Prudenzio contest Albatros DV

**Darwin** · #1 06-22-2011, 09:49 PM

Bwakkk, bakaak, bakaak. I took the easy path...besides, my three year old grandson gave me a tale of woe how his friend has an airplane hanging from the ceiling of his bedroom, and he doesn't have any airplanes, just a big bare ceiling. I'm still contemplating doing another puzzle, but will use some of these little cuties to recharge the battery between the big stuff. Considering the size, I'm thinking the final product will be a mobile with several planes zooming around a cloud or two. Since one of the Albatroses I plan building is the bloody red baron's, and there will be some Camels, I really need to find where my Snoopy doghouse file went to.....

Not wanting things to be too easy, I'm going to try rigging these little beasties. It's going to be interesting to see if my method works on models this small...I use a sewing needle and thread, sewing the rigging into the fuselage and wings prior to assembly, with the thread ends extending through unsealed wing tips and body openings. When the wings and body are joined with struts, I then pull the threads taut and superglue into place. When all is secure, I trim off the thread ends as deep inside the structure as I can, then seal up the wing tips, top wing cutout, etc. It works well with 32 scale models....I have visions of a cat's cradle with the smaller ones. I have noticed a few glitches with Zio's kit. Zio designed the cabine struts as "V" struts....the actual airplane (and his location marks on hte fuselage) is an "N" strut. Also, the instructions show a headrest for the pilot, but I cannot find such a part anywhere on the parts page. It will be a day or two before trying to do the rigging...the wife saw me with a packet of her number 28 sharps in one hand and a bottle of superglue in the other and had a full-out hissy fit, so I need to pick up my own packet of needles.

**The Orange** · #2 06-22-2011, 09:54 PM

Great job! I've printed this one out a week earlier, but I was hoping someone would do a build thread. Can't wait to see the rigging.

**Don Boose** · #3 06-22-2011, 10:08 PM

Excellent beginning, Darwin. I will be glad to see what you find out in the process of building this one.

Don

**gomidefilho** · #4 06-22-2011, 11:37 PM

I Watching with great interest! A purple DIII is in my list build. Great work in fuselage and engine...

**Texman** · #5 06-23-2011, 05:05 AM

I for sure will watch with interest, as I am eager to learn your rigging technique.

**rockpaperscissor** · #6 06-23-2011, 06:53 AM

Looking forward to learning your rigging technique. I've spent my paper modelling career dodging models with rigging (although I have quite a few waiting to go). I've got to dip my toes in the water some day soon.

**cjwalas** · #7 06-23-2011, 06:55 AM

I've had one of the Albatrosses printed out for years waiting for me to attack it. Maybe seeing your build will inspire me to get to it. Looking forward to this!
Chris

**doctormax** · #8 06-23-2011, 07:03 AM

I have never tried a biplane with rigging so be looking for builds to see how to do them

**Paperwarrior** · #9 06-23-2011, 11:33 AM

This is looking great thus far. The DV is one of my favorites. I'm looking forward to seeing this one come together.

Jeff

**Darwin** · #10 06-23-2011, 04:40 PM

I've gone about as far as I can go without the needle and thread. The only real problem so far (other than the cabine struts) is that one shouldn't try gluing the tabs on the sides of the seat to the fuselage side. That pulls in the fuselage way too much, and it looses it's nice oval shape. Unless the length of the tabs is increased to provide about an additional 1/8 inch between the attachment points, I'd recommend just attaching the seat at the top of the seat back. After looking at some pics of the actual airplane this model depicts, it appears that the lack of head rest is prototypic.