New 1/72 Fokker DrI Revell

[Hans]

Gentlemen,
the first views of the new Dr I sprues can be seen here:
Fokker Dr.I Revell

On our german Modelboard Forum we are heavily dicussing this area:


It looks like the 'throttle' which is usually on the port side. Or should it not...? To all my knowledge, the 'throttle' was always on the left side in the cockpit. Even under torture like burning my old Auroras I would not tell anything else. But then my friend Wolfgang made this scan of a DrI replica:



This replica makes no compromises to any modern taste, so it seems to be correct. What's that black lump on the right side? The magneto? Any device for the very pistol..? Or ....the throttle... ??

Any help is appreciated!

Hans

I have always seen the throttle on the left (port) side of cockpits, although they may have been exceptions so I'm not 100% sure.
The "black lump" on the right side is the altimeter. Not a very good picture though.

[Scimitar]

Guys, I've just bought the new Revell DR I at 1/72: it's really a nice one! Well moulded, the little parts are fine, engraving is fine too. The only problem for me is that the kit is not moulded in grey, but in red! It's comprehensive to attract young modellers, but that's the only valid argument for that color (but red is of course better than the black for the Heller Spitfire XVI...)
...And what's about the throttle? Believe it or not, it's on the LEFT side of the cockpit! And more completed than on the pic you showed here, Hans. So, perheaps your pic was made from one of the first test kit?

The kit is relly nice, as I've said. Two decorations are proposed: the first is (guess who?) the a/c of Manfred Von Richthofen, and the second one is that of Lothar Von Richthofen. I think I will opt for the second one, highly colored

Greetings from Belgium

Daniel.

[Ross_Moorhouse]

Originally posted by Scimitar@Dec 12 2003, 08:13 PM
[b] Guys, I've just bought the new Revell DR I at 1/72: it's really a nice one! Well moulded, the little parts are fine, engraving is fine too. The only problem for me is that the kit is not moulded in grey, but in red! It's comprehensive to attract young modellers, but that's the only valid argument for that color (but red is of course better than the black for the Heller Spitfire XVI...)
...And what's about the throttle? Believe it or not, it's on the LEFT side of the cockpit! And more completed than on the pic you showed here, Hans. So, perheaps your pic was made from one of the first test kit?

The kit is relly nice, as I've said. Two decorations are proposed: the first is (guess who?) the a/c of Manfred Von Richthofen, and the second one is that of Lothar Von Richthofen. I think I will opt for the second one, highly colored

Greetings from Belgium

Daniel.

Build it so I can put it up with your other models on my site.

[Scimitar]

OK, Ross!

[Intrepid]

There is a photo of the crashed Fok.Dr.1 591/17 which clearly shows the "throttle" on the left side of the cockpit published in Alex Imrie's "The Fokker Triplane" photo 123 page 84.

A close up was published in Windsock International Vol.19 No.5. Imrie said he got this photo from Voss' mechanic Karl Timm 45 years ago.

[Shooter]

Gentlemen, I hesitate to enter this discussion because I am no expert, but I was once told here on the Forum that the Dr1 did not have a throttle, as such. It used a rotary engine and rotaries--I was assured--always ran at top RPM's once they fired up.

The way that drivers controlled the rotary engine was to interrupt fuel feed to it, causing it to drop power completely for a moment. The way that they did this was to depress a switch or a button (they called it the "blip" button sometimes) which would starve the engine of fuel for as long as the button was depressed.

Because fuel would often back up into the engine nacelle while the blip button was depressed, pilots could not continually hold it down while landing--for example--because of the great danger of causing a fire. Therefore, the driver would depress the blip button over and over, cut the engine out, releasing it back to power again by releasing the button once more. That is why the characteristic sound of a rotary powered a/c in a landing has the engine rasping in fits and gasps.

Now I am not entirely certain about this information. One of the other guys like Dan-San or Frank needs to weigh in here to confirm it. But as I understand it, the Dr1 had no throttle quadrant on either side of the cockpit. I seem to remember that the blip button was mounted on the control column (aka: joystick) in the cockpit...but that is fuzzy recollection at best.

You need to get it from higher authority.


Shooter sends

[Intrepid]

Shooter is right.

"Throttle" is a poor choice of words for what Alex Imrie notes in "The Fokker Triplane"as :

" The toothed quadrant and its lever, fitted with a long wooden handle , controlled this Benzinregler (fuel fine adjustment) and was placared 'zu' (closed) in the aft postion and 'auf' (open) when forward , and can be seen on the left upright steel tube fuselage member."

Right on.......A richness control........much as a needle valve on a model a/p engine.

[Lufbery]

There've been some great discussions on this board regarding rotary engines and throttles. For the record, rotary engines had throttles and mixture controls. In general, the engines could be controlled over a range of rpm from 900 or so to 1,400 (even higher depending on the engine).

This range of adjustment was necessary to assure that the engine would run under all flight conditions (take off, high altitude, ect.). However, the throttle and mixture weren't used like they are for in-line engines. As Shooter says, once the engine was properly adjusted, the pilot would seldom change the throttle/mixture settings.

Instead, he'd use the blip switch, or (as on later planes) adjust the ignitions. Later planes had a variable ignition that would fire only 3, 5, or all 9 cylinders on each cycle. There was a three or four position switch in the cockpit that controlled the setting. Having only five of the nine cylinders fire slowed down the engine for things like landing.

Look at the Fokker control column. It has two hand grips. The left one rotates, and I think it's the throttle.

Regards,