1/32 Albatros W.4 (late) Floaty Conversion

[Waspie]

Afternoon from the Mole in Flanders,

Work continues as the weather has cooled and it's fun to play at the table once more.........


Your right Buddy, I big-blobbed it with putty and letting it dry for a couple of days. Once you are climatised, 40° - 50° C is a walk in the park Rick. It was dry heat and I enjoyed it...



Hey Doug, I take it this golden rivet thing is a Navy joke on the Insel or something. I still haven't a clue.....................


Me too Brother!!! I have been extremely busy at the table of late and owe you a PM too. Have you figured it out yet??? Repair Shop??? Sorry, more later on John...

The saga continues folks. I slapped a big blob of Mr. White putty on the exhaust pipe and am letting dry for a few days. I love a product that's totally in Japanese, with no other language on the tube. I do hope it works...I also added the hinges for the flappies on the lower wings,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1207591[/ATTACH]
I was going to frame the hinges on the flappy side, but I'm not sure how the naval hex camo decals from Lukgraph would settle down onto any small details. Damn!!! I forgot to order the stupid decals...Have to do that first thing Monday morning!!! BBF*......

Now it was time to show some love to the kit's Mercedes 160hp D.III motor. It is a very basic kit piece and had plenty of room for detailing. I also had a few motor parts left over from my WNW Halberstadt build. I carefully nipped off the rails with the spark plug wires and decided the best way to form them was to roll them gently with my 1.5 mm awl shaft. that worked very good and didn't flatten out the lead wire. I glued them in place and trimmed the wire ends to fit onto the spark plugs. I had painted them white beforehand. A dab of CA from a toothpick held them in place...All 12 times! I then painted the wires in my patented blue color and we had this,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1207597[/ATTACH]
With that done, I went back and looked at some reference pics and saw I had forgotten to add the cooling pipe for the fuel carbs affair. Out with a piece of 0.6 mm lead wire, bent it L-shaped, painted it black, slid it into it's position, and CA'd it to the motor base,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1207598[/ATTACH]
I formed the other end to the cylinder and glued the Intake assembly onto the motor,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1207599[/ATTACH]
You can also see I glued the valve train assembly on the top end. I'm pretty happy with how the springs I made sit on the cylinder top sides, even if they aren't perfect,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1207600[/ATTACH]
The other side,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1207601[/ATTACH]
Once everything had dried, I looked at my references again and a couple of more things came to my attention. The 160 hp D.III motor had an external cooling pipe on the right side with a pipe going into each cylinder. Here's what I mean,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1207602[/ATTACH]
I also saw that the 2 breather tubes on the upper motor block from my kit were too short. I modified the WNW part and added the cooling pipe to the motor,

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1207603[/ATTACH]
At this point, there was nothing I could do to lengthen the breather pipes (afraid I'd bust off other parts). I'll have to live with it...Or? Finally, I started working on the magnetos for the spark plugs. This was a double beatch as there are 2 of them.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1207604[/ATTACH]
Sorry for the blurry pic, but I got the the 12 pieces of 9 mm long lead wire CA'd to each nub on them. Then comes the fun trying to form them and get them glued to the rail end on each side These will be painted blue too, and then the magnetos are attached to the tower with the wooden handle on the back of the motor (still to be glued on). A little magneto paint detailing and the motor should be finished...........How much will be seen once it's in the plane??? No idea, but it's there!!!...

Thanks again for looking in and it's now time for a cold one...Have a great weekend too!!!
*Big Brain Fart

Prost
Allen

Some incredible detail and work there Allen.

[minitnkr]

Some really good work n display here.

[Guest]

Top work Dude 1.
Love the detailing you've achieved.
Repair shop, not yet, but new one fully working.

[Si Benson]

Morning Mr D,
Been having a catch up around the place and see your back at it building/ rebuilding and generally improving stuff. Most impressive old chap….great to see the mojo flowing

[Allen Dewire]

Evening Good People,

Grabbed a few hours at the table today and had a fun play on the Benz D.III...I also checked out Doug's link and now understand the rivet thing. Don't want to get into it any deeper though. We did the same to newbies in our unit, especially when we did maintenance on our tracks in the motor pool. Can't say much about Steve's iron drawers thing either....Now you 2 go and get me a can of squelch to fix my comms from the Motor Sgt!!!...Anyway,

Nice progress Allen......keep it coming buddy.

Thanks Buddy! I'm giving it my all at the moment...

Hello Youngerthanme,
I see you are still working the magic on your build. Just had a catchup and enjoyed the build progress.
Cheers
Olderthanyou.

Prost Olderthanme! I'm trying and your scratchy ain't too shabby on the Sitar ding bumms track either Mike...

Mr Dewire,
lovely jubbly it's those little details that sets your builds apart.

Why thank you,, Mr. Scott! So of kind of you to say Bro!!! I'm having a blast too. How's the deuce and a half? I gotta ketchup with it...

Some incredible detail and work there Allen.

Much appreciated Doug! Can't wait to see what you do with your 'Bug' Sir...

Some really good work n display here.

Thanks Paul! It must be something about the Merc D.III motors that I enjoy souping up. Hope all is good in downtown Ohio my friend...

Top work Dude 1.
Love the detailing you've achieved.
Repair shop, not yet, but new one fully working.

Fully working? Great job Dude 2, but don't let the 1/1 work wear you out...And, I bet there is harmony at Race Towers now too!!!...

Morning Mr D,
Been having a catch up around the place and see your back at it building/ rebuilding and generally improving stuff. Most impressive old chap….great to see the mojo flowing

Hiya Mr. Benson. Nice to see you again Si and I hope you and the family are well and doing fine. It seems I've gone in a new direction with the floaty wing thingy's from the great war, as an aside. Thanks so much for the kind words my friend!!! So whatcha got on the bench, up in Sussex, New Jersey???...

Like I said, after breakfast I sat down and started working on the magnetos. Nipped them off the sprue and gently began to form the wires to fit to the rail end. Two of them managed to ping off, so a quick repair was in order. care was needed not to flatten any of them too! I then glued the tower in place, along with the magnetos on each side,


That's the awl I use to help in the forming the lead wire. The other side,


From above,


Then I clipped the wire ends, gently folded them inward to the rails, doing the left side first. when it sat correctly, I hit it with a dab of CA. The right side took a bit more work as the wires had to bend over the cooling pipe, into the rail end. I broke out the paint and finished the job. The results,


And,


I very satisfied with my few hours work and it looks the part. Now I have to paint the rest of the lower motor with dull aluminum from AV to complete it. Once this has dried, I have to attempt to fit it, without damage, into the frame that goes in the fusil, when the time comes,


Now it's back to the wing work and get them done. Email to Lukgraph in the morn with a few questions about the decals and to ask if he brings any Friedrichshafen FF.33 kits with him, to the show in October......

Short and sweet tonight. All C, C, and Abuse cheerfully accepted and have a great week!!!

Prost
Allen

[Waspie]

Incredible work Allen. Inspiring me to add a few bits to the 'bugs' flat four engine. (Not there are a lot of electric s to add. One electrical wire to the carb area.)

[stillp]

Love that engine!
Pete

[Mini Me]

Groovy!

[Allen Dewire]

Afternoon from the rainy Mole

The weather is not the best, but work must continue. At least it's cooler here...

Incredible work Allen. Inspiring me to add a few bits to the 'bugs' flat four engine. (Not there are a lot of electric s to add. One electrical wire to the carb area.)

Thank you Doug! I had a look at the destructions for your bug and it should be easy to add the 4 spark plug wires and the coil to distributor wire. I'm sure you can find some good reference pics on the web...

Love that engine!
Pete

I do too Pete! Thank you Sir and that's the big prob with these old wing thingy's. The exposed upper motor half...

Groovy!

Easy Bro! We having another flashback to the 60's, are we??? It's Ok, I have them too Rick...Far out man!!!...

So work continues and it was time to start ribbing the wings. In an earlier post, I had made a bunch of spaghetti for the job. I pulled out a spaghetti strip and was ready to go, only to see the damn things were too wide...DOH!!! Back out with the 0.13 sheet and had another go at them. I also made some thinner for the rear flappy ribbing. Broke out the TET and went for it,


If you look closely, you can see I had to make a third hinge for the flappy on each side. I let the TET dry on these and made a pair of flappy control arms for the cables,



I also cleaned up the ribbing with some trimming and sanding. You won't see any of it after the naval lozenge decals are applied, so I didn't go crazy making it perfect...On to the top left wing with more spaghetti,


I started with tacking the strip to the wing front curve with a drop of TET. Let it set up a little and the pulled the strip down to the bottom and tacked it. Then I went back and brushed the whole length on both sides. A couple of them are a little funky and not 100% straight, but again, they'll be decaled over. On to the right top wing,


Same routine as the left and I got the strips straighter this time. I let them dry and did a cleanup on the two wings pieces. It only took about 5 hours of work. I had also received a mail from Lucasz at Lukgraph about how well the decals snuggled down when applied. He told me they are very durable, don't easily rip and will react well with Micro-Sol and Set. I can't wait till I get the ones I ordered. So, an afternoons work,


The 2 little nubs sticking out on the rear wings, next to the ribbing, are the hinge pieces for the flappy. Now, I have to join the top wing sections together, so I can rib the middle section I scratched. Then it's on to do the bottom wing assembly. No rest for old folks!!!...

Thanks once more for looking in and have a great weekend. In the morning, it's off to the Stausee for a few days with my buddy Heinz. I'll be sure to drink a cold one for you all!!!...

Prost
Allen

[Jim R]

Just had a catch-up of this exceptional build. Took two cups of tea and half a packet of biccies to take it all in. You are truly going the extra mile with this. Most impressed. Glad it's cooled down for you.

[scottie3158]

Outstanding Mr. Dewire.

[Mini Me]

Right, '60's ......Tripp'n Ribbin' on the wings Allen, keep it coming Sir!:thumb2:

[Waspie]

Thank you Doug! I had a look at the destructions for your bug and it should be easy to add the 4 spark plug wires and the coil to distributor wire. I'm sure you can find some good reference pics on the web...

Prost
Allen

Already printed off a few diagrams and images. I have the luxury of colours for the leads as many of the after market leads were multi coloured. However, to keep in in the 1960's vein I'll stick to black BUT!!! My biggest problem is finding something suitable to use in scale!!! Only started looking though so I'm sure something will pop up!!

[The Smythe Meister]

Just had a good catch up with this one Allen,a great read/look it was too:thumb2:,
The engine,as has been said,is excellent,and,the ribbing work is top notch imho, going to be another WW1 cracker mefinks .

[Fernando N]

Just caught up a bit and that ribbing on the wings looks nice and straight :thumb2: