Albatros D.Va OAW

[jknaus]

Albatros D.Va (OAW) serial u/k, Ltn Alfred Fleischer, Ercheu, June 1918.

From my friend Bos new store Flugzeugwerke a new improved spinner and wheels without tire, and a new Teves and Braun Radiator.

James

 

[MrT]

 

[moon puppy]

Good start James, you doing some preshading on the wings?

 

[phantom II]

Cool stuff James

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[Swordsman]

:love - it ...

 

[jknaus]

Thank you. I wouldnt get too excited yet though. When I remember to take my camera downstairs I'll show the cockpit so far.
What I've done:
1. Hopefully to avoid the problem I had with my last Albie I poured boiling water over it and bent it gently. Then laid it down on the stove glass top and put weights on. It no longer has the warp that probably screwed my last job.
2. After reading a suggestion I dug out my Bronco half butterfly nuts. I filled in the hole on the wing with Vallejo putty. Awesome stuff by the way being acrylic and super fast to dry and shapeable with a damp cloth/quetip/paint brush/finger/etc. 4 of these will replicate the selector knobs in the cockpit. Drilled out the .5mm holes in the IP ready to install and then painted the "switches" oily steel.
3. Scored the inside of the top wing oil cooler until I could pop out the plug and then tried the new rad. Looks very good. Awaiting some pe that I can use to make the mounts.
4. Painted seat and did back in lozenge decal and also did rear bulked in lozenge decal. I used Aviattic decals because they are awesome.
Ordered decals and they should be here soon. Uschi Vander Rosen wood for the fuselage and Pheon decals for Jasta 17.

Thats it for now.
James

 

[moon puppy]

You go James! You gotta show us the warp you're warning us about.

 

[Swordsman]

Waiting ... for pic's ...

 

[Hippy Ed]

You go James! You gotta show us the warp you're warning us about.

Ditto! :hmmm :hmmm

 

[ausf]

First off, you can say don't get too excited about it, but that ain't gonna happen here.

My favorite plane from my favorite company loaded to the gills with AM. :geek

I echo more info on the warpage issue. You mentioned it when I was starting mine and scared me into priming and painting the wings on the sprue, only cutting them loose for decals. Even then I never put them down unless it was on a dead flat surface away from anything even approaching heat.

 

[ij001]

Great to see you back at the bench, friend.

Ian.

 

[jknaus]

Thanks all. Bob you must remember the Albi I did where the center cabanes bowed and snapped 3 times. Luckily I managed to get another set of cababnes and 1 kit is for parts . I'll try and take a pic of another wing.
So this is it so far. I think the butteryfly nuts worked well as switches. Maybe though you wont be able to see too well.

I found a pic of my last albie IP and you can decide which is better. I like the switches.

And here is a pic of the wing, maybe you can see the warp?

James

 

[Skinny_Mike]

I simply love your wood grain James! :love It is truly sublime.
Is this the WnW kit?

 

[jknaus]

Thanks Mike and yes. This is the D.Va OAW version. The black one was the D.V version.
James

 

[moon puppy]

I do remember well, so the wing warp is what cause the issue. I don't know if I picked up on that before. Surely see where that could be a problem. So how's the new wing looking now?

Switches look fantastic! You gotta start linking where you get all this stuff.

 

[ausf]

My wing wasn't warped and I had a tough time with it, so adding warpage would make it impossible.

I don't know enough about these planes (real or model) to determine whether it is real or kit design issue, but the inner supports are taller than the outer in respect to the wing, requiring the outer tips to have to be pinched together. There was no way to to clamp like that and even tape would be tough as I see it, since the supports are very delicate and can misaligned very easily.

The only way I got my wing on was to bail on the styrene cement and reach for the CA. And again, it was only because of your warnings that I was so careful. If I went in blindly (as I usually do), most likely I would have snapped something.

Otherwise, the kit went together so easy (I swear most of it doesn't even need glue it fits so well) that I sort of expected the upper wing to just fall into place.

 

[moon puppy]

Maybe someone needs to come up with some brass struts?

 

[ausf]

Maybe someone needs to come up with some brass struts?

Just slightly longer outers would do. But again, I don't know if it's original plane design that the wings get closer together the further away from the fuse. I can imagine a whole host of reasons why they would, but I can also see how molding that delicate curve into the styrene would be impossible, so if all of that is actually the case, it'd be a tough installation unless they skip accuracy for convenience.

Brass LG would be nice. My Albie 'dances' for about a solid minute whenever it's put down.

 

[moon puppy]

Brass LG would be nice. My Albie 'dances' for about a solid minute whenever it's put down.

I've been saying that for a while. Dont' know why no one comes out with some. You can use stiffer rigging material to secure the wobble, like the real thing, but that gets tricky as well.

 

[ausf]

Brass LG would be nice. My Albie 'dances' for about a solid minute whenever it's put down.

I've been saying that for a while. Dont' know why no one comes out with some. You can use stiffer rigging material to secure the wobble, like the real thing, but that gets tricky as well.

It may be simple logistics. The kit part fits so perfectly in the fuse slots, with the axle sliding through the base, plus detail. Since nothing short of metal would be an improvement, it just may be too much to ask. Unless it was cast in white metal, PE would have to be thick and wouldn't have the tapers.