1/72 E.III Eindecker

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I’ve recently been watching the box set of the excellent ‘Wings’ DVD series in which the Fokker E.III Eindecker appeared very much as the villain of the period (particularly when ranged against the BE.2c – aka ‘Fokker Fodder’) and so the Airfix 1/72 Eindecker seemed to be a logical and faintly topical aircraft to continue my little World War 1 project.

It’s a relatively modern moulding/tooling – dating to 2016, so significantly easier in terms of fit (excellent)and filler (none required) compared with the vintage and classic kits I’ve been working through so far.

It all went together quite straightforwardly, although some of the parts – whilst accurately moulded and needing very little clean-up – were very fragile and in the case of the tail assembly, positively flimsy -but I suppose that reflects the actual aircraft anyway.

I built it straight OOB, and it was quite an enjoyable build. Painting was – as usual – brush applied Vallejo acrylics. Light Slate Grey ((714067) seemed a good match for Humbrol Matt Slate Grey, although I used Vallejo Steel (71065) rather than silver. The undercarriage and other struts were painted in Vallejo IAF Green (71126) and after applying the decals (which were of excellent quality as one might expect from a modern Airfix kit) the whole thing was given a coat of Vallejo Matt varnish.

For once, I didn’t have to scratch-build a replacement propeller – the kit one was much more substantial, and I used my now customary layering of varied shades of brown and yellow with Almark decals applied prior to a coat of Vallejo gloss. The rotary engine was well-detailed, and benefited from a variety of different metallic shades.

And then it was time for rigging… My previous efforts have made use of AK Thin lycra-type rigging, but this time, I decided that would be too thick for a model this dainty, so instead I used Mig Ammo Medium Fine. I had thought that a monoplane might be easier than the previous biplanes, and it was certainly a little less fiddly, although the relative fineness of the line was more of a challenge. The real advance in terms of my own modelling skill-set was using CA kicker for the first time. Combining Roket Blaster with my usual Roket Hot super-thin CA was a real revelation – instant and far more accurate adhesion!

So there we are – another one completed, and of course given the reference earlier in this article to ‘Fokker Fodder’, the next one on to the work surface will be the Airfix 1/72 BE.2c.

Thanks for taking a look.

[SD45elect2000]

Nice, that is a slick build.

Randall

[paul71]

its a great build still finding your rigging very impressive

paul

[Dominic Thomas]

Very good indeed. Again, you have provided the incentive to get one and have a go myself. Might be a while though because there are several other types in the queue and I haven’t got other the rigging bug yet.

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Thanks for the various complimentary comments – always nice to know that other modellers appreciate the effort! I found it very interesting to work on a relatively newly tooled model compared to the vintage and/or ‘classic’ models built previously as part of this WW1 project. The detail, tolerances and fit on the E.III were all significantly better and finer than the previous four completed (Sopwith Camel, Bristol F2, Fokker Triplane and Albatros D.V) but although there was much less flash to trim off, the fineness (and consequent flimsiness) of some of the parts made removal from the sprue quite tricky, and removal of the occasional mould seam line quite critical. A very big plus-point was that this kit had not one, but two, well moulded and accurate propellers, obviating the need to scratch-build, although there was no indication as to which to use… It was also useful to have an easy-to-follow rigging diagram, and the moulded rigging fastening points on the wings made location easier than usual, although a very fine drill was needed to open them a little bit following painting. Also, whilst the decals were the now usual high-quality that we are used to with Airfix, their thickness required several doses of MicroSol to settle them over the rigging points on both faces of the wings.

As a general comment, the actual plastic of the more modern kits is a very different consistency to original, earlier mouldings. It seems to me to be very much softer, and less likely to snap or fracture if being slightly bent when necessary.

Learning to do the rigging has probably been the steepest learning curve - I've by no means mastered it yet, but I'm gradually getting the hang of it, and getting to grips with various types of CA, kicker and rigging line will be useful for future projects.

Looking at the latest catalogue for 2023, I note that the dog-fight double featuring the Bristol and Fokker Triplane might persuade a few people to have a crack at WW1 modelling – and whilst the moulding might be the original, at least the decals will be fresh.

So thanks again for saying some nice things about my efforts. I’ll let you know how things go with the BE.2c…