Scale aviation modeller international

NICE AND SOLID

The wings are anchored by a

substantial spar, which is fitted

in the lower centre section of

the wing. This fixes the parts

at the correct dihedral with no

problems at all. I found that the

safest sequence to ensure a good

fit is to attach the centre wing

assembly to the fuselage halves,

and once this is set firmly, add

the lower outer wing panels.

The upper wings are added next,

and if you have followed this order

of assembly you will have a degree

of adjustment, which helps the

fuselage/ wing join. I find this is

the best technique with kits whose

fit may be suspect and has saved

me many problems in the past.

The wing leading edges have a

total of eight air intakes moulded

in them, and these took a degree

of work with scalpel and file to

achieve the elliptical section

of the originals. They are quite

prominent though, so it’s worth

the time and effort involved.

One disappointment is that

there is no vestige of detail within

the main wheel bays, and since

I could find no references for

the area, that’s how they stayed

(can any reader help here?)

I found that the locations for

the tailplanes are insubstantial,

to say the least, so drilling and

pinning was the order of the day,

although to save masking I kept

these parts separate from the

rest of the model until the main

camouflage colours were on.

FIONA’S TOP COAT

The two aircraft options offered

by the kit decals differ in both

the colour and pattern of the

camouflage schemes that were

applied, “Fiona” bearing dark earth

and green on the top surfaces while

“Fortuna” was grey and green. Both

aircraft were painted aluminium

underneath. I had decided on

“Fiona” early on in the build, for no

particular reason except it looked

good in the picture on the box.

As usual, I began with a coat or

two of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer

to highlight any discontinuities

or unfilled gaps. Once all was

smooth, I pre-shaded it all over

using Tamiya X-18 Semi-gloss

Black. The eagle-eyed among you

will notice that I missed the panel

line around one of the upper engine

nacelles. Blame age for this, but the

omission is hardly obvious once

the camouflage colours are on.

The underside was painted with

a 50/50 mix of Tamiya XF-16 Flat

Aluminium and XF-19 Sky Grey. I

figured that diluting the metallic

nature of the paint would allow

my pre-shading to show through,

and so it proved. This was followed

by my own mix of dark earth (the

recipe of which is long forgotten),

and then by Tamiya XF-81 Dark

Green 2 (RAF), with both colours

being applied thinly and patchily to

allow the pre-shading to do its job.

Masking for the green was

the usual white tack sausages to

give a soft edge. There are those

out there who are brave and/

or talented enough to airbrush

soft-edged camouflage schemes

freehand, but sadly I am not

among their number. A couple of

gloss coats then followed, ready

for the application of the decals.

CHALLENGING DECALS

The decals are beautifully printed

and include silver outlines for the

upper registration letters. They

settle perfectly while allowing

some “wriggle time”, but they

are very thin and consequently

prone to folding and tearing if

clumsily handled (guess how I

discovered this!) However, they

are sufficiently robust to recover

from such clumsiness, and once

they are dry the carrier film is

as close to invisible as it gets.

I did have some issues with the

instruction’s positioning guide,

as it shows different positions

for the decals on each side of the

fuselage, while the size of the

registration letters also differs

from the actual decals. This gave

me a few headaches when it came

to trying to position them evenly.

Unfortunately, there is very

little reference available for the

camouflaged Albatrosses, so best

guessing is all I was able to do.

By comparing the few existing

pictures of Fiona I would suggest

that the fuselage codes are a bit on

the large side, but not having a stock

of any suitable silver-edged codes in

my decal stash, I could do nothing

other than use what was supplied.

Once decals were on, the

whole airframe received a

68 • NOVEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

066-71-CIVIL-Albatross-1118.indd 68 12/10/2018 16:02