COMPLETE WnW Albatross D.Va

[JimD]

Gentlemen, thank you most kindly. I'm particularly enjoying the engine myself. It was a fun assembly and paint job in itself.

Petros, I'm not remotely an expert...especially on WW1 birds, but I was thinking that the cracking could very possibly be within the realm of possibility. Especially since the green painted areas would have been over wood and exposed to great heat...so....

Small update...well...big one too..I have got the fuselage closed up, but I'll refrain from pics until I've cleaned up the seams, etc.

Other than that I've got base coats on the wings.

I'll mask off the rib tape and do some shading before laying on some gloss for decals.

[TRM]

Things are looking really great on this one Jimmy!! Top notch work on the engine!! Playing a little catchup and looking at the crackle on the green paint...it's funny, but I like it! Almost like it has been heat treated from the engine!! Lovely camo too!!! Keep having fun!!

[deafpanzer]

Always liked those colors!!! Looking sharp...

[JimD]

Yup, when my kids saw me breaking out bottles of orange, yellow, and purple paints they were ecstatic. I still don't think it's as colorful as they were hoping. I'm going to have to build them a couple little 109s or something and go to town with the bright colors. Lol

A bit of progress to update.

Finally got the engine mount installed and the fuse closed up. After that things progressed quickly. Fit was perfect. The chrome yellow tail is a mix of Tamiya X-3 and 6. Base for the wood is Aqueous Radome.

The wood panel effect has actually been added to the fuselage too, and I couldn't be more happy with the look. I will have pics of that up later.

Wing ribs were masked off...a tedious and insomnia curing task...and I shadowed with some smoke. It's a little stark at the moment, but I've learned that clear coats and weathering really tones these things down, so I opt for a little heavy handed.

Wings are merely test fitted.





I'll move on with decaling wings and other bits while I wait the millennia I intend to give the oils on the fuselage to dry.

[wbill76]

It's always neat to see the colorful schemes on these WW1 birds Jimmy and yours is coming along nicely, looking good!

[JimD]

Thank you, sir. The colorfulness of this scheme had a lot to do with choosing it that's for sure. WW1 stuff has always been a bit out of my wheelhouse, but I see more in my future. They are a different kind of challenge entirely.

[wing_nut]

Jimmy this is looking very sweet indeed. I wish I had checked in sooner though cuz of an issue I had with the lower wings. When I put it in it was too flat... actually a little negative dihedral . Some adjustments had to be made to get some dihedral so the upper wings was not laying on the top of the guns. Hopefully you didn't have that issue... and if ya did ya caught it. i got lucky and it wasn't too hard to get the wings out. If you need theme I have some pics of the adjustments I needed to make.

And, LOVE the colors.

[JimD]

The wings actually aren't attached. I just clicked them in for giggles. I have already noticed some negative dihedral on the lower wings when dry fitting. I am cautiously hopeful that they were just drooping in their slots sans glue, but any ideas you have there would be great. I'm a ways off from dealing with the wings though. I want to make dang sure the oil on the fuselage is cured well.

[wing_nut]

With the tolerances in these kits being what they are they are not lose in the slots. Here's the before and after. Doesn't look like a lot but in the big scheme of things it was.




The shaded areas need to be trimmed/filed. The top of the inside of the sot in the fuselage needs to be filed a bit and the the top/inside & bottom outside of the wings tab. I put 1/4" blocks under the tips with a small weight and it was just enough to get things right.

[JimD]

Awesome. Thanks! That first pic is exactly what I was seeing as far as drop. Very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to illustrate it. I think even I can manage that fix

[JimD]

A bit of an update. I had gotten the decals down a few days ago. Beautiful. Just beautiful. I wish all decals were WNW decals.

Anyway, some gloss coats later and I laid down some oil weathering.







The body is finally at a point I can semi-handle it, so I decided to take some pics. The struts are assembled, but just dry-fitted for now. Chipping was done with salt.





I'm still going to give the fuselage a couple of days before I gloss it. All the fiddly bits are pretty much assembled and ready, so once I can varnish the fuselage things will move quickly...maybe one more for December?




Not likely...but we will see.

[deafpanzer]

Fantastic weathering... that's my favorite part!

[Marcel du Long]

This is looking good Jimmy.
The wings are very nicely done.

Marcel

[JimD]

Thanks very much gentlemen. I'm really enjoying my first WW1 and WNW build. I'm already contemplating my next.

[wbill76]

Looking good Jimmy, got to love the look of those markings for sure.

[JimD]

I did this a few days ago, but just been so busy I haven't been able to post pictures.

Needed to paint the fuselage details. I'm pretty competent with a brush, but I'm dealing with Tamiya paints with this color, and while contrary to popular belief it can be brush painted, I wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

I decided to try masking with liquid frisket and it worked beautifully. Only drawback was that after removing it it seemed to knock down the gloss a little bit. No real concern since I need to add another layer anyway.





Ugh cell phone pictures are horrible...but you get the picture.

[wbill76]

Nice solution to the masking problem.

[Leon]

Coming along nicely Jimmy! The wings and fuselage look great.

[wing_nut]

Worked just fine. Looks great.

[JimD]

This one is seriously dragging along. It's mostly because I've reached a stage where I'm not sure what to do next.

Wings attached. Marc's suggestion for eliminating the negative dihedral worked perfectly. I was at the end of the little bottle of chrome yellow I mixed up. I diluted it with alcohol for some touch-ups and it dried a different color (chalky) like Tamiya is want to do with straight alcohol as thinner. So now I've got to mix up more and fix the tail...it's hard to see in pics, but its awful. Then that will need to dry...then a gloss coat which will have to dry, and finally I can move to decals.

[deafpanzer]

It is really looking GREAT!!! The exhaust pipe looks lovely... makes me want to inhale the carbon dioxide out of it!

[JimD]

Thanks, sir. I appreciate it, but I don't recommend huffing exhaust fumes. Ask me how I know


Decals!! Simply: WnW decals are the best I've used...ever...period.

Up next is a sealing coat and then some weathering.

[deafpanzer]

Jan 8, 2015 11:04:13 GMT -5 JimD said:

Thanks, sir. I appreciate it, but I don't recommend huffing exhaust fumes. Ask me how I know

Jeez, now I HAVE to ask... you made me curious! OLOLOL

Absolutely agree with you... the decals look SUPERB!

[Deleted]

Beautiful!!!

[wing_nut]

Well I hate it.

OH CRAP! I left out a HUGE chunk of that sentence.

Well I hate it that once it's done it will be on your shelf and not mine cuz that's freakin' sweet.

[JimD]

Thanks everyone. I can say this won't be my last WNW build. Superb kits.

Jan 8, 2015 11:48:40 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Jan 8, 2015 11:04:13 GMT -5 JimD said:

Thanks, sir. I appreciate it, but I don't recommend huffing exhaust fumes. Ask me how I know

Jeez, now I HAVE to ask... you made me curious! OLOLOL

Absolutely agree with you... the decals look SUPERB!

Well I've never been the kind of idiot that huffs stuff intentionally - not even as a dumb kid. However, I did once become a little overwhelmed with engine fumes IN AN OPEN DRIVEWAY while a friend and I were dorking around on an old Camaro. You probably can't actually kill yourself like that...but I wouldn't suggest trying to prove me wrong

[deafpanzer]

LOLOLOL Glad it was not intentionally...

[wbill76]

Carbon monoxide is nasty stuff...even with what seems like open air spaces because of its nature as being virtually the same density as air and odorless, it can build up quickly in pockets without you ever noticing it...if you were working under the Camaro while it was running, that would certainly do the trick depending on the conditions!

That aside, the decals really really make this one pop Jimmy. Very nice...now you'll have to post guards to keep Marc from doing a commando raid on your shelf.

[JimD]

Finished this one up with a marathon session yesterday. I thought the rigging was going to give me hell, but honestly it was the most zen time I've had at the bench in a looonnnggg time. I did it all in one sitting. Don't ask me how. I just kind of got zoned and was on a role.

I can say that along with Tamiya's 1/32 kits that a WNW kit is something every modeler should experience once. I wasn't a big WW1 groupie before, but liked this airframe enough to justify giving it a shot, and now I can't wait to try another. Different challenges all around. It's not my best work, but I'm happy with if for all of the "firsts" this build brought. OOB with the exception of the Gaspatch turnbuckles.

Oh...and...BEST DECALS EVER.

[TRM]

That, is one fine looking bird Jimmy!! Well done!! Downright modelling porn my friend!! Let me know if you want to kick this into the MoM for ya!! Congrats on the finish!!