Albatross C.V/17

[Davos522]

Beautiful work, Harry Woodman would be proud of you! Looking forward to following this thread.

Dutch

[Skyhook]

Thanks, guys! St. Harry of Scratchbuilding is one of my heroes indeed  .  And yes, this time i decided to put a detailed photo documentation of the methods i use in case they might be helpful for someone. I have done ww1 scratchbuilding in 1/72 for a long time and would very much like to spread the word….it is fun! There are absolutely amazing scratchprojects going on here in this forum (even in 1/144!) and i too just want to share some ideas i have developed over the years.

Ok, so it is the fuselage time for a change. Firstly i cut the sideplates from 0,75 mm plasticard. One might think it is a bit thick for the purpose, but i want to bring some strenght for it and you won’t see the thickness when it is ready.

0AE2F229-BE21-4987-B900-51270A8AEBDF by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

I started the building from the stern, so I can observe the shape over the plans easily.

22B4D67A-0539-4C26-B7B4-AAF56D9B0A0B by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Now the bulkheads are in place. The area of the cockpits is done with strips instead of actual walls. I use tiny amounts of superglue for attachment and secure it with a bit of very thin liquid cement, it also works as a kicker for the superglue.

115A25CC-8630-4A03-9013-037595ED29CE by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

You see that i have added some material also inside the bow part. That is to allow for the sanding into shape later. It all probably looks a bit heavy, but won’t be seen in the end.

1CBAB7E4-E73C-45B6-8EB2-4316BB083312 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

I then added the inner structure with strips of 0,25 plasticard and different thicknesses of heat stretched sprue. Here the liquid cement is absolutely necessary. It has also received a coat of base color to show the structure. I will construct the top of the fuselage next, i will add the cockpit area floor last.

84FDDE22-440F-49E1-B749-CE5C9148EEBD by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

[NigelR]

Lovely work, I am transfixed.......

[torbiorn]

Those are some beautiful wings!

[malaula]

I really like the way you do the wings !What brand of contact glue do you use?

[RAGIII]

Amazingly quick work. It also looks Amazing  Terrific work to date!
RAGIII

[Flamingo]

"I used two types of sanding paper, attached to a sanding block to achieve a cromatic profile curvature."could you please explain, I don't understand "cromatic".
"St. Harry of Scratchbuilding" wonderful!

Will watch your progress of the fuselage when you do the rounded parts with highest interest.
Greetings Joachim

[Skyhook]

I really like the way you do the wings !What brand of contact glue do you use?

Hi!

This time  I used a brand called Bison. I have used many brands and have not noticed any significant differences. The main point is that glue is rather thin/new. As it gets older in the tube, it usually becomes thicker and harder to spread evenly.  Thinner helps for that, of course…

[Skyhook]

"I used two types of sanding paper, attached to a sanding block to achieve a cromatic profile curvature."could you please explain, I don't understand "cromatic".
"St. Harry of Scratchbuilding" wonderful!

Will watch your progress of the fuselage when you do the rounded parts with highest interest.
Greetings Joachim

Thanks Joachim for the articles you sent me! Excellent! They will certainly help me with the shape of the front panels. With chromatic I meant a smooth curve, without any ”stairs” or dents.

Btw, I did some work for the underside. I added plasticard to the lower front part and will sand it in shape. I have not decided yet how i will take care of the upper cowlings. I will first examine the photos you sent me properly and read the Flight article.

8F11F1B2-DEF2-44D1-B665-D51DC30E6DA0 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

[PrzemoL]

Wow, what a project. I will follow it with great interest.

[RAGIII]

I greatly admire those of you who can do this type of building!
RAGIII

[KiwiZac]

I greatly admire those of you who can do this type of building!
RAGIII

Me too! I'm sorry I'm so late to this build - not only is it fun to follow but it's a great (unintended) tutorial on how it's done.

I'm excited for the next update!

[iamjohnsname]

This is incredible work, Skyhook. A great tutorial!

[Skyhook]

Thanks all for your encouraging interest!

Busy times at work, but I found a few moments to spare at home and managed to progress with the fuselage. Next photos will show you that my working methods are not very cleanly engineered. It is more like sculpting and sanding to shape. And if some interior detail will not be visible in the final model, i will lazily skip it without any regrets….all you see is what you get:). Must be me getting old…

But anyway….firstly I heat-formed a couple of pieces of plasticard with very hot water. The other i clamped over a brush handle and the other I taped to a knife handle. I washed over them for 10 seconds with nearly boiling hot water and then immediately rinsed them with cold water. After that they stay nicely in shape.

9C01866F-0E31-411C-9485-6324A3BAA4CD by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

I then cut them near to the actual shape and glued them into place. After properly cured, I cut away the excess stuff and constructed the front end from small pieces of 1mm plasticard.

79F46C3A-C3DB-43F8-9FBD-816340A30078 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Then I drilled and cut the cockpit openings. Note the two strips of plastic in front of the fuselage, that look like cut fingernails. They will form the raised sides of the observer cockpit.

D8891E95-9CEF-4E20-BB2F-0169D4F73293 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Now they are glued to their place. I will make their shape more aerodynamic later with some putty and filework

E4E5D7C6-D93D-4D84-A60A-FCC51F790049 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Some guide painting and sanding has been done already and now I add the padding to the front cockpit. I simply glue some heat stretched sprue to the rim. The opening has to be cut slightly oversize to allow for the padding.

D7CD9433-964F-47AD-A231-63067A005D5A by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

More sanding, puttying and some base color to help to see the problems. Now it is clearly getting there…

7E3287FF-5DC3-4DFC-A83B-B1CD50EC61C4 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

Here’s a sideview. You see that I made the front rather straight in horizontal plane. According to photos (courtesy of Joachim!) it really looks like to go that way. Most drawings show it more curved (but the actual drawing made for the Flight article in 1917 has similar side profile to what i am doing here). I will make the slope in the front a bit less angular, but I firstly have to decide from what kit i will appropriate the spinner from…possibly a spare from Roden or Revell Albatross fighter. Then i will finetune the shape. There’s some work also with some lines and edges on the sides. They are still a bit haphazard at this point.

B48CC925-96C5-40E6-960A-81D69611EBA9 by Amiga Hassel, on Flickr

More later, cheers
Skyhook

[Davos522]

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