WnW 1/32 Albatros D.Va Karl Hopf Jasta 76b - finished

[gedmundson]

I started to build an WnW Albatros D.Va very soon after finishing a D.V a couple of months ago since I enjoyed the finished result so much. Having a few in the stash (in the form of the Green Tail Trilogy) allowed a wide choice of subjects. Inspired by the fact that I have close relatives in Würzburg, Germany I chose to build the aircraft flown by Karl Hopf in Jasta 76b on which he adourned the City of Würzburg crest on the side from where he was from.

Getting decals for this was a challenge, but quickly solved with help from this forum when a fellow member offered to send me the crests I needed. I later realized I needed the checkerboard decals, since it would have been very difficult to paint that scheme by hand - and again our modelling community helped me out there as well.

Since this project is now in the finishing stages, I wanted to summarize the build and show a few things I added to the kit. Thanks to our fellow modeller  Bertl "Umlaufmotor" for his hints and tips of which I tried to incorporate late in my build.


I had to break into my kit to start #1 of the three contained.


My chosen scheme


Taurus Models details added (the missing spark plug I luckily found later)




Barracuda Studios manifold with insulation


.010" lead wire for the ignition cables






Cheers,
Gary

[DaveB]

Your off to a good start here, Gary -

Great engine and I really like the oil staining.

Regards

Dave

[William Adair]

Gosh that is nice.  It’s like a lesson in figure painting. 

[Luftace]

That engine looks just right, Gary. Nice job with the added details and painting, looking forward to seeing more as you progress on this build.

Chad

[Rookie]

I just stumbled over this. What a great job you did on the Daimler-Mercedes engine Gary. Very beautifully detailed.

Looking forward to the rest of the build with high expectations!

Willem

[gedmundson]

Thanks Dave, William and Chad! And Willem...who posted at exactly the same time as I did

For the propeller, it was stated that it had a Neindorf type. The hub was removed since the spinner will cover it. I painted it by airbrushing a light colour, then masking a pattern of laminations, and respraying it slightly darker. After the tape was removed I touched up the lines with some Vallejo acrylic, and gave it a gloss coat. Following a light wash of oil paint, more gloss, then the two decals.

I replaced the kit spinner with one from Proper Plane which has a more blunt profile.

Cheers,
Gary

[Umlaufmotor]

The propeller looks excellent.
Very nice and beautiful work on the six cylinder Mercedes Gary.

Servus
Bertl

[gedmundson]

Thanks for that, Bertl.

The cockpit interior was upgraded with some seatbelts from HWG. I had to pull the control cable for the ailerons through holes in the sides, and through holes I drilled in the pulley assemblies (and yes - I painted them the wrong colour...should be reddish brown). It was tricky to get all that installed before buttoning up the fuselage halves.

The ammo bins were painted Alclad II Duraluminum with some squiggles painted on with Vallejo acrylic silver. And I made fuel selector handles using bent & flattened brass tubing 0.5mm.

Cheers,
Gary






The left hand seat belt will be left to swing outside and rest on the fuselage side.

Once the fuselage halves were joined - the control cables were pulled taught and glued from the outside in the wing-roots.

[FAf]

Sorry! I missed this Albatros build... so even more of an Albatros scourge and this equally amazing!

/Fredrik

[Alexis]

Out standing work in the pit Gary  , love that engine as well !


Alexis

[gedmundson]

Fredrik & Alexis - thanks for your comments which are very much appreciated.

I joined together the fuselage halves and modified the outlet holes for the upper elevator control lines. After painting on the wood grain for the front of the fuselage, I added HGW nail-head decals. The checkerboard decals for the fuselage & tail went on quite well - I'm amazed at how WnW engineered these. And the city of Würzburg decals for the sides, courtesy of Forum member Jorgo - thanks so much!

Engine and guns were mounted with the telescopic sight...between which sits the etched metal front cover plate which WnW engineered well for the D.Va better than the D.V kit.

Cheers,
Gary




Removing the carrier film from the nail head decals, applied using Microsol.




The engine looks ok sitting mounted here, but the left side cowling didn't fit at all.

[Jorgo]

The engine, cockpit and wood grain are excellently done, and all at top speed . Chapeau, Gary! I also like the telescopic sight and the nail heads.

Best regards
Jörg

[kensar]

All of your results are looking excellent, Gary.
Which brand of nail head decals did you use?  They look smaller than HGW nail heads.

[gedmundson]

The engine, cockpit and wood grain are excellently done, and all at top speed . Chapeau, Gary! I also like the telescopic sight and the nail heads.

Best regards
Jörg

Thanks, Jörg. This was the quickest build I'd made on a WnW project actually. Took me a couple of months (while I also worked on that ICM Dornier)
Cheers,
Gary

[gedmundson]

All of your results are looking excellent, Gary.
Which brand of nail head decals did you use?  They look smaller than HGW nail heads.

Thanks Ken - the nail head decals were the HGW ones which I'd also used on the Udet project - set number 321015 specifically done for the WnW Albatros D.V/Va. I bought two sheets - and now have to buy more for a couple of future projects.
Cheers,
Gary