Roden 1/72 Albatros D.III Oeffag s.253

[Smudge]

Hello Chaps. I think I may have declared an interest in joining this GB. If not, may I now?

 

I'd like to jump in with this.

 

 

 

I quite fancy the camouflaged scheme, IV

 

 

 

I've left it a bit late to join in, but if I only have the one entry, I hope to be in with a chance of finishing.

 

Thanks, chaps.

[Smudge]

As I had the parts out on the bench for the photograph, I thought I'd sort out some of the parts, and clean up a few things.

 

 

 

I built up the engine, which I must say I am quite impressed with. A great improvement over some of the older WWI kits I've made in the past.

 

Thank's, chaps

[Smudge]

I must just give a big thank you to @John D.C. Masters  who very generously sent me several lovely WWI aircraft kits, which he was disposing of. A couple of lovely resin kits and a few Roden 'Albatri', of which this is one.

 

Hope I can do it justice.

[Learstang]

Good luck with this one! I have to say that the Albatros (Albatross! Get your Albatross! - sorry, I couldn't resist) is a Great War aeroplane I'd like to do, given the attractive and sometimes downright bizarre schemes I've seen for the D.III and D.V.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

Edited October 8, 2018 by Learstang

[John Masters]

I have always fun that the Oeffag Albatri were the best of the bunch.  Just my HO.  This is a fun build.  There are some quirks to the kit but I think it is one of Roden's better moulds.  Careful of the decals.  This will be fun!

[John Masters]

...and you are most welcome.  Enjoy!

[Brandy]

Nice! This could be interesting, I love that scheme!

 

Ian

[the South African]

Waaaaaaay back when I built one of these but cant remember what pitfalls might or might not have been present.

 

watching with interest.

 

Regards:

Shaun

[Smudge]

Thanks for the warm welcome, chaps.

 

I've been tinkering away at this one. Cleaned up a few more bits. I was disappointed to realise that despite providing a nice seat and control column, there was no instrument panel. I made one up, but must confess that it isn't actually much like the real one, in fact I couldn't really find a good picture of the original. Obviously there should be the rear end of a couple of machine guns too, but in the interests of cracking on I went with just making it look a little less bare.

 

 

Now, I have seen some nice Albatros builds where the natural wood fuselage was represented by using oil paints. A base coat of enamel or acrylic light tan colour, then covered with a suitable brown oil, which when dryish is wiped down to produce a wood grain effect. Quite effective. I have never used oils before, but thought this would be a good subject for a trial. Unfortunately, 24 hours after achieving a fairly convincing effect, the oils were still wet to touch and showed no sign of drying. Not sure what I might have done wrong, maybe just rubbish paints (they were only a cheap set from a high street shop). So I had to clean it all off, and have a go with some enamels. Good enough for the inside I guess.

 

 

I made up some bulkheads for the cockpit. Without these I think there would be a bit of a 'see through' from the engine into the cockpit. 

 

Although this one will be camouflaged, I think a fair bit of the wood should be visible through the mottling? To be honest I'm not too familiar with these 'summer camouflage' schemes, so any advice regarding colours and application would be welcome. 

 

I separated the rudder and put a bit of an angle on the elevators, and joined the upper wing parts together.

 

 

Next job looming up will be to drill some holes for the rigging 

 

On 09/10/2018 at 05:50, John D.C. Masters said:

.............. Careful of the decals.  This will be fun!

Forewarned. Thanks, John.

 

On 09/10/2018 at 15:40, limeypilot said:

.........This could be interesting

In a good way I hope, Ian 

 

Thanks for looking.

[John Masters]

55 minutes ago, Smudge said:

some holes for the rigging

Thankfully there are not many!

 

[the South African]

oils have a way of taking very long to dry sometime up to a month.A handy tip is to squeeze a small amount of the desired color onto a kitchen towel and leave it overnight for the linseed oil to seep out.After leaving it on the towel scoop it off and place on a palette and apply as needed the above speeds up drying time significantly to say the least.

 

HTH.

 

Regards:

Shaun

[Learstang]

Nice work so far on this one, Ian! I've thought about buying an Albatros and using some wood decals (Freightdog and Uschi von der Rosten make some). I don't think I'd do very well with the wood painting, and I'm not up to using oils.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[John Masters]

2 hours ago, Learstang said:

I don't think I'd do very well with the wood painting, and I'm not up to using oils.

'Wood' painting is very easy without oils, especially at 1/72nd scale.  Something that small is best thought of as tonal shifts instead of wood grain.  

I use acrylics.

 

1. Paint the 'wooden' piece a night tan colour.  Let dry thoroughly.

2. use a cotton bud to smear/wipe/rub a darker brown (this can be subjective, i.e. walnut, spruce, etc) evenly not he surface and let dry completely.

3. Then 'varnish' using either Tamiya Clear Yellow or Clear Orange, or a mix.  It may seem to bright at first but the next day the colour has mellowed a bit and you have some nice wooden tones.  The Oeffag Alb D.II below is a good example.  Looking very spruce-like.  That was a tan, then a very light brown followed by the clear yellow.

 

[Learstang]

Thank you very much for the tip, John! Very nice D.II also!

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

As I have a Roden Albatross D.I in the next up pile that wood tip is golden. Thanks for that as i was trying to figure out how to do this. 

 

Dennis

[John Masters]

Most welcome Dennis.  Just be cautious with the second coating of brown.  Keep it very light.

[Brandy]

I use a very similar method, but start with a light tan base. Then with a wide flat tipped brush I brush on thinned "leather", one coat at a time until I get the depth of colour I want, then finish it with Tamiya clear orange. All acrylics and I can do it all in a day or two.

 

 

Ian

[Smudge]

Thanks for all the tips and advice about the wood effects and oils paints etc. 

 

Some really nice models there. 

[stevehed]

There is a simpler way of getting a wood effect although the finish is a bit cruder. I apply Revell SM382 matt wood with a brush. You just need a slight amount on the end of the bristles and with a light touch work your way along the fuselage. The paint can be applied as if to the individual panels if you want but this will give an idea as to how a standard application looks. With a touch of thinner it dries quick.

Regards, Steve

[VMA131Marine]

On 10/19/2018 at 9:17 AM, the South African said:

oils have a way of taking very long to dry sometime up to a month.

You can also add a (very) small amount of Japan Drier to the paint. This shortens the cure time of oil based paints tremendously. 

 

Oil paints don't really dry in the sense of the carrier fluid or solvent evaporating. They require an oxidation reaction between the air and the carrier to occur and the Japan Drier dramatically speeds this up.

[Smudge]

Ok guy's, some more things to think about. I'm not too sure what Japan Drier is, but I think I am going to be on the lookout for some 

 

I have been doing a bit to the Albatros, but the last few modelling evenings have been taken up constructing this rather 'Heath Robinson' looking contraption.

 

A biplane upper wing jig.

 

 

 

I picked it up at a show a few years ago, and although it might be a bit over the top for this little Albatros, I thought it would be a good excuse to get it set up. Who knows, it might be the start of something.

 

So here is the nice little engine. If I may draw your attention to the top part, which extends just a little too far to the rear. This makes fitting it in the cowling a little tricky as it tends to push the engine too far forward, because it contacts the edge of the upper rear cowling.

 

 

Note here the gap at the rear of the engine, and the problem fitting the nose of the cowl.

 

 

Easiest solution was to trim a little off the engine part, and file a little of the upper cowling back to achieve a snug fit.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

[Andwil]

Ah the joys of Roden kits.  Beautifully detailed but I swear they never test built the kits themselves before releasing them!  Keep at it the results will be worth the effort.

 

AW

[John Masters]

5 hours ago, Andwil said:

they never test built the kits themselves

Each part is built by a separate person.  That's my theory.  I never had an issue with the engine on the Albatros.  Or maybe I don't remember...

 

Watch out for trying to get the cabane strut to fit through the exhaust pipes.  

 

 

[Smudge]

Thank you, John. By luck I think I will be ok with the cabane's, at least a bit of a dry fit seemed to go ok.

 

I have been cleaning up a few seam lines and joints, and done some drilling in anticipation of some rigging. The last time I did a biplane I used heat stretched sprue, glued into place. This will be my first crack at the 'threading through various holes' technique. Always been a bit sceptical about making good the damage through the wings, but it does seem like a good way to get nice tight wires.

 

 

 

 

Not too far off doing some painting on the wings and fuselage, which I think is probably best done before the top wing goes on. 

 

Cheers.

[Andwil]

You shouldn’t have too much trouble with the wing attachment, I built one of these a while back and if memory serves me correct it is one Roden kit where the struts are the correct lengths.

 

Good luck for the rigging, I am currently rigging a Camel by that method and share your doubts over making good the wings, but so far it has proved easier than I first feared.

 

AW