Excellent work, Lance. Very inspiring.

Looking forward to see more.

Finally an update and report on progress; going hard now to meet the 30 August deadline!
I've got some minor cleaning up to do and a few minor repairs, then on with the upper wing and into rigging mode. The wings and empennage are merely dry fitted for posing at this point.
The extra plumbing of the fuel lines was completed, I'll be "de-fuzzing" the lines on the starboard side and adding a little oily wash. The 3 lines that are routed back to the cockpit fuel control panel were added along with the drain line and valve on the port side (right of the photo)

Engine in place with the oil tank added......

The radiator installed in the wing top (and bottom) Still have to install the lever and rod for the lower radiator louvres. I since broke off the venturi tube on the front of the pressure tank (clumsy oaf!)however have a replacement made from a Spandau muzzle drilled out and ready for later. Also the pressure line (as noted in the WNW "Building the Albatros DV/Va Book) was added.

The fuselage masked for some opposing panels to recieve a different tint of black for contrast (I elected a couple of dark brown tinted Nato Blacks- Tamiya)

The Tamiya tape worked well, only one very small chip over the overpainted fuselage cross on the right side lifted off, a quick and easy touch up. After yet another light spray of Modelmaster Acryl Semi Gloss and a few days to dry I applied various tones of grey soft pastel, well rubbed in and buffed and really like the effect. The panel lines are now visible and the "sheen" varies overall to give the fuselage some definition and a weathered effect. The chipping/weathering was applied using the Hairspray method with a little dry brushing here and there. I'll have to do a bit more to cover up a few scratches I missed when re-scribing some panel lines.



As luck would have it I'm off to work for a week tomorrow however I hope to at least get the minor stuff done today and mount the upper wing.
Thanks for looking and comments/suggestions welcome as always.
Cheers,
Lance

Lance shes coming together real Nice, the black looks nicely worn in already. I'm not going to say.... Oh you missed ... cos I'm not that evil and besides You havent missed anything... but... no...

You going to prerig the lower mounting points before adding the upper wing?

BTW if you wonder what happened to my AMS Albie, its plodding along, times tight atm and succumbing to another D.V iin a moment of weakness didnt help, so theres 2 on the bench at once.

I hope you make the deadline my friend. I take it the *How to build the WNW albie book is worth the money then?

Keith

Keith,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. Yes, I'll be anchoring all the interwing etc. wires first; worked very well on my last(SE5a) and it's the best way to get a leg up on the rigging sequence.
I too hope I make the deadline; my McCudden SE was finished so quickly I thought I'd easily have time for a second build for the Campaign, didn't factor in the "mini jobette" which grew to 16-18 days per month from the proposed "3 to 5". Hopefully I'm going to either slow down or get smart, I keep yapping about retirement and yet can't seem to stay home!
Regarding the WNW "How To" book, I definitely recommend it. In addition to great illustrations and lots of "hard copy" TVAL shots there are lots of solid reminders and recommendations as well. It in no way replaces good (perhaps "anal") research and planning however it's a great compliment to the studied approach most of us practice.
Last, I've enjoyed this kit so much I ordered another DVa; now have a Roden/Encore DII and 2 DVa's in the stash, a DIII in the display case and this one in progress. Turning into a bit of an "Albaholic" but the company is great!
Cheers,
Lance

Welcome to the dark side! We ave cookies!

Brilliant progress Lance, I really like the looks of what you've achieved so far!

Oh, one can never have too many Albies – I have six on display, and four in the stash, with some other "crazy" plans to boot! (Mad laughing)

Mikael

Thanks Mikael. I planned to go "dirty" on this one and, like most of us, tend to get really self critical and introspective at times....."is it too far to the other extreme" he says in quieter moments and shakes his chipping and soiling brushes?? Natural I suspect but very heartening to get favorable views from others in the fraternity!
As for the Albatros fascination she is probably, overall, the prettiest of our subjects, and no end of finishes.
Thanks again, and
Cheers,
Lance

Hello Lance:

I like the subtle (dirt) I am not a big fan of weathering my models, albeit I do admire those that have "the look". Your work on the engine compartment is outstanding, are you going to leave it exposed? I like the lozenge. I have the Pheon sheet which is one piece per side, save time and aggrevation. I like the scheme. I was not enamoured with black schemes, but after doing the Degelow Pfalz, I have warmed up to them and another one may be on the shelf at some time.
Looking forward to seeing you wrap this up. I need to get on my Nie-17 and finish it up. I doubt I have more than 4 hours worth of work to do it. My band schedule is unrelenting, with Fri-Sat nights the next two weekends. Takes its toll. Seeing the work here is inspiring.


Take care

Mark

Hi Lance,

I was so busy and out of order for quite a time, so I didn't have time to peep for other builds around. I must say it really wraps up nicely, and the scheme is fabulous (the scary look of the skull notwithstanding). I also share your dilemmas on weathering, although yours look quite nice. It is a bit hard for me to judge, since my field of interest are mostly the WWII Luftwaffe airplanes. I am still learning a great deal of techniques and approaches in this modeling niche thanks to the wonderful and outstanding support from the guys around the EA subforum. So far, I did find chalk pastels my favorite choice. It really provides me with some level of control (you can wash it off any time), it blends in perfectly and gives some of the nicest color saturation. But not going deep into theory, I really like the Albie and you are doing great job with it.

All the best,
Entoni

See Lance? I told you I'd make it back here soon.


I swear I live in the same house as you - every time I get anywhere near my workbench or this computer my 'honey do' list grows and somehow morphs into a 'Honey what are you doing in there, did you finish [x,y,x,z,z1,x4]' etc.


I LOVE what you managed to do with the pastels - certainly a lost art these days, really breaks up the colour and adds a lot of depth (I was tempted to call lozenge 'monotonous', surely THAT is ironic). No one seems to use pastels anymore (guilty as charged). I was actually just about to reply to your email and suggest my usual mix of Tamiya red/brown mixed with nato black and then heavily thinned and airbrushed along the same lines - but you clearly have things well under control.


I read your post about your fear of losing your sense of flow an missing something - that's my current predicament, and so using that as my excuse (and a little "Well, Uncle Lance made a good point that..." never hurt) I shall return to the model table to fight through some plumbing of my own.

The GB cutoff is now extended to Sept.14, 2012. Model On!

Thanks to the extended cutoff date for KoTS II I have finished this, my second entry, to the Campaign.
I had a limited time to complete this build by the 14th of the month so "in Progress" updates were precluded; I'll try to provide some details of the work completed lately.
This WNW Kit proved to be a joy to build, great fit throughout. She definitely has some warts, all courtesy of the builder, however I learned a lot along the way and will put those lessons to work on the DVa Build I have planned for the Spring when I hope to unleash a storm of "AMS" on a Build for entry in the Western Canadian IPMS Regional Contest slated for early June of 2013 in Calgary.
I'll be entering these final updates in several posts as the I'Net seems slow this morning and I don't want to loose and have to repeat posts. The photography is not the greatest, I'll take some new overall shots for the Campaign Thread. Update #1 to follow..........
Cheers,
Lance

I forgot to mention that I will need to build a display base (probably 3 or 4) for this and subsequent Builds. Also, I have ordered my standard brass nameplate from the engraver and should have it in a week or two.
The first area completed was the engine section. A few more bits of plumbing were added at the front, guns installed, and the upper cowlings (3 of four displayed "removed") were cut, overlaps added, and weathered. The guns are spare Roden breech blocks with Master PE parts added.


The flight control surfaces were added using brass pins and posed to match the contol column in the cockpit. The rigging eyelets were CA'ed into pre-drilled holes in the lower wing and lower rigging lines and buckles attached. I used 2# test monofil (0.13mm) fishing line and Bob's Buckles excellent eyelets and buckles. With that completed the upper wing was installed. Here I made my first error; the port "N" strut was not completely seated in the notch on the edge of the engine area frame, an error I didnt pick up on until, in my judgement, too late to repair.(the wing was on and rigging completed) Ultimately this contributed to a slightly bent forward "N" strut which might go un-noticed however I know it's there, Damnit! If you look at the forward "N" Strut in the photo below you can see the "WOW" in it.

That completes Update Final #1, "nuther" to follow shortly.
Cheers,
Lance

"Horst, you verdammt cow-handed dumkopf! I told you to do it right! That's it, you're on Hangar sweeping duty all month! What's the world coming to? I need riggers, not farmboys who think a delicate adjustment is done with a sledgehammer!"

Final Update #2
Before installing the upper wing the control mechanism for the radiator shutters was built using scrap PE , wire, and a scratch built plastic control handle. The windshield (kit version) was added which, on the next Albie, will be scratch built as the kit version is a little heavy in appearance. I also removed the venturi on the Radiator pressure tank and replaced it with one made from a drilled out spare spandau muzzle. The 4 aileron control wires, two radiator water lines, and mirror were installed once the wing installation was completed. A Waldron Punch Set produced a foil lense for the mirror with an Aeroscale Bezel added. The line from the front of the engine to the radiator had to be scratched as well as "Mr. Fumblefingers" managed to break it during painting of the rubber and clamp fittings.

The photo above documents gaff number two in this build; the feed chute for the left Spandau doesn't meet the breech opening. I noted this on installing the guns, made a "note to self" but unfortunately didn't read said note until the wing was on and access too difficult to correct the problem. Senility brought on by AMS induced excitement as we neared the finish line no doubt!?!?


That completes this portion of the completed update. I'll send another along shortly.
Cheers,
Lance

Well said Jessie. Maybe a week or four of sweeping duties will lose some of the weight from my fat fingers and I'll get it right next time!!

Cheers,
Lance

Final Update Version #3
With the upper wing and all connected hardware attached the rigging was completed. I used Mr. Metal Colour "Steel" to paint the wires and left the buckles in natural brass. The landing gear was assembled and fit like a glove, kudos to WNW for supurb engineering of the Kit. Last, the weathering was completed with pigments and washes adding dirt and some oil stains to the drain holes on the belly of the fuselage. The rigging, particularly on the landing gear, really firmed things up. The last two tasks were then completed, adding the three engine compartment access panels from the Eduard PE Set for the DIII and the last two wing bracing wires from the nose to the lower V Strut locations.



Final "final" to follow shortly........
Cheers,
Lance

Final "Final" Update.
Overall this build went quite well, it's a magnificent Kit and I'm looking forward to the DVa (two!) that I've stashed. With the exception of the poor fit of the ammo chutes to the gun breeches and some fussing to get the guns mounted the kit is, in IMHO, perfectly engineered and absolute top drawer quality. I'm not sure what I think about the Microsculpt Fabric decals I applied over the lozenge; the weathering I added seems to cover most of the effect thus, on a "clean" built model it would be better........hard to tell. It did produce a few patches of silvered air traps later, no doubt a more careful approach next time will cure that problem.
Here's a few overall shots to wrap it up. I'll try for some better ones later to post to the KoTS II Site and maybe add a few more here. This was my first attempt to use mainly acrylics (Tamiya) and I quite like them airbrushed however i found the opposite for hand brushing. The purple in these appears more "blueish" then in real life.
The first photo shows the heavy weathering I wanted to achieve with this build, many don't lean towards this "style" but I prefer it. Not to say I don't truly appreciate and admire clean builds; as I said earlier with my skills this finish better hides minor flaws which a "Clean Builder" doesn't commit!
Last, I am definitely going to add a shot of the cockpit fuel control panel drain line added to the starboard wing root just to thank Kornbeef for reminding me of it!








Thanks for looking and the encouragement received throughout, and comments and observations (no age jokes please!) most welcome. I really enjoy these Campaigns/ Group Builds, learn greatly from them, and look forward to the next version. In a perfect world Wingnut will release their DVII and precipitate at least a mini one subject version soon. In the absence of any other topic a KoTS III would be just great with me!
Cheers,
Lance

Absolutely brilliant finish Lance, she is looking mighty fine. Love the weathering overall and the wheels especially! Congratulations!

Best Regards

Mikael

Very Striking Lance: Turned out very nice. It is a simple scheme but your painting, shadowing and subtle weathering really make this a stand out model.

Outstanding work my Friend.

Best

Mark

Nicely done!

A Big Ditto to the above, EXCELLENT !

Mikael, Mark, Stephen and Edward,
Thanks very much for the positive feedback, bolsters the confidence and is motivational as well. I'm not sure what I'll tackle next but the "short list" contains the Pfalz DIIIa and DXII. I've got a month to ponder the choice, the Annual Moose Hunt is only 17 days away. (Whose counting, not me ??!?)
Cheers,
Lance

Albilishus Lance.

Keitn

Thank you Sir Kornbeef. Coming the the greatest Albieholic with a side of AMS that I know of I'll take that as a compliment!
Cheers,
Lance