Stephen- You are right, I missed the PE lower panel detail. From the two best photos I have, the lower panels were nearly identical between the F.I and Dr.I. The nonexistent cowl lip makes the difference on the PE model panels except hole location and there were in actuality no holes for struts. Have to ask Gary if he has seen anything different.
Both F.I and Dr.I opening maintenance panels had a full length piano hinge and square edges on the front and rounded corners on the rear to keep them from bending and possibly to prevent the mechanics from sticking themselves with sharp corners. The shape of the forward edge of the overall removable panels is wrong, too. There were two slots in front of the removable lower panel to go around the landing gear struts and the front of the panel fit underneath the bent back aluminum of the firewall. Otherwise you could not remove the lower panel without removing the landing gear. The lower panel had to be removed to remove the lower wing, and obviously nobody wanted to remove the landing gear for transportation.
The cowl also had nothing to do with the lower panel since the lower panel fit underneath another panel edge. There was no lip on the cowl, just the forward cowl bevel continued and curved all the way to the bottom of the cowl and a round ended slot was cut in that extended panel, through which the engine cylinders rotated. Also, there were no Fokker fasteners on the forward edge of the hinged maintenance panel. They were about 2/3s of the way back.
Y'all will have a bit of work to do for either a Dr.I or F.I. Here is a photo of Steve Anderson's 1/4 scale F.I cowl so you can see what I mean.
Taz
Terry Phillips
Anderson, Steve Voss Cowl #2 Lo Res.jpg