VincentM

Thanks a lot. I have more in store, I just need the time to make shots...

Capisco l'Italiano Vincenzo. Eric, that's right, tools carried by Airfix figures are usually out of scale. The mechanic is a newby, he just wonders where the hell is that damn part he was asked to tune up... I also noticed the spinner is a little too 'blunt' on the Italeri kit, but after the model was completed...While I was at it, I should have used a Hasegawa spinner too.

This model was built some 15 years ago starting from an Italeri kit, which is rather good regarding shapes but includes some mistakes. The fuselage has been rescribed and the whole engine area was rebuilt from copies of Hasegawa parts (taken on a Bf109G). Falcon vacuformed canopy, Verlinden engine with scratch built details. Airfix and Hasegawa figures. It is Günther Lützow's mount at JG51 in late 1941. Strangely this F2 features a later-type propeller, as well as a retrofitted armored windscreen.

I just discovered this gorgeous bird. Superb painting and detailing. By the way...would you have any time pictures of that very aircraft, or of Jasta 18's red and white Albatroses? (or would you know where I can find some) Edit: I have just found a pic showing this aircraft along with other Jasta 18 machines, including a Fokker D-VII in the foreground. Do you have information about this plane being one of Hans Müller's mounts?

Beautifully detailed and painted model! And the explanations on the 'surgical operations' is quite interesting.

Thanks. For the time being, the poor little Albatros feels a little bit lonely in my showcase. It sits next to a Me262 and is waiting for friends of the same generation. They'll be joining soon.

A very nice build of a rather unusual subject. In a beautiful blue dressing.

Thanks. I don't deserve much, the guys at Albatros made a beautiful bird (Robert Thelen to name him). One Forty-what?? don't know what the Hell this is...

Thanks for the information, Jean.

Great! I think I already saw it on another forum but I didn't notice the B&W pics. I first thought it was time pics of the real a/c. Really beautiful photos.

Beautiful Würger! Great painting and weathering. Would you have time pics of that very bird? I'm looking for information about Nowotny's mounts.

Thanks to you for your comments. The size of your fingers doesn't matter if you can get a hand on small enough tweezers and a good pair of magnifying glasses.

Thank you. The D-V is one of my favorites of the era, this is why I started with this one.

Thanks for your comments. A few months ago I only knew B&W pics of these machines, and now I realize how colorful they were. They're really worth the time you have to spend on building them.

Thank you all! I'm used to working at 1/72 but I realized you need a good magnifier and a fine pair of tweezers to work on WWI kits at this scale! Actually I already have some practice since I had to start the rigging over three times before I could get something I was reasonably happy with, LOL. The method I was taught with end buckles allows you to re-do the wiring as many times as necessary.

This was my first attempt at building a WWI aricraft model. It is the mount of Oblt Bruno Lörzer, who later became Generaloberst and CO of the I. Fliegerkorps in the Luftwaffe. With over 40 kills, Lörzer became one of the main german aces of WWI. The Roden kit is finely detailed but I thought it would be better with a few additions like copper wire valve springs, scratch-built cockpit details, control horns, engine piping, rigging, a wooden engine stand. I also replaced the weapons with Miniworld metal Spandaus, and used lower lozenges from W&W, FCM cockpit instrument decals, LF Models prop blade logos, Pegasus rib tapes, and home printed upper lozenges, personal insignias and serial number. The mechanic comes from an Orion fig set. Weathering and shading with oils.

Model completed. You can see the photos in the 'ready for inspection' area. Thanks for having followed my build.

Thanks. After several trials with too thick wires or too big turnbuckles, I finally managed to have something done on the left side. I still have a few wires to add or replace on the right side

Thanks. After making a few wires, it seems that the turnbuckles are too big. I'll be trying with smaller tubes. But the threads being 0.1mm in diameter, tubes cannot have a diameter below 0.4mm.

A part of the wires is attached to the upper wing prior to its installation. In the center, the aileron cables that will come into the fuselage (typical to D-V version only): Lower wings glued in place with the wires that go to the engine and already help give rigidity to the lower wings. Fitting the upperwing: First, the jigs, which have been drawn on the scale plan, are attached to the lower wings with rubber-band: After small adjustments, the upper wing goes in place. An important step: the cabanes are glued, everything is aligned: Then I removed the left jig to fix the V-mast. As I suspected, those tiny masts may not be strong enough to keep the upper wing in place while making the "knitting" on the wires. So I started the rigging right after, so the wires help maintain both wings together. More pics when the rigging is done.

Thanks. I've glued the lower wings and attached the rigs at only one end under the upper one. Now I have to adjust the jigs I made out of plasticard to have the upper wing stand at the right place in order to glue the masts, but I guess there's going to be some work here...Well, when this is done, I'll be definitely closer to the end at last...

I have glued all the semi-buried U-shaped rings on which the wires will be attached. I also added the small lever and bar that control the opening of the radiator grid. At the center, the MiniWorld Spandau barrels have been implanted into the Roden plastic breeches which fit the fuselage openings better. The weathered fuselage, with its small rhodoid windscreen, the machine-guns and the exhaust stack: The dirtiest areas of the upper wing (ie around the radiator and aileron horns) have been treated with oils, as well as the wheels and wheel axle fairing: Besides this, I've added a paved area on the stand. The pavement has been painted in various shades at random, then it has received an oil wash and pigments. The remaining area will be filled up with plaster to simulate the soil:

Beautiful flying boat. Moreover, A-Model kits are usually nicely moulded but not easy to build.

Thanks for your comments. From what I've learned, the only consistent difference between a D-V and a D-Va is the routing of aileron cables. The others (additionnal struts on the V-masts, and rigging) may appear (or not) on either D-V's or D-Va's, as some of them were retro-fitted to existing machines.

I've scratchbuilt a new wheel axle fairing. 2 hinges were still missing when I took the pics. Then I put back in place the tailskid I had cut away: At this scale, the lower wings are so thin that you can see the light go through, making them look like stained glass. I made a trial at making the wires with buckles at their end and micro-tubes to represent the wire-stretchers. This method also prevents from making holes through the wings to set the wires: the nylon thread is stretched through both micro-tubes.