A little Fokker

[Maxidad]

This is is the closest I've come to chucking a model in the bin, but I percevered as it was a prezzy from my father-in-law. The decals were replacements as the first ones disintegrated; to their credit those nice people at Roden sent a replacement set very quickly (and in a pretty envelope) all the way from Ukraine. My main gripe, however, was that after carefully drilling the locating holes for the interplane struts the wings didn't line up. By that stage I couldn't be bothered to re-drill.

The struts that hold the undercarriage were also very brittle and broke twice during clean-up and construction. So I decided not to rig the thing. Furthermore, the control horns on the wings and tailplane are so small, I didn't do the control cables either.

I kind of like the kit, love the colour scheme, and I'm glad with the way the prop turned out (my first attempt at wood effect - it's not so red in real life), but I buy an Eduard next time!

[seanrgb]

Very nice work

[F-32]

Yep, he's a right little Fokker

Great build, lovely finishing.

[jono]

ooohh, well done ! I have yet to finish one and still have one hidden under my desk, you are right, its a sod ! How did you manage to get the nose on and true ? to be honest, thats whats been putting me off starting mine, which is a shame as there is a great engine in the kit just waiting to be exposed......great build

[Maxidad]

Thanks for the kind remarks guys. I appreciate it, as it wasn't a fun build to be frank.

How did you manage to get the nose on and true ? to be honest, thats whats been putting me off starting mine, which is a shame as there is a great engine in the kit just waiting to be exposed......great build

Ah hah - it ain't easy jono. OK first you should know I'm not very good at knowing what to call the bits of engines, so I'll have to describe it by part number if you've got the instructions handy.

I did the option which encases the engine, so the only parts required to "carry" the engine were parts 24B and 26B. Also part 12V was an obstruction once you tried to fit the cowling sides 1E and 2E, so when it pinged off, I left it off. If you actually get to step 10 of the instructions (i.e. a completed engine in its cowling) then half the battle is won, though getting that far is a struggle. Indeed fitting the cowling top covers (parts 3E and 4E) was haphazard. Use old-fashioned, slow-drying tube glue, so that you have a chance to manouevre the parts together. (Dry fit first and file to fit).

Then affixing this engine section to front of the fuselage without any locating pins is a pain in the backside. It is merely a case of putting the parts together and test-fitting and filing. I think I had to file the back edge of the cowling so that it was a true fit to the fuselage on one side only, even though it left a gap to be filled on the other. I inserted a sliver of plastic card into the gap and filed it flat. I'm pleased that it does not show on the finished model.

Why do we put up with such difficult kits? There is a certain amount of satisfaction when they are finished, I suppose.

[Nico Teunissen]

Hello,

I did both the Roden DVII and the Eduard one. Although the latter is easier to build, the lines and shapes of the Roden DVII appear to be better. I checked some on line built reports, so luckily I was warned with some building problems.

Your example turned out nice though!

Cheers, nico

Edited July 4, 2008 by Nico Teunissen