GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (last build details)

[moon puppy]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (the jig in use 10-25)

Took this shot just thinking of any Albatros builders out there. Just how pronounced that gap is between spinner and cowl. I know the one i did years ago had no gap at all.

 

[Duke Maddog]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (the jig in use 10-25)

Fantastic work Paul! Man, I'd love to have a jig like that! It might not work for my smallest 1/72 scale planes, but it would be perfect for many of my larger, multi-engined aircraft!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (the jig in use 10-25)

James, Mike, and Luiz, Thanks for all your kind comments! Much appreciated!

Bob that is an awesome photo! Is that a restored plane or a reproduction? I noticed that gap around the spinner in quite a number of my reference photos. Seems to be consistent through all the Albatros fighters. Probably helped some airflow through to the engine for some cooling purposes. The larger scale kits from Wingnuts and Roden seem to have this gap in their kits. The old Eduard kit misses it though so I had to do some tweaking to the front of the fuselage and the spinner wasn't quite right either. Mostly fixed but won't worry about the prop until it is further along now.

Mark, the jig is a bit fiddly. As I stated, it is going to need some modifications and revisions as I put it to actual use. As far as cost, even if it were made by someone with a CNC machine and the ability to make the parts quickly and simply it would probably still be prohibitively expensive.
Material wise I spent about $80 on aluminum bar stock and hardware for the new pieces. Have no idea at this point what the base hole plate and all the little clamps I made years ago cost, let alone the hardware it has accumulated over time. The hours spent turning the cranks by hand with my little milling machine were many. I learned some new things and was able to up the accuracy level on the mill, but the cost in time would have been prohibitive for someone to buy them. Once I work out some of the bugs they still have, I will have some drawings for the parts so you can try and make your own if you want.

With this kit it is a bit of overkill to use the jigs, but it will serve as a good test before jumping on one of the 1/32 scale kits I have in my stash. I already found that the base part that I was using for the rudder needed some tweaking as it was leaning to the side about 1/16 of an inch at the 4 inch up mark from the slotted base. A little light and careful use of a file and it is now all nice and squared up. Stuff like that can make or break how useful the jig can be. Most of the rest of the tools I just made are more adjustable and not as critical as the nose and tail jigs.

 

[Duke Maddog]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (the jig in use 10-25)

Good to know Paul. Thanks man! I'll still enjoy watching it's use.

 

[sharkman]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (the jig in use 10-25)

Nice work on the spinner Paul!

I really like the use of that jig too!

 

[Heavens Eagle]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (the jig in use 10-25)

Thanks for looking in and following Mark and Warren. I have another small update. I discovered that the elevator jig just wasn't sturdy enough. It didn't quite want to set fully level so that part is going to need a redo. In the meantime I went with a different setup which worked quite satisfactorily. The tail feathers are now fully and solidly mounted.

Here are the photos.

I discovered that I can mix a couple of different types of thin CA (one being a bit old and starting to get thick) and I end up with a thin, easy flow, slow to set up CA. This ends up being perfect for filling thin seams and flowing along a joint to make a real small fillet that is super easy to clean up and blend. I have also found that for some reason the bond isn't as brittle as some CA bonds. It is fairly strong and it only gets slightly harder than the plastic. It also doesn't get fully hard until the next day so you have some nice easy time for sanding and smoothing. It must be something to do with the mixed chemistry, but it works wonderfully.

If you are interested I will do a quick post and let you know what I use.

Until next time! Cheers! :drinks

 

[moon puppy]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (the jig in use 10-25)

Interesting Paul.

I'm not sure about the Albatros at the RAF museum, considering the age that aircraft would be, I suspect it's a reproduction. Don't think there's any originals still out there.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (the jig in use 10-25)

Interesting Paul.

I'm not sure about the Albatros at the RAF museum, considering the age that aircraft would be, I suspect it's a reproduction. Don't think there's any originals still out there.

Not an issue, all the detail I can see clearly, I have seen in period photos in my references. Even if it is a repro, it will have been heavily researched and probably is using as many original type parts as possible.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (new pics 10-31)

Am working through doing the lower wing mount and thought about trying to do a test setup for the top wing. Big problem found though. The top wing had a lot of warpage curve that amounted to a bit of dihedral. Have it flat now (like it is supposed to be) The lower wing isn't "quite" flat but only by about 1/3mm or 1/32 inch on the starboard wing. (hangs a touch low) It easily flexes up and down more than that so I will need to be careful about mounting the upper wing and will probably leave it supported until at least part of the rigging is in place. I am planning on using some nylon line which won't give much at all. Have experience at this and it shouldn't be an issue. Super fine pointed tweezers make a big difference. Then the line will help support and keep the wings in alignment.

As I stated earlier, this is kind of being used as an experiment of some of the new tools. I am finding it to be a bit too small for the wing mounts so I am switching to some of my older tech with some 6 inch all thread rod pieces. I should have the lower wing mounted and attached this weekend. Then I will do some paint work and a correction mod to the top wing. There are 2 big rectangular holes that are missing.

I am also finding some other issues with some of the tools mainly due to this planes small size and the tools are more intended for 1/32 scale. Those that are working on this 1/48th scale build though will do quite nicely on larger scales.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (new pics 10-31)

Finally got taken out by the cold that has been coming on all week. The desire to do something constructive has been there, but the head and sinuses have been hollering "Not Happenen!"

I did get a little done yesterday and Friday nite though and was able to set at the 'puter and put the pics together. It's about ready to get some paint on it and then assemble the upper wing to the rest and rig it.

Here's da pics.

OK, now off to bed again. Hopefully will sleep better tonight. Ugh!

 

[moon puppy]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (new pics 10-31)

Very interesting Paul. Wonder what those other holes are on that A frame.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (new pics 11-05)

I did some reading and it appears that the upper wing could be moved forward and back on the D.I. Not sure how that affected flight but supposedly it did change the flight characteristics slightly.

Thanks for looking in Bob.

Back to bed now.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (new pics 11-05)

OK, this must be a record (for me), 2 photo posts in 2 days.
Have had this aweful cold all weekend and this morning it was wake up, call in, roll over and crash back out. Finally got up about 2 and went to the store for supplies and meds. Returned home hit the meds and crashed for another 4 hours.

Finally got up watched a little TV but didn't really feel like doing anything and my head hurt enough that I couldn't sleep anymore. Fixed something to eat and finally fixed some tea. (strong like I usually make it) Wha-La! The headache was a caffeine headache, and while I still am probably a Typhoid Harry, I felt a little like doing "something".

The cuts and filler were done previously, but I had wanted to mark up the top wing for the aileron horn slots. It wouldn't have been too hard to have done them in the kit molds but were either an oversight or they just goofed. The D.I and D.II both had basically the same wings so the kit is a bit off. :facepalm

Anyway I usually feel up to messing with stuff on the computer before doing anything much else and so here we are with a next post.

Enjoy.

The first is a clarification of what Bob and I were talking about.

Hopefully I will feel a bunch better tomorrow.

 

[Iron Mike]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (new pics 11-05)

Feel better,willya?

 

[moon puppy]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (new pics 11-05)

Looks good. Hope you feel better

 

[ausf]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (more pics 11-06)

Coming along nicely.

Hope you feel better soon. Oddly, this thread reminded me of my childhood. If I was sick and stuck at home for a few days, my Dad would buy a kit for me on his way home from work. When you think of it, a kid home sick in the 60s-70s had zero to do during a weekday. No TV except soaps (or Watergate), no video games, no internet etc. Sheer boredom unless you stopped off at the library on the way home from the doctor or something. These days, you could fill every second with a thousand things...

 

[Iron Mike]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (more pics 11-06)

You forgot Perry Mason reruns and black and white gangster movies in the afternoon. B)

 

[ausf]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (more pics 11-06)

You forgot Perry Mason reruns and black and white gangster movies in the afternoon. B)

Not in NYC at least. It was nadda until maybe 3 or so when you'd catch Gilligan's Island, Brady Bunch, etc and hoped that the 4:30 Movie was good or you were lucky enough to get sick on Monster Week. There was the Uncle Floyd show if you could pull the signal in on UHF.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (more pics 11-06)

Thanks guys! LOL! Yeah I remember those times too. Usually though if I was home sick I was stuck in bed. Period. I always had books to read though from about 3rd grade on I was a sci-fi-holic. Robert Heinlin, Andre Norton, Clifford Simak, Hal Clement and a bunch of others. Inow suspect that if my Mom knew how risque some of them were I wouldn't have been able to read any of it. Didn't hurt me though. Just read on to get to the exciting parts.
If I was off for more than a couple of days my mom would go and get all my school work to do. Ugh!

Am doing better today. Am at work and had to dive into a Breitling that came in for a battery that suddenly the crown wouldn't pull out properly. A part in the setting mechanism cracked. Spent half the morning on it before discovering what was wrong. Will see if we can get the part now. Always something.

 

[jknaus]

GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (more pics 11-06)

Looking good. I hope you feel better soon. Getting sick sucks. Just reread a thread about waiting for some books by you and then the Windsock ref here and thought I would tell a little story. Got 5 Windsock books in the mail yesterday. No idea why I got them and didn't remember ordering, but as I read through them I realized. These were books I ordered when the 3 pack of Albatros where released what 4 or 5 months ago. I ordered them when I ordered the kit. So I hope this will give your books a boost and they get there soon.
James