brED

hi,

for awhile i've wanted to build a WWI plane (in the future though) that wasn't like all the other Sopwith's and S.E. 5a's. i looked on the net for "WWI aeroplanes" and found the picture for a strange, but neat looking plane they called the "German Albatross". long story slightly less shorter i learned it was called the Albatross D-V and could not find too many pictures of it. i planned on getting a bunch of real photos and building a scale model of it using the pics that showed alot of detail. unfortunately there was only non flying model pics and some low quality (sign of the times) photos. but i was not discouraged by this "minor" setback
before you start to think it's not possible , or whatever i was going to learn more about this plane- and possibly find a schematic i could use. then make a plan and ship it off to a laser cuttery. i know its not that simple though. i have alot of work to do to this "lil operation"

here is a site that will show the non flying model of the plane that i want to build: pacprod.com/aircraftmodels/wwimodels/germanalbatross
NOTE: these are merely directions- sorry i couldn't make a hyperlink[sm=frown.gif] and try not to confuse it with the first pic of the model (which has the name right on it) the other one is on page 3

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

You know it has been some time now, but worked on parts for an Albatross 3 or 5 back about 5 years ago for Bob Holman. He has a number of plans brought in from the U.K. about 10 years ago. They are very detailed and have common sense construction, but otherwise are difficult to build.
Give him a message at [email protected]


Wm.

kdheath

How about an accurate reproduction to work from? Boeing's Museum of Flight has the Albatross that once belonged to the Champlain Fighter Museum in Mesa, AZ. I have a couple of photos of the Albatross in AZ, but not very detailed. I don't know how Boeing would feel about it, but the Champlain people let me crawl all over and photograph their FW190D-12 while it was apart for restoration. There might be photos available, too.

Oops, I meant to include the link:

http://www.museumofflight.org/collec...plinindex.html

brED

kdheath,
Well the model pic I saw had a different shaped spinner and had a "backing" behind the pilots head (you know?), but the rest looks about the same (except the color ).
CoosBayLumber,
I'm not too worried about the difficulty, I know that if I stick with it I'll get somewhere (hopefully in the air). Will this Bob Holman sell me the plans, upload them to me, or what (or will I found out from his reply e-mail)?
Thanks for the help.

Corbin

TomCrump

Corbin,

Order Bob's Best in Scale catalog. Give him a call and use your credit card. You'll have the catalog in 3 or 4 days.

In it you'll find more sets of plans than you could imagine. Some have precut parts available.

You should find what you're looking for.

kdheath

Check out this link:
http://www.aviation-history.com/albatros/d5.htmis link
Down a couple of paragraphs they note that the headrests were often removed form the DVa to improve pilot visibility. I saw, on a Google search, a display model of Richtofen's Albotross, and it carreid the headrest. Looks like the Champlin example does not. One of those details that drive scale modelers to something like lunacy....
Best wishes with the model. The Albatross is a cool looking machine.

brED

kdheath,

I had to go there manualy (my comp is being stupid) but it was worth it. They had a good profile pic. In the paragraphs that followed, Ilearned quite a bit. First of all I will make a better wing (they said that it broke off in steep dives[][]!!!), then hook it up with everything that could improve it (from the time period), and I may make the headrest detachable (dunno if its possible though[]). I'll try to make it as original-looking as possible. One thing though, the pic on aviation history leads me to think that the pilot looks over the top plane, is that right? And what type of frame is best suited for this: a former and beam type? (I'm learning to recognize what is a good frame for planes[sm=thumbup.gif])
Thanks for all the help.

Corbin

brED

Lemme know if you want to hear about it when I do build it.

BentBalsa

My Feedback: (9)

Hi Bred

Sent you a email

Thanks
JR

brED

Maybe you guys should know that I'm looking for a 40-50 inch plane. This ought to narrow down some things, I just hope that there are plans that size.

kdheath

I keep stumbling over things related to the Albatross. I was in a LHS last week and they had a copy of the Squadron Publications book on the Albatross. Not very useful for drawings and details, but lots of historical bits and a lot of color schemes. And (lest anyone think I'm hung on this) almost none of the planes in service use had headrests.

Hard to tell from photos, but I bet the AlbVs were a bear to see out of. The top wing looks low mounted. Lots of S-turns and peering over the side on landing approach.

brED

I figured they were, it would be pretty hard to see through that little slit. Maybe I can find a pic with a pilot inside - if he sits really low then he looks through it, if he sits high he looks over it (wonder if they had a windsheild or something for it all).
It's been awhile since I e-mailed Bob Holman, no reply so I e-mailed him again.
Is the catalog "Bob's Best in Scale" written by the same Bob Holman?

Corbin

brED

In the aviation-history web site, they had a small section at the bottom of the first pareagraph telling that the ovular shaped fuz is what caused the small gap between it and the top wing. I think they looked through that ,probably, 12 inch crack between the wing (of course it looks even smaller with the guns inplace.

kdheath

I knew there was something out there along this line. Try Jim Pepino for Albatross plans. I hope it's the right model; his numbering is off a little.

http://www.fly-imaa.org/imaa/IMAAads/pepino/

These plans are little bit bigger than you had asked for, but maybe that would be allright.

kdheath

Also, the cover of the April 1959 Model Airplane News. D-VA by Warren Kohler. Scale 2" to the foot. Forster 99 with working radiator(!). 84 turnbuckles in the rigging. 11 pounds, 5 ounces.

brED

Cool, the plane on the cover of Model Airplane News is about the size. I didn't get any replies from that Bob Holman so I just let it go. Maybe I can scale down the size of those plans on Scale Plans and Photo Services somehow.

brED

I noticed that on the review of the Albatross (on Scale Plans and Photo Services) that it appeared there was a small gap between the spinner and the fuz. edge, just below the spinner like you would see on a P-51 radiator, under the spinner. I guess it's kind of hard to explain.

kdheath

You can definitely get them scaled down. Some of the plans sellers, like Bill Northrup, will do it for you. Maybe Jim Pepino can, as well.

brED

Do I have to buy the plans first and scale them down, or can one of them do it first off (would the cost be "to scale" as well)?

GHL

Corbin, I know you may have your heart set on the D V or D Va version of the Albatros, but you might also consider a D III version. The wings are identical and the fuselage differs in having squared off sides rather than the oval shape of the D V. The horizontal tails are identical and while the rudders were different early in the production series, many D III versions had the D V rudder put on them as a wartime replacement. (I have built a number D V aircraft in 60" size from Lou Perretti plans( 4 to be exact) but that was many years ago.) Being somewhat nostalgic, I just bought a 60" kit version of the D III from Fun-Aero R/C. With the purchase I bought a glass cowl and aluninum spinner from some other vendors working in conjunction with the Fun Aero people. I only mention this as an idea since it might be easier to work with a kit rather than scale down drawings. I have not kept any plans from the Perretti designs otherwise I would send them to you. Regards, George

brED

That's cool, but I have been working on plans for awhile now. I found some 3-vu drawings on one the links in this thread (regards: I beleive to be from kdheath). After that I drew a dratf of what they may look like-I didn't like it so I'm back to square 2 (or 3?). I guess the D-III does look alot like the D-V, but then agian they all are kinda the same. I'll think about it.
brED

Stiliyan

Hi All,
I am modeler from Bulgaria(Europe) and decided to built a scala model 1:10 of Albatros D.V .
Now I am trying to find plans.
Please help!
my e-mail adress is

[email protected]

ARUP

Contact Joe at Proctor-enterprises.com for 1/4 scale Alb DVa plans. You could reduce them to the size you need. Aerodrome rc might sell plans- they have kits...

foodstick

The most BASIC thing to remember about an Albatross is this... unless you are a scratch build genius make sure you design your plane to fit a pre-existing spinner ! It is hardly an off the shelf part that can be had in any scale. I would buy a spinner and design your plane to fit it...thats just me by the way I did have contact with Balsa USA a year or so ago.. and at that time they had a 1/3 Albatross on their short list of new kits ! Hopefully the downturn of the economy hasn't killed that decision.. What a great kit that would be...