Author Topic: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery  (Read 55582 times)

Online RAGIII

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #255 on: July 30, 2018, 08:08:13 AM »
Sorry for the late reply Gary. First let me say again how awesome your DV is looking! Simply gorgeous work all around. I wasn't able to give my thoughts on the alignment but I think you and others have soled the issue. I actually looked back a page before you mounted the gear and it looked as though the port wing was sitting higher than the starboard... too bad we didn't notice then  ::) As for a thread on correcting the issues I do not recall one dedicated "just" to that issue. I know we talked about it in my build log and I think perhaps in Gazs' log. If I recall correctly there was a great deal of correction advice in Bos' old build but don't remember if that is still available here. Perhaps we should start one for future reference:
How I made sure my wings aligned type thing. I think it was Justin that mentioned cutting the grooves / ridges found on the radiator which can cause issues. I bent my locating tabs and sanded. Could be helpful to others in the future.

Sounds as though you will get this sorted with no major difficulty.
RAGIII

PS: I also recall mentioning in my thread that it seemed to make a difference in the dihedral if I inserted the left wing before the right or visa versa  ;D
« Last Edit: July 30, 2018, 08:23:43 AM by RAGIII »
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Online RAGIII

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #256 on: July 30, 2018, 08:27:17 AM »
There are a couple of small guide ridges on the forward bulkhead / fuselage former that are supposed to guide the wing stubs into place and set the dihedral, however if the former isn't seated perfectly into the fuselage sides (it can rotate a degree or so in either direction) they just mis-align the wings and dihedral. I simply cut the sides off the wing stubs so that they don't touch the guides at all, cleaned out the recesses in the fuselage and cleaned paint off the wing roots, and they went in ok.


Thanks for the correction Justin. I was thinking it was the fuel tank  :-[ I knew you had mentioned removing them  8)
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline Trackpad

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #257 on: August 01, 2018, 10:48:50 PM »
I've been offline doing a few "experiments" with the wing problem. Having been able to dry-fit the upper wing and check the orientation of both wings. It appears that both are pretty much in line when leading and trailing edges are compared. Accordingly, the main problem is the dihedral of the lower wing sections.

So, what to do. Simply put, I'm moving on with the forward fuselage and upper wing until comes time to mount the upper wing in place: machine guns, coolant piping, gun-sight and one upper cowling to be fitted; complete the painting of the upper wing (white) and then apply lozenge decals and other fittings; clean out and fit the printed Teves & Braun radiator...and then see how it all comes together.

It's a bit of a "leap of faith," but I think that I'm smarter than a piece of plastic. I'm reminded of something a senior French officer said during the German invasion of 1914, words to the effect: "My front is being pushed back, my flanks are being turned. Conditions being good, I attack!"  There's nothing like optimism. Thanks for visiting!  8)
Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."

Offline Trackpad

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #258 on: August 10, 2018, 10:47:21 AM »
Hello Again. I'm glad to be back on the Forum with a few updates and some good news.  :D

First off, I placed the fuselage and lower wing assembly in a storage box, jigged the wing sections so that they were horizontal, and left them in place for a little over a week. I'm happy to report that, when I took the alignment jig away (small piece of wood and a Lego block!), the assembly stood virtually aligned and horizontal. Looks as if there was a bit of a bend or stretch in one or both of the u/c members, and the jigging helped to realign the legs. Here's what it looks like now:



Next, I'm happy to say that the wing is now decaled on both sides and the ailerons have but one side left to do which will be done tomorrow. I'm not the best installer of Aviattic decals but the results were, IMHO, passable. Here are the upper wing and the almost done ailerons:





Next step will be the fitting of the large roundels to the wing. I've given a fair bit of thought as to just how I'll approach that task. I've come the the conclusion that it will take several steps involving such actions as not initially fitting the aileron crank housing, lightly fitting the ailerons, applying the roundels, slicing the roundels at the aileron/wing joint, removing the ailerons, removing the portion of the decal that cover the slot for the aileron crank housings, dry-fitting the housings, identifying which portions of the housings are red and white, painting these areas plus the RLM02 underside, then gluing the housings into place (Warning: they only go into place one way properly and the two housings are not interchangeable!), and finally gluing the ailerons into place. Dead simple, right? Right?? Of course right!  ;)

With any luck the roundels will be in place by Sunday or thereabouts. I hope to have the next update by then.

Good luck to you all with your current builds, and many thanks for visiting!  8)
Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."

Offline bobs_buckles

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #259 on: August 10, 2018, 07:02:34 PM »
Great save on the undercarriage alignment and for someone who struggles with Aviattic Lozenge you struggle well!
Keep up the great work.

vB  :)



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Offline Trackpad

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #260 on: August 10, 2018, 10:09:28 PM »
Great save on the undercarriage alignment and for someone who struggles with Aviattic Lozenge you struggle well!
Keep up the great work.

vB  :)

Bob, thanks for visiting and for your kind comments: very much appreciated! Well, I do struggle fairly well but I'm really pretty good at camouflaging the odd small glitch!  ;D
Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #261 on: August 13, 2018, 06:25:28 AM »
As promised, here is an update on the upper wing roundels: so far, so good.

The first step was to airbrush an undercoat of white (only a bit larger than the roundel white area less the outline) to forestall any possible "bleed-through" of the lozenge decals through the white of the decal. My diameter was roughly 1/4" larger and, as you can see, was somewhat roughly cut:



With the gloss white centre dry, it was time to fit the main roundel. An easy way to locate the roundel is to have the 1/32" white outline to touch the trailing edge of the aileron and to run through the inside inner corner of each aileron (see below). The build image shows the roundel just after  positioning, and you can see that there is a relatively large part of the roundel that has yet to settle around the left aileron and main wing. I tell you true, I sweated that potential problem for hours:





Next morning (Sunday) I was immensely relieved to find that the main roundel had settled much better than I had thought, and I was able to cut between the aileron and wing successfully. There were a few small areas where I used a bit of Micro-Sol to "settle in" a few discrepancies:



And finally, the red centre was placed and then surveyed in using a set of dividers to equalize "left-right" and "up-down" distances from the inner edge of the blue circle:



Tomorrow I'll trim out the decal film that currently fills the bell-crank housing slots. Once their painting is finished, I'll fit them into place but I'll leave the ailerons off until the end of the build to ensure against any damage or displacement.

Thanks for visiting!  8)

 
Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."

Offline pepperman42

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #262 on: August 13, 2018, 08:22:37 AM »
Nice process. The roundels really brighten things up!!

Steve

Offline Manni

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #263 on: August 13, 2018, 07:22:44 PM »
Great work, the roundels and the lozenge look outstanding together.
The complete project is really, really good.
Bye,
Manni
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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #264 on: August 15, 2018, 02:05:42 AM »
Here's a look at the Albi upper wing with the housings fitted, filled and painted and the ailerons dry-fitted. I'm now headed into some tedious work: prepping the turnbuckles for the underside of the wing, getting the cabane and interplane struts cleaned up and the radiator cleaned out, all working toward fitting the upper wing in place. Back in a while. Best to all!  8)

Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."

Offline mgunns

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #265 on: August 15, 2018, 10:05:08 AM »
The upper wing looks great Gary.  Looking forward to seeing the radiator in place and how it compares to the kit radiator.  I know what you mean about sweating out those roundels.  I can never seem to get at least one right.  Yours look right and your patience paid off with a nice set of roundels.

Mark

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Offline Trackpad

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #266 on: August 15, 2018, 12:21:52 PM »
The upper wing looks great Gary.  Looking forward to seeing the radiator in place and how it compares to the kit radiator.  I know what you mean about sweating out those roundels.  I can never seem to get at least one right.  Yours look right and your patience paid off with a nice set of roundels.

Thanks, Mark. Much appreciated, and thanks for visiting!  8)
Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #267 on: August 15, 2018, 12:23:17 PM »
Manni and Steve, thanks to you both for visiting and for your kind comments!  8)
Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."

Offline Dave in Dubai

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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #268 on: August 15, 2018, 11:13:38 PM »
Very nice work Gary.

It will be great to see your captured Albatros complete and compared with the archive photographs.
You have recreated a little bit of WW1 aviation history in miniature and in colour.

Best wishes for the rest of the build.

Dave


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Re: "Captured!" WNW Albatros DV in RFC Livery
« Reply #269 on: August 15, 2018, 11:34:23 PM »
Very nice work Gary.

It will be great to see your captured Albatros complete and compared with the archive photographs.
You have recreated a little bit of WW1 aviation history in miniature and in colour.

Best wishes for the rest of the build.

Dave

Uh-oh: no pressure, right?  ;D

Yes, I'm using all of the 4545/17 photos on the WNW website. It's interesting to see just how different the a/c is from a "standard" Albatros: the markings are the obvious difference, but items like the fitted RFC pitot tube and the attendant piping to the cockpit along the right upper wing, and what appears to be a jury-rigged extension to the exhaust pipe (see both in the image below), are items that really set it apart. It's all part of the allure this build has for me, and it's the reason I scheduled so much time to "get it right," or as right as I can. As I mention here and there over the years, "Ya just gotta luv dis hobby!"




Thanks for your visit, Dave, and special thanks for your very kind comments. Trust me: no pressure. I'm enjoying the build and the challenges, warts and all!  8)
Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."