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Another Antique Airfix Albatros 1/72


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Bear Paw has posted a lovely model of the Airfix Albatros so this is another antique, (well nearly), Airfix Albatros D Va. I built it as part of a WW1 GB on another site - the build log can be found at http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=508&t=42907. I know that this kit is terribly inaccurate - the nose is too short and shallow, the cockpit is bare, the engine is a joke (or in my case was missing from the kit altogether), … I could go on. HOWEVER, a reasonable model can be made from this with a little effort and even less cost if one wants to. For me this was also a trip down memory lane as I had originally built one of these over 50 years ago (giving my age away there), when I desperately wanted to make a model that was not just OOB but lacked the skills to do so. I had found an article in a comic which was about a zebra-striped Albatros D Va so I painted mine in these markings (minus the wing stars which were not mentioned), in gloss(!) colours. To this day I am not sure who the pilot in the article was but I wanted to repeat the exercise for purely nostalgic reasons. This model represents a machine as flown by Ltn. Rudolf Windisch of Jasta 32 in the summer of 1917. Windisch started flying bombers and reconnaissance sorties on the Eastern Front in 1916, but transferred to fighters in early 1917 and was posted to Jasta 32 where he adopted the scheme illustrated in the rise of flight. He was credited with 8 victories with Jasta 32 and transferred to become commander of Jasta 66 in February 1918, where he was credited with another 14 victories before he was forced down and disappeared on 27 May 1918. His fate is not known. According to the rise of flight website two versions of his personal scheme are recorded in photos, one with wider borders to the national crosses and wider lines for the stars. I know that there were at least four different pilots who flew Albatros aircraft with zebra stripes, this is just one of them.

  Apart from having to add an engine and exhaust which I built from scratch, I put some detail into the cockpit. thinned the trailing edges, replaced the elevator, guns from Aeroclub, new prop and spinner, and put in some other details such as engine covers from card. The markings were partly from the kit except for the upper wing crosses, one of which disintegrated because it was so old, (I bought the kit in the late 1970's): very fortunately Stevehed gave me some spares from his box. The stars on the top wing were made from Letraline dry transfers touched up with Humbrol enamel. The model was painted with Humbrol enamels and a hairy stick.

 

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/Airfix%20Albatros/DSCF1770_zps83f7d216.jpg][/MG]

 

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/Airfix%20Albatros/DSCF1778_zps6d2a2140.jpg

 

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/Airfix%20Albatros/DSCF1798_zpsb5389f53.jpg

 

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/Airfix%20Albatros/DSCF1788_zps2d74bdde.jpg

 

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p555/stevef100/Airfix%20Albatros/DSCF1806_zpsf6d23917.jpg

DSCF1772_zpsb030fd08.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by pheonix
had to add [IMG] tags on photos!
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