1/32 Albatros W.4 (late) Floaty Conversion

[Allen Dewire]

Morning All,

As the Mojo is flying and I ain't getting any younger, I decided to dive into another WWI wing thingy. It will be the conversion of the Albatros D.I fighter, into an Albatros W.4 (late) float plane used at Zeebrugge in the Great War. It will be a test of nerves and skills with chopping, hacking and scratchy work to do it. First up is a little background history of the plane...

The Albatros Company was a major producer of fighter aircraft in the Great War. Their D series, I - V, were some of the best single seater fighters made and flown by many Aces at the time. Albatros also produced a series of float planes for the Naval air services too. The W.4 was built from the original D.I airframe, with the addition of floats to be water capable. Both planes used the Daimler Benz D.III inline 6-cylinder motor rated @ 160HP. Testing found that the W.4, being heavier than the D.I, had difficulties getting into the air. It needed larger wings to accomplish this. There were also other design changes made to the tail. A quick spec comparison of both models,

..................................Abatros D.I............Albatros W.4

Wingspan upper - 8.50 mtrs.............9.50 mtrs
Wingspan lower - 8.00 mtrs.............9.20 mtrs
Fuselage length - 7.40 mtrs.............7.40 mtrs, 8.40 mtrs w/Floats
Top Speed - 175 Kph..........................160 KPH
Empty Weight - 898 kgs....................964+ Kgs

There were 3 prototypes, #s 747, 785-786 built and tested. Followed by 7 production runs made between 1916 and 1917. A total of 118 of the W.4's were made. The production runs were as follows including marine numbers,

1st, #s 902-911 with 1 08/15 Spandau LMG, with 2 ear radiators, 10 built...
2nd, #s 948-967 with 2 08/15 Spandau LMGs, with 2 ear radiators, 20 built...
3rd, #s 1107-1116 with 2 08/15 Spandau LMGs, with 2 ear radiators, 10 built...
4th, #s 1302-1326 with 2 08/15 Spandau LMGs, with 2 ear radiators, 25 built...
5th, #s 1484-1503 with 2 08/15 Spandau LMGs, with airfoil radiator, 4 ailerons, 20 built...
6th, #s 1504-1513 with 2 08/15 Spandau LMGs, with airfoil radiator, 4 ailerons, 10 built...
7th, #s 1719-1738 with 2 08/15 Spandau LMGs, with airfoil radiator, 4 ailerons, 20 built and shipped directly into storage...Outdated and superseded by other float planes. Hansa-Brandenburg W.12, Friedrichshafen FF33L, Rumpler 6B1 etc.

So you are now all asking what this has to do with the price of pigs in Poland. I wanted to get this done before I forgot, like last time!!! What I will be attempting, as said above, is to convert a D.I into a W.4 (late) from the 5th or 6th production run...........The victim,


The kit is from 2008 and not anywhere near expensive as a WnW kitset...The sprue shots,




Some flash, two different colored plastics which are rather soft, pretty good details (wing ribbing is weak), and the motor needs lotsa love!!! The destructions,



The two big hurdles in this conversion are, scratch building the floats and lengthening the upper and lower wings. The other hurdles are easier to accomplish. This will be not take away from finishing my dio...

Feel free to pull up a chair on the dock and watch me drown with this one. Butchery Construction will begin very soon. You have been warned!!!...

Prost
Allen

 

[Andy the Sheep]

Chair pulled up, Sir.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Chair pulled up, Sir.

Ditto!

 

[Jim R]

Another chair pulled up.

 

[stillp]

No lozenge camo this time then Allen?
Pete

 

[Andy T]

I missed the early stages of your last build so will grab a chair before the place gets too crowed.

 

[papa 695]

I've just pulled up a chair too. Sounds like a very interesting build.

 

[scottie3158]

Count me in Dude, I'm looking forward to watching you work your magic on this.

 

[Allen Dewire]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for joining me in this journey into unknown territory. I've never tried scratchy on a wing thingy before, so this should be interesting. We will be doing this build from The Mole in Zeebrugge, Belgium. If you aren't a good swimmer, I would suggest wearing a life vest during the build. Here's why,


The arrow is pointing to the location on the the inner side where we are. With luck, Brunhilde will serve some food from the her grill in the large hanger. If not, bring your fishing pole and try your luck...

Pete, there will be naval lozenge camo on the wings for sure. There are 2 options for the fuselage on the late version...

Here's what we are trying to do,

Wheel wingy to float wingy. This involves a bit more than you see in the pic above, so let's look at the particulars,


The early (L) and the late (R). The red circles denote items to be added, scratched, modified and so on. Bottom wing ailerons carved into the wing, Top wing ailerons reshaped and the airflow radiator scratch built into the top wing. Both wings also need to be lengthened too. I'll get into the floats when the time comes...

I started doing basic calculations, using Dr. Merryweather's Magical Math Formula to shorten the tail wing to its proper size, starting with the up/down flappy. The kit part,


The flappy end was shortened by 4-5mm and sanded into the correct shape,


The tail wings were also shortened to improve stability and reduce weight. Look closely and you'll see where I marked them to be cut and re-shaped. The fuselage openings for them will filled with plastic card. The fuselage,


The wood panels are nicely defined and have a slight texture. I haven't decided yet whether to do them in wood or naval grey paint. As W.4s didn't have rear landing skids, the mount for the skid had to go,


A little cleanup and the fuselage halves are done for now. I found it odd, that there are no alignment/attachment pins or holes on the whole thing. I hope the pit and motor help line the halves up properly.

A last pic to show you what ear radiators look like on the early W.4 models,


more on them later on in the build...

All comments, questions or abuse are cheerfully accepted. More to follow folks...

Prost
Allen

 

[stillp]

Looking forward to the lozenge camo!
Pete

 

[Airborne01]

Watching attentively Herr Schlactermeister (excuse mis-spelling!)
Steve

 

[Waspie]

I've stopped pulling up chairs, I've upgraded to the magic carpet Mk7 due to having to fly between builds. You guys create some amazing masterpieces!!!

 

[Jim R]

Looks as if you have the modifications well in hand. If ever there was a case for obeying the saying " Measure twice and cut once" this is it

 

[Ernie]

Off to a great start, avidly watching this adventure!

 

[Mini Me]

Yo Dude!.....are there any seats left? I'm in for this "floaty boaty wingy thingy"! Sounds like a clear cut case of "I can't make up my mind".......oops! So, are the wheeled assemblies under the floats in the pic. a permanent part of the bird or is this a shot of the bird on dollies to move it around on land? Not seen one before.......very interesssssssting.

 

[Mickc1440]

Definitely joining the rabble for this one Allen, good luck

 

[yak face]

Sorry I’m late sir but ive got a note from my mum . I’ll be watching closely allen , looks like another epic build in store for us hungry rabble !

 

[papa 695]

A very nice start.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Interesting…..got to love a floatplane……such a weird idea when you really think about it. Great start, full of your usual meticulous research and planning.

 

[Jakko]

a floatplane……such a weird idea when you really think about it.

How so? IMHO it makes perfect sense: there is water all over the place in many parts of the world, and it will automatically be (mostly) flat, whereas finding a long enough stretch of flat enough ground to land on/take off from can be much harder.