Roden's 1/48 Fokker D.VII (Late Fokker built): newbie questions. - Page 3

Kofoed · 14 May 2008, 11:55 PM

Hello Maxida,

I am at a loss here. The Roden's I built is so long ago, that I really can't remember if I had any troubles with the tails. Looking at them, is seems as if they are almost flush, though.
I looked at a couple of unbuilt ones I have in the waiting line, and it seems as if there will be no problems with these. Only slight problem seems to be, that the notch in the rudder doesn't fit with the fuselage upper grip, and needs a little filing.

Regards,
Kofoed

maxidad66 · 15 May 2008, 03:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kofoed

Hello Maxida,

Only slight problem seems to be, that the notch in the rudder doesn't fit with the fuselage upper grip, and needs a little filing.

Hi,
That was indeed the problem. I did a little slicing and filing last night on the groove in the rudder. It's way too small to accomodate the thickness of the end of the fuselage.

All's well that ends well.

Thanks for your help.

(I'll try and get some pics up when it's finished.)

maxidad66 · 3 June 2008, 08:50 AM

Well, it's coming together (I'll put some pictures on later tonight). The replacement decals from Roden behaved reasonably well. However they are somewhat ragged at the edges where the upper surface and lower surface meet on the leading edges. Did this plane have tape running along the leading edge? Or did the upper and lower fabrics butt up to eachother?

I'll proably have to touch it up with paint.

btw, how on earth do you measure 0,7mm width rib tapes? I tried but after a few attempts did them by eyeball inthe end.

StephenLawson · 3 June 2008, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxidad66

Well, it's coming together (I'll put some pictures on later tonight). The replacement decals from Roden behaved reasonably well. However they are somewhat ragged at the edges where the upper surface and lower surface meet on the leading edges. Did this plane have tape running along the leading edge? Or did the upper and lower fabrics butt up to eachother?

I'll proably have to touch it up with paint.

btw, how on earth do you measure 0,7mm width rib tapes? I tried but after a few attempts did them by eyeball inthe end.

Yes, the Fokker D.VII had rib tapes on the entire periphery of the wings leading, end cap and trailing edges.

What the "weee folk" on strike? The Gnomes gnot working? The lepruchauns not leping? the fairies not fairing? The Brunies not bruing? Or maybe you haven't discovered the "weee folk" yet? All modelers purchasing WWI kits form Europe can - with an additional shipping charge and the proper immigration forms purchase the passage of said minions directly from the kit company. Just mention it when ordering.

The replacement lozenge should have had a standard issue of two. They don't eat much but can be ill tempered after a long trip. You have to purchase the females separately though. Have them in hand as it were before the males arrive. That way it puts a curve to their loniness. And DON"T feed them after midnight!!!!

maxidad66 · 3 June 2008, 03:28 PM

they were stopped at the border as the official couldn't read their tiny immigration papers.

Here are some (poorly taken) pix of what I've done so far.

Upper wing seems OK to me (ignore the protruding decal from the underside of the aileron - I hadn't trimmed it yet):

Lower surfaces - bright isn't it? Apparently Roden's colours are well out, but I'm not too much of a purist:

Difficult to focus on the leading edge, but it's a little bare as the decals wouldn't adhere around the curvature. This side is worse than the other.

StephenLawson · 3 June 2008, 05:05 PM

You are familiar with decal Sol and Set right? Di-sol is a solution you might try here.

maxidad66 · 4 June 2008, 01:51 AM

I do use Microsol and Microset, but I think the adhesive on the decal gave up the ghost by that time. Anyway, if, as you say, there is strip along the edges, this will pretty much fix the problem, won't it?

So that would be a strip of a similar width to the rib tapes?

Sorry to ask so many questions; there are so few references compared to later aircraft.

Thanks.

(PS. My daughter Alice - 3 y.o. is on my lap, and wants add some faces, so here they are:

. She seems to have chosen all the violent ones).

trackpad · 4 June 2008, 03:57 AM

Hello, MD66,

If you find the adhesive on old decals has given up the ghost, you might try a little white glue mixed in to the water that you use for your decals. It won't take much, but it will add that little extra "stickiness" to keep the decal in place. Another method is to use slightly diluted Future/Klear: soak off the decal, run it through a drop or two of the Future/Klear, then apply. Hope this helps!

StephenLawson · 4 June 2008, 04:06 AM

Ditto. White (PVA) school glue may just do the trick for you.

maxidad66 · 26 June 2008, 02:20 PM

Well, I finally completed this a/c and despite your wonderful advice, I have to say I am not really very happy about it.

My main gripe is that despite drilling out the holes to receive the interplane struts exactly, the upper wing is well out of alignment with the lower.

Also the struts supporting the undercarriage were so delicate (they broke twice) that I really didn't want to risk drilling for the rigging. So I kind of wrapped up the model quickly.

On the brighter side, I was happy with my first attempt at wood effect for the prop. It came out a bit red in the photo, but it looks better than that in real life.