ENCORE/RODEN Early Albatros D.II WIP BUILD

[GAJouette]

Mike,
The Albatros D.II is coming along nicely.Love the engine details too,and the pilot looks just as he should.Great work my friend,keep us updated.
Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[bobs_buckles]

Mike,
Sweeeeeet work so far. I'm liking the engine detail and the wee man sitting at the controls.

Happy days!
Von buckle

[Doug Baumann]

looking good Mike you have some thing good going here !!! ..... Doug

[mgtaylor]

Dear Fella's
Bless your Hearts I am thrilled ! I feel very encouraged. I have a ton of progress photos to share I only ran out of steam a little there posting all of them.

umm yes just like the french there is a two color camo too. You can see the 2 tone profile in a few of the early build photos I have. Red Brown and Dark green.

My limited understanding is the 3 color followed shortly after adding Pale green and later because of the close similarity to French 3 color camo an order to eliminate the pale green and replace the Red Brown with Mauve. BUT that is an whole other thread. I best leave to the SME (subject matter experts) Like DSA for example who can tell you better than I and yes covered at length on the Aircraft Color & marking board.

My BIG clumsy fingers are way to fat for 48th scale. Not that I am dont like the 48th just I cant do it ? I am a dedicated LSP (Large Scale Plane) 'er

This is a Squadron/Encore Re-boxing of the Roden Albatros D.I as conversion to a Albatros D.II in 1/32 Scale. Pricaply a Oswald Bolcke D.II with a Rsin Standing figure of him and a profile of his Albatross.

So every thing you see is in 32nd. Its an easy mistake when you only see close ups of this stuff.

Thanks for the Comments on the Engine Only to be honest I am not sure I would put this much work in to one again unless:
1. I put it on dispaly by itself on a scale engine stand next to the plane.

or 2. Cut away the cowlings.

Becuase once it's closed up inside it's virtualy gone.

Which is why when you see the new PART PE for the Alb D.I you will see only the Ignition wires and rocker arms and valve springs included nothing for the carb etc.



I used a combo of the Encore Supplied (Ed) for the kit AND PART PE Alb D.I fret.

[mgtaylor]

I used that Polish PART Fret and no jokes with the Poles here because hoonestly they have the ablilty to etch some o fthe tinest PE I ve ever seen. The kind so small you dont even need to practice to be a David CopperField ! You simply cut the mm size peice very carefully. Sure it IS right there on the table and Carefully lift the Fret Up from around it and Whollla ! It's missing ! GOne ! Disappeared ! Vanished ! And unlike ED they only make one of each onthe fret where ED will make several copies sometimes of certian parts which are small or deleicate.

The Next sub-assembly I made were the GUNS !

I had made a couple of ED PE Mg from Roden Gun Stock parts. I was determined to make a pair out of PART PE. These were the results:






Ed makes the Hammer and spring assembly out of one folded piece. PART on the other hand I think made out of at least 4-6 seperate peices ! Can you say Chinese Math ?


I THEN Promptly Broke - Repaired - Broke and repaired and broke the Cooling jacket OFF of the stock until the joint was no longer a nice clean detailed PE piece but a GLOB of Hardened CA. MUST THINK of a BETTER WAY NEXT TIME.

I am thinking to borrow a page from the Roden Pflaz contruction and leave the Cooling jackets off until the entire assembly is ready to mount on the plane.

[Doug Baumann]

Mike is that a little spring on the feed side of the gun?? if it is i would have lost it .... Doug

[mgtaylor]

Yup, Its a PE Spring. It is NOT a real spring like Umflau is able to use. And yes I lost one too. I was just looking at it and Wholla ! IT Vanished !!

I have some RC model Canopy glue RC51 which came Highly Recommneded for PE. It is a Elmers like white consistency, but dries crystal clear. Ima thinking to try thining it with water and trying it next time instead of CA.

I learned from my last Roden Alb project only a limited portion of the Cockpit is visable from the Outside lokking in. SO I only used a Patch Of Spada Wood Effect on the interior.



I finsihed all the 'wood' surfaces with a base coat of humbrol 61 Satin Oak lightened with White.



I shaved off all the exterior details that I would replace with PE and learned later I should have sprayed it with future then and Pin washed the panel lines. Some panel lines I beleive ought to be filled and re-scribed as they do not match up in some places to other panel lines where I think they may do on the real thing and in the Art work ?

[mgtaylor]

Once I had her closed up I finally got to Decaling the Wood Grain with SPada Wood Effect Decals. I used WE005-32 which for unfinished plywood I think has a nice pattern. unlike traditional "Wood" Decals there are seven other "wood grain" patterns in the Spada WE series whcih are the Grain it self so to speak printed on CLEAR Decal Sheet. What ever color base coat you have they take on it's character and color becuase of their opaqueness.

I also learned from experinced passed onto me from Spada and the Creator of Contact Resine to add Elmers White glue to the Decal Water of large "AREA" Decals like these and or something like Lozenge Decals. Where you will be masking and handling them afterward.

I went conserative on the amount of Elemrs but NOT next time. I may just dump out about an OZ or Oz and a half next time.

First I measured the panel I was covering and then cut out a rough shape pretty close to the right size and then trimmed it along the panel lines with a NEW Blade after squezing out the water and air.

[mgtaylor]

It might have seemed like a lot of work but it wasn't and went fairly smoothly and quickly. Some of the Panels I "pre-Shaded" with a little dry brushed brown to vary it up but left most of it alone as I was going for a New Fuselage look.

[mgtaylor]

AFTER THAT I used several top coats of Clear Acrylic Future mixed with a little Rubbing Alcohol ot speed the dry time and Acrylic Gunze "Clear yellow" thinned with a little water to give it that yellow varnished look.



You Really Can not see it as it truely is to your eye live. FOr some reason no matter what I do my camera "washes" out the yellow. I took it out it in the sun for some of my later build progress pics where you can almost pick see what it actually looks like.







Future is a Floor Wax and as thin as it dries to be, It has a tendency to pool into droplets in the worst places it seems no matter how careful you go. Some Ammonia Windex and a Q-tip took them out wiht some patience and re-coating. Several several thin coats is the key. I am actually kinda on the fence about spraying it cuase it seems almost impossible to gage how much is going on as it is so invisable mid-air as you apply it. Somecases you think you have the thickness perfect only to walk away to let it dry and find out afterward it worked itself into a drop somewhere near the bottom of your surface somewhere after you left.