Airfix Albatros DVa, 1/72 scale

[thommo]

Lozenge decals applied.  I printed these using an image from the InterWeb 😉 on a laser printer.  The colours are a bit too dark, but that's life.  The mauve strips are  airbrushed

Tamiya Tape.

 

The engine is in and the machine guns added.  Making those tiny little round sights was fun 🤨.  Thin electrical wire wound around 0.5mm styrene rod.

Once I got that all in, I noticed the yawning hole between at the rear of the engine.  Further Googling shows a fuel tank in there, so I'll try and retrofit something that looks like the top of a fuel tank.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2022 by thommo

[thommo]

And next comes the scariest part of building biplanes.  Putting the top wing on 🥺. 

 

I'm not sure why I torture myself with such rubbish model kits 😛

 

In the past, I've just glued the struts to the bottom wing & fuselage, then moved them about and made the top wing fit....which is a pretty dodgy way to do it.

 

So I Googled for some ideas and on FineScale Modeler, found a (rather hard to interpret) description of fitting spacers between the wings (I think they used cardboard, I went for thin balsa) to get the distance between the top & bottom wing right, then securing all that with rubber bands & sliding the struts in and gluing them into place.  So I thought I'd try that....in a pretty half-bottomed way.  A balsa spacer toward the end of each wing, and one on the fuselage.  To do this, you have to work out the distance between the two wings and the upper fuselage & top wing.  This is the trickiest bit which required some rough measuring based of the interplane strut lengths and the fuselage height.  Then some fine adjustments of the height of the spacers.  And then very dodgily securing the balsa in place with Tamiya Tape.  Then putting the top wing on top & adding rubber bands (and finding rubber bands of the correct size is a considerable challenge).

 

I also added the rigging (invisible spread sprayed with Alclad dark alum.) to the blind holes on the top wing with CA.

 

 

 

 

[thommo]

Top wing is now on and rigging (mostly invisible thread, sprayed with Alclad Dull Alum.) is on.

 

My dodgy balsa jig worked quite well.  But afterwards I still manage to dislodge the cabane struts and had to reglue them without the jig in place🤦‍♂️

 

Then some paint touch-ups and as usual, I tried some touch-ups in spots I had not intended, without masking, and got overspray, which led me to more tricky touchups of one Maltese Cross.  Will I ever learn!

 

I put Gladwrap around the fuselage where I hold the model, as I've mucked up so many builds with fingerprints in the past. Even oil from the fingers screws the paint.

 

 

[Ray S]

That is great progress Thommo. I always find that using the jigs is fraught with danger, at least with my clumsy fingers, I am always worried about collapsing the whole thing when removing the restraining materials. Your rigging looks the bees knees, as they say - fabulous.

 

Ray

[thommo]

2 hours ago, Ray S said:

That is great progress Thommo. I always find that using the jigs is fraught with danger, at least with my clumsy fingers, I am always worried about collapsing the whole thing when removing the restraining materials. Your rigging looks the bees knees, as they say - fabulous.

 

Ray

 

Yes Ray, I was worried about that too, but managed to find 2 rubber bands that were perfect.  They held things well, but were not so crazy tight that removing them would be difficult.

 

Tidying up the holes on the bottom wing where the rigging goes all the way through was not as neat as I'd hoped, but that's modelling.  It's rare everything turns out as planned.

 

I've rigged another 1/72 biplane with MIg elastic rigging.  That stuff is brilliant, so fine and easy to get perfectly taut but really only works when you have little anchor points to attach it to.  It is so fine and springy that getting it through tiny holes in a wing is all but impossible, as is gluing one end to blind holes.

[thommo]

Finished.  Will do a Finished thread too,

 

[AdrianMF]

15 minutes ago, thommo said:

Finished

Fantastic job! You have certainly scrubbed that one up well.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Ray S]

An excellent result Thommo, and it just goes to show what can result from a very old kit.

 

Ray

[HAMP man]

Super spiffing, a true silk purse.

 

Box on

 

Strickers