Author Topic: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke  (Read 1601 times)

Offline KiwiZac

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Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« on: March 27, 2022, 10:56:35 AM »
Hi all,
Back around 2006-7 a dear internet friend from the US sent me a care package of several kits including a Roden Albi, a kit that I found too daunting at that time to work on. Fast forward eight or so years and my confidence had grown - and TVAL was now flying a stunning Koloman Mayrhofr/CraftLab-built repro in the colours of Oswald Boelcke's D.386/15- so feeling inspired I buckled down and got it to this point:
Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II ZK-JNB by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II ZK-JNB by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II ZK-JNB by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II ZK-JNB by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II ZK-JNB by Zac Yates, on Flickr

For whatever reason, I stalled on both this and the Pfalz D.III I was working on at the same time and they stayed together in a ziplock bag waiting for the motivation to return.

Sadly, almost two years ago the friend who sent me this kit died. As I hadn't frequented the forum we socialised on for a few months I didn't find out about this news for several weeks and it was crushing (I reached out to his partner via Facebook but never heard anything back). As I've reached the stage on the big SPAD where it's handy to have other projects to work on I've unearthed (again!) the little Boelcke Albi* and hope to finish it in time for the second anniversary of his passing.

I'm ostensibly modelling TVAL's aircraft so I'm hoping it's still allowed in this forum - to all intents and purposes the real aircraft (registered ZK-JNB) is like the other machines in the fleet: as-new, built to original spec and absolutely gorgeous in person.

For Brian, I'm excited to finish this.


*I received the kit with a partial decal sheet and it has not aged well. Does anyone have a spare they'd be willing to part with, even just the numbers for Boelcke's machine?

Offline Dave W

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2022, 11:11:53 AM »
Zac

Models of TVAL aircraft are very welcome on the Forum. They are, in my view, new builds of the actual aircraft.

Models of modern build replicas of famous aircraft is a whole model genre in itself too.

As for the decals, put a post on the Spare Parts Board for your wants and someone may see it there too.

Dave Wilson
Gold Coast
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Owner and Administrator of ww1aircraftmodels.com and forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com

Offline GazzaS

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2022, 03:21:51 PM »
Glad to see you back on this.  Love to see Albatrosen being built.
There are only two states to be in:  Queensland and blotto.

Offline Brad Cancian

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2022, 05:29:12 PM »
Sharp job so far Zac on a tricky kit...! Looking forward to seeing more.

Cheers,

BC

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2022, 04:43:54 AM »
Excellent looking Albatros Zac! It is always great to see a Roden kit getting some "Love and Attention ".
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline lone modeller

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2022, 06:06:52 AM »
Good to see another shelf queen being brought to the display shelf. I hope that you can finish it in time for the anniversary - even though it may not be the happiest.

Stephen.

Offline KiwiZac

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2022, 08:51:56 AM »
Thanks folks, I hope to do justice to the kit and make Brian happy, wherever he may be.

Models of TVAL aircraft are very welcome on the Forum. They are, in my view, new builds of the actual aircraft.

Models of modern build replicas of famous aircraft is a whole model genre in itself too.

As for the decals, put a post on the Spare Parts Board for your wants and someone may see it there too.
Thanks on all fronts Dave, much appreciated and very good advice on the latter front!

Offline KiwiZac

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2022, 02:46:30 PM »
She's got legs! Perhaps I'll tackle the (too scale-accurate) struts and mount the top wing tomorrow...I also need to find the paint I used for the cowls and spinner to touch up the latter.
Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II by Zac Yates, on Flickr

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #8 on: March 30, 2022, 04:21:13 AM »
Your Albatros also looks great sitting on it's legs! Looking forward to the Bi Plane stage!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline WD

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #9 on: March 30, 2022, 08:38:18 AM »
Great work so far Zac!

WD

Offline KiwiZac

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2022, 09:03:07 AM »
Thank you both for the kind words!

Progress, albeit with some nasty words used in addition to cement and CA:
Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II replica ZK-JNB by Zac Yates, on Flickr

Offline Dave W

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #11 on: March 30, 2022, 10:13:26 AM »
Zac

It is well known that the worst swear words in the world were created by a modeller trying to glue the top wing on a biplane model.

Having succeeded with that, you then move on to the next level of cursing during the rigging process. Then when the model is finished, you select another kit and repeat the whole process again.

We call this 'fun' as it relaxes us. I think blood pressure pills should be sold with every biplane model kit.

Your Albatros is coming along nicely. Enjoy.

Dave Wilson
Gold Coast
Australia
Owner and Administrator of ww1aircraftmodels.com and forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2022, 12:30:47 AM »
Looks outstanding with the upper wing mounted. I feel your pain as to mounting the upper wing. My 1/32nd version is on hold for that very reason....even with My Fancy jig  :-[
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline lone modeller

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #13 on: March 31, 2022, 06:32:14 AM »
I agree with every one of Dave's words.... But it stlll looks good.

Stephen.

Offline KiwiZac

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Re: Roden 1/72 Albatros D.II - Boelcke
« Reply #14 on: March 31, 2022, 06:37:56 AM »
Thank you all for your kind and encouraging words! It was certainly the fiddliest top wing mounting I've dealt with for a long time, but not only is it on but it's all straight! Woo!

Now to try and find the paint I used for the struts and spinner so I can touch them up...