Mikael,

Looks great, those cockpit parts are plastic, aren't they?

And you might want to get out the mini wipes, I think your engine has an oil leak.

Hi Mark – Thank You.

Yup, the instruments are cut from plasticard and drilled. Then detailed with bits of PE.

Oil leak? Oh my gosh – hadn't noticed

Mikael

Hi all!

Well, the OEFFAG works have now nearly compleated the interior of the Albatros. Although I had dryfitted the heck out of everything – it turned out that I had made the fit between seat section and firewall a bit tight. I had to trim down the spent cartridgebox to fit. Pedals and stick also got a slightly snugger fit than I had first thoght. (It nearly drove me insane getting them into place – next time I’ll have to think of a different approach here).

I am quite pleased with how its shaping up though...


Here’s the basic cockpit again, this time with belts and leftside panels installed. I only found out after (is’nt that always the case? ) that shoulder belts were probably not standard. However they were installed as a field modification, and I have seen pics that indicates this –soooo they’re staying.


Firewall with tank, and the finished cockpit package, rudderlines and all. You probably cant see them, but there are pulleys etc inplace down there somewhere. I’ll install the guns later, before the upper decking goes into place to minimize any damage when I’m tinkering with the nose and panels. For now the (fire leads?) to the gun are installed to the stick, behind the triggers.


And here is the whole package installed in the fuselage. Map is printed from the computor. I like to leave small signs of life in the cockpit.


Time to close things up.


One last closeup – althogh the front bit will stay open for while longer – perhaps permanently. I am considering leaving one half of the engine panels off. There will also be a bit more detail going in here, such as linkage to the engine etc.

Will hopefully be back with an update soon, although with easter looming it’ll be eating, drinking and meeting relatives, not so much modeling. Any feedback, positive or negative is greatly appreciated.

I am off to consider how to get the nose into shape...

Til next time – thank you for watching

Mikael

Hi Mikael:

The interior is really shaping up nicely. I like the map, neat idea.

Looks good!

Beautiful work! That interior is great! I love the detail.
RAGIII

Thank You guys for your kind and encouraging words.

Build is progressing a bit slow at the moment – I am getting a bit busy outdoors, as early spring is setting in here. Am doing some of the more tedious jobs in front of the TV at the moment. Filling in the seams, and sanding things smooth.

I'll get back when I have some more progress to show.

All the best.

Mikael

Hi everybody

Back again after a bit of a slow time, doing things other than modeling.

This time I’ve been concentrating on what I consider one of the more tedious tasks of building (the other is drilling rigging holes). So here’s a resumé of a lot of fun, filling, filing and fiddling about.

There has also been some construction... The decking covering the guns had to be scratch built, and ofcourse the nosejob itself... It’s all taken a bit of extra time, as I’m also doing my DI in paralell with the OEFFAG, keeping an even pace with the progress on both.


Radiator: The B.A. kit supplies this as a solid resin block, to be sunk through the wing after cutting a rectangular hole, much like the real thing. As the radiator is quite different from the Albatros OAW version, I had no choice, but to follow the B.A. instructions on this one.


After measuring out the location, I taped the borders of what was to be cut out... Then drilled as many holes as I could, being careful to stay inside the taped area on both sides of the wing. The hole was cut using scalpel and a small Tamiya saw, keeping it quite tight to avoid too much filling later on.


After some final filing and fitting, the radiator squeezed in quite snuggly.


Nose: The nose is not quite the right shape heighwise – so apart from adapting it for the its airframe I’m having to make the whole thing a bit taller... Hope my plan works, right now it all looks a bit strange


Using palsticard –trying to reshape things in the front – there will be lots fun, filling and filing here as well. Hope i know what I’m doing here – we’ll see...

Tail: The OEFFAG tail is a bit different in shape, looing more like the later DV.


A plastic rod was bent into shape, creating the outline. This was then filled in with plastic sheet cut to shape.

Body: Nice as the Roden detail on the fuselage is, it’s not appropriate for this DIII type, so... more filling and filing, first removing the louvres and side doors on the nose. They will be replaced later with PE bits.


There’s also the need for some rescribing of panel lines. Althogh the shape of the Austrian DIII is very similar to the German counterpart, some panels are different.

Decking: Here I used as much of the upperdecking as I could from the Roden kit, shaping the access ports with thin plasicard, then... You guessed it, fun filling and filing... The doors were made from PE bits and plastic strips.




To get a clue to how I was doing, I sprayed the panel – Yup, more filling, and filing was needed...

That’s it for now, still some more to do before I can do the scribing and detailing, then finally a basecoat, before the fun really begins...

Til nex time – Thank You for watching. Any comments would be most welcome.

Mikael

Excellent progress so far Mikael . I really like how this project is turning out and the methods you are using for making the changes . Looking forward to seeing how the nose turns out

Mikael,
Glad you're back at work on the OEFFAG D.III. Excellent work my friend.I'm impressed with how you tackled each modification.I'll be looking forward to seeing your next update. By the the way I had forgot to mention earlier in the thread the E.V looks fantastic.Please do post more photos of your E.V project,maybe start a new thread for that project as well.
Regards,
Gregory Jouette

Hi everybody,

Terri – Glad you can see the method to my madness Thank You. I am still struggeling with the nose, but I'll post something on this when I have it looking half decent.

Gregory – Thank You for your kind words. To be honest, it's been a bit of a struggle. Not so much to do it, but to endure what seems a very long and tedious process at the moment. I'm itching to get painting soon! As for the EV, I never took any pics in process – so these are pretty much it.

Best Regrads

Mikael

Hi everybody

Small update today. I had hoped to keep the nose and engine off until most of the exterior was painted, but I realised this was’nt going to work. Soooo, before intalling the guns, I did some more detailing on the engine, adding pipes and throttle linkage plus some wiring. Plus I needed a break from all that filling and filing.

The eagleeyed might see a very pronounced step in the back of the sump Mental note: dryfit, dryfit, dryfit, and then do it some more...





With this the upperdecking can go into place, and the nose for its final shaping (I hope)

Til next time – Thank You for watching – Comments, Questions or Critique most welcome

Mikael

Mikael,
Great progress my friend.Your engine detail is excellent.How about more photos of it ,both sides?I looking for good engine details for a upcoming Phonix C.I project. Another vacuform project. Keep up our excellent work.I looking forward to seeing how the nose cap comes out.
Regards,
Gregory Jouette

Outstanding work and attention to detail. Plus I echo everyone elses comments too.

Keith

Super job so far ! The shades of colours and weathering is spot on

Hi everyone – Thank You for your kind words – your praise makes me try even harder

Gregory, here's another pic of the engine. The only one I took of this side, and unfortunately a bit out of focus Hope you find it useful. The throttle linkage connects to the bulkhead from that joint between third and fourth cylinder.




Best Regards

Mikael

Hi Mikael:

Good to see you back on this project. It seems to be coming along. I know a lot of filling and fillling, but your attention to detail and overall effort will pay off with a great looking model. As to the engine, the sump won't be even be noticeable, your weathering and detail to the engine is really noteworthy. Keep the motivation high.

Best

Mark

Hi Mark,

Good to hear from you! Thank You for your comments and praise, I think I'm over the hump with this one, it's beginning to be fun again

How's that DII coming along? It would be great if you wanted to post something... I am tempted by this one – it would potentially almost complete my lineup of Albatros scouts, together with my, as yet, unbuilt WNW DVs. (all that would be left would be a W.4 and DIV – and that last one almost does'nt count).

The Encore kit is very expensive this side of the pond though... Suppose I could get another Roden DI and do the changes myself?

All the best

Mikael

Very nice, the painting of the engine is very realistic. Looking forward to more.

Mark

Hi Mikael: It is coming along. I haven't taken in progress shots, and I have the fuselage all buttoned up and ready to paint. I will take some pictures tonight of where I am and then post some in progress shots. I am not real fond of PE, and I have a lot I haven't used. It would be challenging, but not difficult to a DII out of the Roden DI. The struts need to be shortened, (I think), you would have to put the radiator in the upper wing and the piping, that is about it as far as I can tell. Roll Models has them for $52.90, I don't know what shipping would be Sweden. If I could help get you one, let me know, as John Roll is a member of the Twin Cities Aero Historians and is at the meetings on a monthly basis, albeit I won't be at the May meeting.
Take care and keep those pictures coming.

Best
Mark

Mikeal, I'm impressed by your workmanship here. I'm amazed at how well it's comming together. Mine never look this good in progress and certainly not when I'm done.

Keep up the good work!

Hi Mark Good to hear your Albatros is progressing. Thanks for your kind offer – I'll keep it in mind. At the moment I'm a bit overspent on my hobbybudget with WNW models (Are'nt we all?) So I'll keep a low profile on adding to the stash for a while.

Hope to se a build thread from you soon!

Best Regards

Mikael

Hi Mark and Mark – Thank You for your kind words, they are much apreciated.

I'm putting on PE and giving the nose its final shape at the moment. Have also scribed some new panel lines – almost ready for priming...

I'll post something of my progress as soon as I can manage it.

Best Regards

Mikael

Hi everybody

Finally time for another update on the Austrian nosejob. I am finally in the painting stages, and none too soon. All the sanding has started to make my hands all dry and rough

To get the nose in shape, it was time to glue it into place and take it from there. I first added a thin plastic strip - slightly banana shaped to fit around the nose, where it met the fuselage. This gave me a step and wrap around feeling of the noseshield to the fuselage – like the real thing – rather than just an engraved line.



Then some more filling and sanding. All PE details and new scribed lines are now also in place.



I primed the whole thing using Tamiya ” sand yellow” out of a rattle can, which is my prefered way to do it.





This ofcourse revealed more that needed filling and sanding – Sigh

In progress shots of the CDL taking shape on the wings – I am going for an all wood/linnen finish on this one – which seem the most common paintjob on these planes. I have a couple of marking options in mind, but more on that later.

The images came out quite a bit more dark and yellow than what it actually looks like. With a bit more blending and weathering I think it’ll be OK...





Til next time – Thank You for watching – As always – all kinds of comments are most welcome

Mikael

Looking good so far Mikael. There is one of these in the Squadron catalog for a mere $100.00 some dollars. Not sure if I want to pop that much for one but after seeing your build it is tempting. I would some how have to get it past the G.F.though.
Your linen look is convincing.
Best

Mark