Eduard 1/48 Fokker Dr.I

[Taz]

Stewart- Welcome to the Forum. there is no general agreement on the color of the tip wing of Dr.I 454/17. I and others fall in the yellow camp and others fall in the streaked upper wing camp. Do it either way you like, no one can prove you wrong.

Taz
Terry Phillips

[ManfredL]

Mike:

Yes, they are 1/48 scale.

Ha, you don't fool me. They are exceptionally well done 1/16s

To create such good likenesses in this small scale it needs an extraordinary sculptor. The only other one I know about is Tom (Microsculpt) on this forum.

I would not mind if you'd write a book about your art someday.

[Red Ruffensore]

Gentlemen, I do not like the wing ribbing in Eduard's Dr.I molding, far too pronounced! DML/Dragon's molding is still much better. IMHO DML/Dragon's P/E Spandau jackets and injected breeches (with barrels, one doesn't have to cut off anything) look more to scale and better than Eduard's P/E jackets and guns. Downfall to the DML, better to get some extra stickers, the decals are thick.

And that build at Eduard, that's is the greatest lesson in multi-wing and strut alignment I have ever seen! Should be save by all IPMS peeples and shown as a "How not to assemble a multi-wing airplane" tutorial.

Caz

[StephenLawson]

Originally Posted by Taz

Note there is no panel detail on the bottom of the fuselage for the removable aluminum panel covering the wing and containing the drop down, piano hinged maintenance panel. You guys will be busy. Plus I saw F.I tailplane parts and elevators (identical so wasted), but no F.I cowling so if you choose that one, mods will be required. Also second and third style ailerons, but no F.I ailerons. Plus one rudder, the F.I was slightly different. Have fun and pick a Dr.I to model apparently. Taz Terry Phillips

Taz check out the PE. Interesting the chin plates represent the early F. I & the production Dr.I types.

[Taz]

Stephen- You are right, I missed the PE lower panel detail. From the two best photos I have, the lower panels were nearly identical between the F.I and Dr.I. The nonexistent cowl lip makes the difference on the PE model panels except hole location and there were in actuality no holes for struts. Have to ask Gary if he has seen anything different.

Both F.I and Dr.I opening maintenance panels had a full length piano hinge and square edges on the front and rounded corners on the rear to keep them from bending and possibly to prevent the mechanics from sticking themselves with sharp corners. The shape of the forward edge of the overall removable panels is wrong, too. There were two slots in front of the removable lower panel to go around the landing gear struts and the front of the panel fit underneath the bent back aluminum of the firewall. Otherwise you could not remove the lower panel without removing the landing gear. The lower panel had to be removed to remove the lower wing, and obviously nobody wanted to remove the landing gear for transportation.

The cowl also had nothing to do with the lower panel since the lower panel fit underneath another panel edge. There was no lip on the cowl, just the forward cowl bevel continued and curved all the way to the bottom of the cowl and a round ended slot was cut in that extended panel, through which the engine cylinders rotated. Also, there were no Fokker fasteners on the forward edge of the hinged maintenance panel. They were about 2/3s of the way back.

Y'all will have a bit of work to do for either a Dr.I or F.I. Here is a photo of Steve Anderson's 1/4 scale F.I cowl so you can see what I mean.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Anderson, Steve Voss Cowl #2 Lo Res.jpg

[StephenLawson]

Taz you are right and its great that you have pointed out the need to open up the forward landing gear holes to represent scallops rather than enclosures. (It is in my current draft of the review of this kit as are some other points.) Eduard did this of course with simplicity in mind rather than accuracy. A grinding wheel in a motor tool fixes this as well. This chin pan by the way will almost garauntee correct placement of the landing gear legs.

Representing the piano wire hinge is very easy. Simply take a section of brass wire and under the blade of a #11 Xacto knife roll the wire on a flat surface. This scribes the wire to look like the hinge breaks. Then paint and stain as normal for this type kit.

The PE chin of the cowl for the F.I is intended to be blended with the plastic cowl. Just a bit of careful carving is in order.

[Downwind]

Reading this thread has gotten me to the point wherein I am drooling all over the keyboard. I think the last time I worked with plastic was back in the 80's and that was limited to Monogram (?) and Revell kits. These newer kits are certainly some awesome looking products. I got into using brass etched materials for model rr locos and using new soldering machines to weld these parts to brass locos. I shall continue to follow such threads with deep interest as I am looking for one or two kits to start, to see how far I can go. It is encouraging to listen to the obvious research that has been done to replicate a small model to that extent...thanks for the privilege of your conversations. Doc

[Kalt]

Taz: do you have a picture or a drawing of the panel?
I want to add it to my Roden's Fokker Dr.1.

Cheers,

Claudio

[Taz]

Claudio- Here you go. Dr.I 198/17, WN 1916. Early Ur.II with no holes in rocker arms. There were slots in the aluminum panel for both the landing gear and the bracing wires so neither had ot be removed to take off the lower aluminum panel and then the lower wing.

Taz
Terry Phillips

Dr.I 198 17 WN 1916 Jasta 14 Ltn Werner Newly Delivered Ur.II Aluminum Panel Details.jpg

[Kalt]

Thanks again Taz, but I am a bit confused. The lower panel goes from the firewall to the lower wing spar, covering it?
I made a drawing of the lower panel, can you tell me if it's Ok.?

Cheers,

Claudio