Hi everyone,

This will be my attempt at finishing the earlier build submitted in the previous KoTS 2012 GB. Some of you may know, but the end of year was hard on me... With my mum's death, and with change of job - which affects the hobby greatly, I am very modest in my intention for the build. I will probably have some time during the late evenings to get the best out of limited "leisure" time, and try to relax by the bench. Although the interesting details regarding the project are already contained and reported in my previous build (therefore the link), I thought it wise to start the new one... I hope to finish it by the end of campaign, and I hope some more free time during the summer. Depending on the outcome of this build, I might decide to go with another entry during the year. For now I am satisfied with the opportunity to hang with you wonderful people on the EA forum... it was great the first time, and I don't see a reason why it couldn't be again!

Wish you all the best with your builds as well!

Entoni

Good to see you back building Entonio and I remember this build very well. Lifes unpleasantries and difficulties befall us all I'm glad to see you getting some leisure time to build again

Keith

Welcome to the GB!

Hi Entoni,

Glad to see you back to the hobby desk. I do remember your beautiful build in the last GB, look forward to see more of that Albatros of yours!

Mikael

Hi everyone,

The life got between me and my hobby... I won't waste words, and just inform you about the progress. After many, many weeks of not being able to get to the modeling cave, I was desperate to continue with the Albie. As you would suspect, it was thoroughly stripped off from the last GB, and I had to start from almost bare fuselage. I tried to replicate the wood grain at the bottom fuselage using the RB Production airbrush wood grain stencil - which is simply perfect. First I applied the base coat of Tamiya buff, and then attacked it with the stencil and a light coat of winsor&newton burnt sienna ink (diluted with water). It provided perfect shades of orange, and the photos may conceal the actual beauty of the shades! When it was all dry, I applied one light coat of vallejo varnish, which toned it down. The end result is quite pleasing!

But more than that, I am just happy that I found some time for the hobby... now I need to keep it going!







All the best,
Entoni

Terrific woodgrain Entoni. I have a stencil however have not had a chance to use it yet. Seeing your results here I certainly will be trying it on the next wood finish.
Hope things settle down for you and you get more time for the model bench, and nice to see you getting active again!
Cheers,
Lance

That certainly is a great portrayal of wood grain.
Looks fantastic,
Julian

Entoni, the photos clearly show the fine woodwork effect. I admire your work greatly, and am hopeful to see more. Well done, indeed.

Hi,

and thanks for the comments! I discovered that inks really do the work. This requires a bit of practice, and it is necessary to protect the final layer with a coat of varnish (ink is not water resistant!); nevertheless, the shades that you can achieve with inks is simply gorgeous. Although I was carried out to have the fuselage impeccably covered with the grain effect, it's a terrible waste of time because the upper deck, the port, and the starboard side will be covered by the green mottle camo. However, I needed some practice with inks I will be adding details to the fuselage once the paint is dry.

All the best,
Entoni

Hi,

After experimenting for awhile, I finally found my way with the inks. I hope to describe the method in the upcoming feature, where I will try to summarize some of the tips that will help you to ink your wood grain. Here I will post some of the in-progress and finished pictures, and the "wood grain stage" for the fuselage is officially finished. Now I will start adding details to the wood. Please, tell me what you think... Having in mind the scale of this kit, I think the wood effects are quite pleasing.













All the best,
Entoni

Damm! That is wood alright.
Entony, does that W&N ink flow ok in your airspray gun?

All the best
Pedro

Nice bit of paint work!

Bloody good job Enotni, it looks superb. Can't wait to see the "how to" feature.

Hi everybody,

I am very glad that you like the effect. It wasn't easy, and it took some time to experiment. However, nice results can be achieved with a bit of patience and practice. The most advantageous feature of inks (and also the most problematic one!) is the fact that you can easily wash them off and start again if you are not pleased with the results. This also means that you will have to protect the final result with a coat of varnish.

Radu's wood grain stencil is just perfect! You need some time to adjust to it and get the feeling, but it yields wonderful results. I decided to use burnt sienna and orange inks, because you get different shades of raw wood grain. I apply inks with my Harder&Steenbeck Grafo T2 airbrush, which is is a premium side feed airbrush for fine, microfine and detail work developed specifically for graphic designers. I use low psi, because inks have low viscosity and can be diluted with water. The best results are achieved if you slightly raise the stencil above the panel and spray a light mist of ink through it. As you can see on the finished model, I learned the technique gradually, so not every single panel is perfect. Because I will apply camo pattern latter on the upper fuselage, as well as port and starboard, I wasn't too picky about the results. But If you want to achieve uniform result, than it requires a bit more patience.

However, I am pleased with your comments, and (given the time constraint) will try to finish a "how to" feature soon.

All the best,
Entoni

PS. Damn, how it is good to be able to steal some time an model again!!

Entoni,
Magnificent wood work. I'm looking forward to your Tutorial, I have the RB Stencils and look forward to your detailled version of how to use them, but enjoy your real modelling time first. Welcome back, your results are spectacular as before!
Cheers,
Lance

Hello Sr.

Like allways it is a great model, and a very dedicated pint job...! Really it is...!

But to my... (I'm not an expert) the stencils paterns are/looks a little beat thick... ( Can we says "THICK" to descrive a paint patern...? )

the woodgrain looks very very nice, I'm not tolking about "Half millimetre fatally flawed"... but, may be in 1:32 scale will works better...?

I don't know... I belive is a matter of taste...

What do you think...?

Thanks You Very Much

Diego

Hi Diego,

Thanks for the comments, which are always welcome. I do agree with you that the representation might be a bit exaggerated in this scale, and it would probably yield better results in larger scale. However, it still looks far better (I think) than some decals with very odd wood patterns and colors that just look printed on. This works better for me, and it may be a matter of personal taste. However, since the beginning of this project I've been experimenting with different techniques, and the motivation behind it is very straightforward: I hope my findings could be also beneficial to other modelers.

@Lance: It's great to be back, at least for an hour a day! The feature is ready, I just need to edit and upload some photos!

All the best,
Entoni

The wood grain is pretty cool. I hadn't heard of those stencils before. Do they make any suitable for smaller scales?

That is very beautiful Entoni, this will be a fantastic looking Albatros when you're done!

Mikael

Hi everybody,

After a freezing business trip to West Sussex and London past week, I somehow managed to get myself together again and do something before the Easter. Unfortunately, the trip was very hectic and I didn't have time to visit anything in London, so I was a bit frustrated on the way back. As I am slowly readying the Albie for the camo application, I had to recreate all the inspection hatches and aluminum parts that were sanded off the fuselage. I may have made several mistakes along the way, but I am pleased with the end results. Most of it was burnished aluminum foil, but the hatches were made out of tin foil. This is the final stage before I apply the camo (I see mistakes coming!), and I will try to gain some confidence during Easter holidays and rest before I delve onto it! Here are just some of the most recent photos:

















All the best, and happy Easter!

Entoni

So who needs all that fancy photo-etch stuff anyway? That looks fantastic!

Hi,

Thr HGW PEset for the albatros is good...! (I got one)

But, You don't need it...!!!!

Cool, keep on teaching...

Thanks...

Diego

Hi,

...and thanks for your comments! Well, necessity is the mother of invention! When you spoil things, you have to think about plan B. I really didn't want to give up on this model, so I had to be inventive... I always encourage people to invest in quality tools - everything you see is done by a set of punches, tin and aluminum foil, and Verlinden scribing templates. There are so many things that we can do without fancy and expensive PE (though I like it myself!), you just need some practice and a lot of patience... the lent was also a good season for practice The crown comes with the Easter!

All the best,
Entoni

I just marvel at those inspection hatches. Fine Fine work Entoni.

Clean cuts on the cable entries on the fuselage too!