CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 1

In the beginning. . . . working on peripheral sub-assemblies:  seat, engine, cockpit interior.  Seatbelts from Eduard WW1 French Seatbelts PE sheet.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 2

Cockpit interior is done plus engine, propeller, twin machine guns with attached firing tubes, and wheels.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 3

The fuselage halves have been cemented together, allowed to cure overnight.  The seams were filled with putty, allowed to dry, and vigorously sanded first with coarse sandpaper then with fine sandpaper.  The lower wings were pinned with two brass rods each and cemented to the fusalage.  The horizontal tail had to be trimmed to slide onto the fuselage rear and then glued in place.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 4

The landing gear is next.  It's made from brass tube (1.5mm OD) and rod using the kit's metal landing gear legs are as reference.  The axle section is carefully placed and glued to the "V" part of the landing gear struts.  Fine electrical wire will be bound around the brass rod axles for strength and to represent shock absorber cords.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 5

The engine was the first sub-assembly to be added at this step.  The engine cover panel had to be trimmed to fit.  I could not find the Blue Max nose piece but fortunately had one left-over from a 1:48 Eduard kit.  Just a little sanding was required for the fit.  All of the fuselage seams were sealed with primer to be sure there were no gaps.  The landing gear was finalized with the addition of fine copper wire between the struts and axle.  Wheels were added for show.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No. 6

The fuselage has two coats of Vallejo 976 Buff in preparation for the application of oil paint to create a wood finish.  The metal cowling and engine panels are painted in my mix of Vallejo German Grey-Green.  The landing gear struts have been primed.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.7

The fuselage has been stained with thinned Winsor & Newton Burnt Sienna.  I use a large 1/4" soft brush dragging the brush front-to-rear and wiping clean after each pass.  Eventually, a fine thin coat of oil finish remains.  I put the model in my "bake" oven on low heat to dry out over night or longer if needed.  After thorough drying, I used a fine brush with thinned Vallejo 872 Chocolate Brown to accent the model.  Metal components which are outlined will be painted in green-grey.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.8

The rudder was primed and painted in Misterkit Austrian AH01 Clear Doped Linen as were the wings and horizontal tail.  The fuselage serial number was made from the 1:48 scale decal sheet produced by Blue Rider (BR509).  All of the metal components were painted in light grey-green.  The propelled was painted using Vallejo colors and then waxed using seven different pencil shades.  Barely visible are the propeller logos from IF Models' 1:48 scale decal sheet for Austro-Hungarian propeller manufacturers.  Ltn Graser's owl insignia was copied from the profile artwork of Harry Dempsey that appeared in Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces No.110, Austro-Hungarian Albatros Aces of WW1, profile #15.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.9

This photo shows the start of fuselage struts made from 1.2mm diameter brass tubing with brass rod insert.  Just over the top of the cowling can be seen the two blast tube extenders for the machine guns made from 1.0mm brass tube.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.10

All wing rigging lines were pre-installed before wing attachment and they had to be taped out of the way.  The two upright fuselage struts are the foundation for the complex "N" fuselage strut assembly.  The top cross strut member was the next part to be installed.  The 45 degree strut was last.  All were made from 1.3mm brass tube and only the upright struts were reinforeced with brass rod for connection to the wing and fuselage.  A special decal was made and printed on my laser printer and appears on the plywood facing behind the cowling.  It reads on the first line "Alb D.III Oef DM200" and "153.44" on the second line.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.11

The "V" wing struts were fashioned from brass tube with brass rod inserts.  The upright rear strut was glued in place first.  When dry, the forward strut was glued.  The rigging wires are still tied down.  Next step is priming and painting all of the struts.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.12

Photos 12 to 17 are of the finished model.  This photo features the wing rigging including the drift wire from the cowling to the bottom of the outside wing strut.  I used .006 charcoal monofilament thread (MFT).

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.13

The propeller is hand-paunted in Vallejo 914 Green Ochre and 984 Flat Brown.  When thoroughly dry, the surfaces are rubbed with several shades of colored pencils.  Propeller decals are from LF Models Austrian sheet.  Note the pale blue radiator lines painted in Vallejo 844 Deep Sky Blue.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.14

The spinner is painted in Vallejo 957 Flat Red and is an arbitrary addition by me.  Elevator control horns are prominent in this view.  All fabric flying surfaces are painted in MisterKit AH01 CDL.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.15

The effect of the CDL on the flying surfaces is apparent.  This is mid-1917 and shortly, Austrian fighters would be covered in several versions of green and/or brown speckled camouflage including the fuselage partly or all the down.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.16

This view shows the rigging to good effect.  The windscreen was fashioned from a piece of thin clear plastic and lightly outlined in gray-green.  In front of the windscreen is an Eduard rear "ring" gunsight.  The wing radiator is painted in Vallejo 77.701 Aluminum and lightly stained with thinned Vallejo 872 Chocolate Brown.  Radiator lines are .5mm lead solder wire by Minimali.

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.17

Last photo shows the radiator lines and aileron acutating wires.  All struts are painted in my mix of Vallejo flat black and gloss black, about 50-50.

 

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