Making a plywood fuselage on plastic! Finished 30/05/2015

[Viking]

Making a plywood fuselage on plastic!

Albatros D.Va (OAW)
1:32 Wingnut Wings

Wingnut Wings released this kit last summer, as the third in their line of Albatros kits. A review can be found Here

Having built the WNW Albatros D.V before, I want to try to improve my build technique on this one.
The main thing I noticed on my first build was that all the interior components were a tight fit, and closing the fuselage around it was a bit of a struggle. The tolerances are so tight on these kits that any paint on mating surfaces will reduce the accuracy of the fit.

With that in mind I took the simple step of lining all the bulkhead locations inside the fuselage halves with thin strips of Tamiya tape, before spraying with Halfords primer. The woodwork was done with a sprayed coat of Tamiya 'Deck tan', followed by a coat of Johnsons Kleer.

The wood grain was done with Griffin Alkyd tube oils paints. Blends of mostly Raw Sienna with a dash or 2 of Burnt Umber and/or Light Red. I mix them 'on the fly' in an old Pringles lid.I shade at a time is done, they only take a bout 4 hours to dry so there is none of this 'waiting 1 week' for the tube oils to dry. I then redid the stringers in Deck tan, and went over them with near Raw Sienna. The idea was to create a series of different looking wood effects. One done, the tapes were pulled out of the bulkhead locations.
All the bulkheads were scraped on their mating surfaces, and they all fitted like a dream. The fuselage closes up nicely around them with no pressure needed.

Main components ready for assembly;

Other interior fittings;

The fuselage just pressed together in a 'dry' fit. The seam is virtually non existent, and the best I have yet achieved. I'll be masking off the bulkhead loactaions on all future builds, it has made a big difference!

I'm going to include a couple of MDC's 'Wings Cockpit' resin figures, the 'Groundcrew man assisting Pilot'
These are beautifully cast, but need priming and painting.

Test filling the pilot revealed that he will have to go in before the fuselage halves are glued.
And he will hide most of my interior painting and detailing. Oh well!

The ground crew man sits astride the fuselage, helping the pilot secure his straps and flying helmet' Test fit;

Finally, I am going to try Uschi van Der Rosten's Woodgrain decals on the fuselage.

Thanks for looking

John

[Bordfunker]

That looks excellent especially the wood effect.

I shall be watching closely as I got the WNW Roland for my birthday.

Karl

[infofrog]

Nice job

Rick

[andy wood]

Nice start. Can I give you a couple of pointers about the figures? German groundcrew garb tended to be black and they usually wore just the pork pie hats (ie without the peak). If they wanted a peak they had to pay for one out of their own money. It was usually made of cardboard, and even then only worn by senior NCOs. Instead of using white for the eyes, have you ever considered using a lightened base flesh colour. Even in real life the whites of the eyes are not that noticeable unless close up or the eyes are wide open

[Viking]

Andy, yes I noticed the googly eyed effect once I had taken the pictures (it's amazing what you spot on photos that you don't see on the real thing), and will reduce the size of them by altering the eyelids. The ground crew man only comes with one head that has a peaked cap, so I guess I am stuck with it!
I've been wondering about having done him in a grey uniform, he looks more like a pilot than a mechanic, with his peaked cap, tunic and puttees. I may recolour his uniform in black, as neither figure is complete yet. It's one gap in the 'Wings Cockpit' series that they don't supply any painting information.

Anyway, I've been concentrating on the build, preparing the fuselage for the Uschi van der Rosten woodgrain decal.
I got the fuselage glued together, it was nice fit and I was able to get a sqeezed 'ooze' of plastic along the seam. It looks ugly but actually helps a lot when cleaning up, as it acts like a filler and only needs sanding and polishing to get a near, if not completely, invisible seam

Then it was mask everything up, and shoot on a coat of Halfords white primer

Followed by pre shading with Tamiya 'dark earth'

Then filled in with Tamiya wood deack tan

and then several light coats of more wood deck tan to blend it all in, leaving a fairly subtle trace of the pre-shading. I have left the tail areas alone as they will be done in white later.

followed by several brushed coats of Johnsons kleer, the white was then done. I used Tamiya white with a dash of light grey in to knock the harshness of it back, and impart more of a used & dirty look.

I'm quite pleased with the effect on the tail.

Now it was time to start cutting out the wood grain decal.
I took advice from Jim 'Uziyerdaddy' who has posted some beautiful work on here using these decals. Jim's advice was to place tape on each panel of the model, and cut around it. Peel it off and stick it to cereal packet cardboard, and then cut around that to create a set of templates. I did all of this before priming the fuselage, and made a full set. I didn't need to do both sides as I can just flip the templates over for the other side.

I have started under the nose with the small strip panels.

And then the hardest bit, the big shape around the cockpit. I felt that I needed to get this right before moving on!

(Oops, forgot to blu-tac the pilots head on for the photos!)

I've now done the top and bottom, just the sides to do now.

I found it best to do no more than 4 panels in a session sun then take a break, working slowly.
I have trimmed a few edges once on the model with a brand new blade after the decal has had 10 minutes or so to grip, as my templates are generally very close in shape, but the odd edge might be slight over the border.

I'm very pleased with the result, this decal really does give a fantastic wood effect.

Thanks for looking,

John

[k5054nz]

Beautiful work John, and that "masking"/template idea for the woodgrain is genius. Beautiful work on the paint on the empennage, too - that looks great.

I'm edging ever closer to investing in a WNW kit and I've bookmarked your build as a reference, I'll definitely borrow your making-the-cemented-edges idea.

Bravo, and bring on the next update!!

[infofrog]

amazing work so far .

Rick

[Shar2]

Beautiful work as ever John.

[Viking]

Thank you chaps!

A bit more progress, I've finished the woodwork decals.
Taking it slowly and panel by panel they worked really well and I am very pleased with them. I used Microset and Microsol without any ill effects, and they helped snuggle everything down very nicely.
That stripy tailplane sets it off nicely! Next we have a black spiral to go around the fuselage.

I brush painted all the inspection panels and louvres after decalling. there was no way I was going to be able to make cutouts for them in the decal panels.

Thanks for looking,

John

[woody37]

That looks stunning John and it's no where near finished yet. The detail in the pilot is dan fine too, can't wait to see the wings on

Neil

[mikesmodels]

Amazing work.

[Viking]

That looks stunning John and it's no where near finished yet. The detail in the pilot is dan fine too, can't wait to see the wings on

Neil

Thanks Neil. I've done a bit more this afternoon, and just for you I've popped the wings & engine on for a couple of photos!

Still a long way to go!

Cheers

John

[Ace From Outer Space]

Thats ace John!

Cheers, gorgeous kit too!

Viv

[Mike W]

Stunning!

Mike

[geedubelyer]

The plywood looks very effective John. The multi-media of these old flying machines has to be one of the most appealing aspects to WWI aeroplane modelling. Wood, metal, canvas, they've got the lot. This scheme is visually striking and you're doing a terrific job of it.

Great tip about masking the bulkhead rebates too, thanks for that. If I ever get around to building a WNW that will come in very handy.

Cheers.

[andy wood]

Love that tail

[adrianm2]

That is simply brilliant work.

Adrian

[Planebuilder62]

Outstanding work, perfect.

Regards Toby

[HOUSTON]

John,

The ALBATROSS IS SUCH COOL looking aircraft ...

VERY effective work and EXQUISITE looking wood effects..

OUTSTANDING work...Just recently completed a course on WWI ,Aviation in age and these BEAUTIES are a work of art.

and your model is EXCEPTIONAL with its STUNNING scheme..BEAUTIFUL colors...

BRAVO...

[HOUSTON]

...ooh AND

KUDOS to WNW for turning out some really FANTASTIC kits... They ROCK ...

[Viking]

I Managed to get a bit more done with the long weekend, although the snooker World Championship on TV has been distracting me!

The engine was next to go in. I actually start my Wingnuts builds with the engine, they are such a pleasure to build, and you get a nice little model on its own. So, here is 'one I prepared earlier', the Daimler-Mercedes D.IIIa six cylinder in line;

Next phase was to prepare for the fitting of the wings, which is where a rare 'gotcha' emerges on a Wingnuts kit. Thanks to Jonners who pointed it out on time in my first Alabtros build, the lower wings can take on an an incorrect angle pointing down. I scored the inner locating tabs and bent them up a few degrees, test filling and correceting it by eye on both wings.

With the Jasta 73 fuselage spiral and other decals applied, the engine, Spandau machine guns, cabane struts and lower wings were all fitted. I will use my usual method of Maxima Chameleon 4lb fishing line to rig this one. All lower holes were reamed out with a .04mm drill, taking care not to go right through. All I want is a 'blind' hole to secure the lower end of the rigging in to. Using the kit rigging plan I went around where each end of a rigging line terminated. On the upper wing I drilled right through the plastic, as the line will be fed through and pulled taut. All this takes a bit of planning and preparation.
Each line was then dipped in cyano at one end and placed in its hole. This is all much easier to do before the top wing and struts are in place.

The upper wing was by this stage decalled on the underside and all rigging holes drilled right through. I reinforced the ailerons with a bit of fine wire (the red stuff in the picture. It's all to easy to knock them off, and a little bit of wire really helps.

I made some turnbuckles from cotton bud tubing. Remove the cotton from each end and cut the tube in half. Clamp a peg on one end and hold it over a candle flame until it swells. remove it from the flame and slowly and gently pull it apart. It will form a length of ver fine tubing, usually of varying thickness. For this reason I use 2 cotton buds, making 4 stretches so that I can select enough lengths of consistent thickness. Paint them in a dark metallic colour (I use Citadel 'Leadbelcher) and cut off as many turnbuckels as you need. They can then be threaded on to each line before you pull it through its hole in the upper wing.

Lines are pulled through and secured each side of the hole with a dab of cyano applied by a piece of fin wire. After an hour or so the excess line can trimmed off.

The turnbuckles can be seen on the rigging lines. At the moment they are free to slide along the line. I will push them to each end and secure with a dot of white glue.

All this drilling through the top wing and gluing lines creates blemishes, which is why I left the top surface undecaled.

Once everything is cleaned up, the green is resprayed and Johnsons Klear applied by brush to make a smooth surface for the lozenge decal.

(Forgot to blu-tac the pilots head on again!)

I have not yet fitted the undercarriage, as it is vulnerable to being knocked off while doing the rigging. Good job I hadn't, as this morning I noticed that the axle wing is meant to be in varnished plywood like the fuselage . I had painted it in the same green as the undercarriage legs , so a swift respray has already taken place!

Thanks for looking,

John

[infofrog]

That maybe the best work I seen . I wish I could see that in real ..

Rick

[stringbag]

Another stunning job John.

Chris.

[pacificmustang]

What great modelling, photography and clear precise explanations

I imagine though John, when you glue the rigging to the lower wing you would have to glue it at roughly the same angle it will assume when the the wing is glued, or is the fishing line flexible enough to tke sharp bends?

Cheers

Bruce

[Viking]

Thank you Bruce, I'm trying to do my bit to encourage others to have a go at a WNW kit!
I do try to drill the holes at an approximately correct angle as it helps to avoid the line having a 'kink' if you just drilled straight in.
There is a fair bit of 'give' in the line, so it all helps.

I have the Undercarriage on now, and have done the top wing lozenge & rib tapes (boring!). I still need to do the trailing & leading edge tapes. (The hanging free lines are the aileron lines, waiting the fitment of the ailerons).

Thanks for looking,

John