My build for this campaign. Suffering a camera battery ownership battle but hope to post some pictures tomorrow (My wife requisitioned them for the Wii

At the moment torn between profile C & D Buchner J13 & Leusch J19 as I want to leave as many panels off one side as I can

I have to admit to not being able to resist and started a day or two early so need spanking. I've learend from my ealier attept and put those lessons to good use. Watch this space.

Keith

Dam edite and accidentally deleted everything... GRRRRR
Will update shortly, sorry guys Just a bit of a rush at the moment.

Been there done that. . .beau coup times. Welcome to the GB!

Okay no rush now.

So where was I?

Ah yes, this is my subject and below are the profiles.




I've yet to choose from. Both require a little extra work to make the WNW Kit more accurate. The Buchner requires a flare pistol adding. The otLeusch needs a windscreen fabricating. On top of this both will require minor louvre surgery and the spent ammo belt shutes refabricating.

Now progress so far.






The Cylinders have been assembled and proared for some of those lovely Taurus Extras, in fact the manifold nuts are already in place. The exhaust modded using the spare cylinder haf to create the flanges and general mods to the casing. I'm planning a ful uncowl on the carb side and maybe partial open on the other. How the build progresses and fit of parts will determine how it goes.
So I ripped the ammo cans a bit, they were well over scale in thickness and then decided to lose the ammo, it isnt that well represented anyway I thought.

Theres a myriad other mods such as opening the cable exit points etc and some more mods planned so watch this space.

Sorry a couple of the pics are rather fuzzy too. Rush rush before I got caught with the Wii batteries in the camera.


Comments as always welcome.

Keith

anda great range of choices in this build, very refreshing to see.

Hi Keith,

A very nice start, I'll be following your build for sure. The Ammo box looks much better after you thinned it down.

I read somewhere that it was a bit tricky to fit the boxes and tank together, and that if you're not careful it could have repercussions later on. How are you finding it?

Mikael

Yes Mikael thats exactly right, tolerances are tight, no room for paint in the location points and the small stubs and sockets around that area. I've built one already in Loerzers markings as a kind of semi-OOB to get a feel for the build. It pays to assemble the basic frame and keep it in the dryfitted fuselage halves while it sets each stage you do. I havent followed WNW's order of construction on this, no doubt it will bite me in the bum later.


Keith

Looing good Keith, I like the upgrades to the engine.

Mark

Thanks for the heads up Keith. Dryfitting with the fuselage halves, sounds like good advice!

Mikael

Hello Keith,

Very nice work on that engine and cockpit structure. I am currently finishing the engine of this same kit, and tried that tubular cockpit but was surprised to see that some pieces (namely the firewall and fuel tank) had a very hard time to fit in. I'm trying again after unglueing the firewall.
Being my first wingnut kit i assume it is my fault

Gonna follow your build with interest, good work!

Off to a very nice start Keith,
cheers,
Julian

Thanks guys.

Plodded on with her some. Umming and Ahhing about the generator mounting for a while and modding the engine casings proved interesting.




Thinning cowls and trying to slice of louvres without removing everything else is heart in mouth surgery.

But I decided to go for profile D so I made one decision at least. I need to make a windscreen, mod a few bits but I think the colour scheme is best for a cowls off job.

Now something of a complication
Taurus complete timing gear. had me scratching my head till I realised my rocker box assembly appears to me over 1mm too long?

it pushes all the boxes gradually out of alighnment with the valve springs. I'm going so far as to assume I've a rogue set and can mod to suit but anyone else had issues or want to check theirs please do so and let me know. See below for what I mean.

Taurus assy at the top, WNW at the bottom.

Keith

Okay I've been a busy bee when time has allowed. a few mods to the kit so far including those below.



the rad on my reference seems deeper, fuller so I set about modding it using of all things a spare rad from the Hanover kit as the core panels, shortening the cooling pipes a little and reattaching the mountings and fixing the complete assembly to the chin panel. The chin panel has been quite heavily modded, extended to the rear the over scale sides trimmed thinner and sanded to a more scale thickness. the panel behind has been flattened in shape thinned and the front undercarriage/strut mount made sjightly more to scale. Other mods were to the top cowl and fuselage sides to facilitate the lip seen on ALL pics of D.VII's I don't know how or why WNW failed to pick this up.





Okay a brief rundown on the construction of the fuselage.
I constructed the rear section seperately, built it compleyely without the interior module inside. Using Gaspatch 1/48th turnbuckle as terminalls for the control cables (sadly I dropped her on her tail and pulled most these free sighs. NVM)
The WNW fuselage decals were used, cut down to suit the scheme, markings and rigging diagram and the weight table applied along with serial no's taken from profile C then once dry versprayed with blue till the loz and details just shows through, Careful sanding brings the underlying setails out in high wear areas.

Now to the main inner assmbly.

I built this up in skeleton form at first just the firewall and rear panel and side structures with some of the smaller details added and fited everything else one by one finding the fit of the ammo and belt containers to be the cheif culprits on making the assembly bulge. sanding and shaving mounting points and stubs and thinning the top of the rudder support where it fits between the ammo can and the belt container helped. Added the throttle and spark advance rod, the bowdens for the MGs and the secondary throttle cables to both the stick and the throttle quadrant. The seat belts are WNW's but the shoulder belts will be scratche and draped over the turtledeck. One point that had me flumoxed for a while. WNW dictate to use the Albatros Style Dash panel layout. The D.DII anthology states OAW used the Fokker style and theres pics of the NASM OAW machine in th anthology supports this so I went the Fokker route. Luckily the Fokker version has optional decals for the fuel taps I could use from the spares. Airscale decals for the guages and she was good to go.

Now the bone of contention with WNW Lozenge, I had a nightmare, maybe its just me but WNW's lozenge refused to play ball, lifting, cracking and peeling so I soaked it off and purchased some Wood and Wire faded loz. Pics below show the comparisons between the two.
Wod and Wires isnt the easiest to use but the difference in appearance speaks for itself I feel.




I've been working on the motor too but thats top secret in development stuff. A broken in transit cabane is my main concern a time to fit them comes close. Still though much to do in the engine bay before that day comes.

Right back to the grind, just didnt want you think I was slacking off guys and girls.

Keith

Nice progress Keith, and lovely mods as usual. That Lozenge looks very interesting – is the texture already in place OOB so to speak? Strange that the WNW decals did'nt behave themselves – I'll have to see how mine does... Did you prime the wings with gloss paint?

Also very nice effect of the blue/loz see through, just the way I like it

Best Regards

Mikael

Greetings Keith,
To the issue with the reaction of the decals. Are you working with water straight from the tap? Often minerals impede the adherence of decals. If you have a water filter attached to the tap but its not cutting back the minerals it may be faulty or need to be replaced. "Soft" water is best under these circumstances.

As mentiond in previous reviews and as you know the WNW decals are intense and in my opinion need toning down and texure overlay helps. Other companies like Wood n Wires, HGW, and even good old Mirage are following Microsculpt's methods of texturing and even fading. Translucent or white carriers are even being used. HGW just put out their versions in 1:32 and 1:48 in 4 & 5 colour, translucent or white carriers.

By the way your wings are looking very decent. Mayb e you could give us a review of the Wood n Wires loz. decals?

Hi guys and thanks for the feed back

Mikael yes the Wood & wire decals are as they come. Theyre quite translucent so would show preshading very well if you wished to do that. The only real downside is their fragility, rough handling can tear them easly. but when they stick down they don't peel. I don't know why I seem to have such issues with WNW's lozenge, I'm taking Stephen's comments on board though.

Stephen I tend to use preboiled water from the kettle, I've tried prewetting the wings with anything from Microsol through PVA, Klear, even saliva and I still get issues. The hannover wasnt so bad, my first D.VII was okay too but this one.... sighs... I dunnno. I primed and sprayed the flying surfaces with Rattlecan Tamiya white primer and white gloss and got a decent finish. When I went to remove the decals as they werent laying at all how I like I could peel most off dry in sheets. I had thought of keeping them to use for a crash... laughs.

I'll try to find the time to write a personal review of Wood and Wire's decals of course and PM it to you over the next week or so.

On the subject of those decals, if I'd covered my Hannie in Wood & wire lozenge my home done fuselage camo would have been much closer in colour to the flying urfaces... typical

Keith

Looks fantastic Keith,
a bridge too far for me at the moment but sincere compliments for your skills mate,
cheers,
Julian

Awesomeness.

The generator mount recess detail is esp brilliant

Update time. not much to report really. Lots of work, little to show for it. much of the work in fitting the engine to the mounts (to test)

One thing if anyones putting the balance pipe on the right side, you need to mod the centre mount on the mounting bar that side to take it.

So I went a bit mad, decided as most pics of D.VII motors seem to have a different form of distributor so sfter a what seemed promising attempt which turned out pants I had another go. I'm more happy with these.
A lot of small hardly noticeable tweaks and additions so far on the carb side and still lots to do. couplings to paint... dust to blow away... lol

I broke one of the rocker arms sometime I'll fix that issue once I'm closer to calling the motor done. Ekhaust side is lagging behind, to be truthful I was waiting to see how the distributor worked out on that side before deciding whenther to totally or partially or not cowl much of the side.


Anyway heres a few shots.








So thats it so far. still loads to do, drain offs, pipework, etc but I'm happy with her atm more detailed than anything I've done so far engine wise. The next will be full cowled believe me.

Comments and critique always welcome.

Keith

Keith

Fantastic work on this engine! a true project within a project. I truly admire your skills with all those tiny cables, but no doubt it enhances the realism to another level

Cheers

Nice bit of work Keith!

Lovely stuff Keith, as I expected. Your textures, the extra detailing – yes your AMS is serving you well!

Easter greetings all.

Some progress to report.

Some pics to post.

Some eggs to eat. *burp*

First stop. Cowlings. I thinned em, then I thinned em then I thinned em some more. I intend fitting the right rear one to the fuselage, so when I went to tinker realised the real ones overlap after consulting the Datafile. so I added strips at the rear which seemed the easiest option and to the front too which would underlap the front cowl. This of course brought up the point that the scale thickness and position of the panels and framework are all out of kilter (A neccesary evil for production and I'm not knocking WNW at all)) So I settled for a rather thicker than I'd wished for panel with a stri of thin stock to disguise it. I've shaved off all the mounting nuts and hope to replace,some needed repositioning.




Now from a pic in one of the anthology its apparent the top cowling covering the tank area isnt one piece at all.So I created a panel line guaged to somehow represent this ((its a good way to widen this part if someone has fit issues due to bulging interior parts (cut splice in some stock and sand to suit)


Now for the interesting bit. The engine is in. I fitted harnesses for the ignition, scratched some linkages for the ignition advnce and added the greaser pipe to the water pump joint. (I thinkwhere WNW have the greaser on this kit is wrong, The anthology say the cockpit dash is laid out a per Fokker not Albatros and what pics I have support this. Now I know what that tube is for on the knowlton pics that everyone scratched their head over... Simply a support for the end of the spark advance actuating arm spindle.


I still have the carb linkage, spark plugs, the fuel filter and fuel line to do plus the oil and air piping from the front of the engine. Truthfully hardly any of this piping will show as the radiator flaps obscure it. Still I know it has to be there. Air pressure pipe routing is to be investigated, It seems to run in a few different configurations.

A couple of pics with the rad & underside assembly dry fitted.



Wheels and undercarriage assembly is in primer. I still havent got around to taping the wings yet. Better get it done as the rest is catching up quickly.

So will I buy the DVIIF? Not right away, I've several builds to finish incl a tripehound, a Dr.I, two D.V an E.III ,a Pup and a Hannie so I must resist... even starting the Encore F.I or ... or... must resist... must resist.

Keith

Hi Keith,

Very nice job so far... I like the cleanliness and all of the details that you've put into it - seems like you are enjoying it as well I particularly like the engine; really seems like it only needs a starting spark

All the best,
Entoni

This is looking mighty good Keith, the detailing is simply superb!

How are you finding the "fit" in the engine compartment? Looks like a tight squeeze towards the fire wall...

As for the "F", well – for me it depends on which profiles WNW are releasing. I do fancy a Jasta 26 machine tough...

Happy Easter to you as well Keith!

Mikael

Hi Entoni thanks so much, compared to your work in 1/48th mine pales in comparison.

Mikael. I found the engine fits just so, but you may need to open up the middle mount on the exhaust side if you have a balance pipe and I would suggest Dryfitting the chin cowl and rad while the engine/bearers assembly dries. Other than that, the water pipe from the manifold to the water pump *AMS detail* if you show it will foul the lower framework unless its tight to the crank casing. (maybe it should be fitted around the framework? Of course on the real thing theres more room. WNW have had to squish things to get them in. (the opening in the panel/firewall seems low but theres so many variations in the field who can say.

On the D.VIIF I've a real soft spot for Jasta 26 stripes but if I do succumb I may well build Wolffs, I did a Revell 1/28 Dri in those colours years before i found Aeroscale. It's a dreadful build looking at it now.. laughs.