dcaponeII

I built the A-6 and the A-8 about a year ago for Scale Aircraft Modelling magazine (The A-6 was on the cover) and didn't have any trouble with the engine installations. You do have to be careful about alignment and dry fit before gluing but if you're careful it will go together just fine. No trimming was required. I will second the statement that if you want the cowl panels closed then leave out most of the interior details because it will not fit together with the cowl panels closed up. Nothing in my builds was protruding too far forward however.

I thought the same thing when I saw the decal sheet. It looked too "striped" not sure that is the right word but it ends up looking pretty close to dead on once they are on the model.

I'm on vacation for the past couple of weeks and have plenty of time to build. Back to work on Monday however so I'll be back to 4 or 5 hours a week instead of 4 - 5 hours per day of build time.

The rigging is 0.004" steel wire. I have glued both ends using clear parts cement. It has a little give which tends to be enough to keep everything together at 1/48 scale. In this 1/32 scale bird I think you're suggestion of only gluing one end might have been a good one.

I've got this one almost finished. Here are a couple of new shots I took while waiting for the rigging on the starboard side to dry.

The instructions clearly call for a feathered demarcation between the wing colors so I'll assume they sprayed them. Paint Spraying was already a common practice by the middle of WWI so I didn't think too much of the possibility that it was wrong. Since the customer wanted an OOB build I tried to stick fairly close to the kit instructions in all areas. I'll put some additional pictures up tomorrow now that the model is reading for rigging. The woodgrain looks very good with the clear coat over the top. If you're building an Albatros these decals are definitely the way to go in my book.

The blue is PRU Blue with a little bit of US Bright Blue added to match the color chip on the instructions. Now take a look at these Aeromaster wood grain decals!!! No gloss coat over the top yet but these decals fit like a glove. Each side around the tail consists of 5 pieces of decal on each side but they fit really well together. This is the "bad" side where I dinged the decal material in a couple spots.

Here are a couple of shots with the model prepped for decaling. The colors are Testor's Modelmaster enamels. The light green is Field Green lightened with Flat White. The dark green is US Dark Green and the red brown is Burnt Sienna. The wood fuselage is Wood and will receive Aeromaster woodgrain decals tomorrow after the Clear Gloss Lacquer has a chance to cure overnight.

I sprayed regular ole' Testor's Modelmaster Aluminum enamel paint. I then did an acrylic wash using Black/brown on the lower casting and just Black on the cylinders. The cylinders are probably not quite as dark as they should be but I think they look the part nonetheless. The upper fuselage is on now but it has much masking tape to coax it into position. Fortunately all the molded fuselage external detail has to be removed and replaced with PE parts so I'll have a good opportunity to smooth any seam imperfections. I'm going to be using the new Aeromaster wood grain decals specifically designed for D-I through D-III fuselages. I'm looking forward to using it as my earlier 1/48 Albatros D-V came out great with the earlier wood grain decals material they made. The new set is pre cut to match the panel lines so I won't have to make paper templates to cut the decal materials like before.

I've gotten pretty far on my second commission build. This is the Encore Models 1/32 Albatros D-II. It's a companion to the SE-5A I posted earlier. The interior is quite tricky to get into the fuselage but I managed after a couple of false starts. The instructions are not the most obvious to follow but it does go together.

Nope that's a resin prop hand painted with Testor's ModelMaster Wood followed by Oil-based Burnt Umber applied almost as dry brushing with a small fan brush. Then I used a cotton swab to soften the demarcations of the Burnt Umber. Finally I sprayed a semi-gloss clear lacquer over the top. The PC10 is a blend of Floquil Red Brown and Testor's Modelmaster Flat Black and a touch of Olive Green. The doped linen is a Floquil Dust with a bit of flat green and a little tan added. The Encore instructions have a great little set of color chips so I just eyeballed the colors (dried of course).

Thanks guys. Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night.

Merry Christmas to you too Mike. Yes this is one of the two I'm building for the Nuremburg Toy Fair. I've got about three hours into the Mercedes engine for the 1/32 Albatros D-II. You should see this beauty of a resin engine. I'll post the Albatros as I get into it. For all of the rest of you, Mike knows I don't build scales that have 7's in them. I've been coerced into two 1/700 ships and a couple of 1/72 scale aircraft in the past year. Now this 1/32 stuff. I've got to get back to God's scale SOON!! Of course my F6F-3 on another thread came out pretty well.

This is my SE-5A in 1/32 scale. This is the Encore Models packaging of the Roden plastic with a great set of resin parts and three frets of PE. I'm not a figure modeler but I thought I'd take a crack at McCudden as well as he comes with the kit too. Comments welcome on this unusual scale for me. I'll be honest in that I much prefer the 1/48 scale WWI aircraft models.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the comments.