Normally there would be a wood plank ramp laid down over the central door panel but obviously this aircraft will not be going anywhere for awhile .
I will put more wear and tear (tire impressions etc)in the area where the aircraft would be rolled out on to the ramp.Once I get it in the sunlight I will decide where more vegetation may be needed.
The whole thing looks a little vacant right now but I plan on adding a horse drawn wagon,wheelbarrow and other odds and ends off to the side of the front panel as I don't want to much there to distract the viewer from the main subject.The crashed Albatros will be added behind the L/H hangar door and won't be readily viewable from this angle.

Well now it is back to the crashed Albatros.I am really looking forward to doing this as it is something that I have never attempted before.I plan to build the whole thing on a skid type platform that I can easily rotate 360 deg for ready access to everything.I figure that chances are that if they were in a hurry to remove it from the field they would have slid planks under the engine area and dragged it off the field ,probably with horses.Once deposited near the hangar,there it would be scavenged for parts.

What Happened?
My analysis of the accident scene is that for some reason the aircraft was subject to a nose over while the engine was still running which would indicate a mechanical failure of some sort or loss of control by the pilot.The undercarriage looks in good shape except for the one blown tire.Brake failure can be ruled out as the aircraft didn't have any.Overheated or jammed bearings in the wheel is a possibility though.The wing tips are in good shape so there doesn't seem to be any evidence of anything other than a straight nose over at hi speed or a crash why flying inverted close to the ground.The crash would have to be of such force that the fuselage would split at the cockpit area near the rear landing gear strut.There is no evidence of fire ,could lack of fuel be a contributing factor?Although the prop damage looks as though it was still spinning at the time of the accident.
On second thought,because the aircraft is relatively intact , maybe this is not a hi speed accident after all.The center section and wing struts show no sign of damage which you would expect to see in a hi speed accident.There is some damage to the R/H horizontal stabilizer and to the L/H elevator on the tail but none to the tail skid.Could it be that this was the result of the aircraft coming in contact with something on the ground?
Maybe I am missing something really obvious here ,any ideas?

What I am planning!
My model will be somewhat different in that I am planning to do a structural type

model with fire damage.A lot of the fabric will be burnt off in a flash type fire.Because the airplane is inverted I plan to remove some of the bottom panels to reveal the engine.The model will show a combination of accident damage and some scavaging for parts.
I will start with the engine.

What Happened? 2
On my model of this accident I will show the tail skid sheared off.Why? because the most logical reason for this accident that I can come up with is this.In order to break the fuselage in two at its most vulnerable point there would have to be some evidence of the tail striking the ground with great force.This could be caused by the aircraft descending(mushing)tail low at hi speed.Two factors could be at work here pilot error or weather conditions especially the wind factor (shear)close to the ground or a combination of both.
Why am I spending so much time on this? Well it is part of the storyline and would be of interest especially to the aviators among us.I know that personally any time I here of an accident my immediate reaction is to ask myself why?Usually it is a combination of factors with poor airmanship and lack of experience high on the list!

I want my wreck to look more like this but with the broken tail also!
This is a good example of how a diorama idea can evolve over time.There is nothing wrong with being influenced by someone work as long as it is not a direct copy.Artists "borrow" ideas from one another all the time.Here I have taken Stephen's idea which he got from a photograph and adapted it to other photograph and come up with a new idea.

Several things to note. Refering back to the original images of the real deal.

1. The fuselage is of course still attached by the rudder & elevator cables.
2. The rescue effort would have included axes.
3. It seems the machine landed inverted / flipped over, but not to where the rudder and fin hit the ground as well..
4. The primary concern at the time was save the pilot and get him out before any of the leaking fuel ignited.
5. This would probably not be the first crash this training unit had seen.
6. The key to any rescue would be not to do anymore damage to the pilot by trying to save him.

In my opinion, I believe the initial damage to the fuselage originally may have been far less than the image shows here.

I. If the pilot had been strapped in.
A. First they ran to the over turned machine.
B. They chopped away at the fuselage working with using the damaged areas.
C. Several fellows would have lifted the tail section and placed a saw horse under it
D. While one or two crawled under the inverted / suspended pilot and attempted to free him.
E. When the pilot was extracted the fuselage would have been picked up and moved. In the case laid over the inverted lower wing.

One thing tells me that this might not be the case. The seat harness straps are not cut. This would have been the most expedient way to extract the inverted pilot. I could be wrong here.

II. If the pilot were not strapped in.
A. The machine made contact with the ground nose first. Engine on.
B. The pilot was ejected.
C. The fuselage broke on contact with the ground.
D. The tail unit was moved for photographic reasons to further note the damages for the record.

One thing tells me this may not be the case. Note the rudder and fin are relatively intact. In a crash of this type they normally would sustain heavy damage. The bird may have landed and tipped over but the tail remained vertical like your image John. Drawing the conclusion that the tail was chopped up to move the aircraft piece by piece to the bone pile.

Ltn Wegener was to my knowledge and experienced pilot / instructor. He may have been test hopping this machine after a engine repair / tune up. He simply chose not to strap in. Most instructor involved accidents seem to have been due to carelessness (stunting) or a disregard for safety issues.

Of further interest is the note on the image with just the tail being hoisted on the shoulders of the four ground crew ( rescue party members?) The arrow with the term "bruchlager". The original record of the accident or more photos would be the bit of information to tell us more.

This is the position of the aircraft as it came to rest on the ground.I am assuming here that the engine cylinders and the center section N struts have remained intact.The box at the front of the engine and the radiator breather have been sheared off.

If the nose hit inverted it would plow somewhat into the ground and possibly push the front cylinders back. Also the ground it came to rest on may have been uneven. The stacked wood curing in the background tells me this was not the runway. The splayed wood seen between the wings on the left side of the image may have been what the pilot hit with his landing gear causing it to flip?

Thanks for all the info Stephen!Yeah,I haven't quite made up my mind about the front cylinders yet.Initially I will build it like it was a straight nose-over .I can always play with the angle of the tail relative to the ground later depending on how it looks in the diorama. The engine-skid assembly will be the foundation around which the rest of the scene will be built.Cheers! John.

Depending on the final angle of the fuselage in relation to the ground, I may shear off a front cylinder or two.If the aircraft only did a simple nose-over and then caught fire this maybe all the damage you would expect to see to the engine.In that case the broken fuselage may have been an attempt to rescue the pilot.

There are many things wrong about this engine but I am not spending a lot of time correcting them.As long as it looks like a engine from a distance and takes up the space it is ok by me.What with fire and accident damage not a lot of it will be seen anyway!
__________________
It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight.
JohnReid (Aviator)

I knocked #1 cylinder off its moorings by shearing the bolts at the base.This cylinder is now pushed back and off to the side of cylinder #2.Just this will result in a lot of damage to the camshaft etc... which will add to the look.

The results in modifiying kit parts usually effects a whole series of issues. You modify one part and wind up adjusting others because everything is related to what you knocked out of whack. I remember using an "Engines & Things " resin Merc. engine to replace the kit item on my build.

The damaged engine is just about finished.I cheated a bit with the spark plug/ignition harness assembly and I also left off the valve springs as they will hardly be seen with the engine upside down.The electrical cables and the plumbing would mostly be destroyed in the fire.The engine will be finished and weathered when installed on the skid assembly.I made no attempt to clean up the castings or fill the holes and dents ,as this engine makes a fine wreck just the way it is.