A Different Kind of Fokker Monoplane in Progress...

[Brad Cancian]

About 18 months ago I picked up the Omega Models 1/48 Fokker V.23 monoplane prototype from ebay rather cheaply- it caught my eye as a rather cool looking monoplane version of the Fokker D.VII, which in fact, it was (The V.23 utilised a D.VII fuselage, U/C and horizontal tail, with the addition of a comma shaped rudder and mid-fuselage wings. The other discernable difference was the cockpit was moved substantially further aft).



The kit is limited run resin and photoetched - After getting it in my hot little hands, I was, well, feeling a little dissapointed. The resin was on the whole not too bad, although the trailing edges of the wings were thick, the fuselage was very blobby, and too shallow for the cockpit to fit, so would require major rework. The etched sheet was chunky and difficult to bend... so, I shelved the project soon after. Here's an idea of what the fuselage and etched engine cowl looks like...



Thumbing through the spares box for no good reason this arvo I came upon a spare fuselage from the Eduard Fokker D.VII (OAW) kit froma previous build, and wondering what to do with it I remembered the V.23.... so I found it in the stash, blew the dust off the box and took another look. After some thoughts flew through the mind, the box for the Roden D.VII and its lovely engine compartment also caught my eye, and well, the kitbash project was born... I decided to build a V.23 using the Omega wings and rudder, the Eduard Fuselage, and the Roden engine compartment (with the cowls off!), cockpit, undercarriage and tail...

So, where to start...

First was to ditch the kit fuselage and substitute the much nicer Eduard one. Here you can see the cockpit has to be relocated substantially further aft.



I started by filling in the cockpit opening with sheet plastic, and then drilled out the appropriate cockpit opening further aft. This gave me the rough fuselage profile I needed

[Brad Cancian]

Next, as I wanted to display the aircraft with the engine cowls off, I cut the nose off to take the Roden engine compartment and engine. I sanded off the vent detail as on the V23 this area is fabric. After gluing the basic structure together, I dry fitted it to the nose. Here is the fuselage dry fitted with the tail and a rough headrest plopped on:



So the major conversion work is essentially completed, and this is where the model is at the moment.... the next steps will be detailing the engine bay, then scratchbuilding a cockpit.... fun fun...

All feedback welcome!

BC

[Scimitar]

That's really a nice build, Brad!!! I will follow your work with a big interrest!

[Rinahe]

Me too,

a very interesting model...

Rinahe

[bobs_buckles]

Blow us away Brad.... again!

Looking forward to this one.

Bob Von Buckle

[StephenLawson]

Very cool Brad!

[Kitboy]

What more can I add. WOW

Nico

[softlaw]

Definitely looking forward to the rest of this one!
Unique.

[John Masters]

Very cool, indeed. I look forward to more...



From the Factory on the hill,
John

[Brad Cancian]

Well the cockpit is now complete. I based the cockpit on the Fokker D.VII cockpit - as the fuselage is very similar to the D.VII I figured the cockpit would also be similar.



I used Eagle Strike 4-colour lozenge on the interior, faded with a suitable overspray. The tubular frame was made from strip plastic, and the floor, rear bulkhead, instrument panel, seat, control column, pump, compass mount and rudder pedals were modified from the Roden D.VII cockpit parts - many of these parts needed substantial trimming due to the substantially further aft location of the cockpit in the V23. The throttle and seat mount were taken from the PART photoetched set. Seat belts and instruments came from the spares box. Turn buckles are Bob's Buckles and rigging is elastic.

Next, onto the engine....