Schnucki - WNW Albatros DV

[stefanbuss]

Friends,

just to report some things you shouldn't do. This is (of course) WNW's DV, combined with Pheon's marvellous decals. The build started as the striped DV of JaSta B, over one year ago, but changed after Bo announced his plans for the Mega Build. As I am nowhere near to Bo's level of excellency, I had to change, not to be too ashamed when comparing his (to be expected) masterpiece with my meagre results.

The wife liked Schnucki's design best of Rowan's decal sheet (Albatros No4), so it had to be Schnucki. Of course that one is an unarmed trainer, which meant Ammo bins and MGs and whatever were superflous, suddenly. Good that those parts where already finished...

My idea now was to show the Albatros near it's end of life, with a very rough, partially discoloured airframe. I didn't want to waste WNW's engine under a tarp, so another one from Roden was used. The nearly finished kit's (original) engine is now waiting for another aircraft, to be build in future times.

Anyway, just one small photo of where I am at the moment, waiting for some washers for the underbelly (Schnucki's, not mine).



More to follow shortly , (maybe).

[mgunns]

Hello Stefanbus:

Well, it looks good from the vantage point of your photograph.  Is the finished model going to be without wings?  Could you post a pic of the artwork for Schnucki?
You've got my curiosity piqued on this one and I will be following along to see how you are doing.
Thanks

[uncletony]

Ah, Geeze, Stefan, at my rate my Jasta B zebra won't be built til 2050 so plenty of time to rethink

Anyway, Schnucki looks lovely to me so far! Very cool. Looking forward to more pics.

[RAGIII]

Looks good to me! I like the idea of the worn out ready to retire look. The tarp is an interesting addition and certainly does give you the ability to use the WNW engine in a DIII? Looking forward to your progress,
RAGIII

[stefanbuss]

Thank you for your kind words.

Just to show you some more details of what I did, but first to start with the requested artwork, which is of course made by Rowan Broadbent. There exist some photos of Schnucki in real life at Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung 6, but those will be shown together with the finished model.


The kit received a complete interior and a revised landing gear (those photos I talked about show that Schnucki did not have that aerodynamic fairing on the landing gear axle that is so typical for the DV/DVA family). I used some of Jamo's photos for comparison (I hope you don't mind, James. In case you do, just send me a pm and I will remowe the pictures, no problem). The compass' indication is on purpose, as Schnucki will be standing on a tailstand later on. The aileron cables are disconnected as per original (of course you cannot see this properly now that the fuselage is closed up, but I know it's there...). Wiring of fuel tank and equipment was done in areas that will still be visible later on (lazy guy, I know).



As my model will be displayed sans wings, I had to work a bit on the cabane strut fittings (the cabane struts will be attached to the model, just to show of the red colour). The struts have been hollowed at the top (where the attaching bolts from the upper wing would be inserted), to show the safety bolts that are inserted into the cabane struts.


The last photo shows a bit of the worn and distressed paint. This I did using oil paints only, removing some layers in worn areas again after some weeks of drying time. This resulted in an overall used look, that I hope is convincing.


So much for now,

Stefan

[lcarroll]

Stefan,
   Very interesting project, something very unique. The interior is outstanding, some really beautiful work done there. I'll enjoy following you along on this.
Cheers,
Lance
     

[coyotemagic]

Outstanding work on the interior, Stefan.  The scheme is really cool.  This will be fun to watch.
Cheers,
Bud

[RAGIII]

Outstanding work on the interior, Stefan.  The scheme is really cool.  This will be fun to watch.
Cheers,
Bud

I agree with my Amigo on the Interior work! Absolutely Stunning!
RAGIII

[Alexis]

Nice job on the details 






Terri

[uncletony]

As my model will be displayed sans wings, I had to work a bit on the cabane strut fittings (the cabane struts will be attached to the model, just to show of the red colour). The struts have been hollowed at the top (where the attaching bolts from the upper wing would be inserted), to show the safety bolts that are inserted into the cabane struts.

This is cool... I missed this update while I was traveling recently. You read the ends of the safety bolts as having loops on them? To me it looks in the Jamo photos like a slotted screw head, but I remember Dave Douglas also mentioned loops ... I'll have to study this some more ...

Cheers

[Umlaufmotor]

Stefan is right, Bo - the safety pins actually had a welded ring.







Servus
Bertl

[uncletony]

Yeah after I posted my note I looked again and saw that what I thought was a screw slot was the shadow of the ring(!)

Thanks for the enlightenment.

Cheers

[stefanbuss]

First thing I did this morning was to look through WNW's instructios, to find the photo I used - only to see that Bertl was faster than me.
Anyway, the photo I used is to be found on page 13 (the one with Max Kahlow).

Stefan

[uncletony]

Yes it is unmistakable once one looks at the right pictures! 

[stefanbuss]

Bo has left for holidays - a good opportunity for me to show my humble progress. I just managed to add small details on the underside. The glossy brass parts add a nice contrast to the comparatively matte fuselage.

Next steps are adding stains for oil and fuel, plus rigging the elevator.

Stay tuned.