This is another plane that I have wanted to build for a long time. There is no better time than the present, and since I was building a very similar Albatros kit for Werner Voss, it was not hard at all to get the second Albatros kit up to speed.

This is the kit I am building. From what I have read, Jasta 2 received at least 5 Albatros D-I's. These were flown by approximately 8 or possibly more pilots, one of whom was Oswald Boelcke. I need to go back and confirm the numbers.

Oswald Boelcke scored some kills in an Albatros D-I, but so far I have not been able to determine what the serial number would have been. Time will tell if this is figured out or not.

I beleive it was September 1916 when the improved Albatros D-II appeared, and I have been able to determine the exact airframe he flew for some of his eventual 40 victories while flying in a D-II version.

The main difference is how the center wing strut arrangement was. On the D-II they lowered the height of the top wing by approximately 9 inches. This improved the forward and upper view from the pilot's seat. On the later D-II's they changed the location of the Windhof radiators. They were moved from the sides of the fuselage to the center of the top wing.

However, I am keeping this kit as a regular Albatros D-I. No modifications will be done to convert it to a D-II. From what I have read, there were 50 of these machines built and delivered to the Western Front, and possibly another 50 built and delivered to training schools.

I am currently building all of the 1/32 scale Roden Mercedes D-III engines I have in the stash. One will be used for this model. One will be for the Voss Pfalz D-III, and I have already completed another one for the Voss Albatros D-III.

The remaining three engines will be eventually used for the pair of Roden Albatros (OAW) D-III kits and the last one will be for my remaining Pfalz D-III kit that are still in the stash.

I was going to be painting the wings for my Voss Albatros D-III. The early Albatros D-I used the same colors.

So I decided it would be the perfect time to assemble the top wing for the D-I so I could spray paint them at the same time. I assembled the horizontals at the same time in preparation for paint.

Here I have sprayed them with a Light Blue color. I used WW2 German RLM 65 here.

Here is a close up on the wings. You can see how much wider the chord section is when compared to the later D-III to D-V series. They did not have the wing problems on these early machines, because they had two wing spars.

The seat, seat cushion, spinner and backing plate, MG ammunition cans, fuel tank and wheels were assembled. There are also a pair of fuselage mounted Windof radiators.

All of the wooden interior parts were also assembled and made ready for a base coat of paint. I will come back with oils to make it look like wood.

Then it was time to paint the top side of the wings. Here I used Rust, RAF Interior Green for the Light Green, and Imperial Japanese Navy Green for the Dark Green.

My new light makes everything look a bit odd as far as the colors we see in my pictures. Sorry.

Here you can see the wing set from a slightly different angle in hopes to eliminate the glare.

This is another close up of the wings for the Oswald Boelcke Albatros.

Here is a close up showing the horizontals.

We have a Hurricane that is currently projected to make landfall west of us. We should be OK, but we might lose power for a little while. I will try to comment if I can.

As always, comments are encouraged.
Take care and have a good night.

Another great entry and equally progress already, Louis @lgardner

Spiros Pendedekas (@fiveten)
John vd Biggelaar (@johnb)
IAN Convey (@firelockg)
Thank you my friends. We managed to get through the storm with only a few small tree branches that fell. We have some leaves and Spanish Moss that have been blown out of the trees as well. But the misses and I have already cleaned everything up.

We were very fortunate. Things could have been much worse. I feel so bad for the people who live in North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, and basically all of the lower Appalachian Mountains. They have been going through some horrific times lately after the storm has passed through.

Ian,
Those Albatros photos are very inspiring. Thank you. I have a Wingnut Wings Albatros kit that will likely be built up as a machine flown by "Udet". I have two sets of markings for it that represent two different planes he flew. One is the overall aluminum one you have pictured here, and another one has a wooden fuselage and lozenge wings and rudder. It's going to be very hard to decide on which one to go with.

Thanks again my friends.

Please stay tuned for a small update on the Boelcke Albatros.

Nice work, Louis. Your Albatros Werke is humming!

Superb progress, Louis @lgardner

I am really starting to appreciate how well these Roden WW1 planes are designed, Louis (@lgardner). It seems to have a lot of detail and goes together well. Great looking paint.