FarEast

Any more updates? What you have achieved so far is great and hoping to see more as I have one in my stash!

Eelco incredible - I love the colouring and finish you have achieved so far. Take your time as this is going to be a show stopper!

Honestly this has inspired me to build mine - That cannon is incredible! I also have something big planned for my Gotha and also ordered all the figures from CSM and Aviattic! I think they maybe similar Again please keep logging this build!

Small progress today - base coat, preshading and some decals on the rear stab.

Thank you for your input, sadly I actually thought the whole point of posting WIP was to get peer review and critique rather than the "atta-boy" responses but sadly having posted 4 builds here all WWI it sadly seems the genre and work is not appreciated - thus why I post elsewhere. Anyway - Im happy with the build but also happy with the other forums that cater to the genre I prefer and will continue to do so and update here when I remember.

what with the lackluster of responses here I kind of forgot about updating (only 4 members bothered to comment) but as you ask she's been finished for some time now and sitting happily in my display case. However she is on a square base that although I like the finish of for photos it's doesn't look right so I'm making the exact same effect but on a round base and will then take some more portfolio shots. Anyway here is a teaser

I love it!

Second wing is done, naturally light for this photo shows how the wing colour changes depending on angle and light. Really happy with the oil filter and brushing technique. I will lock all this in with gloss and semi gloss over the course of the week.

Buddy I keep telling you its a B5 sheet, but actually for the wings and other flight surfaces I don't use it. Instead I use 3M painters masking tape 20mm and run 3 strips across the wing surface, making it contour the wing perfectly before applying the next length of tap and repeating the process. I then lift the entire structure of the 3 strips of tape in one go and then lay it over the Aviattic decal sheet, cut and then apply. I will do a how to for you so you can get a much better I idea of my technique.

Hey Fran, 1 sheet will do the whole flight surface of the model (Top surface in dark linen and light for the lower - 1 sheet for each) and probably have some left over - that's if you don't mess up though. I make a mask using the actual wing surface before any paint has been applied and then cut the complete wing decal in one go - I apply it the same as any other decal with a little surface water to help position it then use soft brush and lint free tissue paper to remove access water and then a hair drier to shrink fit it to the surface.

Portfolio shots of the Albatros B.II wing using the Aviattic light and dark German linen both a combination of the clear and white backed products. The effect was created using pre-shading, pre-weathering the linen decals and final post shading and oil filters. Once the oils have cured I will be experimenting with the new Tamiya flat, semi, gloss varnishes to create the effects found on doped linen.

So last weekend and yesterday I managed to not only get some more work done on the B.II but also take some photos. I finished off the engine cowlings which were a real pain to fit properly just in front of the observers position and I ended up having to heat up the pieces with a converted hair drier (Don't tell the wife) to get them to fit. This also resulted in a little extra attention when bonding as they wanted to spring back up. One of the other minor details was that this scheme required not only a section of the cowling to be cut away but also an additional piece fitted - this is not actually shown in the main flow of the instructions but in a photo on page 20 while the cowling instruction section is way back on page 9! Not impressed with that and if I hadn't been on the ball it could have easily have been missed! So much of the additional detailing of the engine is lost with the cowling on, however I felt this aircraft looks wonderful with it on. Fortunately the other side of the cowling is low enough to expose the spark plugs and jump leads that I scratch built for the engine - which I completely forgot to photograph before inserting in to the fuselage! :-[ The front carbane strut and gravity tank were very easy to assemble and paint and I decided to go for the interior green finish with naked filler and outlets. Also yesterday I made a start on the lower wings but more on that later!

Very nice review and I'm very excited to have just received one myself!

You are off to a great start! Looking forward to seeing how this unfolds!

That is stunning! Very well done!

It will be interesting to see how the two compare.

Also guys I thought I would share this tip with you. The great guys at Wingnut Wings have made guidelines on the back of the dark wood trim decals to aid you in getting them to fix perfectly on your model. As you can see on the back of the decal there are several brown lines on the whit backing - the thick central one is to follow the edge of the fuselage while the two slim ones run along the ledge molded in the fuselage. You are going to need a hairdryer with a low air flow settings and slowly work your way down the decal - I do not suggest using setting solutions as they seem to crack and break these decal. There are a few spare sections (Its used as a separation barrier between the different schemes so before using the numbered decals have a play!

So with the 3 day weekend here I really wanted to get the Fuselage finished and after a very quick trip in to the city I was able to pick up a pack of Uschi van der Rosten Wood decals at Volks who are the retailers of ZM Super Wings Series and thankfully partnered up with Uschi. Slightly Expensive but worth every penny! So following the same process as I covered in previous posts I applied the last two panels and started applying the last of the kit decals. Again the ultra fine wood decals by Uschi really do show off the beautiful detailing of the kit, every rivet, bolt and panel line is shown and then highlighted with the oil washes. So the fuselage is 95% complete, just a small bit of tidying up to do and a little more weathering around the cockpit but that can come later. so next - the engine, this should be interesting as there are no additional 3rd party products set out yet so will be doing a little of scratch building .....maybe.

We have 'Like' buttons here

They are B5 Francisco, I used them as it actually worked out cheaper than the A4 sizing. But here in Japan we have a lot of Tamiya products that haven't made it out of Japan. I used a test piece on the kit to see how they worked and even used the 'heat treatment' process on them as well as Mr. Mark Setter, those wood decals are REALLY thick also take a look at the very talented work of Zdenko Bugan on the Wingnut Wings page - there are several close ups of the fuselage and you can see how the decals look when applied by someone far more talented than me You'll note that even the larger protruding bolt heads are obscured by the thickness of the decal and only the deepest of nail/rivet marks are seen. All of the lines near the tail section are lost.

Also guys here is a warning and maybe a spoiler IF YOU USE THE KITS WOOD GRAIN DECALS YOU WILL LOSE ALL THE SMALL RIVET AND NAIL MARKS!

Ohhh floaty birds...... sadly this one stays on the straight and narrow and will be completed as instructed as I think this one is destined for a shop display - point of sale display.

I've totally lost track of the days and found that I had gained an extra days holiday! So as it was a fine day and my son wanted to play at the park with friends (Its just across the road and I can see it from my work bench) I decided to do just that, see it from my work bench! Righty o! I have been asked how I go about making my decals so here it is: I made a digital version of the templates first using photoshop which are then printed on to Tamiya masking sheets. These are great as they aren't so tacky and don't pull the decal off the backing sheets. Although care should still be taken. I then use an array of tools to cut them out. Then very carefully peel off the mask to reveal the decal underneath. So with the decals cut it was time to apply them. So with them all set it was time to look them in place with Tamiya X22. Once this was done I added the dark wood trims and the serial numbers and then it was time to give it an oil wash. This gives the wood such richness and more depth, creating a warmth in the effect as well as adding yet another layer of realism. As you can see from the finish it makes the wood much more richer and vibrant.

I use my airbrush at high Psi

So today I got some bench time and went all out. First off was to build the layers of colour for preshading the wooden ply panels on the fuselage. This was achieved by giving the whole thing a coat of Tamiya deck tan. Next highlighting all the panel lines and nail lines with flat black. The next step was to give the center of the panels a very white coating of deck tan and then finally several very thin coats of Deck tan to blend all the colours together - now I'm of the train of thought that any natural material should have no uniformity to it, so any over spray, wavy lines splatters were kept and I was only interested in the final blending coat to go down perfectly. Once that was dried I give it random shots of Tamiya Translucent yellow, again no uniformity to the application and the point wasn't to cover evenly or entirely the surface of the fuselage. I left this to cure for about an hour and then came back and gave the entire fuselage a Tamiya X22 clear coat. Three hours later it was time for some fun - I've already made all the templates for the decal sheets so it really was a case of laying them on the Uschi van der Rosten sheets and cutting them out. If anyone wants my kit wood decals let me know because I'm never ever going to use them!