forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: andonio64 on May 12, 2012, 10:15:04 PM
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Hallo friends,
here is the model I am working on: the German floatplane derived from the much more famous D1.
I decided to make the version portrayed on the box: the 747 is the very first prototype of this plane, tested by Oblt.d R. Friedrich Christiansen in August 1916.
After a few trials on this version (called "early") they went on to the "Late" version (July 1917) and then German Navy gave its preferences to more manoeuvrables Friedrichshafen and Hansa Brandenburg...
As I have said elsewhere my preferred scale is 1/48, but when I saw this box in the 5 EURO bargain basket in my favourite shop just 2 blocks away from home I decided to take it because i loved it's line. I was just choosing a way to start back modeling after 20+ years of pause, and bought this together ith the Ansaldo SVA 5 presented in another thread.
The results so far are not the best one can wish but that's it, will put some pictures just to get up to the state of the art of this model of mine, then will post "live" material each time I have news.
Enjoy and don't be afraid of express criticisms and advice.
THE BOX
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/001.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/002.jpg)
THE DECALS
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/004.jpg)
Many friends warned me about the quality of the Roden Decals, and in the end I discovered they were right and had to print new decals on my inkjet
THE SPRUES
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/003.jpg)
Quality of the details is great, sharp and well designed, but flashes of plastic were so big and gave me an extra (unwanted) work load...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/005.jpg)
Here is the engine shown by my assistant ;D ;D ;D
Axial propeller
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/006.jpg)
I discovered after the decal was sealed that the A had to be put upside down...
I replaced the plastic radiators provided in the box with these photoetched
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/007.jpg)
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Then I worked on the fuselage:
no pins or pegs or holes, just faible traces on the surfaces suggesting the position of the joint points...
That's one of the bigger drawback of this kit (IMHO)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/009.jpg)
I did it myself:
Yellow arrows indicate the holes that wil host the struts coming up from the floaters (they weren't there)
Green arrows indicate holes to insert the wings.
Then I inserted copper pegs in the wings to join them to the fuselage:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/010.jpg)
and had a "dry" try
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/012.jpg)
FLOATERS:
Drilled, rigged, gued and painted:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/015.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/016.jpg)
I worked on the wings and tail planes, masking the ribs with some 0,75 mm tape...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/023.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/024.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/033.jpg)
Meanwhile I made some test to decide how to paint the wood grain:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/028.jpg)
I decided to adopt the top right solution
- base coat of acrylic yellow ochre
- streaks of diluted Natural Sienna
- Coating of clear yellow (Gunze)
Then I painted the cockpit and made a try to put some piece with the closed fuselage. I decided to go on detailing the cockpit with the closed fuselage.
I must be sincere but I have no documentation about the interior details of the W4 (I have the Windsock mini datafile but there is nothing interesting in it) so I take bits and pieces of inspiration from other builders and WIPs doing this version ad also other non floating Albatrosses
Piece "A" is a screen usually seen behind the seat ...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/034.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/035.jpg)
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Great start on a fiddley kit!!!
Steve
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The seat is a "Part" photoetched made for the D.I, plied and painted it, then I made a cushion from a piece of 0,5 thin plasticard. See the photoetched cushion on the right
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/037.jpg)
The rudder: I masked the white primer to avoid painting the area which would have hosted the black cross, then I cut the cross getting rid of the white panels on the decal sheet and slipped it on the white square. One broke (the one on the opposite side, not visible here - but I managed to make ends meet !), in this way I avoided the woodgrain peep from behind the white decal.
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/038.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/039.jpg)
Added photoetched seat belts to the seat
black crosses outlined on the masking tape and painted on the wings
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/040.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/041.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/042.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/043.jpg)
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Bob's buckles beneath the upper wing:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/044.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/045.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/046.jpg)
I am experiencing many problems on the self made decals:
I printed two series and the black areas often appear cracked, in the zoom picture you can see it, I think the paper is not good, my inkjet shows no problems on normal prints...
I have coated the decals with "Liquid Decal Film" and the result is shown below: after the decals were painted had about one week to dry, but the ink melted producing those horrible gray streaks...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/048.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/049.jpg)
Here are some images of the progresses made on the interiors:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/050.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/051.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/052.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/053.jpg)
Using Part photoetched details I prepared the two instrument panels using the transparent film they have included in the packet.
I also had to cut apart the two pieces because the whole piece did not fit into the cockpit, in any case once covered the separation won't be visible...
Doing so the two separated pieces did not have enough contact with the inner walls of the cockpit so I had to put some plasticard rods behind them to hold them in place...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/056.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/057.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/058.jpg)
The compass
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/060.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/061.jpg)
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Detail of the closed cockpit and other parts
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/064.jpg)
This is more or less where I got last time:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/065.jpg)
As you can see in the lower pic the tail planes are not levelled, moreover I noticed I made the holes for the cables to move them a bit too forward, so I decided to re-make them:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/066.jpg)
I filled them with putty and sanded
Then I painted over again and drilled it again
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/067.jpg)
Then I glued the wings to the fuselage
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/068.jpg)
I made two small piles of 5 coins (1 euro cent each) to ensure they had the same height
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/069.jpg)
You can se above the tail planes before sanding and below the same piece after the treatment...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/070.jpg)
The cables in place again
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/071.jpg)
Next step: over the weekend I will work on the wing and cabane struts and I hope to fix the upper wing...
>:(
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Great work, looking like it will be a superb model!! Good to see a floatplane build.
Andrew
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Antonio,
She's looking great my friend.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
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Those are tiny bits and bobs!!! Great work getting them all together.
Steve
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That's looking really good. I've got the Roden kit, an old Pegasus kit, and the 1/4 scale Eduard kit. Here's to hoping that WnW eventually does one!
Anyway, yours is looking great and I'm looking forward to hearing how tough you find the floats and upper wing to mount!
Mike
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Lovely job Antonio, 1/72 is far, far too small for me, but you are doing a fantastic job.
Cheers
Pete.
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Thanks Pete, I agree with you about the 72nd scale, I look forward to finishing it and take over my next job: a SPAD VII C1 definitely in 1/48.
To be honest in my stash there is also a DH2 in 144th but I look at it as a "divertissement", the rest is all in 48th.
Bye
Antonio
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Antonio,
Dh-2 in 1/144 scale! How in the world can you see well enough to rig her my friend. :o
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
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;D
That's something I started thinking about after buying the kit, but I decided it's useless to think about it now...
;D
It will be fun!
;D
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Some advance in the work:
I put the cables for lifting the plane with a crane on the land, I also invented a sort of ring to hook the crane, but I don't have any photographic proof it was there.
I imagine of course that the cables weren't in place during flight, maybe the pilot kept them in the cockpit...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/072.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/073.jpg)
Then I started the operations to put the upper wing on.
I mixed two approaches I learnt somewhere in the forums I am currently in:
I made a transparent plastic copy of the upper wing
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/074.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/075.jpg)
Then I placed it over the real piece and punched the holes for the struts in correspondance with the real ones, I also put a couple of plastic pieces to avoid the struts of the cabane to slide laterally
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/076.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/077.jpg)
Now the struts are glued in their place
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/078.jpg)
Later on this night I also glued the upper wing and the rigging, tomorrow will post the pictures...
Now it's time to say good night!
Antonio
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Antonio,
Excellent progress my friend. That's a great idea to make a transparent wing to aid in the strut alignment and gluing.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
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Great little jig that works perfectly!!!! I will need to make those in the future. Clear plastic, styrofoam, coins and sticks - I can get those :)
Steve
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Thanks Gregory + Steve, as I said it is not an idea of mine, I adopted a suggestion I read somewhere but I can't remember where...
Someone did the same to put in position the cabane struts but with an opaque piece of plasticard, someone else suggested to use a clear piece, so I took this idea to make a copy of the wing cutting a piece of a clear plastic shirt box...
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I don't care if that's your idea or the Dalai Llama's, I'm going to copy that with the most extreme prejudice!
Yoink!
Lindsay
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I don't care if that's your idea or the Dalai Llama's, I'm going to copy that with the most extreme prejudice!
Yoink!
Lindsay
That's great, Lindsay!
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That is a easy looking jig, I think I will have to start saving my pennies. :)
Is it really as easy as it looks?
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It's not difficult, the main difficulty is the lack of "registration" points so that the actual position of the mock up top wing is up to the precision of your eyes... unless someone gives us some less subjective idea...
BTW here goes the upper wing and the rigging on...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/079.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/080.jpg)
Next step... the floaters
Ciao and thanks everybody for the attention.
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Thats a great looking little model and the jig worked perfectly!!
Steve
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Wow, Antonio! She's really coming along beautifully.
Cheers,
Bud
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Beautiful build Antonio, well done.
Cheers
Pete.
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Hallo!
here some new steps...
I want to replace the plastic struts keeping the floatres bound to the fuselage belly... they are so thin and weak... so I decided to use a brass rod 1 mm diameter.
The struts have an elliptical section 1 mm x 0.75 mm so I don't know yet how to shape the brass rod correctly...
BTW here is the work done today
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/081.jpg)
The brass rod was cut to measure with tongs
The brass chunks are 6 mm longer than needed, to have some extra length to turn the pins...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/082.jpg)
I marked the precise measurement of the struts (lunghezza del montante = strut length)...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/083.jpg)
I locked the chunk into my drill's clamp...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/084.jpg)
I mounted the drill on its stand and use a file to turn the brass area outside the black marks...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/085.jpg)
Here are the finished pieces
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/086.jpg)
...and the check on the plans
now I must enlarge the 4 holes in the fuselage belly to allow the pins to fit in.
There is still a doubt: the round section of the brass rod... in your opinion can stay round?
Ciao
Antonio
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Perhaps a fairly minor issue in 1:72, but if you're only using the side view to determine strut length, there's a very good probability that they'll come up short, owing to the foreshortened nature of true lengths as depicted in standard orthographic illustrations. I'm certainly not meaning to criticize, just pointing it out for your consideration. Either way, you have more guts than I, as I'll probably end up discarding all my 1:72 stuff. I simply can't do these little machines the way you folks do. Keep up the good work.
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Gosh Fokker Boy, you're right!
I didn't consider the front view to determine the correct length...
What a stupid I am...
Will go and check again
Thanks for pointing this out!
:'(
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So, I checked the front view and the front struts are about 0,5 or slightly longer, I think that it's ok to keep it as it is.
Nothing can be said for the back struts, because I don't have a back view...
Antonio
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Gosh Fokker Boy, you're right!
I didn't consider the front view to determine the correct length...
What a stupid I am...
Will go and check again
Thanks for pointing this out!
:'(
Nothing stupid about you at all. It's an oversight that many might make. While on this subject though, it's actually the view perpendicular to the strut itself that will determine true length, as the front view will also be somewhat foreshortened, but will probably be close enough in 1:72 scale I think. You might also try measuring the kit supplied pieces, if you trust their accuracy. I'm just a tad obsessive about these things is all, probably no big deal.
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Glad to hear that you're satisfied. Like I said, I'm just a wee bit obsessive about this kind of thing, owing to a career that goes back to old school mechanical drawings being done by hand, (no computers back then).
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Glad to hear that you're satisfied. Like I said, I'm just a wee bit obsessive about this kind of thing, owing to a career that goes back to old school mechanical drawings being done by hand, (no computers back then).
I know what you mean, also when I started in a drawing office, computers were unheard of.
Cheers
Pete.
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Glad to hear that you're satisfied. Like I said, I'm just a wee bit obsessive about this kind of thing, owing to a career that goes back to old school mechanical drawings being done by hand, (no computers back then).
I know what you mean, also when I started in a drawing office, computers were unheard of.
Cheers
Pete.
As you can well imagine, proper oblique projections to establish true length in 1:72 scale probably are not going to net any substantial differences that Joe average would ever have noticed anyway, so I probably should have remained quiet, but my obsessions sometimes get the better of me.
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The little bird is complete!
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/087.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/088.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/089.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/090.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/091.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/092.jpg)
Just a picture of the stand on its own, tomorrow I will work to add some details to it and the work will be complete!!!
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/base1.jpg)
Thanks to everybody for your kindness and patience!!!!
Stay tuned!!!!
:D
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She's a great looking Albie! How you fellows manage to accomplish this degree of craftsmanship in such a small scale never ceases to amaze me. Well done.
Cheers,
Chris
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Great display of a nice model!!!
Steve
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I see here lots of good work 8)
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She turned out beautifully, Antonio. She's absolutely gorgeous.
Cheers,
Bud
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Wonderful W4 Antonio - I've nothing but respect for you small scale devotee's!!
Andrew
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Thanks everyboody, to Chris & Andew: I lovve working ot small pieces and go crazy on detatil but the 72nd scale is definitely not for me!
I go back to 48, although I have in my pipeline a DH2 in 144 !!!!
Next work is a SPAD VII C1 1/48 Special Hobby, will participate with it ro Swanny's Models 2nd WWI Model Contest
Today I'll complete the base and show something else.
Thanks again!
Antonio
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I am working to reproduce this scene (though I don't have the figure)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/trolley.jpg)
Any idea about where the black pennants were fixed to the lower wing?
Antonio
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Here it is, now it's really over!
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/093.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/094.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/095.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/096.jpg)
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Once again - Beautiful work Antonio!!
Andrew
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that is superb, i love it :)
michael
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Superb build Antonio, on such a small scale as well.
Cheers
Pete.
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Antonio,
Absolutely beautiful W4 my friend. An excellent project to have followed from start to finish. I'm looking forward to your next outstanding project.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
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My dear friends, here goes the _very_ last intervention on the plane: I created the black pennants with paper for the cigarettes...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/097.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/098.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosw4/099.jpg)
That's all folks!
Thanks again to everybody
Antonio
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Nice touch Antonio ;)
Andrew
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What a wonderful model, well done.