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Hi all, After the lessons learned posts on the Albatros DV and the Siemens-Schuckert DIII, it’s now time for the third and final one of my past builds: The Albatros DI of Otto Höhne by Roden, in 1/72 scale. The Albatros DI was the first of the famous line of Albatros Scouts, designed by Robert Thelen in 1916. Thelen was the chief designer at Albatros, and responsible for many Albatros designs. I chose to build the machine of Otto Höhne of Jasta 2, 1916. Whilst Höhne did not accumulate the impressive number of victories as some of the famous aces of WWI (he had 6 victories credited to him by the end of the war), he was the first fighter pilot to score a victory with an Albatros scout. Here’s an excerpt mentioning Höhne from the Osprey Duel 55 Fe 2b-d vs Albatros Scouts “The many duels between FE 2s and Albatros scouts began upon the frontline arrival of the new Albatros D I scout in 1916, which coincided with Germany’s premier ace Oswald Boelcke forming Jagdstaffel 2. A new and permanent unit type, Jagdstaffeln were born from the reformation of temporary Kampfeinsitzer-Kommandos (KeK, or fighting single-seater commands) that were dedicated to aerial interdiction following their equipment with single-seater scouts. Yet for weeks Jasta 2 was burdened with just a smattering of Fokker and Halberstadt D machines, rather than a full complement of Albatros’s new twin-gunned fighter, although Offz Stv Leopold Reimann arrived from Jasta 1 in late August and brought one of the new pre-production Albatros D Is with him. Boelcke used this meagre ‘fleet’ for training during the first half of September, but on the 16th – the day Jasta 2 finally received its first allotment of Albatros D Is, as well as its D II prototype for Boelcke – he led some of his pilots aloft. At 1800 hrs Ltn Otto Höhne shot down his and Jasta 2’s first FE 2b (6999 of No. 11 Sqn).” And here is a beautiful picture of Otto Höhnes Albatros DI D 390/16 in flight: The Roden Kit is of good quality and detail, and part of a big series of Albatros kits, therefore offering many options for different types and sub-types. This versatility does not come without disadvantages though. The top wing is split in three sections, and assembling a perfectly straight wing profile is not straightforward. In addition, the forward fuselage needs quite a bit of work to, but the end result can look accurate. Things I wanted to try with this kit Despite the good finish achieved with the airbrush in my previous kit, my lazy nature made me try once again if I can create a good finish just with brushes, avoiding the dreaded airbrush 🤔 The completed model The lessons learned whilst building this particular kit I can’t create a good finish without an airbrush. Shouldn’t try again! I built this kit without having access to the original pictures. Knowing them now, I believe the wood varnish on the fuselage is probably a bit too bright, and could maybe be a bit darker I should not apply rigging by making a knot around the struts with the thread, but only use through-holes instead The colours of the wings may be inaccurate, as some early Albatros had a three-color scheme for the wings Super-glue creates a grey dusty coat around the areas it is applied to. Maybe avoid using super glue when possible The top wing is not perfectly straight. Should have used a rig when assembling it from the three pieces The finish I chose seems a bit too matte, and should be silkier Building a kit with photographic documentation from the start is more satisfying than building one where the paint scheme is largely based on assumptions or box instructions only This was the last of my youth-builds, and hopefully, I can share my first adult builds this year. Whether they will be any better than my past builds, or much worse, remains to be seen 😎 Best regards, Rob
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