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Eduard Fokker E.II


Davek72

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I will join if I may.  I have a couple of kits in the stash that qualify and having done some research I now know the difference between a rotary and a radial engine (yes I admit it I didn't know before but you live and learn).  I am going to build the Eduard 1/48 WWI Fokker E.II.  I should point out (a) I have never built a WWI plane before, (b) I have never done rigging on a plane before and (c) this looks quite fiddly.  Fingers crossed.

 

The kit.

 

35660407274_031749b007_z.jpg

 

I understand its one of Eduard's older offerings but hopefully that doesn't mean problems.  I will be building it OTB and have some E Z Line to try out for the rigging.

 

The sprues.

 

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 So far so good.

 

And finally some photo etch and a very very small clear sprue.

 

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Thanks for looking.  As always all comments very welcome.

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

 

Edited by Davek72
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Nice. I recently built and rigged their DH-2 as my first major attempt at a WW1 aircraft and as a result would heartily recommend anything but the DH-2 as a first time project :)

 

They are really nice kits though and I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience.

 

One piece of advice I can give you is to drill the holes for the rigging before assembly, it's a bit stressful once the plane is assembled, I can vouch for that.

 

KR's

 

IanJ

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10 hours ago, Bonhoff said:

Nice. I recently built and rigged their DH-2 as my first major attempt at a WW1 aircraft and as a result would heartily recommend anything but the DH-2 as a first time project :)

 

They are really nice kits though and I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience.

 

One piece of advice I can give you is to drill the holes for the rigging before assembly, it's a bit stressful once the plane is assembled, I can vouch for that.

 

KR's

 

IanJ

Cheers Ian

 

I am looking forward to the challenge.   Thanks for the tips re the rigging.  Any that reduces the stress will be good 😃

 

Dave

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2 hours ago, CliffB said:

Hi Dave and welcome to the GB :welcome:

Lots of 'firsts' for you then - should be good!

 

Cliff

 

Cheers Cliff

 

Glad to be here.   It's always good to be learning. 

 

Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some progress made.  The cockpit has come together quite nicely albeit with some fiddly bits of photo etch.  As usual not sure how much will be visible but as always I will know its there.

 

35878237144_b049694cde_z.jpg

 

 

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Cheers

 

Dave

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The fuselage appeared to come together quite nicely - I was concerned that all that cockpit work might not fit.   However the lack of any significant location pins (and my own ham fistedness) meant that there was a bit of a ledge (about half a mm on the bottom less so on the top) where the two halves joined.   I tried to sand around the spares that Eduard have molded on the fuselage but that was a waste of time.  Luckily the spares are very fine and straight so I reasoned that I could use plastic strip to replace them.  After a bit of filler and Mr Surfacer this is where I am at....

 

The top surface is OK.

 

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The bottom required a bit more work but once the central line PE is on the issue will be invisible. 

 

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And here you can see the remaining spares on the side.

 

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The issue I have is that absolutely no where in any of my research can I find any evidence of any raised detail like this on the real plane.  The sides and top and bottom appeared smooth.  Yes I appreciate that there was a frame beneath and that this was somewhat visible from the exterior but I am uncertain as to the right approach to take.  

 

Do I (a) replace the spares on the top and bottom, (b) leave the top and bottom smooth or (c) go the whole hog and sand off the side detail.

 

All comments very welcome.

 

Dave

 

ps even the cover art on the Eduard box shows the fuselage as being smooth.

 

 

 

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I feel your pain with those fuselage joints Dave.  For some reason flat surfaces always seem to be much harder to get right than curved ones :huh:.

I have absolutely no knowledge of the E.II, but having just Googled a few images I can see why you are concerned by those prominent spars.

Seeing as you've asked, my vote would be to go with option (c)!

 

Cheers, Cliff

 

 

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2 hours ago, CliffB said:

I feel your pain with those fuselage joints Dave.  For some reason flat surfaces always seem to be much harder to get right than curved ones :huh:.

I have absolutely no knowledge of the E.II, but having just Googled a few images I can see why you are concerned by those prominent spars.

Seeing as you've asked, my vote would be to go with option (c)!

 

Cheers, Cliff

 

 

Cheers Cliff.  I am erring towards that one myself.

 

Dave

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Very slow progress due to commitments at work.  Am planning some benchtime later today (it's my birthday weekend after all) but this is where we are at as of this morning.

 

36796829206_71fbbc4a5f_b.jpg

 

The seams are all smooth after quite a bit of sanding (my fault rather than the kits).   As always rather too much of the interior detail has disappeared but I know it's there.

 

 As per the previous post I have sanding down the side rib detail.  It's still there but much less visible.

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Too much work not enough bench time.

 

Some photo etch on the rotary engines.

 

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Which was then attached to the fuselage.  At this point I decided to start painting everything on the basis that it was going to get a bit fiddly with all the rather delicate parts that are due to be attached next.  I decided that I would brush paint due to difficulties I perceived I might have with masking etc.  This is where I have got to.

 

37210833875_5509996d9e_z.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's slowly coming together.  First of all here are all the component parts.  They are largely painted but there is some further paint work to do.

 

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I have dry brushed the wings to bring out the rib detail.

 

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One one area which I spent some time considering was the metal work.  Apparently the Fokker had brushed aluminium metalwork which had distinctive subtle swirls .  I spent some time experimenting but eventually came across a hint on Wingnut Wings that the best way to achieve this was painting the swirls in silver over aluminium.   It is almost imperceptible but definitely there.

 

 

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Alll comments welcome.

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Almost finished bar the rigging and a few bits of painting which I will do before the final varnish.  I had my first go at a oil paint based wood effect the propeller.  Maybe a bit overdone by it looks ok to my eyes.

 

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Cheers

 

Dave

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So I started rigging with heavy EZ-Line and felt rather happy with myself...had a few glasses of wine....and went to bed!

 

In the morning I popped into my office to see where we had got to and .... the upper support bad had broken under the strain.  I tried about 4 times to reattach it under strain but it would not stick.  So after much soul searching I decided to start the rigging from sratch, I cut everything away, reattached the upper support and had a glass of wine...

 

More rigging to follow. 

 

Dave

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