1/144 Albatros D.XI

**Texman** · #1 06-27-2018, 08:15 AM

In my latest installment, I tackled the Albatros D.XI from Roman Vasyliev (kampfflieger).
This kit is a bonus model, found in his "Lost Eagles" e-book, Vol 2.

I printed this one on Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Paper, which lists a card
weight of 51lb/193 g/sq m, making it a little thinner than my usual cover stock.

I started with the cockpit. Roman provides cockpit interior, seat and control stick.
I added rudder pedals before closing it up.

I built the engine with parts from an unrolled cotton tip swab, to make
the cylinder construction easier.

The only other part of the kit I did not use was the spinner. It was a three
part affair, so in order to improve its appearance, I used a paper candy stick.
Placing this in my rotary tool, I sanded it to shape using increasingly finer
sanding sticks. When done, I coated it with CA glue, then shot it with an
accelerator to harden it. Before the glue gets diamond hard, I again sanded it
smooth. Perfect, no, but alot better than the one I tried to make from the kit!

Lastly, I added the rigging to the landing gear with .004 transparent nylon thread,
colored with a silver sharpie marker.

This aircraft had no wing rigging, instead wing rigidity is provided by the large
outer struts, and the four diagonal inboard struts.

There were only two prototypes built and tested, and the aircraft never went into production.

Final dimensions in 1/144-
Wingspan 2.25"
Length 1.5"

Now, the walkaround photos.