My 1/32 Roden Albatros build

[StevePratt]

Originally Posted by curtisswright

Oh yea, how did you like using the powder for weathering? I use pastels and charcoal and they are a magnet for fingerprints.

Curtis,

I primarily used The Detailer black ready to use wash (I admit, I'm lazy) for weathering. I used the Tamiya powders primarily to take a little of the "newness" off the large wing decals, and to put a but of mud-like discoloration under the wings and fuselage from the wheels. I find that when I use the sponge end of the stick Tamiya provides the powders go on almost more like a paste, almost like the colour is ground in, so fingerprints haven't really been a problem

I like using the commercial wash, too. It goes on pretty thick, then I can wipe it down - in the direction of the airflow - quite easily. It stays in the panel lines well enough, but "smears" a bit, if I let it. It really is very easy to control how much is left on.

[StevePratt]

Originally Posted by Ed

Steve:
Are those valve springs made from ball point pen springs, or are they from a hobby shop supply? That is a nicely detailed model. Well done.

Ed,

I made the springs by wrapping some very thin silver wire around some thin (.010, I think) brass rod. The silver wire came from a computer keyboard. I cut open the keyboard cable and was rewarded with a ton of very thin, flexible wire.

Unfortunately, I didn't do a good job of fixing the rocker arm part to the top of the cylinders. There is a small gap between the arms and some of the cylinders, especially towards the middle. Consequently, the distance between the bottom of the rocker arm and the top of the cylinder varies, so I had to cut each spring separately to fit. Two springs were just a tad short, but I thought I could get away with it. But, guess which two springs have already fallen off?

[StevePratt]

Some of you may have seen the jig I used on the Roden Albatros. I posted a few pics in the Slowbuild Roden Albatros thread.

Well, one of the issues I encountered was how to keep the struts in place while I manuevered the upper wing to its fitted position. It's not rocket science, but I simply couldn't remember having read how others did this, so, damn, I would have to come up with something original (at least for me )

I ended up using a product called Ambroid Tac-N-Place, a "liquid pressure sensitive adhesive." I believe there's a similar, more common product out there, but can't remember the name of it. It looks just like Micro Kristal Klear...wouldn't surprise me if it's exactly the same stuff. Anyway, I just brused on a bit of this stuff on each strut joining pin, let it dry for a couple hours, and it worked well enough to hold the struts in position while I aligned the upper wing. On next use I will let it dry overnight so it doesn't peel off so easily (like the instructions say to do!)

[mgtaylor]

Steve Kudos on th ebuild very nice. I saw this profile with the upper engine cowl off simialar to some early DVII in the field where they removed it. CooLing Problems ? I gree though very good choice for showing off your engine work. Very Nice weathering on the engine by the way.

It was very hard to tell from the resolution of the Photos, BUt what did you do for your turnbuckles ? Was the Monofilament small enough to use the photoetch buckles or did you fashion them your self using a simialr techniqe that you used for the valve springs ?

Yours Mike

[StevePratt]

Mike,

Thanks for the compliments. This kit, by the way, is what I was working on when I encountered the spray painting issues you so kindly helped me through recently. Equipped with a new compressor I'm happily painting everything in sight. Heere kitty kitty!

Anyway, the turnbuckles, most of them, are from the Eduard PE set, carefully laid down on the monofilament. However, Eduard did not include enough to rig the whole model, so I finished with some buckles leftover from a Part SE5a set. You can't really see in the photos, but I think the Eduard buckles look better than the Part, so I used Eduard in the more visible areas. The Part set, on the other hand, has two buckle styles, one of which, being a bit smaller, seemed more appropriate for the aileron/elevator/rudder controls.

Cheers,

[mgtaylor]

I don't have a picture of it but that's funny I did the exact same thing while working on my BA DVIII. It just seemed impossible to use those flimsy PE tunrnbuckles as a real connector so I to carefully layed them on top of the control wire I had previously secured. I am not entirely convined how well it came out on mine. Ive been stuck on the whole project and haven't finshed as yet. But maybe I can post a photo to see if others have followed this route and how they think it looks or weather there are those that changed their flying wire meedium to find aflexible and small enough material to use those elylets on the ends of the PE buckles ?

From what I can see it turned out nice on yours !

yours Mike

[StevePratt]

I think the buckles turned out well...in most places. The PE being flat is a problem so I tried to lay them on with an eye towards the best viewing angle, which of course is harder to do in some places than others. I wonder what would happen if I tried to glue two PE buckles back-to-back to give them more dimension?

I think I'm going to continue working with Bob's Buckles, too, as I'm not completely satisfied with the PE solution.

[alan giles]

For 3D components,don't forget the 'building up PE with PVA glue(or Kristal Kleer)'trick.