Albatros L.72a (newspaper delivery plane) 1926, 1/72nd scratchbuilt

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

From 3 years ago, another scratch:

 

The unforgettable image of John Cleese in the movie theater howling: "-Albatross!!!!   Albatross!".

And this model belongs to the same species!

I think that one of the modelers' Grails is a plane that he/she likes, that has pleasant lines, attractive colors, and can be built without having to enter a religious order or a mental institution.

Such plane is for me this month the Albatros L.72. Used as a newspaper delivery plane (dropped the stack of newspapers in flight on the possibly unsuspected occasional pedestrians) in three different versions (predictably "a", "b" and "c") of which this is just the first built ("a").

Its angular, polygonal but graceful lines add to the cleanness of the design creating a remarkable shape of classy demeanor. The design featured advanced aerodynamic devices, like slats and flaps (and this is 1926) and although not completely innovative, put to good use technical tricks incorporating them in a very sharp and streamlined treatment of the airframe, exemplified in the careful shrouding of the BMW IV engine.

Just compare this design (tongue-in-cheek here) to those not so rare examples of ungainly, homely, and sometimes frankly awful French and British contemporary products that seem to chose to ignore that air is a fluid that produces drag, as if ignoring it -in true British fashion and French flippant attitude- will make that quality (and the laws of physics) feel ashamed and disappear. And I won't have it any other way, since I have built a large number of them, and I truly love those ugly ducklings -Farman Jabiru in mind- as anyone who knows me and my models will testify.

In researching this plane I became aware of this strange trend of "newspaper planes". Several aircraft firms sold to newspapers machines that were adapted to this specific function. As famous as the Albatros L.72 are the Heinkels HD39 and 40, and a very little known Junkers F.13, in the list of my candidates for the future projects.

This model is mostly based on the excellent article posted by Günter Frost und Günther Ott at the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutsche Luftfahrthistorik site:
http://adl-luftfahrthistorik.de/deutsch/adl_start.htm
To them my gratitude for their great work on lesser-known types. My thanks also to Alain Bourret and Sönke Schulz, suffered co-researchers. Whatever mistakes are committed here, is of course their bloody fault 😉 (not)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Moa

[invidia]

Never heard of newspaper delivery planes, something I am going to have to 'google'

Lovely looking model.

[RidgeRunner]

Very different and very nicely done, Moa

[Courageous]

Magic. Where are you finding all those period vehicles and stuff?

 

Stuart

[JWM]

What an another small beauty!

I like your construction design.

Regards

J-W

 

[pheonix]

Another of your gems - you really have a stack of them. A very interesting history lesson too - and as you write, aesthetically pleasing lines and a colourful machine. Wonderful modelling. Thanks too for the construction photos - always helpful to others who want to scratch build something.

 

BTW the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, UK experimented with flaps and a braking chute for landing with an FE 2b as early as 1916, but gave up because landing speeds were already low and the additional weight of the devices did not justify the resulting reduced performance. This was only some of the experimental work done there at the time, later in 1919 they were experimenting with automatic landing devices, and there many other ideas and devices which were very advanced and pioneering for the time, but not taken up either because the weight of the equipment, or its unreliability, (probably both). The key problem with these ideas seems not to have been the idea, but making practical devices, always a problem in engineering.

 

P

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

2 minutes ago, pheonix said:

BTW the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, UK experimented with flaps and a braking chute for landing with an FE 2b as early as 1916, but gave up because landing speeds were already low and the additional weight of the devices did not justify the resulting reduced performance. This was only some of the experimental work done there at the time, later in 1919 they were experimenting with automatic landing devices, and there many other ideas and devices which were very advanced and pioneering for the time, but not taken up either because the weight of the equipment, or its unreliability, (probably both). The key problem with these ideas seems not to have been the idea, but making practical devices, always a problem in engineering.

 

P

I believe you are spot on, P.

Thanks for the added information.

Cheers

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

7 hours ago, Courageous said:

Magic. Where are you finding all those period vehicles and stuff?

 

Stuart

Hi Stuart

Spending a very long time researching, browsing the Net, looking on old publications' repositories (like Gallica).

Hours, upon hours, upon hours. Many times spending a long time just familiarizing myself with the quirks of a particular site, in order to find what may be useful.

In one sentence: being a truly committed researcher (which by the way, as we know, doesn't automatically produce infallible results).

I used to consider the time spending on research a bother and a waste of time. Now I love it as much as building.

Cheers

 

[glatisant]

Wow, a thousand times Wow!! A work of art. Love the colour scheme and the buses.Truly magnificent.

[Blue Monday]

Another flawless build.

 

BM.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

On 10/2/2018 at 4:34 AM, Courageous said:

Where are you finding all those period vehicles and stuff?

The buses are Roden 1/72 injected kits of turism vehicles. They correspond to a period slightly later than the plane.

 

[spruecutter]

Another gem. Also interesting to see the supporting photos of the scratch building in progress.