Manfred von Richthofen Modeling project.

[CWatson]

Originally Posted by StephenLawson

I believe that an image of MvR's Roland in in the Albatros Special - monograph titled "Richthofen" by the late A.E. Ferko. At least thats what he captioned it.

Found this one here. Looks like the picture and profile in Ferko's book.


CW

[Otis Glenn]

Thanks CW.

I've pretty much decided to go with the Roland at this point as no one seems to be arguing the subject. JFM has been working with me on this particular aircraft and I will be using the markings provided in Ferko's book. Actually, I will be using a profile that JFM sent to me that agrees with Ferko's markings. JFM's profile has the rigged forward MG on it amd this is how I intend to modify it.

Glenn

[Otis Glenn]

Greetings everyone:

It has been a while since I posted on this thread but I have been busy with the project in the meantime. I have collected woodgrain and fokker streak cammo decals as well as all of the models that I need. The large 1/32 Dr.I 425/17 is nearing the painting stage and I have aquired a resin Obrusel engine for it as well. The others are being started as we speak.

As I stated earlier, I am going to place these models on display at the library where I work. To that emd, I made a graphic proposal showing the models that I am doing in the schemes they will be in to present to the branch manager. She loved the idea. Since I am sending a copy to another forum member I thaought it only fair to present it to everyone for comments and scrutiny. I just wanted to let everyone know that the artworks in this presentation are not my own and belong to artist Mikhail Bykov. I have altered the artworks some to match the schemes I will probably place the aircraft in and for accuracy. I want everyone to know that I have only used Mr. Bykov's work for research and I want to give him full credit for them. I hope using them doesn't rub anyone the wrong way. With all of that said, here is the proposal....



I am no artist, especially with the computer, and there are some things that will be different with the models. The main one will be F.I 102/17, which will be bleached linnen with streaking instead of blue with streaking. Also, all of these are with the information I have now. I am waiting for Jim Miller's book to finalize the looks of the aircraft as I will most likely base the models on his renditions.

Well, what do you think guys?

Glenn

[Profa]

I'm planning the same project since last September, although in 1/72 Almost all the boxes are in stash (Eduard/Roden, still looking for Walfish and Halberstadt), now just have to find time to start...
Wish you all the luck with this!

[Doug Baumann]

GOOD LUCK with the builds i can"t wate to see them Doug

[Otis Glenn]

Hey Guys:

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement!

Now here's a crazy idea that just formed in my twisted mind. I haven't looked to see if there is already one on the Aerodrome, or elsewhare for that matter, but there are so many of us working on the same project maybe we should form a Richthofen Modeling Group.

Seriously though, it's fun to see others working on the same thing and sharing ideas and images about it. Great stuff!

Glenn

[Otis Glenn]

Hello Everyone:

I'v finally gotten ahold of a digital camera and have taken some photos of the 1/32 Roden Dr.I cockpit area before I get everything painted and put together... which will hide most of the detail. The constant delima of interior detailing on models.




These two images are a little fuzzy... sorry about that.
I used both Eduard and Polish PART photoetch sets for this kit. I also scratchbuilt a number of items including the oil pulsator, and an entirely redone control column. The wood effects are done with an old Detail Master wood grain set. The problem with these decals are that they were originally made for 1/24th car models and don't quite fit the scale properly, but they do give a decent enough effect. All of this was done before I discovered the SPADA wood effect decals. According to A.E. Ferko the seat was supposed to be covered in red colored fabric. I didn't discover this until the seat was on its mountings and the safety harnesses were in place. Please don't tell anyone.




Here are a couple of more photos with most of the stuff around the cockpit test fitted into place.
You can actually get a better view of some of the interior in the uppermost photo.
The placements and colors of the interior parts are based heavily on The Memorial Flight's Fokker Dr.I reproduction.



Here is the upper wing cutout. I had originally placed the cutout in the position that was indicated by the kit itself. Much to my disgust I found out this was incorrect and had to move the opening up further on the wing top. Fortunately, I had not placed the wing spar in position when I discovered the mistake. A little plastic, putty, and sandpaper and it all worked out.



A final image of all the major subassemblies test fitted together. You can see putty on areas that needed major correction. The Roden kit is nice but has a good number of goof ups, most minor, but some require major work... as can be seen on the stabalizer in this photo.

Well, next step is painting. Can't wait to get this out of the way. The 1/32 kit is taking sooooo long. The 1/48 kits will be a snap compared to this one.

Please let me know what you think of the work so far... good or bad!

Glenn

[Gman]

Otis,

nice workmanship. I wish I had the skill and patience for such a nice cockpit.
I am building the Revell verison in 1/28 and my cockpit does not look half as good.
One comment though if I may - you painted the fuselage steel tubes in green, which is correct. The tubes were then wrapped in canvas so the fabric could be sewn to the tubes. Which would make the tubes appear white. Got this from Achim Engels Fok Dr.I CD ROM.
The pilot seat also was a aluminum shell coverd in sewed on linen/canvas.
Engels has a free downloadable video on his site which shows that.
Of course not all tubes were covered just the ones that made contact with the outside fabric.
Please keep us posted about your progress.

[Otis Glenn]

Hey Gman:

Thanks for the compliments.

Also, thanks for pointing the errors out to me. It may not be too late for me to correct one of the problems.

I took another look at the cockpit photos of the Memorial Flight Fokker and sure enough it was just like you said, it was just hard to see the framework that connected to the fabric. Here are a couple of the photos I have been using as refrence.



In this photo the upper part of the framework is covered and I did not see the covering on the framework next to the fabric. This is what probably caused the goof on my part.



In this photo, if you look above the map case, you can just barely see the covering on the framework. This is what I missed.

As far as the seat, I didn't get the info on the red colored fabric on 425/17's seat from Ferko's book until the seat was on its framework and the belts were attached confoundit!

Live and learn. It just means that the 1/48th scale Fokkers will be that much more accurate.

Again thanks for the compliments and the help.

Glenn

[Doug Baumann]

hay nice work can't wate to see more Doug