My 1/4 scale Fokker D.VII

BillF · 3 July 2008, 06:53 AM

I've been working on this Basla USA Fokker D.VII for about 7 months now and I'm getting rather close to getting it covered and finished. Right now I'm doing the firewall and engine mounting which is a tricky proposition at best.

My buddy Scott got me hooked on the WW1 birds (I'm a WW2 German and Russian guy).

It will be finished in the colors of the Jasta 10 bird 244/18 (which I see is quite common round these parts). I WILL be putting the larger upper right wing patch on the covering.

So without further a-do:

Lyle · 4 July 2008, 08:27 AM

BillF:
Thanks for posting the building photos; your work looks very good. You will find many builders doing outstanding jobs with their Balsa USA Fokkers, so I'm sure yours will be in good company when it's done. It's a nice big model in 1/4 scale, not so big that you need a hangar. I like the FW190 wing standing there, too. Is that from a kit or plans?
And of course there's no retracts on a D.VII...
BTW, welcome to the Forum and have a great 4th of July!
Lyle

BillF · 4 July 2008, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyle

BillF:
Thanks for posting the building photos; your work looks very good. You will find many builders doing outstanding jobs with their Balsa USA Fokkers, so I'm sure yours will be in good company when it's done. It's a nice big model in 1/4 scale, not so big that you need a hangar. I like the FW190 wing standing there, too. Is that from a kit or plans?
And of course there's no retracts on a D.VII...
BTW, welcome to the Forum and have a great 4th of July!
Lyle

Thanks!

Actually thats a Yak-3 wing, the FW 190 wing is in another room. That is from a kit from RedStar RC, they have a Yak-3 and a LaGG-3. The Yak is 40 sized the LaGG 90 sized.

Yak-3 famous RUSSIAN WWII fighter kit by Red Star RC

BillF · 9 July 2008, 10:38 AM

As I said I'm doing 244/18 which was an earlier Fokker built D.VII so the radiator is a little different than the BUSA kit builds. I'm not 100% happy with the top of the radiator yet, but its getting closer. I have some more work to do with the radiator screen area itself to make it a bit more scale too, but all in all, I'm getting there.

The firewall has been installed for the Zenoah G38 with cup mount.

I also wanted to share some pictures of the 4 color lozenge fabric I will be using. These pictures are from my buddy's D.VII (234/18).

PS: does anyone have the Wk. No's for 244/18 and 234/18 so we can properly fill in the Fokker Dataplates?

Bookmaker · 9 July 2008, 01:29 PM

Bill, PM Dan San Abbott. I would bet he can provide the data you want

BillF · 9 July 2008, 01:54 PM

Thanks Dale. PM sent.

JohnFitz · 10 July 2008, 09:14 AM

You might want to consider getting the alum. side panels and dummy engine from Proctor. Your model is looking good. Also the radiator screen. Just my 2 cents worth.

BillF · 10 July 2008, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnFitz

You might want to consider getting the alum. side panels and dummy engine from Proctor. Your model is looking good. Also the radiator screen. Just my 2 cents worth.

Proctor is too expensive. Just the radiator screen was $50, the entire radiator front was $85.

I'm not worried about the aluminum side panels, as those should be very easy to make due to the early run Fokker I am modeling, no vents cut, just a few panels for access.

The main issue with the proctor engine is its very deep, which is hard because I'm using a Zenoah G38 which is a large engine.

I do have the full Proctor D.VII cockpit though!

JohnFitz · 10 July 2008, 10:44 AM

Didn't realize the Proctor stuff was that expensive. I haven't looked at there web site recently. I would make my own parts as well. Sometimes it's worth a little extra money to get nicely made parts instead of spending the time and energy making them yourself.

BillF · 10 July 2008, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnFitz

Didn't realize the Proctor stuff was that expensive. I haven't looked at there web site recently. I would make my own parts as well. Sometimes it's worth a little extra money to get nicely made parts instead of spending the time and energy making them yourself.

Yeah when I was having issues building the BUSA radiator, I gave them a call to order one that would have fit rather well. Once I found the price though I was determined to make mine work.