¹⁄48

Albatros W.4

History

The Albatros W.4 was based on Albatros D.I fighter, the wingspan was increased and some other changes were made. It was considered a good plane, with adequate visibility and relatively adequate performance even in 1917. It was replaced however by the two-seaters which were considered more suitable for sea patrols.

The kit

It`s a mixed media kit with both plastic and PE parts and two decal sheets (one for naval lozenge). The quality of the parts is very good but it leaves some space for scratch building - especially the Mercedes D.III engine.

Construction

I started with the cockpit, using both the kit parts and some scratch built bits such as compass and wires. I had also used the HGW fabric seatbelts. Next, I added some details to the engine which is the weakest part of the kit. After completing both the cockpit and the engine I could close the fuselage. I sprayed all the surfaces of the model, which were to be painted CDL and wood grain the Tamiya`s Deck Tan (XF55). After it dried I used artistic oil paints to paint the plywood fuselage. The wings were covered with lozenge and glued to the fuselage. The nose - covered with metal panels was painted with the specific colour for German aircrafts from that period - grey- green (XF 76). I also added the Spandau guns and radiators. The rest of the build was pretty easy: fixing the wings and the floats etc. I added rigging and a scratch built anemometer and that was it. The last part was carving the wooden Axial propeller. I must admit it was a joy to build.