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Albatros B II, Formaplane 1/72 vacuform


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Hmm, this may be a tad ambitious ...

 

2018-11H-002.jpg

 

The kit ...

2018-11H-003.jpg

 

Not shown are two round contrail rods, and a small, really small, sheet of clear plastic.

No decals, and no guns or bombs - none of these were in the kit.

 

And the instructions ...

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Looking at the photo of the instructions, I've just realised that something I thought was an alternative tail skid is really the break.

 

Planned changes:

  • I'll see about replacing the engine, either scavaging from another kit, or scratch-building the thing.
  • The fin/rudder and tailplane/elevators will probably be replaced with plasticard, which is easier to work than smoothing a flat-plate vacform cut out

 

p.s. I'll have to work out a solution for the wing root spars - plastic studs just will not be strong enough.

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5 hours ago, limeypilot said:

Nice! I have a couple of these in the stash so I'll follow along to see how it goes. Brass rod for the spars!

 

Ian

Thanks Ian, that's a better solution than the one I was thinking of ... piano wire (I hate cutting piano wire)

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Better get on with it then

 

 

Marking out - I outlined the parts I want to concentrate on first.

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Then roughly cut them out.  By separating them, there's less risk of a slip of the knife ruining another part.

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Then closer cut, to reduce the amount of sanding I'll have to do later.

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The pliers help break the plastic away from detailed parts, like the scolloping on the trailing edge here.  They also aid with breaking very narrow sheets of plastic.

 

The kit of separated parts:

2018-11H-009.jpg

 

Some parts will be easier to work with on the 'sprue' - the wheels and fuel tanks will benifit from filling before cutting them away.

 

That was the easy bit - there is a lot of sanding to do ...

2018-11H-010.jpg

 

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On 28/07/2018 at 20:51, bristol boy said:

Working on a Libra Scout, soon to appear here!

That looks like a nice kit @bristol boy, I have one with just four pieces cut from the plastic - stalled because I wanted to build a 'C' (yes, the obvious one), and my kit is a 'D'.

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I've had the day to do some sanding (actully grinding out on wet-n-dry paper, used wet) ...

 

2018-11H-011.jpg

 

Looking at that photo, there's a little more to do on the port wing trailing edges.  The right aileron wants some TLC too.

 

Change of plan, the sanding went so well, I decided to use the kit fin and tailplane after all.

 

 

Browsing around big H's website, as one does, I came across Orion Figures WWI pilots (formerly by Dark Dream Studio), who are, I believe, winging their way to me ...

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My pilots have arrived, not too bad

 

2018-11H-012.jpg

 

This photo does them no justice with too much camera shake on my part.  There are better images on the plastic soldier review pages : http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=539

 

Mine are red-brown (or were before I gave them a dusting of white primer).

 

I've also given the inside of the 'pit a squirt of white primer - not that anybody can see any difference with the plastic.  (The engine area is painted black under that masking tape.)

 

I've finally thrown some glue at this thing ...

2018-11H-013.jpg

The 'pit - observer in front (left) pilot at the back (right)

 

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Thanks @Ozzy, though I'd find Cpl Butcher challenging myself.

 

17 hours ago, Ted said:

That's a great figure set. I love Plastic Soldier Review.

It looks like a cracker, especially in this scale (and you did set me a task ;)) - and yes,  find that site useful, especially for the near 1/72 scales.

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On 8/3/2018 at 4:50 AM, Robert Stuart said:

My pilots have arrived, not too bad

Looks like a whole squadron will share your plane :winkgrin: Nice progress with your build.

 

Using black paint along the edges would give you more contrast and make sanding down easier. But it looks you mastered the process well with your method. :thumbsup:

 

Cheers, Peter

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Thanks Peter

3 minutes ago, Basilisk said:

Looks like a whole squadron will share your plane

Well, they are a mix of pilots and ground crew from four different nations - plus one visitor

 

I used grey marker since it is (should be) easier to hide later than black.  But you are right, black would have shown up better,

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Excellent progress Robert. I have never been tempted by a vacform kit so I will be interested to follow your progress. Good luck!

Kind regards,

Stix

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Work on the 'pit progresses

 

2018-11H-014.jpg

 

The inside of the cowl will be black, to hide the lack of detail there.  The yellow paint is Williamsburg oil (Yellow Ochre domestic {i.e. from the US})- a brand I've been aware of for some time, though this tube was a freebie from Jacksons.  Being high quality oil paint, it is, of course, taking its time drying.

 

The tags you see in the fuselage will help with joining the halves.  By interlocking them I hope they'll help the fuselage line up properly - not an issue with this kit, but some vac-forms have fuselage alignment problems.  No tags in the cockpit area nor at the top of the cowl there are things happening in these spaces.

 

 

The engine I've pinched from an Eduard DV that has resolutely resisted building.

 

2018-11H-015.jpg

 

Hmm - I need to take another look at those pipes

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Looking good Robert.  Good idea with the plasticard tabs to aid fuselage alignment, I had to do the same with my Roden injected Fokker DVII!

 

AW

 

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