Albatross C.V/17

[RAGIII]

I'm absolutely loving this project! It's tremendous fun to see all the 3D printed wizardry going on in the modeling world these days, but seeing the magic being worked with plastic card and strip and liquid cement here on the Forum really take me back to the days when I scoured the local hobby shops for those exotic (to my 12-year old self!) imported issues of the UK Scale Models with its articles by the aforementioned St Harry in the early 1970s.

Keep up the great work, can't wait to see the next installment.

Dutch

I certainly agree with Dutch! As for not doing things that won't be seen...I am all in!
RAGIII

[macsporran]

Like the others I am loving this old fashioned (in the best sense) scratchbuild using the folded scribed wing and heat moulded curves etc. Takes me right back. (I am mortified to find an old Scale Models magazine where I made an FE2b like this, wait for it, back in 1973!) Shome mishtake shurely!
Thank you for showing us that the old ways are still the good ways and I am loving your work. Can't wait to see some colour on this.
Sandy

[Thumbs up]

Loving this build to! Learnt alot

[enathan]

Me too... This does take me back ages ago to my first scratch builds, a Fokker E.III and a DH.2 (the Revell kits were not available here, I didn't even know they existed...) The rectangular shape of the Fokker fuselage was easy to do but I've had to heat form the the DH.2 nacelle. The wings were sanded and scribed Evergreen plastic.
So I'm watching your build with great interest Skyhook, and it looks like the end result will be great!

[Flamingo]

Looks promising...

[Allan31]

Amazing, these scratch builds always humble me.....

[Skyhook]

Thank You, all….

Now the project is slowly picking up speed after a few busy days. I sanded the nose quite heavily as you can see. Then I made a circular loop of brass wire (using a brush handle of correct diameter, tightening it around the handle by twisting it with pliers and then cutting the ”ponytail” off). I glued it to the front to portray the thin rim of the cowling behind the spinner.

CEBE6FBA-8ADC-41D7-B972-7245DF12FBE8 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Then I filled the resulting ”trench” and other cavities in the nose with putty and sanded some more. I also made the spinner  (cut it from a 1/48 Spitfire spare!) and sanded some more to bring the the whole lot to a better general shape.

0AF91AD1-9210-4EF2-9511-0EFF9D6B98EA by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

There’s also the fuel tank/seat construction and instrument panel already in place. Now I can add some other details to cockpits, add the floor panel and then work the outside details too…

5305CF9E-2DD1-4DD8-9A51-BC721895716A by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Cheers, Skyhook

[Skyhook]

There’s more!  I added quite a bit of details to the cockpits. Note the rudder bar on the right. It is easy to place them from below, before i add the floorplate.

F220EEE5-6C11-43A2-9B34-6F2B6790A865 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Now it is there and the floor has been added, already painted. I inserted the control column from above, gluing it to the rather complicated tube system on the cockpit floor. I did all the tubing from heat stretched sprue, different thicknesses.

77476568-042B-4491-AD00-786B107F0155 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

The fin is integral part of the fuselage, so I cut and sanded it from 1 mm plasticard, thinning it quite bit at the edges by sanding. Some puttywork needed to make it a part of the actual fuselage.

50B84A39-1A8F-4642-B55D-A13E14037CC4 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Now it is sanded to its shape and the horizontal tailpieces cut and glued to their place. Some careful sanding was needed to get them sit right and straightly.

C19D5FEC-A17F-4212-9D57-4B0363A7CA3C by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

When the tail was drying under the base paint, i cut the ailerons and glued them back after some finishing with a file (and superglue to seal the balsa that came visible in places; I wanted to glue them like on a slight turn). I added also the hinges and the actuators. I made the hinges by heat stretching a narrow strip of a 0,5 mm plasticard. It is an easy way to obtain very thin strips of constant width.

5AD15538-2F90-44E9-9B07-D783FD88FBEC by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Elevator and rudder got the same treatment. I also cut the openings to the cowling area for the exhaust and the machine gun. I also added the panel lines and hinges and fasteners using different lenghts of heat stretched strips. Some lines i also carved with an xacto blade. It will look good under paint, i hope…

62253F4A-5FAB-49D3-B148-B3E80918F12D by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Cheers, Skyhook

[DaddyO]

Just caught up with this thread and really enjoying your progress and techniques; can't wait to see the finished bird

Paul

[Flamingo]

Hi Ami,
that looks very good! The shape of that elegant type has been achieved convincingly.
I like it much more than the C.XII.
The double ruder bar of the drawings is probably a special feature for a short legged pilot!

Keep on
Joachim

[NigelR]

Superb work, this is looking fantastic.

[Skyhook]

Thanks, Guys…much appreciated!

This morning I painted the fuselage. I used Xctracolor light grey for the cowling and paintedthe fuselage firstly with a grey base. Then I covered it with Citadel Acrylic Averland sunset. It is rather yellow, but with the grey base underneath, looks quite like a varnished plywood. Then i drew the panel lines with a 2B pencil (very sharp). After that I simulated the plywood grain with thinned Humbrol Matt 62 (dull reddish brown) with a thin brush. Finally I put a semi-gloss finish on it all…

1C8BC8FF-C371-4EC2-A0B2-182D47937B5D by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Then it was time  for the lower wings. I used a strong superglue and simple butt-join. Cleaned the paint from the appropriate places in the fuselage first. Machine gun and the exhaust came from my Spares box; Roden and Eduard models have kept me well supplied!

65AE500D-B09A-4F5F-93E2-B184E3C365B4 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Next I will probably will be trying to choose the colors for the wings….

Cheers, Skyhook

[NigelR]

The wood panelling looks very effective, well done!

[Brad Cancian]

Outstanding work! Those wood panels look excellent; subtlety is key in 1/72 and you have nailed it.

Looking forward to seeing more!

Cheers

BC

[RAGIII]

Your processes are fun to watch unfold and have resulted in an excellent outcome. Your Albatros is really taking shape and looking the part!
RAGIII