In Progress - Roden Fok D.VII

[John Masters]

very nice, indeed. And I like the idea of the 'odd-fitted' lozenge patches...Very authentic.


From the Factory on the hill,
John

[Rich Field Flyer]

Originally Posted by StephenLawson

Looking very nice Brad. Another jewel in your crown of builds. For the chewed up lozenge you can repair that easily. Cut sections of lozenege in circular patterns punch holes through the centers. Viola! reinforcement patches. It is better if they dont' quite match ethe surrounding area.

Stephen, do you happen to have a photo of one of your circular patches?

Rich Field Flyer

[Brad Cancian]

Well folks, she's done (or as done as I feel like doing!). After some clean up attempts were made at the wing joint, the rest of the construciton went very smoothly - The undercarriage was attached and the remainder of the small details glued on as well as some of the fine detail pieces from the PART set. Here's some pics of the finished thing:

[Brad Cancian]

Here's some more pics:




Here's a pic of the Roden Fokker next to the Eduard Fokker:



My conclusions as to Roden vs Eduard? I can definately say that Roden is the best value for money and offers more detail at half the price of the Eduard kit. It is also fairly accurate overall in outline as well as in the details. It does require much more prepriatory work (although I didn't build the enclosed cowled version I am sure the same stands true here also), but to me this is no big thing. To a new modeler, this could be particularly frustrating. That said, I think the only thing that seriously lets the Roden kit down is the fit of the upper wing and the interplane struts - its a pitty really as Roden have otherwise put together a darn fine kit.

The Eduard kit as has been said before is very well engineered, but offers less in the way of details (for example no engine bay) - it is also aimed at the average modeler with a bigger budget at over twice the price of the Roden kit. Eduard also omit small details in the cockpit and have the incorrect cowl for some of the versions included in the decals (unlikely to be a problem in their new Fokker built version though).

Will my next Fokker be a Roden or an Eduard? Well being an eingineer, to me good engineering and good fit is a big bonus, but as a modeller I am also one for details. Unfortunately the Roden wing will probably put me off building another straight Roden D.VII for a little while. Honestly, I think the ultimate D.VII could be made by combining the Eduard kit with the Roden Engine compartment.... say that gives me an idea....

Thanks all, please feel free to add comment to my commentary on these kits

BC

[Ross_Moorhouse]

These are the best D.VII builds ever posted to this forum mate. Your Roden one is stunning.

[Troy Raines]

The painted out upper wing crosses and tail stripes really make the build IMHO. Really shows what the real machines looked like. Nice.
T-roy

[John Masters]

Those are both really stunning. One question: were the brackets for the interplane and cabane struts PE or were they scratched?

From the Factory on the hill,
John

[Kitboy]

I am very impressed by your building capacities. They are far ahead of my own skills, good examples to look at. Please continue posting.

Greetings, Nico

[StephenLawson]

Originally Posted by Rich Field Flyer

Stephen, do you happen to have a photo of one of your circular patches? Rich Field Flyer

Why yes I do as a matter of fact. Though on this modern replica they tried to match the colours.

[StephenLawson]

One minor comment Brad, the strut brackets were only on the underside of the top wing. Otherwise nicely done. Here's a bit of fun.

Roden's 1/48 Fokker D.VII - the build