WNW Albatros D.V/Albatros D.Va Triple - and one more Jasta14 Albatros D.II

[Umlaufmotor]

The wings and elevator fins were primed with sail-colored paint (Gunze Sail Color), and then?after a lot of masking?the rib strips that were missing from the kit parts were painted on.
For each side of the wing, I applied one airbrush cupful of white Tamiya matte paint over the masked-off rib strips.







This works quite well, as the paint applies evenly.
Here in the picture, you can see (more or less) clearly how the white stripes stand out against the linen-colored primer.
That?s also sufficient in terms of the thickness of the white paint layer.



You can see here what that looks like on the finished model; this is the 1/32 Roden Albatros D.I?the kit was also missing the rib strips, and I painted them on at the time, just as described above.

[Umlaufmotor]

Next up is detailing the upper wing of the Albatros D.II.
This aircraft was originally equipped with a Tewes and Braun wing radiator.



My initial plan was to install one of Bo Monroe's (Flugzeugwerke) superbly detailed 3D-printed Wing-Radiator with open fins so you could see through it.

Unfortunately, I didn't have one in my stash at the moment, so I had to resort to an Eduard photo-etched part to represent the radiator - just like in the old days.

The Eduard radiators are not badly modeled, but unfortunately the material is very hard'a clean fit to the curved surface of the wing is only reliably possible in the area of the interrupted fins.



To ensure that the actual water tank of the radiator - that is, the "solid" part in front of the fins - could fit cleanly against the upper surface of the wing, I annealed the photo - etched part over a candle flame.
The radiator is curved by rolling a metal pin or similar object over the back.
I used a small round diamond file for this.





The lower section of the etched-part radiator is also annealed to make it easier to follow the curve of the inner surface

[Umlaufmotor]

The four mounting points on the photo - etched radiator were drilled out to 0.55 mm, and the holes were marked on the model's surface.
They were then drilled out to 0.5 mm so that the radiator could later be "screwed" onto the model using matching resin screws.



Here in the picture is the lower half of the radiator:
The positions of the two coolant pipes were drilled out on the etched part and pre - drilled in the center of the model with a 0.4 mm drill bit so that the pipes could be pinned in place there later.
The resin screws are only loosely inserted for the pictures - they must, of course, be shortened to fit for later installation.





The procedure is the same for the upper half of the radiator:

[Umlaufmotor]

The wings and horizontal stabilizer are now painted in Albatros Johannisthal camouflage colors .....

The fuselage?still unpainted in the photo?has since received its primer for the wood grain; in this case, I used "Radome" by Gunze again.



..... and the undersides painted light blue.



The Balkenkreuze-markings have been painted on.
The Jasta 14 book shows that the real aircraft had slightly wider white borders around the side-Balkenkreuze markings than usual - this is also depicted on the model. Unfortunately, there is no photograph of Otto Gerbig's Albatros D.II D.1782/16 showing the lower Balkenkreuze, however, some aircraft from the same production batch were painted differently, sometimes with and sometimes without a white border around the lower Balkenkreuz.

So I let my artistic license run wild here and painted the crossbars with a white border.



The area below the slats of the wing radiator was painted black to create a certain visual depth here.

[Umlaufmotor]

After priming with Sail-color, the metal tube structure on the elevator was sketched out with a dark pencil.





Light blue paint was then applied over it in several thin layers to achieve a subtle translucent effect that reveals the tube structure.





In these pictures of the elevator fin, the rib strips - painted only with matt-white Tamiya paint (but in many layers) - are clearly visible.

[DaddyO]

Brilliant 

So many techniques transferable to other scales as well. The overall look is top notch and I can't wait to see the finished models

Paul

[Umlaufmotor]

Thanks a lot, Paul!

Of course, the actual progress on the build is further along than the pictures show, but it will still take a few days before the D.II is ready to fly.

Servus
Bertl

[Umlaufmotor]

Here are the already painted parts of the Albatros D.II.
Little by little, the parts are coming together to form a complete model.

[Umlaufmotor]

I think the idea of painting the area between the radiator fins black wasn't a bad one.
I'm pretty satisfied with the result so far.







The ZAK stamp has also found its rightful place.
It's a leftover Wingnut decal from a Rumpler or DFW kit.
You won't be able to read the number later on, since a rearview mirror will be mounted in that spot.



One more quick look inside the cockpit?the seat belts are by Radu (paper belts with etched buckles) and look very true to the original on the model. They aren?t in place yet, because I want to attach the shoulder straps behind the seat, running along the back of the aircraft.

[Umlaufmotor]

In the second-to-last photo of the previous post, you can also see a compass in the cockpit. This is a Wingnut Wings part that Roden simply forgot to include in the model.

But this turned out to be more work than I expected.
I wanted to align the compass in the correct installation position relative to the aircraft when it?s standing with its tail on the ground.

Unfortunately, I broke the compass in the process. Well, I didn?t want to just glue it back together either, so I made the compass movable.
Small lead weights help ensure that the compass rose is always aligned horizontally with the surface of the ground.

[Umlaufmotor]

After a bit of tinkering, the compass ended up looking like this:



Once installed in the cockpit, the compass aligns itself automatically.

The Bird with its tail (exaggeratedly far back for the photo) pointing downward....



Albatros on its nose...



And the D.II in a horizontal position.

[Umlaufmotor]

The fuel drain valve was modeled on the fuselage floor beneath the fuel tank.
This was done using a 0.5mm Evergreen rod (for the housing), a 0.3mm brass tube (for the outlet), and a piece of 0.3mm copper wire bent into shape (for the lever).





The access panel for the drain valve was modified accordingly.
The access panels for the drain valve, water pump, and oil pump, located on the underside of the fuselage, are represented using Eduard photo-etched parts.



A water drain plug is installed on the underside of the wing radiator -  the procedure is the same as for the fuel drain valve.

[Umlaufmotor]

Many of the metal flaps and maintenance hatches on this model are represented by 3D decals from Quinta.
I have to say, these "decals" aren't bad at all, they're very easy to work with and stick really well when applied a little wood glue in water.





The only problem is that the decals are a bit too light gray in color.
A light misting of Tamiya XF-76 gray-green over the decals fixes this.

[bobs_buckles]

 

[KiwiZac]

There's too much clever and admirable work going on for me to take in and properly comment on. My goodness.