Stabilizers went on easily. I had to make a new tail again - twice.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps892d8a9f.jpg

Landing gear installed and first primer coat.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps95d63e45.jpg

Reshaping the upper wings. The Austrian B.II had much longer upper wings, with tapering ailerons (top). The German version had shorter wings and straight ailerons (bottom).

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psb6826541.jpg

Another setback, but a good one. I was dreaming that I might get this one finished quickly and ready for tomorrow night's game. I did some puttying and sanding and had tentatively sprayed the nose with the proper color. There were still seams showing and irregularities in the putty. Then I realized that in the photos the rear deck is raised slightly and rounded at the edges, sloping downward to the stabilizer, whereas the deck on the model is flat from the rear cockpit to the tail. I thought about ignoring it, and no one would ever know...except of course me. And the old modeler's saying is always there: "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?" And it's true - I would always know it was there and hate it that way. And the other part is that when I get in too much of a hurry and want it done now, I have to remind myself that the building itself is fun, and it will be done when it's done and not a moment sooner.

I glued in a couple of layers of thick plastic sheet. I believe regular plastic cement is better for this than superglue, so I now have to wait all night for it to dry before I can start sanding it to shape. So, the night ends with plastic sheet glued to the model's spine, looking very out-of-place until I can get it sanded to the proper shape.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps4e270b6d.jpg

[edit] Oh, I forgot; I had another setback this morning. I tested the tube that mounts the plane to the game stand, and it had a glue clog in it. I tried to drill it out, but the drill wouldn't fit straight into the tube without grinding against the bottom of the fuselage. I finally had to cut it loose, and since the plastic on a vac kit is very soft the plastic all around the tube came off with the glue, leaving a nice big hole in the bottom. I thought I might be able to drill the tube out that way and glue it straight back in, but no matter how clean the tube looked the steel pin still wouldn't go in. I had to cut a new length of tube, then glue in a replacement piece of scrap plastic, the file a trough in it, then glue in the new tube, making sure this time that no glue got inside. That wasted some valuable time.

You should feel good...you adapted and overcame :cool:

Upper deck step 2: cut, grind and sand the sides of the new layers until they match the fuselage sides.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psc608c782.jpg

Nice! Do you work with them while you are on subsim :hmmm:, this requires good simultaneous, not because I doubt that you have it,:)

No, I have a separate table just for building. I'm hoping to someday get a pair of wireless headphones so I can listen to music while I build.

Upper deck step 3: Tapering the top of the deck to slope from the aft cockpit to the tailplane. This was the hardest part because while I can always take off more, if I take too much I'll have to resort to putty. The little modeler's sanding block is too soft. Even the sanding stick is too soft. I resorted to winding some sandpaper around the flat handle of a pair of tweezers. Voila! Instant steel-hard sanding stick!

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psb767a593.jpg


Upper deck step 4: Rounded into the proper shape. A coat of primer shows that I still have a way to go, plus there is a lot of dirt on the sides that needs to be sanded smooth before painting.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps119c1ba4.jpg

Yesterday I realized the stabilizer was crooked, so I had to pry it off and reset it. Then I spent most of the day puttying, sanding and priming until I was halfway satisfied. I did some more of that today, finally applying a tentative topcoat. Tomorrow will tell if I'm ready to proceed or do it all some more.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps6036f1b6.jpg

Because of the location of some of the markings I needed to apply some decals before putting bracing struts on. I started that business this morning when I realized that some of the paint was too thin in some areas and there were some lumps in some others. I ended up sanding and painting some more. The paint I mixed was too thin, and it ran. More sanding and more masking, then a complete repaint of the main areas. It now contrasts much better with the very pale grey of the panels and decking, so now it is much more obvious that this one is going to be white. :sunny:

Still no markings though. :dead:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps054785c0.jpg

Yesterday I put the decals on but didn't take any pictures. Today was spent working on the interior.

The Aviatik C.I was the only "armed" C-type to retain the observer in the front cockpit. Sources differ on the reason for this. Harleyford's Reconaissance and Bomber Aircraft says the later C.Ia reversed the positions. German Combat Planes by Wagner and Nowarra doesn't talk about the C.Ia but says later C.Is had the observer in the rear. The Windsock Datafile on the subject says the C.Ia had a different nose and a spinner on the prop, and served as prototype for the C.III. Early C.IIIs also had the observer in front, but not for long. The Datafile is by Peter M Grosz, who I consider the leading expert in the field of German WWI aircraft. What Grosz says is that front-line C.Is always had the observer in front. The plane remained in production after it was removed from combat status. All the ones built after that did indeed have the observer in the rear, but they were trainers and had to prepare new aircrews for the new planes, so none of those ever saw combat.

With all that in mind I needed to put the observer in front. As I mentioned back when I built the Fokker B.II there was a rail on each side of the cockpit, with sliding mounts which could take the gun. The gun could be moved from side to side, but sometimes they carried two guns at the expense of some performance. I recently picked up a stock of various WWI machine guns, so I figured I could afford to mount two Parabellum guns, just to make it interesting. So now the tail bracing struts are on, the cabane is on, the pilot and observer are in and the observer is shooting one of his guns forward. There were bracing wires to keep the gun from pointing at the propeller, but I don't want to put those in before mounting the radiator, and I don't want to do that until the upper wings are on. I'm hoping to have all that done tomorrow and have it rigged in time for Thursday's game.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps8921a574.jpg

Coming along real nice :cool:

All done except the rigging (and exhaust stack [and propeller]). I might not get it done before tomorrow's game, because everybody is off and we might be starting when the shop opens at 11:00 and going all day long. :D

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps355b8b60.jpg

I bet its been a while since you went 'at it' all day long :O:

Looking good though :cool: