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

[Umlaufmotor]

While the oil-based wood grain paint on the fuselage is drying, I can work on the engine - that's the plan.
The Albatros D.II was equipped with a Mercedes D.III 6-cylinder inline engine producing 165 hp.
However, the engine included with the model by Roden is not very convincin, moreover, it is a (not particularly well-executed) mix between the Mercedes D.III and the D.IIIa engine.
It?s a bit of a shame, because Roden's work is particularly weak on the upper part of the engine, which will be clearly visible later on.
Luckily, I still had a few small parts from Taurus in stock, which allowed me to make the camshaft/valve spring area reasonably functional.
However, the Taurus accessories are designed for a Wingnut engine and first had to be adapted to the Roden Mercedes engine.
In terms of cylinder spacing, the Roden engine is 1mm longer than the Wingnut engine.
I also removed the molded-in spark plug stubs from the cylinders and drilled new "mounting holes" in the correct positions.
That's where the super-detailed spark plugs from Taurus will ultimately be installed.

The pictures show the current state of the engine modified with Taurus accessories:











Servus
Bertl

[NigelR]

Now that's nice, precise workmanship. A great improvement on the original.

[Alexis]

Nice mods to the kit engine 


Alexis

[gsxf65]

Incredible work that I'm following with great pleasure.
I have several Eduard 1/48 Albatros DIII Oeffag models. I'd like to paint the crosses instead of using decals. I'd love to know what method you use to reproduce them. Thanks.

[PrzemoL]

And one more incredible project. Even more, as it is not WNW kit and thus requires even more care about the details. Watching with high interest, as usual with your build logs.

[Umlaufmotor]

And one more incredible project. Even more, as it is not WNW kit and thus requires even more care about the details. Watching with high interest, as usual with your build logs.

Thanks, PrzemoL.
You're right about the comparison between Wingnut and Roden - you have to put in far more time and effort into these kits than you do with WNW.
But in my opinion, that doesn't make them any worse or inferior.
You can definitely build some beautiful models with them.
It's just model building, almost like it used to be.... 

Servus
Bertl

[Umlaufmotor]

Incredible work that I'm following with great pleasure.
I have several Eduard 1/48 Albatros DIII Oeffag models. I'd like to paint the crosses instead of using decals. I'd love to know what method you use to reproduce them. Thanks.

It's actually quite easy and simple.
You copy the decals 1:1 and then cut out the copy.
You stick it neatly and horizontally onto a Tamiya masking film at the corners and then cut it out along the outline.
For the Iron Cross, for example, you then stick the cut-out cross onto the model to determine its exact position.
Next, apply the actual mask ?around the cross.? Then remove the cross and paint the exposed area.
Finally, remove the outer mask.

Servus
Bertl

[Umlaufmotor]

Nice mods to the kit engine 


Alexis

Thank you Alexis 

Servus
Bertl

[Umlaufmotor]

Now that's nice, precise workmanship. A great improvement on the original.

Thank you Nigel 

Servus
Bertl

[gsxf65]

Thank you Berti!
Virgilio

[Umlaufmotor]

Despite the current sweltering heat, work on VzFw. Otto Gerbigs Jasta14 Albatros D.II continues.
Admittedly, it's slow going.

I've just highlighted the rows of nails with a dark oil paint mixture (burnt umber/turpentine) and created subtle shading by carefully wiping the paint on and off.
Afterward, I sealed it once more with glossy clear coat?including a bit of clear yellow and a drop of brown.
These pictures show the current progress.
Now I'll let it dry thoroughly, and then I can move on to painting the ventilation slats, the maintenance hatches, and any remaining sheet metal fittings, etc.
The red fuselage band, which serves as the background for the white skull and crossbones, can also be painted on during this phase of construction.













Servus
Bertl

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[NigelR]

Beautiful Bertl. Lovely work, I do think oil paints are excellent for WWI aircraft, they give such a wide range of potential finishes and you are a master with them.

I plan to do a couple of my Albatros kits with wooden fuselages and this thread is so inspiring and helpful.

[pepperman42]

Amazing. The tonal variation is perfect creating the impression of individual sheets of ply.

Steve

[Brad Cancian]

Lovely work Bertl - this is just the right amount of subtelty needed for a ply fuselage in this scale.

Top shelf, sir!

Cheers,

BC

[Umlaufmotor]

Thank you very much, Brad, Steve and Nigel for the comments.
But I actually love using acrylics and oil paints to depict wood grain in my artwork.
The big advantage over decals (aside from the fact that I hate applying decals) is that if I don't like it or it's not good enough, I can just wipe it off and start over.
The more you practice this technique, the better the results get - my biggest problem in the past was that I left way too much oil paint on the model, but in this case, less really is more.
With less oil paint - and perhaps a bit of shading - the wood grain looks much more natural.

Servus
Bertl