Fokker Dr.1 finished!

[null_null981707818191]

Having given you a little taster of my Fokker Dr.1 build (along with queries about paint and doping finishes), I’ve now completed the model, so here are a few more details and images. The Airfix 1/72 Dr.1 (of Red Baron fame) is almost as old as the original! The kit that I purchased was in the blister pack with fold-out card ‘instructions’ (aka artist’s impressions…) but fortunately it’s a fairly straightforward kit. According to the packaging, mine was made in 1973, but I suspect it is somewhat older than that, which might account for the interior being totally devoid of any detail, save for a spike to sit the pilot on.

I added some cockpit side framework, a floor and an instrument panel, along with a seat for the pilot – all made from bits of stretched sprue and plasticard.

The propeller was totally inaccurate and totally mangled anyway, so I scratch-built another one, using some of the thick kit’s sprue as the hub, and a couple of spare blades from the bits box, shaped to size and fit.

The front was embellished with a ring punched out of plasticard, with bolts added (from tiny little slices of stretched sprue). I was quite pleased with the wood-effect using various shades of brown and yellow streaked on, and with the addition of the decals from the set I had to purchase (more on that later), with a coat of Vallejo gloss varnish, it looks quite reasonable, I think.

The pilot was weirdly the standard WW2 BoB era version (if you looked past the flash), so a PJ Production WW1 pilot figure was substituted, painted using various Vallejo paints. The flying suit was, as far as I can glean, fairly generic to both sides in the conflict.

The only fiddly bit of the build was getting the angle of the cabane struts correct so that the four meeting points with the upper-most wing all aligned. The Fokker Dr.1 had fairly minimal rigging wires, and the pictures that I looked at suggested that they were fairly substantial, so some black bristles were cut from a scrubbing brush – much easier to superglue in place than the stretchy stuff!

Thanks to the helpful replies to my query on appropriate finish, the Vallejo Red that was brush-painted received a final coat of Vallejo matt varnish after the decals had been applied.

The decals that came with the kit were totally yellowed and very brittle. I did try to bleach them back to a semblance of white by taping them against a window that gets plenty of sunlight, but to no avail – and one that I did try just fell apart, although I did manage to use the ID stencils on the sides just below the cockpit.

In the end, and emboldened by a snippet that I read that the full white background stripes were not always used, I found a sheet of varying sizes of WW1 German Crosses produced by Almark Decals (from Hannants).

So that’s the first of the four scheduled First World War builds completed. Now I’ve got to decide whether to build the Albatros D.V or the Sopwith Camel next.

Thanks for taking a look.

[DoubleD]

Excellent work clap

[Dominic Thomas]

The effort you have put into this has changed it from a pretty awful set of parts to a model of character.

I have never been keen on this kit for all sorts of reasons, so I applaud your enthusiasm and dedication.

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Thanks for your kind words. I guess it's kits like this that require building and/or modelling rather than merely assembling which makes this hobby (obsession?) so absorbing and enjoyable (and occasionally frustrating!).

And I've decided that the Albatros is going to be next. Largely varnished natural wood exterior on the fuselage will be novel, especially once I've dealt with the raised panel lines.

[SD45elect2000]

Neat job !! Are you building a collection ? I assume this WW1 theme is not a "one off" ?

I don't do a lot of "one off" models, I often do entire squadrons, at least whatever I can get decals for.

Randy

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Not really a 'collection' - just talking a break from my preferred theme of WW2 fighter aircraft mostly single seaters - so lots of Spitfires, a few less Hurricanes, Gladiators, then Mustangs, P38s, P47s, a couple of Airacobras, then various Dewoitines and Moranes and a few Zeros, Me109s, 110s, Fw190s etc - the list, as you can imagine, gets longer and longer.

To add to the completed Fokker Dr.1, I've made a start on the Albatros D.V, then it'll be the turn of the old mould Airfix Sopwith Camel, and then a rebox (so hopefully with good decals) of a Be2c - by which time I shall be totally rigged-out.