Brad Cancian Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Hello everyone, This is my latest build – the Encore Albatros D.III (Oeffag Series 153) in 1/72 scale. The Encore kit uses the Roden plastic with some resin and etched extras thrown in. The kit is designed by Roden for maximum sales flexibility in that the upper forward decking and cowls are all separate, as well as the upper wing being split into three sections, all to facilitate the different German and Austrian models of the Albatros. Whilst great, this makes construction a little trickier. The plastic is soft and has a rough texture to it, as well as a bit of flash, so some care is needed in the clean up. I found ut the hard way that the kit interplane struts were too long, and when the wing was mounted to the cabane struts, the interplane struts ended up bowing and pushing the bottom wings downwards…. so I ended up having to trim the struts and re-mount the wing. Sigh. The lower wings still don’t have quite enough dihedral even now, but I’m not mounting that wing for a third time…. Otherwise, this build was straight out of the box, painted in the marking of a Polish D.III of the 7 Eskadra "Kosciuszko" flown by American volunteers during the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1919-1920. The decals were a mixture of Techmod (for the Austrian ‘sworl’ printed fabric), the kit decals and some from the spares box. I found out the hard way that the Techmod decals don't stick too well and are brittle when dry - I found it very difficult to remove the rib tape masking without pulling up the decal, and the top wing needed to have sections re-decalled and re-weathered. Very frustrating. Build log can be found here: http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3936.0 The kit is not for beginners, but still builds up nicely in the end. Feedback, comments and criticisms always welcome! Cheers, BC 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDumbrell Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Wow. What a beautiful little model. Captures the fragility of these early air raft very well. Nice to see a polish example rather than the standard german too. Very well done indeed. Love the rigging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VG 33 Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Very nice and so small. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 That is a thing of great beauty and elegance! The Oeffag Albatri are amongst my favourites. It's always interested me how they took the design and made it into an even better aeroplane. And apparently they were beautifully built too, proper highly skilled woodworking craftsmen on the job! I take my hat off to you, that is a difficult kit with difficult decals, yet you have obtained a flawless result. Cheers John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadzi Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Beautiful Polish Oeffag!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ c Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Fantastic little Albatross, great job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave N Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Masterful! - this could be the "Perfect Build"...(and what's the story with those unbelievably delicate wheels? ) Cheers, Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackG Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Great job on this little guy! I think this is the first time I've seen the art nouveau sworl pattern being an effective camou when compared to the grass lying underneath the aircraft - interesting! regards, Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 A miniature work of art, plain and simple. I doff my hat! Kind regards, Joachim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatbox8 Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Wow. Stunning. I would have thought it was 1/48th! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 fantastic work, looks great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratch Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Very delicate spoked wheels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilan Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Fantastic work! Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangor Lad Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 What a little beauty! Stunning build. Cheers Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 That is truely exquisite! Can I ask what you rigged her with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Hi Brad When I started looking at the pictures I thought, that's really good. Then you get to the last photo with the tin of paint and you think, blooming Nora it's only tiny ! Simply stunning, amazing details, I mean the wheels alone with the spokes....... I'm going to have to have a lie down just thinking about it ! Cheers Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marags Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Stunning!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrianm2 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Absolutely amazing! What a great job you have done. The wheels... look real! Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Cancian Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 Thanks folks, you are all too kind! To answer the questions - the wheels actually come with the kit - they are etched spokes with resin tires, so I can't take credit for them. The rigging was done with fine elastic (the elastic core of a product called 'knitting in elastic'), painted black with a felt tip pen. Cheers again! BC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 That's a stunning model! Top work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tango Fox Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Top drawer build, belies its actual scale. Really really superb, well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Wonderful model, and a great scheme as well, nice to see an early Polish plane, Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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