WNW Albatros DVa Jasta 76b Karl Hopf

[RAGIII]

Your paint work and shading are looking terrific! Lovely!!
RAGIII

[lcarroll]

Ian,
   I think your Post Shading is superb; just the right amount and certainly not overdone.(which I do far too often!) As for the Airbrush, small world! I have two Iwatas and both were getting rather balky and, in fact, unusable. I clean them thoroughly after each use however had never done a complete "stripdown" cleaning. Having done that just yesterday they are both operating like new again; I was shocked at the "gunge" that I removed from the tube the needle installs in with a tiny wire brush....certainly explained the crappy results prior! Perhaps this may help with yours, a first step at any rate.
   Your Albie is coming along in spectacular fashion; I'll be following it closely.
Cheers,
Lance

[Ernie]

Great paint work, Ian.  I think you have done a masterful job with the
shading.  As for the airbrush troubles, I clean the airbrush usually with
Vallejo airbrush cleaner, which I find works very well.  I do a total strip-down
cleaning when I notice the spray pressure dropping for no reason.  For
those times I use lacquer (cellulose) thinner or window cleaner to bathe
the parts using small airbrush cleaning brushes to make sure all the gunk
is removed.  You have to be careful using these cleaners as they can attack
the O-rings and gaskets of some airbrushes (do some research on yours).
 With mine (Harder & Steenbeck), it doesn't seem to bother them.  I make
sure to flush them out after with my normal airbrush cleaner when I'm done.
It really makes quite a difference when you get it all cleaned out.

Cheers,
Ernie

[Ian from Doncaster]

Thanks folks, I have a basic Badger 200 brush, and use their proprietary spray cleaner after each use, with the pin removed.

I had no problem a couple of months ago with enamel paint...  I'll have another go - someone else told me my paint could still be a tad too thick?

[Ernie]

Thanks folks, I have a basic Badger 200 brush, and use their proprietary spray cleaner after each use, with the pin removed.

I had no problem a couple of months ago with enamel paint...  I'll have another go - someone else told me my paint could still be a tad too thick?

Good point, Ian.  The thinning can make a world of difference.

Cheers,
Ernie

[Ian from Doncaster]

Will try again on another job...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I made some eyelets and turnbuckles for the rigging.  Better to make these now and fit to the wings etc with the parts separate.  I made eyelets by twisting individual copper strands from electric wiring around a .4mm drill bit.  I cut lengths of .5mm dia brass tube for turnbuckle bodies, but the twisted copper strands on the eyelets were just too wide for the tubing, so I used monofilament passed through the brass tube twice, then pulled through to leave a small loop at one end to make the turnbuckle end loop, the exposed thread end being secured with a drop of CA.  Those ends will then be glued into the location holes.  I'll use the eyelets with trimmed strands for the attachments at the opposite end of each line. 

Took all evening to make over 50 eyelets and 30 turnbuckles, but will hopefully be worth it in the long run.

Credit to Bob's Buckles for the buckling advice on his website

[stefanbuss]

Ian,
on Des' homepage is a description on "how to increase the inner diameter of your brass tubing". Maybe you could use this next time for your copper eyelets?

Stefan

[Ian from Doncaster]

Thanks Stefan - certainly a good idea if I wanted to make eyelets at both ends of the turnbuckle representation.  Or I need thinner copper!

[gravos]

C'est super
Félicitations
@+

[IFF1418]

Ian, your paintwork is fantastic as is your shading. Extremely nice.

Kind regards
Patrick

[coyotemagic]

Outstanding paint work, Ian.  Your blue matches up beautifully with the diamonds.
Cheers,
Bud

[Ian from Doncaster]

Thank you for the encouraging comments

A little more progress last night.  Painted and trimmed the turnbuckles for the elevator and ailerons, elevator shown here.  I am quite pleased with the results.

Assembled and painted the undercarriage, here it is shown dry fitted to the aircraft.  The undercarriage components push fit, I will only need glue when I fix the legs to the fuselage permanently.  Eyelets already attached to the base of the legs, before assembly, to save a fiddly job later, although they may not be easy to see here...  Undercarriage seems to sit correctly without any tweaking, so far....





The cowlings, cabane struts, spinner/prop loosely dry fitted here..

[Ernie]

I'm really impressed, Ian! Your work on the elevator is superb.  With the cowlings,
prop and undercarriage in place, even dry fit, she is really taking shape.  Nicely done.

Cheers,
Ernie

[Ian from Doncaster]

Thanks Ernie.

The model has some subtle weathering with humbrol powders and pastel powders dry brushed on, and the "metal" components are drybrushed with my mr metal polishing brush, to leave a little metallic sheen and highlight worn paint in raised areas.  Unfortunately the pics don't show this so in these shots the model looks "clean".

[rhallinger]

Shaping up very nicely Ian!  Great prop too.    I particularly like the pre-rigged elevator horns.  The lead wires to the turnbuckles appear to be quite stiff.  What did you use?  Looks great!  Very well done.

Regards,

Bob