GAVIA 1/48 Albatros D.I (calling it done 4-13)
Thank you for your kind comments Piet and Mark! They are much appreciated as always.
This build was intended as a learning build for me. It ended up being a little more involved than I had originally thought it would be, but unlike some others I have started in recent years the kit wasn't really all that bad. There were a few inaccuracies and things I changed, but they were for the most part fairly few and simple. I had a few small missteps but they were only slight and I learned a lot from them.
Mostly it was a painting experiment. I needed to see what I needed to do and how to do the plywood paneling. The end result turned out beyond my hopes so that is a good thing. The next builds with plywood should be faster and easier with less guesswork.
The rigging was also an experiment. I had some black monofilament nylon thread that was purchased at Hobby Lobby. It is .003 inch thick (that's .08mm) and is fairly strong and has a slight amount of stretch to it. From some things I built many years ago, I knew that it would bond into some small holes quite well with good super glue. None of the lines is tight as that can pull things out of alignment. They are all pulled just snug enough to be straight and will give slightly if pushed on without breaking. A flat coat and a brush with some alclad adds the nice silvery coating that looks more like cable than a single wire strand.
It was also an experiment for making and using my jig for mounting the wing and for setting up the landing gear. I have seen a number of WWI aircraft where either the wings were misaligned or the landing gear wasn't set right and the plane canted at an angle. This worked out well for a first usage and paved the way for when I will be building my Wingnut kits. It will also help with some of the other large kits I have in the stash.
Here is the final installment. These are the rigging and landing gear details. If you have any questions please ask and thanks for following along.
Thanks again for following along!