Airfix 1/72 Albatros DVa

[Bari]

A few pictures of my now completed Albatros. Well it would be completed but having looked at the photos I have forgotten to make windscreen for it. This was mainly a build so I could try rigging. As detailed elsewhere the first attempt with some very thin wire failed due to tensioning problems, If you look at the undercarriage you can see the wires are not very tight and even as they are now it has slightly distorted the undercarriage . The elevator control wires are also wire and not very tight even though I hung quite a bit of weight off the loose ends while waiting for the glue to dry. I also found that I was rather generous with the super glue in the holes in the wing as can be seen. I think I was under the misguided belief that more is better there. Also masking and painting the upper wing rib tapes was a bit of a failure as I was frightened that if I applied too much pressure getting the tape to seal I would damage the wing, so there is a bit of paint creep there. I think next time I will paint the top of the wing as well as the under surface and touch up after construction. Also to be noticed is that on the port wing I went the wrong way round the interplane strut. I also tarted up the engine with a couple of bits of stretched sprue and a bit of copper electrical wire.

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[yak face]

Thats one mighty fine looking albatros Barry! If you hadnt said i wouldnt have known about the wires , in fact i still cant see anything wrong!! Top result from a vintage moulding , great work , cheers tony

 

[eddiesolo]

Well Barry for all it faults, and you do need to look closely as I didn't notice until I read your post this looks superb. We are all critical of our builds and some turn out better than others and hopefully we learn from the issues and pick up new techniques and tricks along the way, so armed with what you know about this build your next venture should go smoother.

Si

 

[AJay]

Looks super, Barry, and that rigging is excellent!

 

[papa 695]

Great build Barry

 

[1275GT]

Nice build. They're fiddly little things, I'd be happy with that result

Cheers, Neil

 

[colin m]

Nice job Barry, but, you're not exactly making things easy for yourself rigging a 1:72 model. Top marks for having a go.

 

[Alan 45]

Love the rigging, so much detail on a small build fantastic

 

[CDW]

Well I thought it was a really nice build, then i read what t'other Colin mentioned ... i.e. its 1/72!!... Didn't notice the scale in the title.

I'm a tad in awe, I can't even focus on the box 1/72 stuff comes in

 

[Dave W]

Excellent job Barry.The rigging looks really good.

 

[Bari]

Thanks for the nice comments. I must admit I was anticipating throwing it in the bin especially as using wire didn't seem to work but having read through this thread on another forum http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/72714-fitting-struts-rigging/ I used his method of fitting and setting up the struts, I couldn't get the elastic thread to stay in a blind hole so I drilled through and did as much as I could in one long thread and then when it was glued and set trimmed all the bits of thread off and sanded down. I was surprised how easy it was, although that could be first time luck...

 

[spanner570]

Terrific job Barry. That rigging beggars belief!

Great build....

Ron

 

[Gern]

I'm betting there are lots of folks who wish they could do rigging that well in any scale, let alone 1/72! I'm one of 'em for sure.

Gern

 

[Polux]

Excellent work Barry, very fine!

Cheers. Polux

 

[Andy2035]

Hi Barry,

I'm with Colin, my eyes wouldn't forgive me, you have done a fantastic job on this Sir...

Andy...

 

[ojays]

Looks good to me, I think you are being over critical of yourself !

Gregg

 

[flyjoe180]

A top build Barry, and some very nice photos to boot.