+++ FINISHED! +++ Revell Fokker Dr.I triplane 1/72 (Red Baron)

[jrlx]

Dear Fellow Modellers,

 

After completing my Grumman Duck (RFI here) I got the "biplane bug"... Then I read a favourable build review in Model Aircraft Magazine's December 2014 issue of the Revell Fokker Dr.I triplane (Red Baron's triplane, of course), which also classified it as an easy build, and thought: "Why not build a simple and quick triplane, in between more complicated models?".

 

So, recently I went to my local hobby shop and got this for 10,50 €:

IMAG1571

 

Just two red sprues and a small decal sheet.

 

Since I mainly use Gunze Mr. Hobby paints and the instructions have all the painting references using Revell paints, I went to Eduard's website and downloaded an instruction sheet for one of their Red Baron triplanes.

 

Then I applied white primer to all parts, still in the sprues. Red plastic is not the best option for painting colours other than red... I used Tamiya's flat white acrylic paint as primer. It took several light layers to make the red less visible:

IMAG1588

 

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This was done by the end of March. I left the kit alone for about a month and two weeks ago got back to it.

 

I cut off most of the parts off the sprues, cleaned the molding lines and a bit of flash (not much really) and glued the parts to toothpicks with a drop of super-glue. I do this in order to achieve a better paint finish of small parts at first attempt, because I can choose the best point of contact to hold each part on the toothpick and don't have to touch them until they're finished. With the parts on toothpicks, I applied additional layers of white primer, to cover the cleaned up spots:

IMAG1678

 

To keep things simple and quick, this will be a purely OOB build (really!) and I'll only use acrylic paints (no Alclad for metallic parts).

 

I started painting the small parts, progressing from lighter to darker colours, in order to optimise airbrush time (less cleaning needed between colours).

 

Here are the cockpit parts already painted. This aircraft was mostly made of wood and canvas, which shows in the colours of the parts:

IMAG1705

 

The rims of the wheels, some pieces that where installed under the wings and the stirrup where also painted:

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After this I painted the cockpit walls, which are nicely detailed in the kit. First, the wood brown colour:

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This was masked before painting the second interior colour. Started by applying thin strips of masking tape to clearly define the edges of the area to be protected:

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Then I filled the interior with tape:

IMAG1716

 

This was done to the other half of the fuselage, of course.

After painting the second colour (Olive Drab) and removing the tape, this was the result:

IMAG1720

 

To finish the cockpit walls, I used a paint brush to paint the ribs (Green-Gray) and the instrumentation / throttle quadrant (blacks, dark iron), resulting in this:

IMAG1727

 

Most of it won't be visible after closing the fuselage, but still...

 

The last colours to apply with the airbrush were the metallic colours (silver, black metal), to the machine guns, engine parts, propeller centre,...:

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My last action was a dry-fit of the fuselage and wings to determine the best building / painting sequence. The idea is to make painting of the main parts as easy as possible and minimise damages to painting due to seam treatment.

Here is the fuselage and the lower and middle wing dry-fitted:

IMAG1721

 

Now with the struts in place:

IMAG1722

 

and now with the top wing in place:

IMAG1723

 

It seems the best sequence is:

 

• close fuselage
• glue tail plane and fin and treat seams
• glue middle wing with struts and treat seams
• paint fuselage and middle wing
• paint lower wing
• glue lower wing and treat seams (these should be visible, like in the real plane)
• paint upper wing
• glue upper wing

 

So, this should be enough for now. I haven't progressed further than this yet.

 

Looking forward to your comments, as always.

 

Jaime

[06/24]

[AdrianMF]

Looks nice. Seems like a good coat of primer over the red is the best way to go.

Regards,

Adrian

[Blitz23]

I have this kit, having never made a biplane I'll be looking for tips.

[jrlx]

I have this kit, having never made a biplane I'll be looking for tips.

I believe this is a good first option for someone considering building a WWI aircraft, because it is very simple with almost no rigging. The only complication is the three wings.

Cheers

Jaime

[jrlx]

Since I'm building the Fokker "in between" my other builds, I haven't progressed much lately.

 

I've applied a dark wash to the cockpit walls and small parts, using Vallejo's acrylic "Oiled Earth" wash.

 

The following picture is not very clear, but the small parts look now a bit darker and worn:

IMAG1799

 

While I was looking for references on this aircraft on the web, I found that the Eduard instructions I was using seem to be wrong regading the engine part colours. They direct us to paint aluminium on parts that should be dark metal and vice-versa. So, I corrected this:

IMAG1807

 

That's all for now. Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

[HOUSTON]

EXCELLENT ..SUPER start to a beautiful aircraft. .

[FalkeEins]

be careful with the undercarriage struts...broke mine...but then I did have trouble seeing them

[jrlx]

EXCELLENT ..SUPER start to a beautiful aircraft. .

HOUSTON, thanks for your kind words.

be careful with the undercarriage struts...broke mine...but then I did have trouble seeing them

FalkeEins, thanks for the advice. The parts are really small. I'll be extra careful.

Cheers

Jaime

[GREG DESTEC]

Looks good Jaime, i have had this in the stash for ages (unstarted) so i will be watching with great interest.

[jrlx]

Welcome on board, Greg! Thanks for your interest

[stevej60]

It,s a cracking little kit this one Ideal for a lot of folk as not a lot of rigging,look forward to your progress Jaime,hope you dont mind the

link here,s mine from a year or two back http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234961194-der-rote-flieger/

Edited October 28, 2015 by stevej60

[AnonymousDFB1]

Looking forward to seeing this one progress.

[jrlx]

It,s a cracking little kit this one Ideal for a lot of folk as not a lot of rigging,look forward to your progress Jaime,hope you dont mind the

link here,s mine from a year or two back http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234961194-der-rote-flieger/

Thanks for your interest and the link Steve, your Fokker looks great! How did you weather it? Did you dry brush the ribs?

Looking forward to seeing this one progress.

Thanks Mish, I hope to get back to it in the next few weeks.

Cheers

Jaime

[stevej60]

Thank's Jaime,yes dry brushed just lightly to bring out the detail,and I noticed on a real sized replica the difference between the

red on the fabric airframe and metal engine cowl so satin coated the cowl just to show a slight difference.

[jrlx]

Thanks, Steve. That's good to know the finish difference between the engine cowling and the fabric cover. What colour did you use for the dry brushing?

[stevej60]

Thanks, Steve. That's good to know the finish difference between the engine cowling and the fabric cover. What colour did you use for the dry brushing?

Just flat white but dried out the brush thoroughly Jaime,so almost powdered on if that makes sense.

[jrlx]

Thanks Steve. I was thinking about using a mix of red and orange, just to lighten the red a bit, as I read in a Model Aircraft Magazine issue.

Cheers

Jaime

[rob85]

I remember you starting this Jamie... If it turns out anything near your duck (must build one of them one day... Might do a boat plane period... Fond memories) then it will be a corker.

Glad its in here.

Should throw mine in really!

Rob

[jrlx]

Thanks for your interest Rob

By all means start you Duck! It's a tricky old kit but with patience it can be turned out into a nice model.

Cheers

Jaime

[PlaStix]

Always impressed by your very precise workmanship Jaime.

[jrlx]

Thanks Stix, that's very kind, as always

Cheers

Jaime

[Fatboydim]

I missed this one Jaime. Looking very good. Joe

[jrlx]

Thanks Joe, you're always very welcome on board

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

This one has been on hold since mid-May. I got stuck in doing the seatbelts with masking tape and, then, other builds got in the way. Anyway, at the time I did mark the seatbelts on tape and even painted them, but they stood on the cutting mat till now. I also had prepared some electric wire and painted it silver, to do the buckles, as shown here:

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IMAG2014

 

During the last weekend, I finally got to finish the seatbelts. Here they are, near the seat and rear bulkhead:

IMAG2978

 

First, I applied the seatbelts on the seat:

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Then, I cut and bent pieces of wire to make the buckles:

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These were glued in place with CA. The following pictures show the result:

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Next, I had to finish the cockpit and close the fuselage. Here are the components:

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The cockpit base, seat and rear bulkhead were glued to the port fuselage half:

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Then, the fuselage was closed:

 

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Big clothes pegs were used to keep things tight while the glue cured:

IMAG2991

 

The joins were sanded and polished and the lower wing glued in place:

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In a previous post I said the middle wing should be glued in place first, in order to ease the treatment of joins. However, closer inspection of schemes and pictures shown that these joins were a feature of the aircraft. On the other hand, due to the installation of the machine guns, it will be easier to paint the middle wing first and glue it in place latter. That's why I decided to apply the lower wing first.

 

Then, the horizontal stabilisers were glued in place:

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as well as the diagonal braces between the stabilisers and the fuselage:

IMAG3000

 

That's all for now. Thanks for looking:

 

Jaime