I have to say, whoever designed this master for the kit & its motor did a great job.

The only problem with any Eduard Alb. D kit (except this one) is that they line up the panel edge intersections to meet. The side wall panel edges should be noticeably off from the spine and under belly panels. In short this kit gets it right. Image courtesy Koloman Mayrhofer
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Hello Stepehn,

Just got stuck into this thread – very interesting indeed, and good looking too! You're certainly adding food for thought for me... I do want another OEFFAG in the collection...

Best Regards

Mikael

Now this is very interesting information indeed, I have often studied the sworls on the wings and wondered how the fabric was applied... It looked far to "even" to be done like the German loz, I figured it might have been done by matching the bolts exactly. Never occurred to me that the rolls were that wide... Probably a silly question... Was the covering done spanwise or chordwise?

Mikael

Greetings Mikael.

From the image in the Cross & Cockade Intl Vol 19 #2 it was spanwise there but being fabric and having shortages to finish an airframe they might have tried some "matching" cuts.

Now here is abit of fun with the HGW wood grain decals. I am working on the review also.

Thank You Stephen for answers – You've got some very fine texturing going on with the fuselage. I do like the lighter panel – gives the whole thing a bit more depth and interest.

Agree about the Austro Daimler, its looking very fine. Are you aware of anyone doing this as an A.M. in 1:32? I think Karaya has one in 1:48... Same question regarding Schwartloze guns?

Best Regards

Mikael

Not in 1:32 (Eduard we need an aftermarket conversion!) But here is the Karaya 1/48 aftermarket kit of the Austro Diamler 200hp inline six. This basic motor and its resulting upgrades were installed in many later war Austro - Hungarian single seat fighters and two seat reconn, bombers and observation aircraft. At this writin it maybe OOP.


http://www.jadarhobby.waw.pl/karaya-e4801-austro-daimler-200hp-p-9699.html

or the home site. Here.

Here is the other side of the Eduard Alb. D.III Oeffag with the HGW woodgrain decals. Now on this side the darker panels are the transparent grain #548009 and the lighter ones are the white backed sets #548010.

Second that indeed – or perhaps even better – Eduard can upscale their OEFFAG Albatros series... I would buy two at least

Mikael 

Engine & gun tubes (brass) installed.


Aluminum areas painted. Mirage Sworl decal looks alright.

The landing gear does not measure up.


Here I cut some extended brass from Aeroclub "STRUTZ".


Next the kit wing axle is also replaced to have a strengthened axle.

Here the landing gear is brought together The axle is trapped like the oriinal.


Wings and rigging next.

Hello Stephen  –You're really making progress with this one. Looking real sharp too! I'm slowly starting some research, for a possible future sworled subject in 1:32.

However, even though I have some good sources at hand, I find it hard to locate any profiles on the 253, using sworls. Any pointers to where I can look? (I have the Osprey Aces, and the Japo Oeffag publications)

Also, was the sworls applied to the undersides of the wings as well?

Best Regards

Mikael

Greetings Mikael!

There are precious few images of the 253 series in Sworl camouflage within the public domain. Mostly we see these in the post war months in Polish service. Probably in autumn leaf colors.

Many of the other post Nov. 1918 airframes were over painted makng me think they did not have much camouflage to begin with.

Some of the Americans wrote their biographies Fauntlaroy and Cooper to name two. They decribe some of the machines and there are a few photo images.

Thank You Stephen – I'll look out for some of the american biographies if I can. It seems that the austrian air service did'nt document as much as their German counterpart.

Meanwhile I'll keep enjoying your build

Mikael

Thank you Mikael,

Usually I spend a couple hours a day working on a project. Lots going on in the family (as with any or all of us) it helps to flush the hard parts of the day and spend some quite hours working on a build.

This "weekend" kit was purely plastic until I started seeing the various aftermarket items available. Last night I added to PE extras from the spares drawer. I have some left overs from other Albatros projects and erasing the center line seam leaves me looking for access hatches, reinforcement plates for rigging and strut locations. Also the recently acquired "STRUTZ" brass rod let me replce the landing gear legs resulting in a more inscale appearance.

The overall wing profile of the Autro - Hung machine seem a lot thinner than the German version. Eduard has caught this nicely. But I just wish there was a more solid anchor to the lower wing socket into the fuselage. I may have to use brass wire in pinning these too. Strength equals longevity. This means stronger joints create a longer lasting build.

Still I must set the upper & lower wings and their struts and paint the kit propeller. Datum and serial decals for the fuselage. Crosses for the wings and rudder, water plumbing and rigging.

Also there are a couple of figures that I may be able to use from our own Peter Plattner.







The new distributor for Hecker & Goros to the areas outside Europe is WMM and they also sent some of their fine pieces.

The sworl camouflage fabric was only on th upper surfaces.

Also from page 5 of the review, "When constructing “biplanes or triplanes ” whatever scheme you decide to do, remember to leave the top wing,(PP D 4 ) upper surface and the lower wing (PP D 1 & 8 ) under surface unfinished. Why you ask? These are the areas that you need to apply glue to. An open flat surface is easier to work with than the narrow area between the wings. . ."

Now with this build and the Sworl I decided to go against my own directive. I added the Sworl first the worked o the wings and have just finished adding the top wing tonight. While this sets up I am prepping some decal pieces to act as repairs to the areas where I know the decal will need it after the rigging is completed.

Also while I went ahead and used the kit cabane & interplane struts on this build I am not a fan of their upper wing cabane attachments.

Thank You again for answers Stephen – Those figures look interesting.

I've scanned the net a bit for Austrian subjects, and they seem a bit thin on the ground. Strange really as Austria-Hungary was a major player in the war. Guess though that the k.u.k. was not very prolific compared with Imperial Germany...

Mikael

Almost finished. Crosses & Datum then a touch up.

Working on the final applications to this build. I am finding that the upper wing crosses are usually not outlined in white even with the Sworl camouflage. Though there were examples that had the white border these were thought to be added at the front. Undersurface and rudder crosses do seem to have white borders.

Since I am doing 153.265 at its acceptance in May 1918 it won't have any Flik markings. The amount of decal sections I used on this kit (85 pcs) is on par with my efforts with the Microscupt lozenge and factory markings I did on the two 1:48 Fokker D.VII kits (106pcs each kit).

Looking really nice Stephen – those sworls are most fetching!

Mikael

Here is is without any dulling down. From the factory floor lets do the roll out.

Stephen,
Must add my compliments as well..............in a word, beautiful.(and very much one of a kind)

Thanks for sharing,
Lance

Beautiful work Stephen – I think you've captured the look really well – especially the ply body!

Best Regards

Mikael

I bit of good news as I end this build. HGW wants to use my images for their website shots. Mirage has my images of their applied sworl camouflage on their "Facebook" account.