Actually the beveled joints were glued together. The did not fall on the blulkhead / formers. That would have caused too much rise in the plywood skin. They joined either before or after the bulkheads / formers. The skin was nailed and skrewed to the bulkheads / formers. See, Albatros D.Va German Fighter of WWI’ by Robert Mikesh, Smithsonian Inst. Press. The bible on the Alb. D.Va.

Well that makes sense but I never would have guessed that is the way it was done.Now my references are not so confusing.Thanks Stephen!

Upper wing compression struts.
The metal end castings were blackened using a patina used by stained glass craftsmen.The brass tubing was blackened using "Blackin It".
They are not permanently glued in because I will be attaching the turnbuckles first.

Turnbuckles
Until now I usually made my own turnbuckles but this time I will use the leftover ones from the Camel build.
Upon examining them closely they are of a better quality than the ones supplied with the original Albatros kit,harder metal and more accurately cast.The other consideration was that they will hardly be noticeable on a burned wreck at normal viewing distance.When I did the first Albatros that now is in the hangar I wanted to highlight the turnbuckles and even took a little license to make them a little oversize.Why? because kids and most parents today don't have any idea of how these old wings were constructed.The wood aspect is obvious but the wire part with the turnbuckles is less well understood.This diorama is primarily an education tool.
The cast turnbuckles are first cleaned up and then dunked in blackening patina.I will leave the body black but file off some of the patina on the eye bolt part to add a little contrast.They are then dipped in thinned lacquer to seal the metal.
I have always sealed my metal castings just in case they contain any lead.
Brittania metal is not supposed to have any lead in it but some of the original castings seemed a little too soft for my liking.I am not a metallurgist but I didn't want to take a chance of having metal bloom (disintegration) down the road.This has happened to some museum quality ship models in the past because they are in sealed cases and subject to a very polluted atmosphere)
If there is any shine on the metal left by the lacquer I will deal with this using pastels.
__________________

Selling culture
There is an interesting story in my local paper this morning concerning museums.
Evidently Montreal is hosting a forum of experts from around the world on how to make our museums more interesting places for the general public to visit.
It is an established fact that at the Louvre the average viewer at most spends 25 seconds looking at the Mona Lisa.(they actually have a name for it, "the Mona Lisa effect")Most other works of art get about 3 seconds each.
Whats wrong here? In the words of one expert "A museum must promote emotions ,not product. It must be a place where people can look,think and learn."Modern families want to escape stress and spend more time with each other and engaging the interest of an entire family,youngsters,teens and adults,is no small feat.
Museums must be entertaining and not just entertainment which can be a very fine line.Being entertaining is about engaging,it piques the imagination and challenges us.Entertainment is a diversion,something you do when you are bored.
Another expert says that museums should use their collections to tell multiple stories as another way to connect with the public.
Why did I find this article in the paper so interesting? Because this is what storyboard dioramas are all about.Engaging the individual viewer and the entire family,imagination,education,entertaining,telling stories,challenging .

I know not everyone's goal is to have their stuff in a museum,neither was it mine in the beginning but it just happened that way.Somewhere down the road this will probably happen to a lot of the hobby stuff being produced today.What we are doing now will someday be part of tomorrows heritage , a time when people actually took the time to do things by hand.

I have glued down the fittings but have left the wires themselves unfinished until just before installation in case they are subject to loosening.Like I thought the turnbuckles are hardly noticeable.

Another pic

Greetings John,

Interesting comments on the Mona Lisa effect. The build is proceeding nicely. Makes me want to retire ASAP to spend more time modeling. Excellent images. Let me thank you for this thread as a whole. Most impressive.

Lower wings.
Well now it is on to the lower wings.After their completion, I will begin the final weathering and fire damage on the fuselage, once the lower wings are in place.
Then it's back to the rear half of the fuselage and the tail assembly.
I can't tell you how much that I am enjoying this piece. It really is a challenging and fun thing to do,to let your imagination run wild.
I was always just a little unhappy about the weak storyline of the original diorama ,when it was just a self-contained box like structure.Now, that part of the diorama is just a tool to draw the viewer's attention ,so that I can tell the real story that is half hidden behind the open hangar door.
The real story here is only hinted at by the title "The Aces Who Never Were".There are so many stories out there about the well known national heroes that through fate or just plain luck made it to center stage.I want my diorama to tell a different story, using the well known dog-man relationship as a vehicle to tell the deeper story,of not just the dogs loss but the loss off all those who lost their loved ones to war.
All those young lives never realized by circumstances beyond their control.I think that theirs is a story worth telling.

It was said by Eddie Rickenbacker that at Issoudon (3rd Aic)and Toul (2nd AIC) where Americans were trained, that the only days that there were no funerals was Monday ( the day after Sunday - day off) and the day after it rained. John has the story I wrote of the 3rd AIC and the daily operations seen from the eyes of officers and enlisted men. The unsung heroes that gave their all but due to circumstances beyond their control died befiore they finished the course.

One such story involves a tree- of all things. There had been so many crashes near this tree it was believed that there was a dead space over it, where flight could not be sustained.

Another pic

Decisons and compromises.....
The rad piping helps to support the upper wing to the fuselage and the skid base,this was necessary due to the soft nature of the N struts metal.Unfortunately the piping somehow got reversed and I only noticed this after gluing it in.If it wasn't for the support factor,I could just break the pipes and call it accident damage.I have two options here,redo the whole thing and take a chance of screwing it up or strategically placing some debris and hide the whole thing. I think that I will chose the latter.
Why do I bother to point these screw-ups out? because in the beginning of this thread I committed to showing this build as it really is,warts and all.

Model On John!

I never find the time to comment as your pace and quality of work is so relentless.
This build in particular is interesting in that it highlights the construction of the aircraft through it destruction.
I find myself going straight to any new posts by dolly15.
Thanks for candid manner you are showing your work.

While I am on this subject of known compromises in accuracy ,I think that this maybe a good time to talk a little about my personal priorities and model building.
My goal is not to be an expert of any kind, in any genre of modeling.I don't want to be the definitive answer on anything.If anyone is using my build as gospel please look elsewhere.Most experienced modelers already know this but for you guys starting out please check other sources of reference for detailed accuracy.What I am doing here is art and my priorities are totally different.Basically I want to tell an interesting story as accurately as I can ,but because the story is the primary point here, I take certain liberties with historical accuracy.Storyline wise my motto is "if it could have happened" go with it.Model wise if it looks like the aircraft represented at a normal viewing distance while in a glass case and helps tell the story ,then go with it too.My aircraft are basically props on a stage and not meant to be historical representations of the real thing.
Take a look at the above picture.I am sure that you will agree that it looks OK to the average viewer and is different and interesting in its presentation but lets look a little closer.In addition to the rad piping (my fault) there are other things wrong here.The wheel covers,the U/C legs and their fittings,the attachment for the lower wing,the "N" struts and their fittings and on and on it goes.
My work is meant to be entertaining for the viewer and to be educational for those who have little knowledge of this era of aviation,especially the children.Once upon a time...........

Thanks JP! Cheers.John.