Manfred von Richthofen Modeling project.

[GAJouette]

Otis,
Fantastic work to date.Your cockpit is a real gem,Outstanding.I look forward to following this thread.Honestly this project is truly a work of model art at its best.
Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Gman]

Glenn,

thanks for posting those cockpit pictures - do you have more you could email me?
Not sure about the seat color - could you point me towards some reference?
Also, does anyone know what the key? on the chain on the left side was for?
Magnetos maybe?
Thanks.

Gman

[Doug Baumann]

hi nice build good job... the chain is so the key for the mag switch dose not get lost {ignition key}

[Otis Glenn]

Hello everyone:

I want to thank Doug, Gman and Gregory for all the compliments.

I also wanted to let Gman know that I have corrected the color of the interior framework that touches the fabric. I was able to repaint those parts with a flat white last night without too much fuss. Again, thanks for the heads-up on that.

As far as the seat, I had always read that Fokker seats were aluminium covered in stitched leather. However, A.E. Ferko's Richthofen said the seat in 425/17 was covered in red fabric to match the overall color (more evidence pointing toward a factory painted plane just for Richthofen). The Memorial Flight is aluminium covered in leather, and that is what I did on my model.

Speaking of the Memorial Flight, here is the link to their English language home page...

Mémorial Flight Association

This site has all of the interior photos of the Fokker Dr.I that I have been using in this project. Here is a direct link to them....

Photos du Fokker

On top of this, the site itself is awesome. You can actually spend hours looking through it. They have built accurate flying reproductions of a Spad XIII, S.E.5a, Fokker Dr.I, Fokker D.VII and other aircraft. It is a great site if you haven't seen it yet.

Again, thanks for all the compliments everyone!

Glenn

[Gman]

Just got done with the blue/grey undercoat of my Fokker F.I - now how do I appy the striped green/black camo look?
Brush, or is there some airbrush trick I don't know?

I am sure this has been asked before...
(it is big - 1/28 scale)

[Otis Glenn]

Hey Gman:

Here's a trick you can use. Gunsight Graphics makes a Fokker Streaked Cammo decal that is printed on clear decal paper. This allows you to use any base color you choose. They also happen to make a set of the decals in 1/28 scale. The problem will be tracking down sellers of the decals. As far as I know, Gunsight does not have a website of their own and I would up buying my examples (in 1/48) off Ebay. All I can provied you at this time is an email address for the maker.

seanbriankirby@gmail.com

He gives you a big sheet of the decal and one or two should cover an entire aircraft in 1/28. They are about $14.00 each.

Hope this helps.

Glenn

[theseeker]

Your basically limited to brushing when it comes to painting. An airbrush is too "soft" to get streaking effect you want.
This thread may give you some help.
Rocky
Finished 1/32 Roden Fokker Dr.I

[Otis Glenn]

Hello everyone:

I just wanted to quickly apologise to everyone for taking so long in getting paint on the Roden 1/32 Triplane I presented the interior photos of a few weeks ago. I just now putting Tamiya white primer on it and I keep running into minute things that need to be changed, improved or added. That, and the only hobby shop in the Richmond area ran out of Model Master Acryl Guards Red and has not gotten any in in the past week! . Hopefully real paint will be going on as soon as it arrives at the hobby shop.

I also going to add the Copper State Models 1/48 Aviatik C.I to this collection to represent the aircraft that Richthofen made his first claim on while an observer with the B.A.O.. The type of plane is guesswork, but is mentioned in Peter Kilduff's books on Richthofen.

Now I have a question about an issue I have encountered. I cannot find any good photos or refrences to how the rigging wires were attached to the upper part of the Fokker Dr.I's cabane struts. I know that the attachment points were on the upper part of the struts themselves, not the wing, but I cannot find any clear refrences to how this was done. What I can see seems to suggest that a "strap" was placed around the upper portion of the strut and the wire attachment point was on this feature, rather than a attachment point being welded onto the strut itself. If anyone has information about this, or even a good close up photo, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Glenn

[Otis Glenn]

Here are some photos of the completed engine before I mount it on the firewall and cover it with the cowling.





This is the Vector 1/32 resin engine modified to fit in the Roden cowling. I discovered to my horror that the engine was too large to fit in the cowling. I had to shorten each cylinder about 1mm to get it to fit. That also meant shortening the copper intake pipes as well. The front and rear shafts were from the Roden kit so the engine would fit properly onto the firewall and the prop would fit on the engine. Rocker arms and plug wires are scratchbuilt. I just wish the pictures were better.

One last shot of the Fokker before painting...



This is with the overall white primer. I used Tamiya laquer spray primer with sanding after discovering the flaws followed by more primer. I just thought an all white Dr.I would be interesting to see.

Next comes the preshading. I've never tried pre-shading before, so this should be interesting.

More pictures soon.

Glenn

[theseeker]

Otis,

Looking good! If you going for a white aircraft, you should try different shades of lighter gray. I you pre-shade too dark, you end up using a lot of white.
Just my 2 cents.

Rocky