R6 - Eduard Albatros D.Va

Oct 2016

Eduard Albatros D.Va

Scale1:48

First impressions

Very good.The model itself has only a small number of plastic parts (53) which suggests a fairly quick build.

However, don't be fooled. There are an additional forty seven photo etched (PE) parts and some very large decals that cover the entire wing surfaces. All told that adds a significant amount of time to the build.

So looking forward to the challenge here.

Getting stuck in

After painting up a basic 'pinewood' texture on the cockpit and fuselage I dived straight into using PE parts.

Well so far i'm quite impressed. The first difficulty is working with such tiny PE parts. Fine tip tweezers and a magnifying glass are essential. I would definitely recommend the AmTech magnifier (£7.00) for this job. In fact you really cant do this job without one.

The PE instruments look so much more realistic than decals. Particularly the compass.

Is it worth it ?

Yes, definitely. The two images here clearly show the difference.

The plastic finish is ok and with painting up would provide an acceptable finish. By comparison the PE version bears a much greater resemblance to the real thing (at right).

You have to slice out the barrel from the plastic version and replace it with the PE version. Rather fiddly but as i am new to this I was really pleased with the result.

Bending the rules

Just a little gripe here with Eduard. I'm sure I will get used to it but the diagrams Eduard provide for bending the PE parts into shape are kinda vague ?

In the gun firing mechanism for example it is rather unclear how this should be bent up.

I managed to figure it out by reference to real images but I don't think you should need to do so. A little photo of the PE part all folded up would really help to remove any confusion

Stick em up

I was rather dreading sticking on these large decals as I have seen some horror stories. In the end it was quite straightforward.

The trick was to put a layer of gloss varnish onto the unpainted wing surfaces. Once this dried overnight it provided a really good bond for the decals.

They are overly large and need some trimming round the edges with a very sharp scalpel, post stick, which needed a steady hand.

The Eduard decals are more sticky than other brands which helped in this scenario.

Therapy Time

I am a bit decaled out.

The next stage in the process is adding the 'rib stripes' onto the wing transfers. All 118 of them which have to be applied individually and lined up by eye.

Those devilish Eduardians have come up with a definite therapy moment here.

This probably took about three hours all told. You do get quicker with a little practice. I must admit it became a little like staring at a Kandinsky painting after awhile.

It is doubly tricky as its difficult to make out the underlying ridges due to the high gloss of the main wing decals. Cunning.

Careful curves

I was very happy to get a coat of varnish over the decals on the finished wings.

I decided to use the included masks for the tail painting. They are aimed more at airbrush users but are still useful for hand brush work. Especially so in this case. The lovely curved edges would be tricky to make yourself from masking tape.

It is tricky to position them in place. They seem a little oversize so a bit of trimming in places was required. Given enough patience i'm sure you could get the edge perfectly symmetrical but I was quite happy with this result.

I chopped off a bit too much on the upper tail but will retouch that in later.

Removing the masks did also pull off some varnish as well. That was to be expected but at least the green paint didn't pull off as well. Another coat of varnish will fix this.

Overall yes, ready made masks are worth the money. A genuine time saving.

All tied up

Its not mentioned in the instructions but some of the PE parts can be used for the rigging.

These are a neat solution for providing anchor points on the wings. The alternative is drilling holes and gluing the threads directly to the wing surfaces which is very tricky and usually very messy.

Eduard should point this out for us novices. Other third party systems are available but this is a neat and tidy solution.

Stuck in a hole

With the main decals in place and the upper wing attached things are coming on nicely.

Wow it was tricky attaching the wings. The holes for the supporting struts had pretty much dissapeared underneath the decals and varnish. I really should have cleaned these up after each application.

This made gluing very difficult and as you can see made a bit of a mess. I was just glad to get it stuck on.The structure only gains strength when all the struts are in place.

Adding more detail

With the wheels in place and the engine exhaust and radiator pipes fitted things are coming together.

Attaching the pipes to the radiator grill under the upper wing was very tricky and frustrating to do.

Adding yet more PE parts really starts to bring added value to the model. I especially like the rear view mirror.

I managed to clean off most the glue from the struts and have a cunning plan to conceal the melted plastic.

Finishing off

Just a couple of detail pictures.