Posted 9-7-2004 at 09:51 PM

1/16 Albatross Diorama
by John Reid



The Idea
Somewhere in Germany 1918, the German Imperial Aviation Service has decided to have the Red Knight's old Albatros re-engined and recovered. Corporal Schultz is testing the oil system for leaks after having hand-swung the prop of the gleaming new Mercedes 180 hp engine. Both the pilot and chief mechanic seem quite satisfied with the progress so far......

Questions, Questions, Questions
Somewhere in Montreal, eighty two years later, I am sitting in my workshop wondering how I can pull this little scenario off. I know Model Expo has a 116 Albatros model on the market but is it too large How big a diorama would I have to build What about the 116 scale figures Where can I find all the research material These and a hundred other questions popped into my mind.
Then I thought, why not make the hangar one self-contained unit acting as its own dust-proof case. I could open up the sides, the roof, and set the windows in plexiglass, thus allowing the scene to be viewed from all angles. I then searched for the 116 scale figures and found that both Tamiya and Dragon had many action figures available. I would however have to demote Field Marshall Rommell and put him in the Air Force and in the wrong war (hope he doesn't mind). The World War II Luftwaffe figure became a World War I pilot and a German Infantry figure became the mechanic with oily rag in hand.

Now, on to the model's workshop contents. While I could easily build the furniture from scratch, what about the tools, lathe, oil and gas cans, etc. Doll house manufacturers sell many of these items in 112 scale and tools come in various sizes therefore the difference in scale was not a concern.
That being settled, it was on to the hangar. How would I build it Of course it would be made of wood, but where would I find all the miniature lumber without it costing me a fortune Then my coffee habit finally paid off. Why not use wooden coffee stir sticks and maybe tongue depressors too The local building supply store would provide the scale pine lumber for the studs and trusses. Problem solved. And so it went two retirement years and 1500 hours of shop time later and the project was finally completed.





How it was done
The aircraft kit
Model Expo's Albatros D.V (MA1001) comes in a well packaged, sturdy cardboard box. The contents are well identified in individual plastic packets. The miniature lumber quality is excellent as are the laser cut parts on the plywood boards. The 47 page instruction booklet and 6 plan sheets are very well done but they do need a lot of careful study. The illustrations are clear, however, I do differ with the order in which the aircraft is constructed. They recommend building the wings and stabilizer first. I did the fuselage first. I find that having the fuselage completed gives me an added incentive to go on during the not so interesting tasks, such as building up the wing ribs, etc.
A lot of time was spent cleaning up the Britannia castings. Some of them were slightly bent and there was some pitting and rough spots on the metal. With careful re-alingning, filling with epoxy paste and sanding smooth, the problem was soon remedied. The only real problem was with the turnbuckles since many of mine were poorly cast. I probably got a bad batch.
The instructions suggest using the kit supplied metal colored thread for all the rigging. I, however, replaced this thread with .006 mm diameter music wire.


Method of Construction
The fuselage is built on a kit supplied jig. Construction is easy if you follow the steps carefully. No major problems were encountered in fitting any of the wooden parts together. I used both wood glue and super glue. Some filing was required on the metal parts in order to make everything fit together properly.
If you want to stain the wood, I recommend that you do it before assembly. In fact, I even stained and sealed the wooden wing ribs before removing them from their laser-cut plywood boards. I used an alcohol-based permanent tan colored stain, Primacolor PM-70 (sand). I then spray laquered the wood using Watco brand semi-lustre.
The wings and stabilizer went together easily by carefully following the plans.

The Mercedes 180 hp, 6 cylinder engine, is a kit in itself with over one hundred Britania castings. I did however find some of these parts a little difficult to handle, such as installing the small springs to the rocker boxes. Other than the usual de-burring of parts, the engine went together with super glue and five-minute two part epoxy.
All the metal parts throughout the aircarft were degreased, sealed and primed before painting. I used Windex amonia window clearner as a degreaser. It is important to remove any residue mold release agent (used during the manufacturing process) or any oil from your hands. I sealed the metal using spray laquer or brushed it on using a solution of 23 laquer and 13 laquer thinner mixed in a small jar.





I sprayed or brushed on a thinned down coat of Gesso over the laquer (50% water 50% Gesso). Gesso provides a good tooth for paint to adhere to and has been used by artists and craftmen for centuries. I use the Liquitex brand 5308, available in any art supplies store.

I made my own pilot's seat from 132 plywood. I bore out lightening holes in the back of the seat and made a seat cushion out of Kleenex tissues. I took a stack of tissues about ? thick, drew the seat pattern on the tissues and cut it out with an x-acto knife. Using a mix of 25% carpenter's glue and 75% water, I soaked the seat cushion thoroughly and then put it in the microwave oven for approximately 30 seconds. The cushion puffed up into a nice looking seat which I then painted to look like leather.

There is one area at the bottom of both forward cabane struts that I thought looked bad. I found them to be obviously out of scale, so I covered these areas with oil stained rags made out of the glue and water soaked tissues. I drapped these tissue rages so that they look weighted and dried them in place using a hair dryer.

The Albatros D.V is well represented in this kit with only two areas in question. The kit was missing a small auxiliary strut that goes from the leading edge of the lower wing and then back to the forward inter plane strut. The other is in the rigging (Ill. 3). There seems to be another anti-drag wing wire going from the nose of the fuselage to the top of the outer wing interplane strut.
Because the aircraft in the diorama is being depicted as under construction, the amount of details you put in is optional. However, I prefer to put as much detail as possible and I decided to partially skin the monocoque type fuselage using 132 plywood and simulating the screws with dots from a grafite HB pencil. I hand carved a cherry and walnut laminated wooden propeller and tail skid using the kit supplied items as patterns.

Go to Read Part Two

By John Reid