Wow, I hope this isn't contagious. Gotta head to Hallmark and see if there is a card for this malady.

Marc,
Fedex him a good bottle of "Red" in lieu of the card, good for the soul and make sure it's got a foil seal to add to the scratch stash.

Mark,
The weather is a de-motivator everywhere this year; we got beautiful hot dry days, the down side ferocious winds and wildfires; lost a whole town this week (Slave Lake) I'm about to post a progress report after a nearly 2 week stall; hope you get cracking again soon as I have been following your build with interest.

Cheers,
Lance

Hi again Mark.


I had not seen the progress of your Albatros, The Wing Nut kitsare impressive models. The trouble is that the 1/32 scale is not very to my liking, but that if the details and that engine were impressive


We will continue to outstanding advances.


Luis Antonio

Greetings all:

I am keeping the thread alive. I haven't done anything on the Albatros since April. Summer finally arrived after a horrible winter and then the pump that provides water in basement leaked water all over the basement, so it is all tore up and has been since the 4th of July. I will be tackling it once the basement is put back together and I make repairs on the existing fleet. Contractors aren't real fussy about moving stuff.
I am enjoying seeing the builds unfold and comment accordingly.
Best to all and continue with the great inspirational work.

Mark

Hi Mark.

Sounds like you and I are on the same ship, modeling-wise. I'm dealing with contractors too, during a major 1:1 reno. Not much time available for the D.III.

Glad you are keeping us in the loop, and looking forward to future progress on your wonderful D.V.. Please give us lots of words and pictures, as we are trying to learn what the experts can give us.

Mark,
Wow I can't believe I missed this thread until now.Still must slightly stoke addled.Anyway excellent work to date my friend.Now that I found this I;ll be on the look out for your next update.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

We look forward to your return to the build.

Now you know why there is a punchline to a joke..." I even had to go to hell to get a contractor!"

Greetings all.

I should be back on the Albatros this week, house is pretty much in order and the model room and desk is almost organized. I know the end of the KOTS is coming up and I want to get this done for that.
Looking forward to getting back at it.

Best

Mark

WB to the bench Mark. Yes the close of the campaign is looming but don't worry you aint the only one with lots to do.

Mark,
Nice to see you almost back in business and looking forward to your updates. BTW, how about a few Pics of your new set up when ready; I may be looking at a move in future and the more ideas for a purpose built room the better. I havn't viewed one on this site yet that didn't have at least several great ideas to consider "if and when".
Cheers,
Lance

HI Lance:

Thanks for the welcome, and I will post some pics. It is nothing spectacular, just a desk, I cleaned the drawers out for paint and supplies but will post some pics per your request. The place has been in chaos so long I still have a ways to go, but hopefully by the weeks end or Sunday. That is the goal.

Take care

Mark

Wonder if this one will go into next years Getter Done campaign..

Good luck...

Hello Mark,

Great to hear you're back on track – looking forward to your continuation of this project.

Best Regards

Mikael

Okay Folks:

I am back in business: I don't know if I will get this done in time, but I will be posting pics none the less.
The new work area:

I got the fuselage painted, more photo's as I progress:

And the wing roots.:


What I am finding out, is how perishable my modeling skills are. It has been since April since I worked on this model, and I can tell a lot of rust has set in. The skills do come back however, I am glad that I got most of the small work out of the way and am now in the 'final' stages. More to follow.

Best

Mark

Mark,
Thanks for posting the photos of your desk..........as I said earlier there's always some great idea that's not been thought of. In this case, the small tackle box, might reduce the similarity of my work space to a "bomb went off here" scene. Looks like you work on a limited surface as well but far less cluttered then mine. I'll be digging around in the garage and giving the idea a try.
The Albie is coming along nicely!

Cheers,
Lance

Hi Lance:

Thanks for scoping out the blog and the comments about the desk. Yes, my work area was reduced by the adding of an a/c unit in the work room. I will manage though. I have been following your Dr.I blog as well for further inspriation and ideas.

Take care

Mark

Okay, a littel more progress this evening. I got the guns painted, somehow, unbeknownst to me, the flash supressor came off one of the guns, so.......a dilemna.


The fuselage is done painted, now awaiting Pheon Decals red trim to the tail and stabilizer surfaces. The green looks awfully bright to me, but it is what WNW calls out for in the instructions for the Jasta 5 a/c.

I painted the underwing surfaces of the lower and upper wings Humbrol 64 as called out in the instructions. WIll be doing pre-shading tomorrow

That's all for tonight. I am happy with the progerss, and am confident I can have this ready by the end of the GB.

Best

Mark.

Seasonal Greetings Mark,

This DV is looking really sharp – from the looks of it the modeling rust was not too severe at all!

Best Regards and a Merry Christmas

Mikael

HEllo Mikael:

Thanks for stopping and checking out the progress and a Merry Christmas and prosperous New year to you as well.

The rust is there, just not real evident. I had to reorganize my work space so I am in the process of getting acquainted with the new locations of stuff, but; being a Marine I can adapt and overcome.

Best

Mark

Looking sharp.Mark. I think the green is fine, once the decals are on it will tone down with a little wear n tear nicely.

Back with a vengeance though I see... good on ya mate

Keith

Hello Keith:

Thanks for checking it out. The more I see the green the better it looks. I will be decaling this evening and post more pictures.

Take care

Mark

I am enjoying this build Mark. The green is a bit bright but remember they used whatever they could. Often when the military stocks & stores could not supply what was needed. And the unit hack was detailed with the unit scrounger to go to the nearest large city or depot to acquire the needed supplies.

Thanks Stephen: I remember as a young Marine at Camp Pendleton painting radios a godawful shade of "Marine Corps Green" as it was scrounged by our com chief and he wanted the radios to look pretty. "Any port in a storm". I am going to experiment with light mists of Tamiya smoke and see if that tones it down a bit. So far so good.

Thanks again

Mark

Greetings everybody: I hope that you all had a very merry Christms. We had a great time here at the house. Anyway, some updates. I got the fuselage decaled. I am using the Pheon sheet, and the red stripes for the tail were a perfect fit. I was a bit leary, but after an attempt at masking I decided to try it and they went on quite well. I also tried some weathering this time and highighting with oils and water washes using India Ink. I am content with the effort.

Here I tried some weathering on the wheels.

Here is phase one of rigging the landing gear. I used Bob's Buckles Turnbuckles and an optivisor, which really works slick.

And lastly an example of the Pre-shading. I wasn't going to do it as the undersides are painted, but thought I would do it anyway.

Now it is waiting for the paint to dry, decal, and finish assembly. I am hoping to have it done by the deadline.
Thanks for stopping by.

Best

Mark

Looking good Mark!