Here is my entry for this campaign: the Eduard 1/48 Albatros D.V. Looks to be a nice little build.

I was looking to build this for the WWI campaign, but realistically I will not have the time to finish this before the end of the year. In fact I will probably only cut the plastic in 2015.

I am really looking forward to build this kit. there are some cool color schemes included and it will be a good excuse to improve my rigging skills considerably. I really need to start working with that fishing line

Jesper ,

Nice kit choice . I built this kit and it was enjoyable . Are you going to replace the under carriage struts ? The are short by 2.5 mm



Terri

Sounds good. It looks to be a good kit.

I will probably just leave the struts - except if I totally make the rigging look outstanding. Then I want everything to be perfect.

Hi Jesper

It's worth tackling the undercarriage - I didn't know about the problem when I built Eduard's 'D.Va, and the finished kit always bugged me, because it just didn't look quite right - overly stocky and pugnacious somehow...



All the best

Rowan

You can do it Sarge!

Michael

Thanks for the support guys. I will tackle it. I will try to make this a great build

10 months later and I will finally get started for real on this kit.

Very much a WWI novice, so there will probably be a lot of novice questions.

First novice question: I am going to try to lengthen the struts by 2,5mm as previously suggested. Is that both the front and rear sets of struts?

The struts in question are the landing gear struts and yes, you want to lengthen both the front and the rear parts equally... One way to achieve this is to cut the ends that connect to the fuselage off with knife or saw, cut 2.5mm lengths of strong wire (brass tube, anything that would work as a pin) and use the latter as a spacer to connect the original parts into alignment. Goop with putty around whatever you use as a spacer, let dry and sand to shape.

There are aftermarket correction parts that can be had relatively cheap, but I don't recall the manufacturer / names at the moment.

That said, I've built at least 5 Eduard Albatros before the stubby landing gears began to bother me - you may not want to dive immediately into corrections if this is your first Early Aviation subject...

Best with the build!

Thanks for the comment. I am not too worried about lengthening the struts, I am more worried one strut will be 0.1mm longer than the other. I think that will show as a hanging wing. I will have a go at it anyway.

My real fear is the rigging, but there is only one way to get experience, so I will try it out

Here's my 1/48 Eduard DV:



and my 1/32 Wingnut Wings DV:



Separated by about a year of modeling experience.

The short struts are possibly the worst offender, but slack lines, oversized buckles and other shape problems with Eduard kits are detriments that I didn't really notice until a lot more builds / study on the subjects later...

Wing alignment, symmetry, relatively spindly parts, getting the rigging right - you have a lot to tackle on the first go.

Proff of life!!

Plastic has been cut. Next are some PE parts and then some painting.

I will probably also start tackling the undercarriage. After studying the delicate parts I am having second thoughts. I might damage more than I fix .....

More to follow

Work started on the landing gear. Spacers have been added. I think I will wait with the smoothening of the gear until it has been installed on the fuselage.

More to follow

Seeing as the struts are V shaped - this would move the ends further apart as well, wont this affect the connection to the fuselage?

Hhmmmm.... I had not thought about that. You have a point, Matt. I guess the struts needs to be bend at the curved part close to the wheels.

Hi Jesper

Yep - you'll need to ease the angle at the axle gently. But I wish I'd done the mod on my Eduard kit - the change makes a huge difference to the look and sit of the model.

All the best

Rowan

Rowan, yes very gently and just a little bit. Rough dryfitting indicates that the landing gear is only offset by 1mm.

Some progress on my build. The PE is in the cockpit and the nice machine guns. The rigging is also in place for the upper wing and fuselage. I expect to string everything downwards when the wings are in place.

More to follow soon

Jesper,

It's looking very good. I hadn't thought about rigging before painting. I am interested to see how that goes and not having to worry about paint damage.

cheers

Michael

Thanks, Michael. With the amount of rigging necessary for this one I decided to get everything in place early. The method I use with require some sanding of the top wing, so has to be done before painting.

Fingers crossed it works

Interesting full assembly before painting method - even more interesting with the rigging in place... Watching this one proceed.

What kind of line are you using?

Hi Ivan

Thanks for the comment. The color scheme is pretty simple so I think I can do it after rigging.
Anyway my rigging method might not be the right one, but it requires sanding of the top wing to hide the holes from the rigging, so best done before painting.

This is the fishing line I use.

Hi Jesper

I'll also be really keen to see how this turns out, because I've never tried adding the rigging at such an early stage.

All the best

Rowan

Slow but steady progress. The rigging is moving along, but not done yet. By my standard it is working pretty well so far.

Still some finishing touches before painting can begin.

More to follow

Hi Jesper,
I like seeing your progress on the Abatross. For the life of me I cannot imagine painting around the rigging. I'll be watching hoping to learn more.

Best wishes,

Gary

Gary, there are so few contact points that I think (and hope) it will not be a problem. Time will tell.

The method I have used here would require significant repainting if done after painting that I might just as well do the rigging before the painting.

More to follow