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LFG(Roland) W


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Still a bit of time left so here is my second build. A little known type that served on the Baltic shores from the summer of 1916. Known as the Beetle to the Russians it featured in several fights with enemy flying boats. It appears to have been a stop gap type. It is a floatplane conversion of the Albatros CI which Roland were building under license. Aircraft colours cannot be authenticated so will be a best guess based on other types flying at the time. The kit is a vac form of the Albatros CI from Joystick which sports white metal engine and armaments and plastic strut and rod material. The floats are scratched and are the only parts I have made pre-build as this has been near the top of the list for a while now.

 

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Regards, Steve

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Hi Steve,

 

Welcome to your second build! Interesting type for sure. Taking into account the excellent work you did on your first build, this one will certainly be very interesting to follow.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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Move over Ian - I WANT THAT SEAT!!!!

 

Looking forward to this Steve - you always choose interesting types of which I know little or nothing! Will be following with interest as usual. Please give some details on how you made the floats.

 

P

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Thanks for all the comments,

To date I’ve cut out the wings and fuselage and cleaned them up. WSDF 57 has a set of Albatros CI plans in 1/72 which I used to check the fuselage, particularly the width when removing the excess plastic. The wings are nigh enough, the lower spot on and the upper about a mille short. The cockpit is supplied with a floor, a seat, central bulkhead and a generic instrument panel. This is pretty standard for Joystick kits as it was for Formaplane. I’m adding three slices of cut off round sprue to act as magazine drums, another bit of shaped sprue to act as an equipment box, an observer’s seat using rod and card and another bulkhead to the rear of the cockpit. A couple of lengths of strip represent small bomb shoots which DF state were common to all CI’s. Crew from the spares and the engine has to be added before joining the halves. With the pilot in place the white metal engine would not sit straight because of his feet. I decided to keep it for another day as I had a plastic remnant from a Roden kit. The sump was completed with 80thou card which was shaped to match and the cylinders are short lengths of rod. A bit of filework reshaped the sump and the Mercedes was positioned with the aid of blue tak packing. It’s not easy to see on the photo but the wings have been painted HU 64 matt grey.

 

Sorry P but no shots of the float construction but the method is one I've been using for a while now. The link is to a build from the last floatplane GB and has some photos. HTH

 

Regards, Steve

  

 

Edited by stevehed
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Thanks All,

              Slow but steady progress. I've got the fuselage together with a bit of paint on the upper surfaces. From what I can gather some Albatros CI's had grey upper surfaces and some sort of sky blue under surfaces which included the fuselage sides. This isn't too far from naval practice and as I suspect this was a stop gap order I'm going to assume they were delivered in standard colours. The upper wings are two part so there is no centre section. The method I devised last time was to build the inverted V strut cabanes, add the inner interplane struts, let everything dry before dry fitting one of the wings. At this point everything will fall apart and it will prove necessary to add the outer struts as well unless some other means of support can be devised. The intention is to get the innermost parts of the wings to rest against the top of the cabanes leaving a gap of about a tenth of an inch, about 2 mm, into which short lengths of rod will be added to represent exposed framework when the edifice has set enough to be handled. Have to admit that when I've scratched wings of this nature I cut them one piece and cut short lengths into the front and rear in the centre to represent the gaps. Much easier on the nerves.

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Regards, Steve

Edited by stevehed
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Got the top wing on but bit of a carry on. Usual three hands required which was not helped by the fact that I’d drilled two of the strut locating holes off by about a mille or so. Finally sorted so I’ll rig the wings and add the tail unit next. The exhaust stack is a very tight fit against the wing so I might use the spare from the new KP LVG CVI kit. Probably me being out by another mille somewhere.

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Regards, Steve

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What's a mille between friends? I know that in this scale it can mean the difference between a fit and not fitting, but this looks very good so far. If the part does not look out of alignment I would not worry too much.

 

P

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Thanks for the comments. Bit more to report as part of the rigging has been tightened. I reckoned that the aircraft would need more surface area in the tail area due to the floats. I've scratched a larger fin and rudder from card and was going to make that do but there is a photo of an earlier B type on floats on the Aerodrome. The elevators aren't the more normal V shapes supplied in the kit. They appear to have more rounded shoulders. Luckily I had a spare from a HB W29 kit which saved making something from card. The floats are joined together with cross bars and I've started cutting strip for the float support struts. Just got to make a leading edge radiator which should complete the major parts. The end is in sight.

 

Regards, Steve 

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Shaping up very well, Steve! The rigging looks good and the replacement stabilisers should improve the accuracy of the build.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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Thanks Guys. Have a go John as a vac is just another short run kit once it's cut from the sheet. My bug bear is resin kits. Twice the price and just as much work as a vac but I've finally bought one as it's the only game in town. See how it goes but the price will always be a factor to me. But back to floatplanes. Tail unit added with a larger fin/rudder scratched from card. Happy with it and it makes the kit look different from a standard CI. Then it was on to the float struts. Evergreen 020 x 040 strip provided the material. I've used it before and it should be strong enough although I think Contrail strut material is stronger.

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Regards, Steve

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Steve,

 

20 x 40 strip should be more than enough for the struts. I frequently use 20 x 30 thou for struts on wings etc of the smaller biplanes (up to 2-seaters) and it is strong enough. Your model looks as though it will be making an appearance in the gallery soon too. Great.

 

P

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Just a quick update before Christmas. The strip has worked fine. I've taken my time making sure the measurements are right because when everything fits the undercarriage is surprisingly strong. There's one more strut per side to add to make the outer N shape and that will do. I thought I could get away without them as there are several variations of float support struts but i couldn't find anything to support my intended laziness. Tail struts are added and the leading edge radiator needs to be painted before installing. After that the paint is to complete and then the armament.

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Regards, Steve

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