flying circus Flying Circus: The Albatros Mod WiP

May 20

It's been almost a year and I finally found some time to work on my everlasting Albatros project.

Check out last year's progress in the Old Forum:

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/91571-reviving-the-johannisthal-project/

I have corrected a glich that showed a clamp doubled on the starboard side of the fuselage in skins and both alpha and normal maps.

And start creating generic Jasta skins for both PWCG and Panther's Career Mod.

These are supposed to be early D5s from May to October '17.

(all the early D.5 features are described in the old thread)

Jasta 27 (check out the corrected clamp beside No 15)

Jasta 11

Jasta 2

Jasta 5

Version 1

Version 2

Jasta 24

Jasta 28

Jasta 8

Jasta 9

Edited June 8 by elephant
typos

May 22

Some more...

Jasta 8

Jasta 6

Jasta 16b

Jasta 10

May 28

I was doing some research on the bavarian Jastas and started a new Campaign in PWCGFC with Jasta 16b.

PWCG Albatros D.5 skins have been covering roughly 3 periods early (May17) mid (Oct17) late (Apr18)

I thought Jasta 16b was featuring black tails and such gave to my skins (featuring in the above post) through my search though I found out that:

Jasta 16b did not always have the black tail markings. When Ltn.Heinrich Geigl was wounded on 20 August 1917, Ltn. Robert Dycke, was appointed as acting Jastaführer. During the period that Jasta16b was commanded by Ltn Dycke, there were no unit markings. The aircraft were marked with the pilot's individual markings.
On 1 December 1917, when Ltn.Heinrich Geigl resumed command, at some later date, he introduced the black tail marking, and the individual pilot's markings were painted on the fuselage forward of the cross. This continued until after Ltn.Geigl was killed in action on 4 April 1918.
On 4 April 1918, Oblt.Fritz Roeth was appointed Jasta führer of Jasta16b. Sometime a little later Oblt.Roeth changed the Jasta marking to narrow white/black/white bands surrounding the fuselage at mid-point on the stabilizer. This marking continued to the end of the war.

Dan-San Abbott

Starting the test Campaign from the 1st of June '17 we had mixed flights of D.3s and D.5s

Knowing that the black tails, I thought correct by then, are not valid for the period I noticed that the D.3s had white tails with the tailpanes in bavarian checkers, thing I found too beautifull to ignore even if it's not quite historical, so I made the D.5 May17 skins matching to the D.3 ones.

I also made some crude D.3 renderings, from the official template, out of the box...

just changing the default color hues with IMHO more historically accurate ones.

I find the official D.3 template quite difficult to manipulate though...most layers are in Russian and others are locked.

Is there any other more compact Albatros D.3 template out there, than the official, to start working with?

There are many things to correct in the original D.3 OAW one, to begin with,

not to mention, the changes needed to be done in order to depict the earlier Johannisthal model.

I have done such changes to the D.5 and managed to convinsingly depict every type, from both Works.

Anyways as a bonus I made an ace skin as well for Otto Kissenberth, the famous Edelweiss.

Matching the flower on the segments of the fuselage on the skin was a nightmere ecspecially on the glitchy starboard side,

concidering that the flower was not mirrored from one side to the other, but turned out well at the end.

Detail of the Garuda propeller and the original machine.

Edited May 28 by elephant

June 5

I did some additional work on the D.3 OAW, for starters, before attempting the Johannisthal earlier model, although only the last two batches of the type, with the nose footstep, would be convincingly depicted in game, as the frontal footstep is now incorporated to the 3D model as well as the louvres and hatches, so not much manipulation via the normal and alpha maps can be done.

Working with the unfriendly, to my amaturish knowglege of Photoshop, official template, I managed to achieve some goals.

I did manage to represent the wooden fairings of the fuselage (only the OEFF, Austrian made machines had metal plated fairings)

I reworked both the footsteps, from period fotographs, with their original riveting, they should be identical.

I eliminated some leftovers from the template with no use, like the base of a non existant brace spar on the port lower wing

and a second non relevant clamp for the base of the radiator handle.

I added of course, the correct stencils in OAW style (centerline, weights table} plackards, rigging sheet.

Shifted the Balkenkreuze to the correct OAW style positioning and corrected the camo sheme colours (I didn't use the same as in the D.5 as every factory was using their own variants) and style (the lower wing patern was off by defaul)

Corrected the wheel covers to the distinctive OAW style with the oval access hatch (taken from my D.5a OAW template) as the official had both style hatches

(the OAW style overimposted to the Johannisthal one)

Finally I repainted the cockpit in the OAW destictive metal primer.

The wooden fairings "nailed" in place.

the original wooden fairings.

Wooden fairings and undercarriage notice on the far right the non relevant brace base (before correction)on the leadind edge in front of the V strut.

I created a PWCG Campaign (with Jasta 10) in order to test the skins...I struggled with the specularity on the cowling hood, it looks always like bare metal or tinted metal not painted metal, I hope I made it work somehow, let me what you think about it.

The brace base is now gone...haha!

The port side with all the details, footsteps, stencils, plackards.

Check out the D.5 on the backround, notice the difference on the metal primer colour between the OAW and Johannisthal factories

( the difference in the camo colours is subtle and is not so noticable here)

The new office

The OAW metal primer

The original...may be I need to make my take a bit more creamy, warmer.

(I used the sample I was using on the D.5a as is, but the weathering layers of the different templates can alter the final appearence in game)

It's all WiP after all...

I can also add the different propeller options like in the D.5 easily.

That's all for now...

June 8

Hi elephant, maybe tag the first post with the a flying cicus item prefix blue search banner via tags?

Edited June 8 by JollyJack

June 8

Done it, thank you JollyJack!

June 15

I have done some further work on the D.3 (OAW) added the misspronounced in the dafault template rivets, around the cockpit area on the fuselage.

Created some skins with Lozenge (printed camo) both with OAW style blue ribbons and strips of the same printed cloth as it is clearly seen in photographs but not so much acknowledged by the experts and added some mispresented Jasta skins in the PWCG skins pool.

Jasta 64w with printed camo and ribbons of the same cloth

Changes done so far: Wooden fairings, correct stencils and rigging chart, OAW ID plackards, new rivets and footstep.

I have managed to insert Jasta 49 in PWCG.

Fiddling with some values in PWCG (thanks to AeroCrab) Jasta 49 will be available from 1-2-1918, flying Albatros D.3 and D.5a

(with goodness 55 the D.3 is the primary plane).

Check out the first skins I've created:

My character Uffz. Heinz Buchenvalt in a mixed flight of 2 D.3 and one D.5a

Flying alongside the COs colourful plane. Photographic evidence revealed that Jasta 49 planes of the 5xxx batch of D.3 (OAW) had blue ribbons.

The D.5a skin, of the last batch of Johannisthal machines.

The plane shown in the above vintage picture is the personal mount of Jasta 49's CO Franz Ray.

It's dark hue misinterpreted and thus misrepresented as black, in numerous cases.

Franz Ray's plane was called Heliotropium and was inspired by the colour of the flower heliotropium arborescens.

(From information provided by Franz Ray himself to Alex Imrie. Jasta Colors V. 1, Bruno Schmalling.)

The serial No on the wheel cover

More to come...

Edited June 15 by elephant

June 15

Some more...

Albatros D.3 (OAW) Jasta 64w black tailplane with red (upperside) and white (underside) bands, in PWCG.

Underside featuring the OAW style broadly rimmed Balkenkreuz.

In close formation with a Johannisthal made D.5a also equipping the Jasta.

Jasta 44s

Featuring green tailplane and X crossed green and white (the colours of Saxony) bands, on the top wing.

D.5a (OAW) flying alongside a D.3 (OAW)

Edited June 15 by elephant

June 26

Some more work done, a bit tweaking on the wooden textures, and testing further the implementation of Jasta 49 in PWCG using the Albatros D.3 OAW well into 1918 as it was the case historically.

Notice the difference of the metal primer between the OAW and the Johannisthal machines.

June 27

Brand new Bavarian Jasta for PWCG!

I have added Jasta 76b, in PWCG.

It will be available from 1-12-1917 (it was actually deployed in the 4th of November '17)).

I tried to match as possible, with the most approximate airfields in the game's map, to the actual ones Jasta 76b was operating from, in order to depict their tour starting from Alsace to Somme, Ardennes and back to Alsace.

They are going to have Albatros D.3 (OAW) and Albatros D.5a (as it is obvious from the pic below) and Fokker D.VII later in 1918.

Check out the first skins:

June 28

The Amerika Programme* continues with Jasta 46.

Implemantation in PWCG, will be available from 1-1 1918 (deployed at WF in 29-12-1917) equiped with Albatros D.3 (OAW), Albatros D.5a and Pfalz D.IIIa,

later on with Fokker D.VII.

Check out the skins... a bit of fine tunning in the allignment of the stripes is still to be done on the D.3 tail.

*The Amerika programme was developed as a response to the expected arrival of US aviators in Europe. It provided for an increase in German aircraft production and an increase in pilot training, among others with the creation of 40 new Jasta (40-80).

July 1

Another Amerika Programme, Jasta implemented in PWCG...Jasta 65.

Originally deployed in 4-2-1018 in the WF, will be available in PWCG from 1-3-1918, equiped with Alb. D.3 (OAW), Alb. D.5a and Pfalz D.IIIa.

The first skins:

Reworked fuselage side with resized and shifted backwards weights table along with the factory plackards and the rigging instuctions sheet, after further studing on reference photos, more missing rivets added and the side cross was shifted a bit forward.