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This pair is finally finished. I'm not sure I'd want to do them again so a D.III & D.IV will probably not be added to my collection! Although they started as Merlin kits, only the fuselages (very heavily modified!) and some of the white metal parts, were used, the rest is all scratchbuilt. A spare Roden engine went into the D.I, the Spandaus are Miniworld, the wheels are my own design, 3d printed by Shapeways, and the nose decals on the D.II were custom ordered from Melius Manu in Poland. As far as the history of these aircraft goes, they were both in service at the same time, the D.II having been developed due to a shortage of the inline Mercedes engines. Both were subject to structural failures, as was the contemporary E.III, (weak welds, wing attachment bolt failure, and metal tubing that had too thin a section were the usual culprits, basically a lack of quality control in the Fokker factory) and all Fokkers were banned from front line service in December 1916. The D.I and D.II both saw service on the home front and as training aircraft, as did the D.III and D.IV (basically a D.II and D.I respectively, with more powerful engines, ailerons instead of wing-warping, and twin Spandaus). The D.I represents 151/16, of Jagdstaffel 1, Bertincourt, France in early September 1916 The D.II represents an aircraft of Kampfeinsitzer Kommando (KEK) Ensheim, (later Jagdstaffel 16), based in Ensheim, Germany, in September 1916, flown by Ltn Fritz Grünzweig. (although some have speculated that he was not a pilot and merely painted the nose art...) For those interested in how a couple of shapeless lumps of plastic came to this, here's the WIP. I hope you like them.. Ian

I know, I have more than enough to be getting on with, but the E.III is waiting for bits to dry, the RE8 is awaiting the postie....and I have too much spare time. I also just bought the Windsock Special on the Fokker D.I to D.IV with the aim of starting this so here we go...can we say "sucker for punishment"? Here's what I have to start with: The wing detail is actually very nice, but they are way too thick so it would have to be sanded off anyway...add to that they are the wrong length and I think the best option is scratchbuild new ones.... The fuselages are vaguely fuselage-shaped lumps of plastic, almost solid on the inside, different lengths, and way too narrow.... Then there's a bag of metal bits and a sprue with some more lumps of plastic on it. I'm not sure what most of it is...possibly wheels, tail surfaces etc. There is a cowling, which could be usable.... So, what it all boils down to, is basically a scratchbuild, combined with some plastic sculpting!! What a terrible waste of good plastic, there really ought to be a law against this sort of thing... I'll be using a spare Roden engine, modified, for the D.I. Add to that the fact that the drawings in the Windsock Special aren't consistent...the fuselages measure differently on the profiles and plan views, and the wingspans are different on the head-on views and plan views. Some of the drawings have the correct wingspan and wrong fuselage length, or vice-versa, and some have the wrong wingspan on all views (I'm taking my measurements from those supplied in the back of this same publication, so one of them has to be wrong)........I really thought Windsock put a little more care into their drawings but this is not the first time I've had this issue. I copied the various views at different magnifications and made a complete set of correctly sized drawings....now I could begin! I have made a start on the D.I fuselage. First job was to find a reference point. The underside of the fuselage matched the plans pretty well so that was my starting point. I took one half and got the underside matching nicely, then removed the plastic lump that represents the engine and corrected the nose profile. When that was done I moved back to the cockpit and upper decking until the profile matched all around. Next step was to tape the 2 halves together and match them, and when that was done I took the Dremel to them and started to hollow out the insides. I didn't go too far as I know there is some reshaping still to do and I want to leave enough so that I don't sand through..... Finally for today, I added 1mm plastic strip to the joining edges of both halves to widen the fuselage to the correct width. Correct, that is, for the front...the rear is actually ok, but it's easier to widen all of it, then sand the back end - there's plenty of plastic! That is where it stands as of this evening. This will be put aside to finish my other 2 when I get the bits I need, but it should keep me out of trouble in the meantime. Thanks for looking, Ian