Aces Mounts 2025 GB - Albatros Diii(oef) 253 series

[Will Levesley]

Thought I?d join in the group build with this Pegasus Albatros diii and the sworl decals from blue rider that I picked up second hand recently.  This is what is in the box. Looks well moulded but will need quite a bit of cleaning up!  Not sure which plane to do yet- it will either be Franz Peter?s (6 victories) or Friedrich Henty?s (5). The sworl decals should be interesting as I have a mixed history with applying large areas of decal.  Last attempt was a disaster and I stripped the whole thing and started again making a totally different scheme.  Luckily I have some spare markings for other Albatros just in case!
The instructions for this Albatros look better than the Pfalz DXII I built in that they have pictures as well as words.  Although to be honest there aren?t very many parts and it?s pretty obvious where they go.
The white metal parts look good, but I will probably replace the struts with scratch built plastic as I don?t really like superglue - it?s not very forgiving and seems to lift decals as well.

[DaddyO]

Following with interest Will since I've got one on the shelf (although I have made a start on the Roden version) 

Paul

[NigelR]

Good choice, it's not a bad kit at all. I built one back in the late 90s when I was getting back into aircraft modelling.

The Oeffag Albatros is a favourite of mine so I look forward to this one.

[Alexis]

I'm looking forward to following along on your project .


Alexis

[Will Levesley]

Made a start on the interior.  Cleaned up the fuselage halves which are moulded from quite soft easy to work plastic ( unlike the last Pegasus kit I built where the plastic had become very brittle and easy to snap) Added a simple framework made from plastic strip, a control panel for the left side of the cockpit visible in the photos I?ve found of Austrian Albatros and a compass made using some old PE parts.  Still need to add the dials to the instrument panel ( there are some included on the decal sheet that I can cut up and position sort of correctly).  Interesting, but not surprising, that the Austrian Albatros have a different cockpit layout to the German built versions.  Still debating whether or not to use the white metal seat which appears to be wicker.  The photos show a solid seat often in grey.  Will add some seatbelts from Tamiya masking tape.  It?s not an accurate copy of the interior but should look the part (hopefully) when it?s sealed up and you can?t really see very far inside!

[Tim Mixon]

Good progress Will. I?m looking forward to seeing the cammo decals applied. Such an interesting look!

[NigelR]

Good progress on this Will. The seats in the Oeffag Albatros were solid with some lightening holes drilled in them. If you want lots of info on the interior, take a look through this thread on here where there are a lot of photos: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14920.0.

[Will Levesley]

Thanks for the info - I?ll have look.

[Will Levesley]

Thanks again Nigel.  I?ve made a bit more progress today.  Added some instruments using a combination of decals and spare PE and used the info NigelR supplied to make the decision to replace the kit seat with a spare PE version.  Unfortunately I couldn?t put the holes in it that some of the seats seem to have.  Added some seatbelts from masking tape and some metal fittings from spare PE and then joined the fuselage.  A bit of filler needed (now drying).  Dry fitting shows that some trimming and sanding will be needed to get the cowling to fit.

[Will Levesley]

Cleaned up the wing and rail pieces and then highlighted the ribs on the lower surfaces with a brown paint pen.  Soon realised that the rib detail is quite correct on the lower surfaces do corrected the spacing ( should be visible in the photos).  Quite a bit if filler needed around the cowling.  Painting and decals next.

[Will Levesley]

Just realised that all of the photos are badly distorted so I'm trying a different way of uploading them - hopefully this will work.

Sprayed all of the parts with AK tan - on the wings over the ribs the intention is to tone down the brown and give some pre-shading.  Will go over with AK's grimy grey to finish. I tried it on my last plane and it seemed to work (it was quite subtle) so fingers crossed.  Anyone have any guidance on applying the transfers for the sworl pattern?  I'm thinking that drawing around the wings and tail on the back of the transfer sheet and cutting sections that are slightly too large should work.  For the fuselage I'm thinking separate panels for the sides, top and bottom and hope my knife blades are sharp enough to trim them!
 

[NigelR]

Sadly the photo is still distorted, but you can at least download it to see the actual pic! I think it's a good idea to keep the CDL effects subtle as the sworl fabric on top would not let much light through. Also, these aircraft did not have rib tapes, so that would make the contrast on the underside less pronounced.

[Will Levesley]

Finally found the time (and the nerve) to start the sworl decals.  I shouldn?t have worried as the Blue Rider decals went on easily.  Just have to hope they stay on during the rest of the build.  Blue Rider claim that the sheet is big enough for 2 complete schemes.  I don?t think so, unless you are very good at drawing out the pieces to exactly the right size and a puzzle genius who can fit together the trimmings.

[Alexis]

Really nice work on the swirl decals , this is shaping up very well !


Alexis

[NigelR]

Those sworl decals look great!