"Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery

[mgunns]

Nice work thus far Gary:  I would have never thought of an auxilliary throttle handle either, but; now that there is "confirmation" from multiple sources, I will incorporate into my next Albi build.
Nice work on the seat belts.  I can't seem to get them to look right and always revert back to the kit provided PE ones.  Good on yer for those.  You are making good progress on this Gary and I will be following along on your updates.

[Trackpad]

Thanks, Mark. As far as the seat-belts are concerned, I've found that the RB offering is quite good. With a bit of practice the assembly is rather easy, and the shaping of the belts to the seat is accomplished by soaking the belts with water, letting the "fabric" become pliable, then shaping the belts to the seat and each other. I've still got a bit of adjusting to do but water is the secret weapon of choice for this small task! 

[dr 1 ace]

It is moving along nicely, agree with all the above on the interior /seatbelts !!!

Ed

[Trackpad]

It is moving along nicely, agree with all the above on the interior /seatbelts !!!

Ed

Hi, Ed,

Hope things are all good for you and yours. Yes, I wasn't sure of the RB belts but they did work out just fine. Thanks for visiting! 

[Trackpad]

Hi, Everyone,

Work started on the engine some days ago, but shortage of time has slowed progress. Nevertheless a bit has been made, just enough for a short update.

The spark plugs (each one about 6/100's of an inch) are painted, with a few touchups yet to be made. Steel, white and copper are the colours and a 5/0 brush the weapon of choice. Probably use a 10/0 for the touchups. And I, too, have a huge wooden matchstick!   



The lower engine section is now painted, decalled and weathered a touch. The cylinder bank will be the real challenge as I'm using the Taurus resin update sets. So far the six intake manifold nuts are fitted, as is the main shaft for the valve lifters and timing gears. Don't worry about the gap between top and bottom engine halves: they're dry-fitted only for the photo.



Note the front first-mounted spring. It, plus another, plus two connectors, plus a cover = five tiny parts for each of the cylinder heads. It took me about thirty minutes to do the separating, light sanding, gluing in place and aligning of the end of the connector to the head of the spring. This will be an interesting, challenging and exciting process. Rule of the Day? "Make haste...s-l-o-w-l-y!"



Thanks for visiting, and have a great weekend! 

[mgunns]

The rocker arms and valve springs add a nice dimension to the engine and will certainly bring that area of the model to life as will the spark plugs and harnesses.  Key word here is S-L-O-W-L-Y as you mentioned.  Looking good Gary.

[RAGIII]

What you are adding to the engine will really enhance the overall Model even further!
RAGIII

[Trackpad]

Mark and Justin,

Thanks for your encouragement and your visit. I'm pretty clear now that "slow" does not mean "lethargic." The extra bits and bobs are fine if you first think your way through them, which I have had to do because I rarely use them. Right now I'm giving thought to using Future/Pledge as an adhesive to fix the 30-odd tiny parts to the main timing/valve shaft. I figure that you have to fix the spring and the connector at the same time, then adjust them so that the one connects with the other correctly, and all before the adhesive dries/cures. PVC glue is too thick and may not hold the parts if overly-thinned. Epoxy is too thick. CA cures too quickly. But many modellers use Future to attach PE parts where the parts are not under any stress. I think that it'll work: thin, gets into the various crevices and dries to a fairly tough thin surface. We'll see!   

Edit: I found that the Future idea didn't work all that well. What did work was a 1:1 mix of Future and PVC glue. The engine is "motoring on" nicely. Update later as I'm working for the next seven days straight.

[Trackpad]

Hello, Everyone,

It's been about three weeks since I posted an update here, but I'm happy to say that the Albi engine is pretty much done. I'll attach the water line to the upper wing radiator when comes time to fit the wing in place. With all that has to happen to the fuselage now, I didn't want that long and angled pipe flailing around the work bench!

For my first try at detailing an engine, this one looks all right to my eye. The metallized parts were by Alclad 2 and Gunze Metal Coat paints. Both worked well. I was really caught short with the upper valve control mechanism: thirty-one pieces of resin to get into place, lined up and glued. The spark plug leads, both to the plugs and from the alternator, posed a few challenges. They are made from thin soft wire that Vector puts out with their resin engines: very nice to work with. I used the kit manifold part rather than the Barracuda offering as I could not get the latter to fit properly. No criticism of the part, only a criticism of my skill level! The kit decals went on very nicely. Weathering and staining was a mix of light oil wash and thinned Gunze "Soot" and "Oil."

Here are three photos of the finished engine. I'll take a bit of a break and do some light painting of various bits and bobs before the next major phase: joining the fuselage halves and sorting through wood-grain and nail-head decals, PE detail parts and making the call between light grey and light blue for the forward fuselage area.







More later. Have a super weekend and thanks for visiting!   

[Manni]

Top engine, I love the details, the wiring of the sparkplugs looks great.
Bye,
Manni

[Trackpad]

Top engine, I love the details, the wiring of the sparkplugs looks great.
Bye,
Manni

Thanks, Manni. Much appreciated! 

[Ryan]

Yes splendid engine work!

Ryan

[Trackpad]

Hi, Ryan,

Thanks for visiting, and thanks for your kind comment: it's very much appreciated!

Good luck with all of your future builds. 

[lcarroll]

Superb results on the engine Gary! Being presently engaged in the same exercise on two for the AEG I feel I can confidently attest to the great work on the Taurus upper additions, you really aced the springs and rocker boxes etc. I too was challenged by that exercise (still not completed!) and my results don't look as good as these, nice work!
Cheers,
Lance

[Trackpad]

Superb results on the engine Gary! Being presently engaged in the same exercise on two for the AEG I feel I can confidently attest to the great work on the Taurus upper additions, you really aced the springs and rocker boxes etc. I too was challenged by that exercise (still not completed!) and my results don't look as good as these, nice work!
Cheers,
Lance

Thanks, Lance. Just goes to show how much "good luck" I have to expend. Trouble is that I've burned through about sixty per cent of my allotment of luck but I have about seventy per cent of the model to build yet! 

BTW, good luck with your AEG. That's a few light years more complicated than an Albi. Fortunately all of the WWW kits in my cache are single engine types.

Thanks for visiting!