Albatros D.V

The kit interior with a base wood coat of paint. 

For this build I tried using an acrylic paint for the wood grain. It dries a lot faster so you need to work quickly. I did a test board to practice working with the paints before I tried it on the kit. 

After creating the wood grain it was sprayed with a coat of clear yellow. 

The exhaust stack needs to be hollowed out. I used a Dremel with a very small bit. 

The ignition lines are Infini Aero Rigging.  

I drilled holes and added some brass tubing for the connections on the fuel tanks. The fuel lines were added later using a brass nut and copper wire. 

The MG and PE cooling jacket were from the kit. They went together with no problems. 

The interior almost completed. I used some left-over micro cloth for the seatbelts. 

The fuel cell with some of the fuel lines installed. 

The D.V I'm building uses the 160hp Mercedes D.III. The kit motor is really nice. 

The motor installed. I added spark plugs, ignition wires, fuel lines and throttle linkages. the oil tank is to the right of the motor. 

The left side of the motor with the throttle linkage. 

Decaling the fuselage.  

The green tape on the fuselage is holding the aileron cables in place to they can be threaded through the top wing after it is installed. 

The underside of the aircraft. The parts were painted a light blue with some additional white added then the ribs were masked and a light coat of gray sprayed over the ribs. A final coat of light blue was sprayed over everything after the masking was pulled off the ribs. 

The upper surfaces are painted Mauve and Light Green. I masked the ribs and sprayed a very light coat of gray/brown to highlight the ribs. The rudder is painted in a linen color. 

The wings are mounted and the rigging is completed. I understand why the white metal landing gear are on the market now as this thing wobbles a lot on the plastic gear. 

I will display this kit with the engine covers removed and on a wooden table next to the aircraft. It would be a shame to hide the engine. 

Still need to mount the elevator, flares, prop, spinner and rear view mirror. The upper wing decals will go on after a coat of gloss and then the whole thing will get weathered and dusted with a light coat of flat. 

I wanted to leave the engine cover panels off to show the engine and oil tank. I made a small workbench to put the panels on. 

The propeller is two shades of brown, a layer of dark stain and a clear orange varnish. The spinner and dark stain hides a lot of the faults in the lamination paint job. 

I like the contrast between the black fuselage and the white edelweiss 

Finally completed. It was a fun build and didn't take too long.