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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Wingnut Wings 1:32 Albatros B.II Early


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Great tutorial James!

Those templates looks fantastic! Never saw a A4 Tamiya sheet on sale....

 

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.

 

By the way James, how do you know that the wnw decals, the small rivet and nail marks will be lost? Did you use the decals on another Alb. II?

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.

 

 

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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  • 1 month later...

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!


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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!  :-[

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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.

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Also yesterday I made a start on the lower wings but more on that later!

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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.

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James, great work on those wings!!

Really like the contrast! I never used linen aviattic decals but you really nail it... I confess that makes me a bit uncomfortable using decals in a whole wing,,,, you used two full sheets on the wings or one is enought?

 

Fran 

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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.

 

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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.

 

 

 

Thanks James for the explanation! :) 

Using a mask to the all surface, you`re using the A4 Tamiya sheet right? the one that is not available in Europe... :( 

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Thanks James for the explanation! :)

Using a mask to the all surface, you`re using the A4 Tamiya sheet right? the one that is not available in Europe... :(

 

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.

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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.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I have been working on the top wings as well as decals on the rear horizontal stabilizer.

Now I had a bit of an accident, no idea how it happened but I it looked like a chemical burn – not very happy especially after the whole piece was finished. So after stripping it of its decals and paint, I filled it in with Tamiya putty and then sanded it back in to shape.
I’m wondering if it was caused by Tamiya Airbrush cleaner that might have dripped on the work surface. Who knows!

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So with the wings, I went about the normal process of Flat white base then this time I went off the beaten track – I’m pissed because I have lost the images after a PC brain fart.

I gave the base coat a coat of XF22 gloss and then laid down the decals that should have been on the tops of the wings. These again I locked in with Tamiya XF22 and left to cure.

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From here I masked the wings so that the ribs and sub structure were exposed and painted airbrushed several coats over the decal so there were solid lines of white. I then applied several thin coats of flat white.

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Again once the paint had cured I went about masking the wings off as normal and then applying the post shading with Tamiya Smoke, then using thinned flat white blend the smoke in with the white.

This creates the shadowing of the wing structure but also now we have the ‘Cross Pattée’ visible through the wing, again itwas all locked in with Tamiya XF22 and ready for the Aviattic rib tape and linen.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's been a while since I made an update - I've been waiting on a few things to come and they finally arrived on the weekend.

Building up the wheel struts was very straight forward and I knew to drill all the points for anchors and turnbuckles before assembly and painting after the Fokker E.I build a while back.

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So I spent a little time on the smaller pieces like the 'Elephant exhaust' I textured it with primer dabbing it on with an old brush and then applied the painted effects.

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The prop is not yet finished - currently that is the base - Deck tan, oils applied for grain and then translucent orange and locked in with varnish - I will then use my masks to apply the laminated affect with a darker shade of brown.

I also used the last scraps of the Aviattic linen to cover the wheels with which really gave them a nice finish.

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One last job was to place all the turnbuckles on the wings - a nice easy job to say that the locations are already marked, although it did require the removal of several of the anchor points already in the mold.

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