tip about rigging the pulleys, I will certainly take a look and see if what you described will work for this kit, much appreciated.
Chad
-
Magic!
-
Thanks Zac!
-
Wow, your work on this model is amazing, Chad. Very impressive indeed.
Cheers,
Gary
-
Thank you for the kind words Gary, more to come. ;)
Chad
-
Proper Albatros scourge here at the Forum! And what lovely work you are showing us!
/Fredrik
EDIT Not often one can write the exact same thing in three different threads at once. 😀
-
@FAf
Ha, indeed! Thanks for the kind words.
Hi all!
Been making more progress and I need to make an update or two before I get too far ahead of myself.
Here I will be finishing up the control stick and showing the other details I added to do so.
(https://i.postimg.cc/BnDMMzC5/20220906-202634.jpg)
The kit control yoke was much too thick for my liking, so it had to go. I scratchbuilt my own with styrene rod and stretched sprue. The grips made from the rod were rounded on their ends and had holes drilled on the top and bottom as per reference photos where the grip frame protruded from the top and bottom.
(https://i.postimg.cc/bJL6129K/20220906-204350.jpg)
Here is the hand grips assembled
Next would be the thumb triggers for the guns.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Wbd9JzFH/20220906-213944.jpg)
I started with a humble styrene circle, 1.8mm in diameter
Not much for in progress on this, but I'll endeavor to explain the procedure.
(https://i.postimg.cc/26CcqxhQ/20220906-215510.jpg)
First i scribed a line down the center of the circle with my razor saw. At the top of the line I used a triangle needle file to file in a notch. I cut off the sides at an angle to the bottom of the center line, essentially creating a "heart" shape. I carefully sanded the top lobes of the "heart" to make them round. Using a needle, I made dimples for drill guides on the "heart", one at the top of each lobe and one at the bottom point. Using a couple different sized drill bits, I twisted them with my fingers at each dimple just enough to only remove so much plastic as to just create a slightly larger depression. Once that was done, I used my razor saw to finish sawing through the center line to give me two separate triggers as seen here. BTW, those two little scrap strips at the bottom of the mat are actually what the triggers will be attached to. Also, this is the second attempt, I got all the way as described up to sawing the completed triggers in half the rest of the way. On the final swipe with the saw, one half launched into the nether, never to be seen again. Such is the bane of we model builders.
Next I had to make the attachment point for the triggers. I simplified it to just a simple wedge shape, good enough for its small size. Dunno if it will even be seen once completed, but here is what I did anyways.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Wz358b9t/20220906-220653.jpg)
I took a piece of 1mmx1mm square stock and drilled a hole all the way through with a #80 drill bit.
(https://i.postimg.cc/x84t4D75/20220906-220723.jpg)
i then turned it over 90 degrees and sawed a slot to a depth just past the hole previously drilled.
(https://i.postimg.cc/tC8BdbFC/20220906-220941.jpg)
I then inserted and glued a piece of stretched sprue through the holes. Here the slot shows up just a little better.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Ls3vMZwn/20220906-222107.jpg)
That little speck just below center of the image is the mounting point for the triggers awaiting to be glued to the stick. I cut it at 90 degrees on the non slotted end, and cut the slotted end at approximately 45 degrees. The sprue was trimmed so that just a nub protruded on each side.
Now, actually mounting the triggers to the yoke was a rather hair-pulling experience. I don't have any in progress pictures of that as a result, but I basically glued a couple of very thin slivers of plastic to the trigger mount I made earlier and then had to glue each trigger half to each of those slivers. It is tiny! Hopefully this can be seen a bit in the completion photos further down.
(https://i.postimg.cc/ZRYHY5zj/20220909-191354.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/qqzGnDR3/20220909-191652.jpg)
I wanted to make attachment points for the control cables on the stick. I drilled through the side of it with a #80 drill bit, threaded a piece of stretched sprue through the stick, which I then trimmed off leaving only nubs on either side.
To finish it up, a few rings were cut from stretch cotton swabs and CA glued onto the stick to match my reference photos. So, the final pictures of the finished stick. (Note, the throttle is not added to the left grip yet. I will fabricate and attach that later so I don't end up breaking it off before final assembly of the interior.)
(https://i.postimg.cc/yYCjpHLf/20220917-212422.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/bN0TKBMq/20220917-212355.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/d0fm2P7j/20220917-212525.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/mDF3VXCf/20220917-212545.jpg)
That's it for this post. I will be making another right after I upload this one. We will start on the engine next, and hopefully show you guys some tricks that I haven't seen anyone else use yet, so you will be the first to see it. Stay tuned, and thanks much for following along.
Chad
-
Fantastic detail work on the column :)
Alexis
-
@Alexis
Thanks very much! I'm happy with it but glad to finally be moving on to other areas of the build.
Now for the engine, at least the start of it.
I wanted to replace the undersized engine that Eduard provides with something more to scale and better detailed. Finding an after market Mercedes D.IIIa seems to be about as rare as hen's teeth these days. Have now acquired several, some of the nice Vector engines as well as an old but very nice Hi-Tech one from France. I got those after I started with what I will show you. Initially I started with an Engines and Things resin engine, but the ones I got were, shall we say, less than desirable in molding quality. So, I will be using a spare from one of my Roden 1/48 Fokker D.VII kits.
(https://i.postimg.cc/fy99DGyB/20220910-122906.jpg)
Here are the unaltered parts straight from the parts tree. This is a very nice basis on which to add further details. Unfortunately, some of the parts are used for both the Mercedes and BMW engines on the common parts tree, such as the rocker arm covers, propeller shaft as well as the post on the back of the engine with the decompression lever at the top.
(https://i.postimg.cc/8zB0m5DB/20220910-135612.jpg)
First I scraped off the molded on spark plug wires and drilled holes to accept spark plugs which I will add later.
(https://i.postimg.cc/DzvYjTwV/20220910-143631.jpg)
Next I removed what was supposed to represent the tube that carried the spark plug leads. The one on the left has had this detail removed while the one on the right is shown beforehand as a comparison.
(https://i.postimg.cc/QMfYvyFF/20220910-183001.jpg)
I made the propeller shaft from brass tube and a styrene disc. It was quite a chore to get the disc drilled through on center and then having to sand the outer edges to get it to fit into its recess. It still ended up being a tighter fit than I had wanted, meaning the shaft will not spin now, but at least it will hold a propeller, hopefully. Also notice that the space between each of the cylinders has been cleaned up. These were all completely flashed over to start with. A sharp #11 blade and some sandpaper did the job nicely.
(https://i.postimg.cc/W3tYVwZX/20220910-213642.jpg)
Here is the main engine assembly glued together and cleaned up ready for further detailing.
Now for some fun stuff that I promised you guys in the last post.
I needed a duplicate of the Roden supplied rocker covers part. This is how I did it, in plastic.
(https://i.postimg.cc/N0D8nv2X/20220910-113133.jpg)
Here is the original part and a block of Oyumaru (Thermo plastic used for making impressions and molds).
(https://i.postimg.cc/x8JKqkxG/20220910-113413.jpg)
Following the product instructions, place the thermoplastic (Not the kit part!) into boiling water until it is soft, about 30 seconds or so. Fish it out with a spoon and immediately press the master part into the thermoplastic, pressing around it to alleviate any gaps and achieving a good impression.
(https://i.postimg.cc/grb6Jg6d/20220910-124416.jpg)
The mold should be cool enough to extract the master after a few minutes. I had measured the master part and cut out parts ahead of time that were roughly the size of the original from .020"/.5mm thick sheet styrene. The large squares are 2mmx2mm and the small ones are 1mmx1mm.
(https://i.postimg.cc/2jVgNrFr/20220910-124537.jpg)
Brush a thin layer of "sprue goo" into the mold. Allow this to set up for at least an hour for best results. You could immediately move onto the next step, but you will be more likely to introduce unwanted air bubbles. Ask me how I know. Just in case someone does not know what "sprue goo" is, it is pieces of cut up left over sprue added to about half a bottle of Tamiya extra thin cement. You can vary the consistency depending on the ratio of plastic to glue.
(https://i.postimg.cc/SN95jdvP/20220910-124948.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/1R2292J6/20220910-125003.jpg)
After the goo has had time to set up, brush in another layer and then add the styrene pieces into their respective cavities. Apply one more layer over these so that they are completely covered. Allow to cure for a minimum of 24 hours. You can pull the part sooner and have an excellent impression, but it will be soft and can warp significantly. That is why it is important to leave it in the mold until fully cured. Using rough cut styrene reduces the amount of "sprue goo" needed and speeds up the process considerably. You could do the whole thing with just "sprue goo", but it will take several applications to get to the desired thickness as it will shrink back as the solvent evaporates.
(https://i.postimg.cc/6qvH26YZ/20220912-203138.jpg)
Here is the part pulled straight from the mold and compared to the original master part. It is an exact duplicate in plastic in every detail, just with a little extra flash, but that is easily dealt with, see below.
(https://i.postimg.cc/521PyVvH/20220912-203736.jpg)
To remove the excess flash, place the part on a flat piece of sandpaper and begin sanding. Starting with something moderately coarse should do, just check your progress often as you go so you don't sand too much. The flash will completely separate from the part when you have sanded it to the correct thickness. No need to sand further. It is done, unless you just want to polish out some of the scratches to make the bottom a bit smoother, but you should not be trying to take away any more material.
(https://i.postimg.cc/PfpVFKTq/20220913-204829.jpg)
The center area running the length of the entire part needs to be added with 1mm width x .5 mm height half round styrene rod. I didn't have any on hand so I had to precariously cut my own from 1mm round rod with my chopping tool. Not easy, but I managed ok. Also, using the original part as a guide where they had the locating pins placed, I glued in 1mm x .5mm flat strips at the front and back of the part so that it will sit level and not roll when installed on top of the engine cylinders later.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Wb0Ws3DL/20220913-204937.jpg)
Here is the original part on the left with the duplicate one on the right. If these had a coat of primer on them you would not be able to tell them apart. Exactly the point of this whole thing, right? Never mind that one of the rocker arm spring disc thingy broke off on one of the boxes, they will all be cut off and replaced anyways.
(https://i.postimg.cc/ZR1HSt45/20220916-203933.jpg)
Just like this.
(https://i.postimg.cc/W41Xmw5T/20220916-203514.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/j2PXqgSQ/20220916-203729.jpg)
Speaking of springs and rocker arms, here they are. I used thin steel wire I had salvaged from something (old violin string unraveled I think?), annealed it to make it more pliable, which had the added affect of giving it a slightly darkened patina. This was wound around a 27 GA hypodermic needle (the same diameter of a #80 drill bit) and then cut to lengths of 1mm. The arms are steel beading wire bent into an "L" shape and flattened with pliers on top. The flat portion is trimmed to a length of 1mm and the longer round portion is 3mm. The longer length is intentional so as to be able to plug these securely into holes drilled on top of the cylinders. Also, the "caps" for the springs are punched styrene discs .005" thick by .8mm diameter, center drilled with my trusty #80 drill bit. Easier said than done, but I got it done!
(https://i.postimg.cc/SQMVGsf2/20220917-180226.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/fRBvb0DF/20220917-210644.jpg)
The carburetors were another part that was only provided singly in the Roden kit, so I scratched those too. Large cylinders are 1mm rod cut to 2mm length, capped with .005" x 1.4mm styrene discs. The smaller ones attached to the bottom of those were .5mm rod cut to 1mm length. Shown here in comparison to the original still on the parts tree and in situ on the air intake manifold assembly.
(https://i.postimg.cc/YCp3kxKY/20220917-210454.jpg)
Lastly for now is the decompression lever assembly, kit part on the left, scratch built one on the right. I took measurements of the kit part and made them accordingly out of styrene stock and rod. The base is 2mm square (slightly narrower on mine because close enough is just fine here for me), the post is approximately 1.5mm width x 6mm length. The Dished shaped piece was a bit of a head scratcher at first. I ended up using thin sheet styrene to punch out discs of different diameters and stack them, constantly referring to the original part for sizing. To get a smooth transition without steps between the stacked discs I applied some "sprue goo" and this worked nicely. A few gentle swipes of a fine sanding stick removed any bumps after it had cured. The lever is stretched sprue with "sprue goo" applied to the tip to fill out what is to be the wooden handle. the cylinder it is attached to is a piece of stretched cotton swab with a hole drilled through the top for the lever to fit into.
That's all for now. More to come. Lemme know what you think, see ya again soon.
Chad
-
Hi Chad - looking good - what did you use to scrape off the ignition wire tubes? I had a heck of a time with these when trying the same on my Eduard build.
Cheers,
BC
-
@Brad
I just used my Tamiya sprue nippers to cut out the majority of it, angling in at each cylinder as close as I could get and cutting out triangle chunks of it between each cylinder. The remaining nubs left on the outside face of each cylinder were also cut as flush as possible with the nippers. Afterwards the remaining material was not unlike cleaning up a regular sprue attachment point with some light scraping with a #11 blade and polishing out with sanding sticks and folded sandpaper between the cylinders. Hope that helps, lemme know if you need more clarification.
Chad
-
Thank you my friend - I have a very old Roden D.IIIa engine salvaged from a very old Fokker D.VII build which has long gone to God, which I might try something similar with... it will be quite an effort to recover, but hey, choices are a bit limited. Hopefully some day we'll see another aftermarket D.IIIa engine...
Thanks again!
Brad
-
@ Brad
No problem! Hopefully the Roden engine is salvageable enough for you. I think they are fantastic for what they are and a nice canvas to add finer scratchbuild details I would add myself anyways. With 3d printing becoming more prevalent, I think it is only a matter of time before someone does a nicely detailed Mercedes D.IIIa.
Chad
-
Wow! Thanks for the tutorial on making the rocker cover. Your attention to detail is something to behold.
-
Wow! Thanks for the tutorial on making the rocker cover. Your attention to detail is something to behold.
Hear hear - fascinating and aspirational work, Chad!
-
@ Tim and Zac
Thanks very much guys, glad you like it so far!
-
I must say that between you and Brad you have embarrassed Me as to how much can be done in a small scale compared to what I do in 1/32nd ;D That being said I am following your techniques and perhaps I will be able to "Almost" duplicate them in the future 8) Your Albatros is Brilliant!!
RAGIII
-
Thank you much RAGIII, I am humbled by your words. Hopefully I can hold your attention as I go forward. Slow going at times with doing a good bit of scratchbuilding to add what isn't included in the kit. More updates soon!
Chad
-
Hi all!
It's been quite a while now since any updates, but I have been steadily making progress. I need to be more diligent about posting as I am quite far ahead now, so will endeavor to bring this build current and share with you my further progress and misadventures. Gotta start somewhere, so let's continue with the exhaust.
Since I will be using the Roden engine that is slightly bigger than the Eduard supplied one, the exhaust would need to be modified to fit.
(https://i.postimg.cc/JzWnYPhf/20220903-165306.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/c43CcVd7/20220903-165349.jpg)
As you can see, the exhaust will not line up properly with the new engine. These early photos are of me testing it with the Engines and Things engine which I ultimately decided not to use. It is dimensionally the same size as the Roden engine so is fine for demonstrative purposes.
First I had to cut apart the exhaust. Scary, I know! With a deep breath, I started cutting.
(https://i.postimg.cc/8cJ59YMS/20220903-165711.jpg)
I then drilled through all the parts to be able to insert a length of wire later, making sure to keep track of the parts so that I put them back together properly.
(https://i.postimg.cc/WzB3v7wJ/20220903-171614.jpg)
I made five spacers from .25mm thick sheet styrene squares and drilled a hole through the center of each of these. Ironically enough, I used beading wire to string the parts together, very much like stringing a necklace.
(https://i.postimg.cc/NGSLmgvf/20220903-171538.jpg)
Using styrene cement I pressed all the parts together on the wire, making small adjustments to make sure everything was aligned properly.(https://i.postimg.cc/K8rY6BkR/20220903-174150.jpg)
Here you can see that the exhaust now fits near perfectly with the larger sized engine block. Success!(https://i.postimg.cc/8CpCNcMw/20220903-174235.jpg)
After letting this dry, I used my sprue cutters to trim away the extra material from the spacers and sanded the exhaust to a unified shape. Minor hairline gaps in the assembly were filled with sprue goo and again sanded to shape once cured.
(https://i.postimg.cc/pdsLTvBv/20220905-120046.jpg)
I also added a piece of styrene approximately 1mm thick to the end of the exhaust to make it proportional with the other added length, trimmed and sanded just as I had done with the spacers. I used a very thin piece of stretched sprue to add a lip to the exhaust opening. I drilled out and carefully hollowed the opening with various sized drill bits and my xacto knife with a #11 blade. I cleaned up any swarf and dust with the tiniest bit of extra thin glue. Too much glue and you can melt and distort all that work on the hollowed end, so less is definitely more here. I had to repair it a couple times because of this.(https://i.postimg.cc/26JjQxJX/20221001-145643-1.jpg)
I base coated the exhaust with Stynylrez black primer. Using a drybrush technique, I used Model Master Acryl Jet to give the first addition of color. After that I stippled on burnt iron, a Martha Steward craft paint I found at the local art supply store. I varied these colors back and forth until I was happy with the look I was going for, using close up pictures of the TVAL aircraft as reference. I stippled on very small amounts of highly thinned clear blue, clear red with a fine brush, allowing them to mix slightly here and there, and building up the color with multiple applications. I was going for the sort of discoloration you see on metal from being subjected to high heat. Using the aforementioned base metallic colors, I lightly drybrushed some areas to help unify the colors again. I added a minimum of rust near the exhaust opening and at the base of the stacks where they emerge from the engine. Again, less is more here and references are your friend.(https://i.postimg.cc/brty3tfY/20221206-184142-1.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/xqV0719v/20221206-184156-1.jpg)
Thanks for looking, more updates in the works.
Chad
-
Chad,
Thanks for the tutorial. The exhaust looks great.
Kevin
-
Excellent work Chad!!
-
Thanks much Zac and Kevin! Glad to be posting updates again, hopefully there is still some interest here after such a long delay, more tutorials on the way.
I wanted to dress up the Ammo bins with some extra detail. Using my references, I added a bar to the front of the ammo bins using a length of styrene rod and a section of stretched cotton swab tube.
(https://i.postimg.cc/MHR7c5Px/20221001-145424-1.jpg)
The spent cartridge belt chutes are missing entirely from the kit so I added these with rectangle styrene stock bent and contorted to shape. This was a bit of a chore bending it into shape, but I am fairly satisfied with it.
(https://i.postimg.cc/MpwDBkJL/20221007-112753-1.jpg)
Another detail I thought would be really neat is to have the ammunition visible at the top of the feed chutes where it feeds into the Spandaus. Using a razor saw and micro chisel, I carefully carved out a rectangular slot at the top of the feed chutes, cleaning up any burrs afterwards with extra thin cement. To make the linked ammunition rounds, I cut a few dozen pieces of stretched sprue and butted them all together on a piece of tape flat on my work bench. I give them all a quick swipe of extra thin cement and I instantly had a small patch of corrugations. I cut these into strips the same width as the slots in the feed chutes. I glued these into the slots and trimmed off the excess sticking out of the top of the chutes with my sprue nippers. It was only after I did all of this work that I realized that the feed chutes on Albatros scouts were usually fully enclose, having a hinged door that concealed the ammunition as it fed into the guns. Oh well, I'm not gonna fix it now. Atleast I know I will be able to do this for my Fokker D.VII builds later as they did have feed chutes in which you can see the rounds through slots in them.
I tried adding rivet detail to the edges of the bins using a riveting wheel and a pin, but they ended up not being visible at all when completed. Dang.
(https://i.postimg.cc/QxQgh6KJ/20221001-145524-1.jpg)
I modified the firewall by trimming off the very top and adding a piece of .005 sheet styrene. This allowed me to have the top recessed so that I could inlay the support brackets for mounting the Spandaus. These brackets were scratchbuilt with evergreen strip. Initially I cut the firewall too short and had to graft it back on and redo the cut higher up. May be able to make out the puttied seam where I corrected my error, oops!
(https://i.postimg.cc/RZv7Fcc5/20221206-183746-1.jpg)
For painting the ammo bins and chutes, I primed everything with grey Stynelrez. I then slowly build up the aluminum color using a drybrush technique using Model Master Acryl Aluminum. My technique for doing this is to have the brush ever so slightly damp with very little paint. This lets me spread the color more evenly rather than have it clump up or becoming gritty with multiple applications. It takes a bit of practice but it works well for me. I'm just too lazy to load up the airbrush and have to clean it up aftewards for such a small amount of paint to be applied. I still do just as much brush painting as I do airbrushing, usually reserving the airbrush for painting larger areas or multiple parts of the same color in batches. Anywho, after the aluminum was applied, Using a very fine brush, I carefully dabbed on tiny squiggles of Vallejo's oily steel. I was trying to mimic the jewel turned finish seen on some of these items, but alas, like my attempt with the rivets, it was too subtle to be noticed. I will try a different idea next time instead. The ammunition rounds were picked out with clear yellow/orange to give them a brass look since they were already aluminum colored from the initial painting of the bins. Hinges on the ammo bin access door was painted a black grey and the small bar I had added out of styrene rod as well as the gun mount brackets were painted with Life Color grey-green. After a coat of future, I gave the bins an oil wash using raw umber and Payne's grey.
(https://i.postimg.cc/0yZpJbf6/20221206-184812-1.jpg)
The firewall itself was primed with Stynelrez white. It then received a coat of Model Master Acryl Sand. The framing below the ammo bins were painted with MM Acryl Wood. A coat of Future was then applied and allowed to cure. I used yellow ocre oil paints streaked on with a brush for the woodgrain effect. Few tiny dots here and there of burnt sienna and burnt umber were worked into the ocre to add some more variety. After Drying for a day or so, I gave the wood painted firewall a coat of future slightly tinted with clear orange. The spaces between the framing on the bottom of the firewall below the ammo bins was painted brass since this would have been the rear of the brass fuel tank visible through here. I was too lazy to actually cut out the openings so opted to paint them instead. They were given the same oil wash treatment as the bins. All metal details were further outlined with a sharpened mechanical pencil to hopefully give more definition to it later once closed up and buried inside the fuselage.
The next update will be building the fuel tank.
Chad
-
One of the prominent omissions from Eduard's Albatros kit is the fuel tank. It is visible enough to be noticed that it is missing so I made my own.
(https://i.postimg.cc/3RB5MMQ0/20220924-103242-HDR.jpg)
Using 1mm thickness styrene sheet, I first cut a master to the size and shape needed for the main fuel tank as well as the smaller upper tank. The picture will clarify the following, but as you can see, I cut two additional pieces each for both tanks slightly larger than needed from the same 1mm styrene sheet. These were laminated to the front and back of the properly sized template. The only requirements were that the laminated pieces must be level with the bottom of the upper tank and the top of the lower tank so as to preserve the gap between the two tanks, the notches in the side of the master template piece serving as a guide. Once glued into place it is a simple matter of trimming the excess plastic flush with the master template now sandwiched in the middle (my sprue nippers make quick work of this) and smoothing everything out with a sanding stick. See, scratchbuilding doesn't have to be super precise with every single component, it's really quite simple sometimes.
(https://i.postimg.cc/hv1G3Zp2/20221001-145600-1.jpg)
Next came adding the smaller details. The Filler caps and their necks were made from different sizes of Evergreen styrene rod stock (I don't know exactly what sizes, I just eyeballed it) and punched discs from styrene sheet. The gray nuts are from Meng whom sells sheets of different sized nut and bolt heads on styrene sheets intended to be shaved off and used for additional detailing. These would be especially useful for you guys that build in 1/32 scale as these are intended for 1/35 armour models and most are a bit too large for all but a few specific applications in 1/48. The brackets connecting the two tanks were made from strips of sheet styrene. The crimped edge around the face of the top tank was made with stretched sprue, glued around the perimeter a little at a time with extra thin cement. The embossed rivets (bolts, fasteners?) on the front of the tank were made with a jeweler's beading awl. This is the same tool marketed to modelers for embossing rivets, but can be had for much cheaper elsewhere once you know what the original tool is called. I got mine several years ago off of eBay or Amazon for only about $5 as opposed to $40 or so I've seen elsewhere when marketed for scale models. Thought I'd mention that just in case someone might want to know that.
My original plan was to have the fuel tank sit directly onto the rear of the engine mount that extends all the way to the firewall. Turns out, I measured incorrectly for the depth of the fuel tank and it was just a little too tall to sit at the proper height on the engine mount.
(https://i.postimg.cc/JznhPqJQ/20221206-183719-1.jpg)(https://i.postimg.cc/3rXWRWY2/20221209-143216-1.jpg)
I was faced with two possible solutions. I could remeasure and just trim the tank shorter, or I could cut off the back of the engine mount and build out the rest of the fuel tank. The fuel tank was already completely painted, weathered and attached to the firewall which I had also already meticulously painted with oils and gloss clear coated. So, I did what anyone would do in this situation.
(https://i.postimg.cc/DwJTSYLR/20221210-200149.jpg)
I masked off the wooden firewall and set to sanding, filing and splicing on the rest of the fuel tank with more styrene.
Once surgery was completed, I repainted everything and blended it in as best I could so hopefully it wouldn't be too obvious that it wasn't originally a single unit.
As to the painting, The tank was first sprayed with a coat of Stynelrez grey primer. Then, using a drybrush technique, I carefully built up a coat of Model Master Acryl Aluminum. This was followed by layers of drybrushed Model Master Acryl Brass. Having a silver base coat down before painting brass or copper helps it to "pop" more, be a little more vibrant than just using the color on its own. I learned this technique from the excellent book Stringbag! by Joroen Veen and Flip Hendrickx. Highly recommended reading if you haven't already. After the initial brass color was on, I further expanded on the technique by using very thin layers of clear yellow and clear orange to achieve the color I wanted. The embossed fasteners were carefully painted with aluminum. To represent the soldered joints on the tanks I used pin washes of the same aluminum color highly thinned. After the aluminum washes were dry I tidied things up with another drybrush of brass in some areas where the aluminum wash was just a little too heavy for my tastes. All base colors were finished at this point and the tank was given a coat of Future (yes, I still have some of the original stuff!) and left to cure overnight. This was later given a an oil wash using burnt umber and just a touch of black. The excess was cleaned up with a cotton swab and I was left with the details neatly picked out and a subtle overall grimy patina imparted.
(https://i.postimg.cc/sDnWj14w/20221216-2010551.jpg)
Hope you guys like it so far. I have lots more to post, hopefully sooner than later. Thanks for having a look, feedback always welcome.
Chad
-
Thanks for the next lesson, Chad.
You are following in the footsteps of
some of the other great modelers on
this forum and contributing to the
group knowledge base.
Happy Modeling,
Kevin
-
Fantastic work Chad, I continue to take notes :)
I bet once you've done this one, Eduard will surprise us all and announce a new mould Albatros DV with all of the nice internal goodies that their 20+ year old kit doesn't have...
Well... a man can dream.... ;D
Cheers and model on!
BC
-
Outstanding scratch building and detailing on your interior parts! That Tank is amazing!!
RAGIII
-
More superlative work, I for one really enjoy and appreciate seeing the different stages of a scratched part coming together.
Glad to be posting updates again, hopefully there is still some interest here after such a long delay
Believe me, there is!!
-
Beautiful work Chad, all of it. Wonderful stuff sir.
Warren
-
Great stuff so far Chad, keep it coming.
I have this in the stash as well but will not look like yours.
-
Apologies for only just coming across this build. My loss entirely, the modelling skills used to detail this kit are other worldly. I will read through again with notebook and pencil to hand. Amazing work!
Richie
-
I missed this too. Great work!!
Steve