WNW/Roden hybrid Albatros D.III

[GrahamB]

Hi,

I've started this project of using the flying surfaces of the WNW Albatros D.V to replace those of the Roden D.III kit. Progress has been good but I've not yet taken many photos of the stages.

The core of the rebuild is to remove the Roden lower wings from the centre section and modify those of the WNW wings. Care is required here to get a good straight cut. Although I have (more or less) got the mating surfaces OK I'll leave off adding the wings until after the centre section is fitted to the fuselage - with some anticipated problems with fit. To strengthen the join I've used some brass slide-fit tubing (female on centre section, male on wing roots) (not on photo below).





An easier task is with the tailplanes (interchangeable on the real D.III/D.V aircraft) - the attachment tabs of the WNW versions just need cutting to fit the Roden slots.



Various other tasks have been carried out - such as filling most of the panel line 'trenches' on the fuselage halves and removing most surface details to be replaced with brass (PART) or resin (Mastermodel rivets/bolts) bits & pieces. The Roden engine has been retained (mostly for reasons of fit) but modified and some spare WNW bits used, plus Taurus valves/rocker box assembly - nice fit this time compared to my dog's breakfast on the Roland. The Roden interplane V-struts have had the WNW lower wing inserts/plugs added. Photos next time.

Great fun!

Cheers,

GrahamB

P.S. A little call for help: can anyone provide a description or drawing of how the rudder cabling was attached to the rudder-bar assembly, please? The two figures in the Albatros Special for the D.1/D.II (and presumably D.III as well) - a reproduction from a spares manual and a sketch- conflict with regard to the transverse cabling to the two pulleys - how did the cables run back to the tail area? The WNW instructions are not much more help as they conflict with the Special figures - showing two transverse levers rather than a single forward-directed lever.

[radio]

Good changing the tailplanes and wings for the D III Rhoden.
Martin

[KiwiZac]

I can't help with any technical information, I just wanted to pipe in and say I'm looking forward to this!

[kornbeef]

Graham.

This is a repro DIII by th incedibly skillful Koloman Meyrhofer (apologies to Koloman if I spelt that wrong.)



He works fastidiously to get his aircraft correct so I see no reason to doubt this is accurately done.

As you see there is considerable difference between DII & DIII control layouts. (He did DII's too.)

Hope this helps you.

Keith

[GrahamB]

Thanks Keith - this is extremely useful. Quite different for the Alb D.I/II drawings. I'll have a good look and work out what is happening - hoping it's not too late for what I've put together so far.

Cheers,

GrahamB

[ALBATROS1234]

wow ,i cant believe you would sacrifice a wnw d.v to give ribtapes to a roden, why not just get some hgw stitched tapes or archer makes them too. believe me graham i am sure this will turn out lovely as your modelling skills are top notch its just with the wnw kits going out of production this seems like taking an engine out of a 2010 porsche to stick it in a 1995 chevy. i dont mean to question you and please dont be offended.its just recently i was forced to sell my d.v due to job loss so it seems like these kits are worth so much to be used for parts.

[ALBATROS1234]

keith that looks like an oeffag d.iii interior, the floor notches show this. is all that hardware identical in the albatros built d.iii?

[GrahamB]

Hi Albatros1234

I have not sacrificed a whole WNW Albatros for this project - just obtained individual DVa sprues A, B and D from WNW. Quite a  lot of this apart from the better quality WNW wings and tail-plane can be used to replace inferior Roden parts and to allow the DIII to be built (DVa-like rather than DV because of the aileron-control set-up). The only thing that I was unsure of - and I've already built the 'wrong' control column outfit (DI/II style)- was the rudder operation. It seems, if this III OEF interior was really similar to that of German airframes, that the DIII was DVa-like rather than DI/II because of the narrower lower wing.

Also, some spares from the WNW Mercedes sprue from one of my existing Alb DV kits can be salvaged as I intend to build one with Merc IIIa engine.

Sorry to hear that you had to sell because of job loss. It is tough. I have sold quite a bit of my accumulated stash of kits and reference books to fund new WNW purchases because my income is fairly limited and sporadic.

Cheers,

GrahamB

[uncletony]

Yeah I was going to suggest the same thing as Keith -- pore over KMs build log on the aerodrome, I think you will find nearly all questions are answered in pictures there.

[RAGIII]

Great start on the wings. I am sure the Roden kit will look terrific with the quality WNW parts utilized.
RAGIII

[kornbeef]

Its not OEF, I know Kolomar specialises in OEF but this was a set of 2 Albatros DII &  1 DIII's he was building a while back.

[kornbeef]

Though period photo's of either DII or DIII interiors are rarer than hens teeth there appears in the Windosck DIII special two images of DIII(OAW) 2479/17 that has broke its back on impact with the ground. If you look closely at the top image taken from the left you will see a panel on the floor beneath that has the same unmistakable cut outs as in the image above.

Doug Bauman first alerted me to the fact that Roden, Eduard and Windsock have failed to pick the fact up with a comment on my then Roden DIII(OAW) build. Some heated debates persued on Aeroscale when I first put forward the suggestion. 

Keith

[ALBATROS1234]

i was looking at the floor, not really speculating on what koloman builds(yes usually oef) .i could be wrong but i thought that the german d.iii had the bottom deck as solid and the oef had the 2 "D" shaped notches in the front of the floor where it attaches to the former. i assume these notches are so the rudder bar wont hit when it swings o the extreme left or right. i may be wrong but thats what i understood.

[LukasTheLight]

I look forward for next step... great idea too!!!

Lukas

[ALBATROS1234]

i should read all posts before i start typing. i stand corrected on the floor notches.

i get it graham. i didnt realize you bought sprues from wnw for this purpose. i kinda like rodens wings. they are one of the few companies that rightly recess the lower ribs. yes they are missing the stitching details but in my humble opinion with stiching tapes added they are satisfactory. the engine and other details etc there is no debate,wnw is far superior.good luck i am sure the build will be fabulous.