Albatros D II / D III news

[Koloman Mayrhofer]

hallo,
enclosed are some picturs from our recent progress with current projects.
we are busy to build two albatros D II fuselages for a customer and a complete albatros D III as a privat venture which will be put up for sale after completion.
this time we build the german version with all the details which differs from the austrian version are taken care of. there are more than it looks at the first view.

btw my personal private project is also progressing well since the first D III OEFFAG left the shop. plane is structurally complete now and engine testruns are expected for this summer.

cheers
koloman mayrhofer

[Maxim08]

Koloman,
Wonderful work as usual. Are these being built for Daimler/Mercedes D III?
Regards,
John

[Yeoman]

This is why I hang around the Aerodrome!


I always thought the Albatros was a better looking aeroplane than the Fokkers Nice to see someone putting one or two into the air at last. I shall look forward to seeing these progress. Thanks for sharing.

[Der Grüne Flieger]

Koloman,

Thanks for the posting, I always love to see your work.

A few questions;

1) It appears that you are creating a cradle of plywood for each fuselage.
2) I assume it is made from scrap wood and looks to be spaced to match up with each bulkhead.
3) Do you use it to keep the construction of the fuselage straight and true or is it just to hold it up while you work on it?

Lastly, is there any way you could repost with larger pictures??

Thanks very much,
Phil

[sheppo]

With my project, I started with a series of wooden sawhorses and made a long rectangular frame like a ladder, this was levelled and then nailed off to the floor with x bracing to help counter any twisting at a later date. With the centreline longerons cut into the bulkheads and using a long line on the floor it isnt very hard to drop a plumb bob at each frame (so long as you dont sand away the marked top and bottom centrelines when making each bulkhead...not that it ever happened to me mind you ) Once you are happy with the positioning, use a nail gun to drive blocks either side of the longeron where it crosses the ladder x members. After that it isnt going very far.
You can get the longerons level if required with small packers tucked under.
Hint, dont lean sheets of ply against the front of the frame. It explains why the whole frame gets suddenly out of kilter. (Not that it ever happened to me tho' )

The main reason I went this way is that I can then still lift the fuselage up (and with some helpers) remove the x members (screw these in , not nail) and rejig the fuselage upside down to skin the lower side, the cross members then support the longerons in the same way.. After that, Ill be installing the U/c legs before I install much of the interior fittings and then sheet the sides.

If I had more space and was doing more than 1 fuselage id certainly consider making up jigs like Kolomans as theyre the ducks nuts for stability.

On the plus side, after 2 months delay I just took delivery of my next load of 1.5mm and 3mm ply to skin the rest of the fusleage . I just need to get through the next 2 weekends of medieval shows and I can get stuck in again.

chris

[Koloman Mayrhofer]

hallo,

we built a jig from medium density fiberboard following the construction of the original in the oeffag factory.
as the longerons on the of the D II and D III have a very complex shape it is absolutly necessary to have a jig which held them and the frames rigid in position.
even for only one fuselage i strongly suggest to build a solid jig. this is a completly glued up monocoque structure . there are no way to correct anything once glued. very unforgiving .
the system sheppo used certainly works but the D V is a bit a different matter as the longerons are following the lines of the fuselage in one bend and if the frames are correctly and accuratly built will stay in correct shape. well this is a bit simplyfied .

we take out the fuselage after the back and fin is covered which stabilise it enough to be handeld safely and put it in a much simpler jig upside down to cover the bottom.

yes both planes will get mercedes engines.

sorry but i have no idea how to post larger pictures .

cheers
koloman mayrhofer

[Nick]

Koloman,
Fantastic work, great looking aeroplanes. Thanks for posting

Cheers, Nick

[Koloman Mayrhofer]

hallo ,
enclosed three more pictures which show the emty jig and gves an impression of the complex shape of the longeron .
third picture show the much simpler jig for working on the bottom side of fuselage
cheers
koloman mayrhofer

[Kaiser Bill]

Outstanding work!!! Congratulations. As for pictures... keep them coming. At least you've cracked the mystery of how to post them.

Kaiser Bill

[wilhelm]

Hello Koloman, very nice work on your DII's I hope mine comes out as good as yours. I would like to see more details as you progress.

Cheers Willie.