Albatros Dr.I, Eduard 1/48, Upd 28.6.2020 Suspension

[lone modeller]

The scratch building that you have done on the undercarriage is truly exceptional Frank. I have to keep reminding myself just how small some of those parts are. The wood of the fuselage is also outstanding - a bit like the rest of your model (and all of your other models too).

Stephen.

[Alexis]

Super job on the wheels and landing gear struts Frank 


Terri

[FAf]

Good job Frank! Inspiring, as always!

I find it hard to keep up with all postings on the forum right now and so I hadn't seen your misfortunes with the masking. One idea for the future is not to use the masks on a gloss surface. I find that the masks attach much stronger when applied on a gloss surface. This of course causes an extra step when you want to paint on top of decals. Good luck with the touch ups!
/Fredrik

[Bughunter]

Thank you Stephen, Terri and Fredrik!

I find it hard to keep up with all postings on the forum right now

Yes, so many nice activities! I bit hard to follow all, if you want also to spend some time on the own bench
Thanks for the tips with the masking!

Spandau LMG 08/15

My last experimental triplane, the Pfalz D.III conversion was unarmed, but this Albatros needs two Spandaus.
We live in wonderful times and can buy beautiful accessories, like this set from Master.

Source: master-model.pl


I have now 5 models in my cabinet with those Spandau sets, the last ones I have mounted on the Albatros W.4.

When it was clear that my stock was exhausted I had ordered a larger quantity some time ago, 10 packs of these pairs, to be exact.  There are still enough Fokker, Albatros, Roland, Pfalz, Siemens-Schuckert ... boxes in my stash to put them in. So you can negotiate a good price and it also offers advantages in building.
To get the wonderful details I burnished the parts. I can only recommend not to burnish all parts at once, because they are made of different brass alloys. These react differently to the chemical liquid and it is difficult not to expose the fine particles to chemical attack for too long.

On the other hand, I can now burnish equal parts at once, without too much extra work, and have effective control over the times. Since my liquid has to be heated up to 80-90°C in a water bath, this is always time-consuming.
So I burnished here the 20 jackets, which are milled or etched brass pipes.



Then I burnished the 40 turned parts for the gun barrels.



The PE alloy was a bit special compared to my last sets. It was hard to get them black. Since there are 3 PE set on one sheet I used only 8 sheets for now. 24 parts should be enough for 20 guns.



Then I glued the barrel parts together. The fit is perfect!


The details too!



Another advantage is that I slowly get the hang of it the other parts get better and better. When I build a pair twice a year, I have long forgotten the experience.
Below the Cent four guns are mounted.



And here is one in a close up. Missed a bit of light this evening for better picture quality.



At is a real pleasure to handle such fantastic parts from Master!
I think standardization is very nice, so that the German aircraft all had the same Spandaus in use

Cheers,
Frank

[GazzaS]

Love those guns, Frank!  It's pretty hard to be Master Barrels for quality and appearance.

[RAGIII]

Simply awesome results from a fine product!
RAGIII

[smperry]

Those gun parts look great Frank. I am having language issues here. I thought "burnished" was something you did to dry press on letters by rubbing with a plastic stylus. Obviously it also means a chemical treatment of some sort. Can you educate me a bit or point me at an online source of info about what you are doing with the pieces.
Thanks
sp

[Alexis]

You can start your factory in producing miniature arms , looking excellent Frank



Terri

[Bughunter]

Thank you all!

I am having language issues here. I thought "burnished" was something you did to dry press on letters by rubbing with a plastic stylus. Obviously it also means a chemical treatment of some sort.

I checked yesterday the dictionary and found for our german verb "brünieren" the translations burnishing and browning. I checked now further and the technical english expression seems to be "black oxide finishing". That is a chemical process known from small arms weapon, but of course you need different chemistry for steel, brass or other materials.

I have bottles from a german company (https://www.saemann-aetztechnik.de/) for brass and nickel silver.
This one needs to be heated; it may work at lower temperature, but then gets more brown instead of black, needs _much_ longer, filigree parts in danger for more etching and the oxide layer is not that robust. With the 80-90°C as written on the bottle and the manual it works fast, but time still depends on the used alloy. The manual recommends to try a small piece of the alloy to see if it works, but of course I have to live with the parts as delivered by Master.
There are also other products from other companies, e.g. the tank modelers uses such things for metal tracks.

You can start your factory in producing miniature arms , looking excellent Frank

I continued today, but after overall 16 guns I have enough! I put the finished Spandau on a little board to store it safely in the showcase. Do not touch the cross hair under any circumstances during construction and handling, it will bend immediately.



And please wear safety glasses! I squirted a drop once, but thanks to protection nothing happened.

Cheers,
Frank

[Radarman]

Frank,
Thanks for explaining the technique. I will have to try it one day.
It's always good to add something to my mental toolbox.

                                                                       Thanks again,
                                                                                  Kevin

[RichieW]

Liking those guns very much Frank. You are a man of great stamina and patience to produce such a huge arsenal of Spandaus!

[smperry]

Thanks so much for the explanation Frank. I seem to recall a bottle of some stuff that was supposed to blacken brass. I ended up pitching it years ago. Now I know what to look for, there should be something suitable out there. One look at those brass gun pieces and I want a stock of them, just not a stock of messed up ones.
sp

[Bughunter]

Thank you!
Of course there is also a disadvantage: I cannot solder the parts. The tin would not change the color.
This is also valid for glue, so mounting before is not possible and the parts needs to be clean and should be degreased before blackening. That means mounting is only possible afterwards with CA.

Cheers,
Frank

[GazzaS]

Those look great, Frank.  Great way to do them in a large batch.

[Bughunter]

Thanks Gaz, I'm lazy


Landing gear

After the guns I decided to continue with the adjustment of the landing gear. It took longer the expected and must be done carefully to avoid scratches in the fuselage.
After shortening I fixed the mounting pins with soldering. The horizontal nickel silver strut is also soldered.



Plugged in temporarily:



With wheels and axle it looks better:



The other side:



The distance axle to fuselage is according to the drawings now. Also in the side view it matches.



The gear is primed with Gunze "Mr. Metal Primer" now and the gray green can follow soon.
I'm happy with the result, looks better then expected.

Cheers,
Frank