Albatros D.III

 

I started with the engine mount and the ribs in the front fuselage. 

The direction of the third rib is wrong. It should be angled. The angle is clearly visible with the diagonal nail row on the fuselage side 

Ribs, engine mount and cockpit area. I‘ve added the horizontal stringers made from styrene struts... 

...and removed the moulded stringers and mounting points from the fuselage halves. 

A curved knife blade is the best choice. 

Cause I need the upper wing with the offset radiator I‘ve chosen the O.A.W. But now I had to change some panel lines and made a new foot step to get the Johannisthal built Albatros. The yellow line marks the new panel line. 

I think the best stuff to close those panel lines is cyano glue. 

Red markings are removed surface details. The yellow line marks the angled panel line (where the angled rib is located inside). The round hatch was romoved too cause its to close to the new panel line. But don‘t worry! All hatches an airships are on the Eduard frame. 

This is the squared footstep on O.A.W. built Albatros. 

And this the footstep made by Johannisthal. I made it from some Evergreen sheet and etched net. 

The frame is from the Eduard sheet. 

I‘ve added the stitching of the leather on the back of the seat using some heated struts. 

The cushion was sculpted with Milliput. I added the knobs using a brass tube put into the wet putty. Then it got some shrinks. 

This is the fuel tank. The kit part has some ugly sink marks and a very rough surface. Cause I want to spray it with brass colour I had to smoothen the surfaces. 

Original fuel tanks hat brass tubes through it to made the tank stronger. I drilled 20 holes with 1mm diameter... 

...and glued styrene rods in it. 

Some clamps... 

 

 

A filler cap and tubes 

At right is the mounting for the machine guns with the revolution counter. The round thing is the fuel gauge and on the left the switch board. 

I cut the upper parts of the mounting off. I want to use the breaches from Wingnut Wings. The mountings are moulded on on these parts. Then I made an instrument housing of plastik rod and a small piece of copper tube.  

 

The instrument dial is from the FCM decal sheet. The frame was made from copper wire. 

 

I made small discs from 0,1mm plastic sheet and made new switches. I‘ll take the grips from the Eduard sheet. 

This will be the compass. I started with a piece of 3mm plastic rod wich one end rounded. 

I wanted to create a hemispheric part. To the left is a thick part from a sprue. It must be about 4mm in diameter. 

I carefully drilled it out... 

 

The rest of the compass framing was made of styrene struts and rods with a piece of copper wire as an axle. 

...and cut a small piece off to get a ring. 

The control column as it comes from Roden is a little bit wrong. 

I cut the wrong parts off and made new details from styrene and copper. 

 

Sone improvements on the rudder bar. 

Fuel gauge and grease pump in the finished cockpit 

Finished cockpit 

Seatbelts are from HGW 

The Albatros D.III had linen covered wheels instead of the metal sheet covered wheels on the Albatros D.V. O.A.W. used fabric on the later D.V too. So I had some wheel discs from the Wingnut kit in my spares box. They have a nice surface where the spokes are visible. I only removed the oval hatch and replaced it with the etched part from the Eduard sheet on the right wheel. 

 

 

On the photo of this Albatros is clearly seen that the hatch on the left wheel is missing. So I drilled out the corners, removed a squared area, made it thinner from the back and added some spokes and an air valve. 

So it looks when the parts are in place 

 

The hatch from Eduard 

The Johannisthal built Albatros didn’t had the covered wheel axle as seen at the O.A.W. built machines. So I made a new one from plastik rod. I added two discs and drilled a hole of 1,5mm diameter at both ends. 

The discs where on the real aircraft as spacers for the rubber ropes used as springs for the landing gear. 

I drilled a hole through the brass tube und inserted a piece of 0,3mm copper wire to simulate the securing pin of the wheel. 

ready 

Both wheels ready for painting 

This is the v-shaped landing gear strut. I made the small pieces on it with plastic sheet. 

This will be the ejection chute for empty shell cases. I made it from two bended brass tubes of 1,5mm diameter which I soldered together. The upper ends of the Y-shaped chute will fix to the machine guns and the lower end will be inserted in the both holes drilled in the fuselage bottom (see next pic) 

This is the forward fuselage bottom. The two holes where the opening of the shell ejection chute fit is visible. I‘ve added several 1mm brass tubes This where draining holes on the original aircraft. All hatches and landing gear strengthening band are from the Eduard etching set. 

This machine had additional slots in it‘s engine cowling. They should improve the cooling. This changings where done at front. So I drilled start and end points and removed the plastic between a new sharp blade. The slots looked a little bit crude. But this was my wish. 

Cause I had chosen the O.A.W. kit I must change the shape of the rudder. O.A.W. built Albatros had the bigger rudder with the rounded trailing edge known from the later D.V. So I trimmed the rudder to the correct shape. I thought it could have some more strukture. I marked the internal steel tube framing with a small Edding pen und removed the material between it with a glass Fibre eraser. Finally I did some sanding for a smooth surface. 

 

Same procedure on the elevator. It needed more structure too. 

 

It’s time to paint the wooden fuselage. I wanted to try woodgrain decals for the first time. I bought the set from Uschi. My Albatros was a well worn aircraft which had an earlier pilot before it got the paintsheme I wanted to do. The previous pilot marked his plane with the first letter of his name. Later when the owner changed the „O“ were scratched off from the fuselage and blue-white stripes were painted as new personal markings. But the „O“ were still visible cause now the light plywood shines through. I wanted to create these lighter shade under the woodgrain decals. So I painted the panels in a light shade of sand and masked this with masking foil. 

 

Then I painted the panels in different darker shades of sand colors. 

So the „O“ is still visible as a lighter coloured area.  

After applying of the woodgrain decals the different shades of plywood are still visible. 

 

 

I have cut pieces for each plywood panel. They should be slightly bigger than the panel itself. The outlines can be trimmed with a very sharp new X-acto blade. 

Engine and machine guns are from Wingnut Wings. The guns plus cooling jackets and barrels from Master. 

I was lucky I could order an engine set before the closing of WNW. The parts from Wingnuts looks much better than the ones from Roden 

 

I‘ve lost the part for the small coolant tank. So I made a new one from plastik and added a pipe made from copper wire and a valve turned from a piece of copper