forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: andonio64 on February 20, 2017, 12:54:21 AM
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Hallo eveybody,
here is my new project, indeed an unconventional one.
On the other forum I follow we are celebrating one of our fellows modelers who passed away last December. He was not much older than 60 and had a Toy Shop in Rome and used to sell kits to us. He was a modeler himself, a very good one! And a jolly mate in every kind of adventures, both online and in the real life...
So everyone who has a kit coming from him will dedicate the build log to his loving memory and all the WIPs will go under a Memorial Group Build.
I never purchased a kit from him but many tools and colors, he had not much in WW1 subjects, but he once sent me a parcel with some colors and other things and when I opened it I found this kit: an Albatros issued as advertisement by the ARAL Petrol Company, probably in the 60s.
The kit is terrible and is in 1/96 scale! Half of my favourite scale 1/48.
Here are the pictures of the sprues:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/001.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/002.jpg)
here are the "instructions"
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/003.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/004.jpg)
This is the leaflet with the national insigna... it's a paper, self adhesive leaflet in the conditions you can see. I wonder whether they were blue on the outside (suggesting a captured plane or maybe black, the colors of the German Empire? A roundel that I guess has never existed... )
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/005.jpg)
And this is the livery I will try to reproduce:
(http://www.mincbergr.net/uploads/images/planes/Profiles/d2274-16-jasta12-tutschek.jpg)
Oblt. Adolf von Tutschek
Serial: D.2274/16
Commander of Jasta 12
1917
27 victories
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Very nice homage and tribute to the gentleman. We have come a long way in the way kits are molded today, will look forward to your progress.
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Thanks Juan.
I discovered there was also an RE8 in this series, search Google with "COLLECTION LES"ZINCS" HEROIQUES ARAL", it is sold by a French vendor on e-bay
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A fitting tribute! The kit is rough but the shapes look reasonable. I am looking forward to your build!
RAGIII
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Yes Rick, it is fair enough, but it lacks the panlelines, the tail planes both vertical and horizontal have wrong separation lines for the moving parts, the top wing has no ailerons traced.
I spent all my modeling time today in sanding off the ejectors marks and I begun tracing some lines.
Soon some pictures.
Ciao
Antonio
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I am sure Antonio that you will turn what is an unpromising kit into a really good model - a fitting tribute to your friend. No doubt he believed that you could make something of it - which is why he is smiling at you even as you sand and scribe!
Stephen.
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That's a very fine tribute to a friend, Antonio (my middle name, BTW). I remember ARAL from Formula 1 ads, I had no idea they issued models in such an unusual scale. This should be an interesting build.
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Thanks guys for the support.
I'll do my best at this strange kit, and the idea that "he is smiling at you even as you sand and scribe!" as Stephen said makes me feel much more motivated!
The more I go on the more I see how fine the details on this micro model are, but unfortunately they are WRONG!
I chose Adolf von Tutschek's machine because it's very easy to paint and there are no specific decals to use, I already have drawn the Eiserne Kreuz and printing it in any dimension is easy for me. Moreover I like that all black look (I am a Rugby fan!) ...
I will also rig the plane of course.
Antonio
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Hallo,
I will show shortly a few new pictures, in the meantime: do you think this version of the DIII had a central radiator?
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Antonio,
From the top of my head without checking reference I think D2200/16 series would have the offset radiator. I am sure others will look into this and give the definitive answer. I will double check ASAP.
RAGIII
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Antonio,
From the top of my head without checking reference I think D2200/16 series would have the offset radiator. I am sure others will look into this and give the definitive answer. I will double check ASAP.
RAGIII
Thanks Rick I will wait for other opinions and keep yours as reference for the moment.
I also have found (on page 8 of the PROFILE 127) a photo of Von Tutschek clearly showing the radiator (on the bottom surface of the top wing) displaced on the right of the pilot
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hallo,
here are a few steps ahead:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/006.jpg)
I used MR.SURFACER 500 to give the ribs a little thickness
The forward pin to close the fuselage was in the cockpit, so I moved it forward to leave space for some "furniture" ... (see red arrows)
All the holes were filled with putty, I will re-open those I'll need. For example the undercarriage position was totally wrong
I sanded away all the ejection marks and writings on the side of the fuselage, although they appear still there I have coloured the parts with a black marker and they disappeared. Then I sanded away the colour again.
Let's cross our fingers!!!
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/007.jpg)
I traced the panel lines on the fuselage and retraced the rudder and the elevators
Pannellature sulla fusoliera e tracciamento degli alettoni, del timone verticale e dei timoni di profondità
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/008.jpg)
I made a slot to put the engine that I should build from scratch...
And I decreased a lot the thickness of the plastic on the edge of the slot and of the cockpit opening.
Ciao!
Antonio
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Hallo here are the progresses of this weekend:
Details added to the fuselage (in white):
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/009.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/010.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/011.jpg)
I made a rough approximation of the Mercedes engine, here are just the 6 cylinders to start...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/012.jpg)
Some details for the cockpit:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/013.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/014.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/015.jpg)
Thanks for the attention!
AnDonio
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Looks great Antonio. You are off to a terrific start with your added details.
RAGIII
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Thank you Rick, I am really enjoying it!
Antonio
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I apologize for not posting anything since ten days...
I am having troubles with the home PC and am spending most of my free time to recover as many data as possible from the HD.
The PC does not connect to the web any more, and needs to be reinstalled, so my works are suspended for the time being.
Antonio
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What a cool project, Andonio! You're off to an excellent start. This will be fun to follow.
Cheers,
Bud
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Nice work so far!
And best of luck with your PC troubles!
Jeroen
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Respect,
I will watch here with high interest.
Manni
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Thank you guys... I take advantage of the PC at work, from time to time I get 5 / 10 minutes to offload my mind...
:-)
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I took home the laptop I use at work ... here are a few small (really small!) details for the cockpit:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/016.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/017.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/018.jpg)
Here is the scratchbuilt seat:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/019.jpg)
Then i printed on paper the decals:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/020.jpg)
I cut them and laid them on the plastic to see if the dimensions are good:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/021.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/022.jpg)
I would say they are OK
Thanks for the attention my friends
AnDonio
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Hallo, some new photos from my workbench:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/023.jpg)
Here is the fuselage halves that have been painted with Gunze Sail, I will put the crosses and then cover everything with an off-black paint, to let the fuselage crosses somehow visible as in the picture of the profile posted at the beginning.
I decided to paint the halves before closing the fuselage because I need to glue the rigging departing from the fuselage inside the fuselage itself...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/024.jpg)
Some work on the interiors
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/025.jpg)
The seat. The belts are made with 0,75 mm wide masking tape.
More later, there are already some new details, I need to shoot the photos.
Thanks for watching
Antonio
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Excellent progress on this tiny and rough kit!
RAGIII
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Thank you Steve & Rick,
yesterday I assembled the cockpit:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/026.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/027.jpg)
throttle added on the left side, seat and control stick in place
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/028.jpg)
On the other side I addes the small panel with instruments, it is scarcely visible once the halves are closed so I did not bother adding more details.
I call the cockpit complete, I will add the decals on the fuselage and paint the haves off-black, then I will glue the rigging on the nose and on the tail inside the fuselage, put the engine at its place and close the two halves.
Then there will be the need to fill and sand the joining line and paint again the sanded areas.
Thanks for watching!
Antonio
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I have just caught up with this - amazing. Simply amazing given the size of the model and the crudeness of the moulds. I really respect anyone who can do what you are doing - a real masterclass on improvement.
Stephen.
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Thank you Stephen,
just a few more steps ahead:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/029.jpg)
I took a couple of decals I printed from a former 1/72 Albatros W4 build and slided them on the fuselage to cover them later and leave the crosses a bit of visibility.
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/037.jpg)
Here it is how the fuselage halves look after painting them with a sort of off-black (Matt black + a few drops of glossy pink. The finish is a good "satin" effect).
The crosses can be perceived by the naked eye, although the pics here are a bit too dark.
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/030.jpg)
To replicate the radiator on both faces of the top wing, I used a 2 mm wide / 0,3 mm thick plasticard stripe, and to make it look more realistic I used the pin vise as a rolling pin.
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/031.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/032.jpg)
here is the result.
I painted the wings and tail black as well, the pictures are really horrible, I will make some better ones later this week
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/038.jpg)
In the meantime I've started thinning the struts (of the cabane in this picture).
Left is the original, right after treatment.
Ciao
Antonio
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Hallo,
I had problems in printing self made decals, so I decided to go for hand cut masks...
Here are the masks put in place:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/039.jpg)
And this is the result:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/040.jpg)
Here are some further details I worked on, the reddish bands on the prop were hand-painted.
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/041.jpg)
Thanks for watching.
Antonio
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Very nice work on the masks for the crosses. Looking forward to your next update.
RAGIII
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Moving along nicely !!
Ed
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Hallo, here are 3 photos of the current state of the work:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/042.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/043.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/044.jpg)
During the Easter weekend I was able to:
- create the pipes on the left of the engine
- create the main exhaust tube curving a plasticard rod (1 mm diameter) and enlarging one end
- join the cylinders to the main exhaust tube... ehr... I made it too short, it was not long enough to join the sixth cylinder...
- put some detail on the heads of the cylinders
- make the cockpit rimming with a 0,5 mm plasticard rod duly curved to a roundish shape
- insert some pins in the cabane struts and mounted them at their place
- insert eyelets on the wings to anchor the rigging
I spent nearly one hour trying to cut a windshield from an acetate sheet, but most of them were badly shaped, those having a good shape jumped away in some unreachable place of the universe, so after one hour cutting and cursing I decided it was enough!!!!
Last night I painted the whole plane and he remaining pieces with a transparent satin varnish and started making the two machine guns, that were not supplied by the kit...
More pictures will hopefully come during the weekend!
Thanks again for your attention and thanks to Rick and Ed for their encouraging comments!
Antonio
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You are continuing to progress very nicely! I am looking forward to seeing the TINY Machine Guns!
RAGIII
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You are continuing to progress very nicely! I am looking forward to seeing the TINY Machine Guns!
RAGIII
Here are the MGs Rick:
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/045.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/046.jpg)
After putting the top wing on they cannot be seen in the pictures...
And here are the pictures of the finished Albatros ... ehr maybe I should say Hummingbird...
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/047.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/048.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/049.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/050.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/051.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/052.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/053.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/054.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/055.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/056.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/057.jpg)
(http://www.andonio.it/model/albatrosdiii/058.jpg)
In Italy we say ... even the cockroach looks handsome to the eyes of his mother... well I know there are a lot of mistakes here but I particularly love this tiny little plane I built to the memory of my friend Pino.
Thanks for watching guys!
Antonio
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Great tribute to your friend, congrats Antonio.
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In English we say "the impossible will be done immediately, miracles take a little longer"! You have performed a little miracle with this one - it looks very good indeed especially given what you started with.
Stephen.
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Thanks guys, comments much appreciated!
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Great job Antonio!
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Great job Antonio!
Thank you Filip!
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Very nice Albatros in an unusual scale, Antonio. And you can be very proud of your achievement! I followed your build log and I think it would be fair to call that an almost-scratch-build!
Borsos
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Antonio,
A lot of hard effort and determination justly rewarded, a miracle as Stephen has said! Well done, what is your next project, hopefully something less stressful?! ;)
Cheers,
Lance
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Hallo Borsos, Lance and all...
You are very kind as usual!
Well my next project is not on WW1, therefore I will post it on a different forum: beyond the sprues (http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php), it's a steampunk armoured car, scratch built starting from a Testors "Salt flat racer", not actually a kit, more a blank page...
But soon after I plan to make a French aircraft, I have none in my showcase and this will probably be a Hi-Tech Breguet 14 B2
Ciao
Antonio
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An outcome to be proud of and a very nice tribute to your friend! Well Done!
RAGIII
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Thank you Rick!
Antonio