In Progress - 1/48 Eduard Albatros W4

[Brad Cancian]

Hi all,

T'is a bit quiet in here, so I thought i'd share some progress pics of another one I have on the bench. After getting through the marathon that was the1/32 Roden Albatros D.III, I decided to tackle a nice Out Of Box build. Continuing my love affair with the Albatros series of aircraft, I decided to tackle the lovely 1/48 Eduard Albatros W4 seaplane. My aim was to build this one completely Out Of Box, but I think in the end I will replace the garish Eduard lozenge.

So far I have done the cockpit and started on the rest of the major construction. I decided to go for a much more subdued and "orange" tone to my wood panelling this time, as the Albatros W4 were much more heavily varnished than their standard land based couterparts for protection. I minimised the contrast between panels to aid in the overall impression of a more heavily varnished wood.

[Brad Cancian]

The fuselage is currently drying and will recieve a series of yellow / orange oversprays once dry. I am semi-happy with the wood effect thus far... still working on it...




All comments and tips welcome!

BC

[StephenLawson]

Another fine build in progress Brad! Don't forget the German landbased Naval units tended to use a lot more shellac than the Luftstreitkrafte units (German Air Service). Why, I don't know. Maybe better protection against the salt sea air or it was something controlled through their purchasing dept. If you see an area that you know is normally wood but there is no wood grain present it may have been shellaced. The French and some British manufacturers used shellac on their props by the way. Model On!

[RAGIII]

Brad, looks great so far as usual! Keep posting your progress,
RAGIII

[Scimitar]

Nice work, Brad!

Personnally, I like your wood effect...

[MerlinV]

Yet another one on the way to show us all up!
Can't wait to see further progress on this one.

Keep us posted Brad.

Cheers,

Hugh

[PrzemoL]

My favourite Albatros! It does look great - beautiful paint job! I am looking forward to the continuation!

[mriccio]

Beautiful Brad, could you offer some details as to how you go about painting your engines, i.e. colors, washes, etc...
Thanks

[JohnReid]

Hi Brad! looks like the makings of another great build.
Being an old woodworker I have little nit-picky thing that bothers me about the plywood patterns.Where there is a saw cut the wood pattern would change, as the chances of two pieces lining up with the same pattern would be doubtful.
I know that this is only a minor thing and is in no way meant to be critical of your wonderful work.Just thought that you would like to know.I know that I appreciate constructive criticism whenever I get it.Cheers! John.

[Brad Cancian]

John - good call and thanks for the feedback - I was trying a much lighter / thinner mix of oil paints than usual on this kit to try and tone down the grain, the result being that I found it much more difficult to replicate variations across each panel as every time I swiped the brush along the panel it took more and more paint off, leading to an odd effect... I think next time I will just paint selected panels, let it dry for a week, mask, then paint the remaining panels. Overall (panels aside) I am quite happy though with the grain effect itself (seems more subtle than my prevous efforts) so I think the masking technique will be one I'll be trying next!

Mriccio - there is nothing too special about what I use to paint. Metallics are usually Testor's stainless steel metalizer with a bit of black mixed in every now and then, the wood grain is done using thinned mixes of Windsor and Newton oil paints (usually burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and black) streaked over the Eduard buff plastic. The metal work is my own mix of grey/green. A clear acrylic coat and a wash using thinned black oil paints to pick out the details. Nothing to it!

Cheers again guys! Still waiting for the oils to dry...

BC