Hi all,

I have twisted my own arm and decided to join the two seater campaign (signed up this afternoon!). Having to follow the rules of not having already started said two seater, I must confess that I jumped the gun by four hours, having picked a model from the stash this morning and already starting to play with it. I hope this small oversight and keeness on my part can be forgiven

The model I have chosen is the long out of production 1/48 Albatros C.X from Jager. Other than the photo on the box, I have only ever seen one other build of this kit. As this kit is long out of production, it tends to command high prices when they do come up for sale, though I cannot see any other manufacturer putting another one out any time soon - but hey, models are for building, right? (Lucky for me I have another in the stash!) These all resin kits were limited run and contain resin, white metal and etched parts (indeed Copper State Models components form a big part of these kits). My main reference is the windsock datafile on the subject. Not having built an all resin biplane before, this should be fun.



I have only made a small start - namely some scribing, dry fitting etc. The first noticable thing with this kit is that the fuselage is a one piece resin affair, which is a miracle of resin moulding. The engine bay is simply a hollow in the resin, and the tops of the engine cylinders are supplied (this will make engine detailing easy at least!). The cockpit is hollow with no floor, with the cockpit itself needing to be built up on a floor insert that also doubles as the bottom of the fuselage. This part fits surprisingly well, though I can see painting of the sidewalls will be a pain. The mould stub on the rear of the fuselage is also a big pain to clean up. One thing I did do to the fuselage though was scribe some panel lines, as there are none bar the impressions of the metal cowlings. I did this using a straight edge and a scribing tool, with the datafile as a reference.

I also drilled and pinned the stabilisers and wing joints to ensure a sturdy fit, and assist with alignment. You also have to cut one of the wiboard ribs off each upper wing to allow the proper radiator insert to fit (this is a legacy from the wing moulds also being used for the ever rarer Albatros J.I kit from the same manufacturer). Anyways, here it is so far dry fitted together.





So far, for a limited run kit, there have been very few surprises. I think I may tackle the engine next, as this should be relatively simple.

BC

You are forgiven Brad !

Very cool subject for this campaign and glad to have you on with your talents . This is going to be a very interesting build indeed , which you are off to a great start ( 4 hours ahead )and I'm sure some of the Albatros funs will be watching .


Looking forward to your progress with this build


PS , hope your arm didn't get twisted too much !

Excellent Brad! Its always a pleasure to see you in action again! We probably need to do a Portfolio Feature on your works. Most impressive.

Brad,

Thanks for the post, I've always wondered what those kits looked like.

Mark

Brad,

Looking on in anticipation of a great build and a lesson in building resin biplanes. You're off to an excellent start.

Cheers, Dwayne

I have never seen this kit or even knew of the actual aircraft existence. It looks like a two seat D-III. I wonder if one could............hmmmmmmmmmmm.

You did a great job with the scribing and clean up. Looking forward to more.

Cheers

Brad,
Excellent choice for the GB.Those Jager kit were some best on the market.I'll be following this thread with great interest in seeing you work your magic.
Regards,
Gregory Jouette

Minor update... decided to get the hard bit done first, that is, the cockpit. Jager provide many of the smaller details, including instruments, handles, pumps, radios, hand holds, periscope sights, throttles, fuel tanks, seats (with seatbelts moulded in, map case, ammo drums for the observer etc etc, which is fantasic, but before I can really do too much with these nice items, there are some basics that need to be taken care of. Despite the nice little details, the kit has no forward or rear bulkhead detail in the cockpit:



This is ugly. No way to clean this up to a respectable state. As such, I built some bulkheads out of plastic card to lay over the top of the current blobby mess.






With the instrument panel in place, the bulkhead will look good enough.



I also had noticed in the datafile that the gunners position has two supplemental ply fixtures on the cockpit sides, presumably to protect control cables. I also noted that there are small square slots for the machine gun ammunition drums. So again, I replicated this out of plastic and added them to the cockpit floor (which doubles as the fuselage underside).



This will help make the cockpit look suitably busy. Next step will be to try and paint the interior up to look like ply wood, then the small details can be built up within the structure.

BC

Nicely crafted items for the pit Brad .

Hi Brad: I have a coule of the Aurora Albatros CIII I think they are. Your cocpit details will be a guide for me to help out the interior on that model.

Minor update - today I spent some time adding details to the cockpit. I have done the wood grain and started building up the various bits and pieces using plastic, wire, and etch from the spares box. Most of the details are fairly self explanitory - I also added pulleys for the control cable runs, and scratch built the bomb release mechanism. The control column was borrowed from an old busted Eduard Albatros D.II. Here it is without any detail painting. Next step will be to paint the details, give it all a wash, and add the rigging.



The fun part about building the cockpit up in this way is that the sequencing of installation inside the fuselage is critical - i.e. vertical integration instead of horizontal integration that you usually get with fuselage halves :-)

BC

Very nice wood effect Brad same with your attention to the details , the pullys are a nice add on .
Looking forward to the next up-date

Excellent Brad! Truely masterful.

Brad, Outstanding art as alsways! Love the wood!! By the way , you don't happen to know if they did an Albatros C9 do you? As a matter of fact did anyone do a 1/48th C9 in resin or vac?
RAGIII

Brad,

This should look outstanding once assembled. I can't imagine what else you have planned for this build but it sure will be fun to watch.

Cheers, Dwayne

Hey Brad!
realy nice indeed! You are doing a very good job and I'm learning something in watching you!!
Thanks for sharing

ciao
edo

I have now finished the interior for the Albatros - it was not too much of a struggle to fit into the fuselage, though sequencing of installation was critical. There are some asimmetries in the kit which makes life a little difficult as well. I also broke the control column whilst installing and had to fix it in afterwards... not fun! Anyways here are some pics:













That is the ugly part done - now to the engine...!

Feedback always welcome.

BC

Most excellent Brad ! Did you make the place cards yourself ? It's these little details which really make the build stand out . I also noted that the bullets are copper and not brass ..........
But then again I haven't had that morning coffee mixing with the blood stream yet and the eyes are playing tricks on me

Thanks Terri - the placards are various left over decals from the spares box - whatever looks about right

The rounds are painted brass (Humbrol 54 to be precise) - I think the dark wash I used makes them look a little darker in the pics

BC

You sir are a steely eyed modeler. Most impressive.

Cockpit really looks great Brad. Is this basically a two seater version of the Albatros D.II?
It has the look. You are quite the craftsman. I am looking forward to more pics as you progress through the build.

Brad,
Fantastic interior deails my friend.I'm looking forward to the next update.
Regards,
Gregory Jouette

Hi Brad!
very good work indeed! I like the wood grain very much, and also your build is very neat!
Keep on posting!!

ciao
Edo

Engine is now done. Due to the one piece fuselage, the engine bay is represented as a big hole in the top of the fusealge. Consequently, the engine is represented only by the cylinders. The detail is reasonably nice, but not great, however it's good enough. All I added was spark plug wiring and the air driven pump at the front of the engine. When it is in and fitted it doesn't look too obvious that it is only half an engine...

I also replaced the blob of a spinner with a cut down spinner from a Hasegawa Bf-109G; it is about the right profile.





BC

Very nice weathering on the engine Brad

Will the white metal cab struts be strong enough to hold the weight for the wings over time ?