The little Fokkers are finally finished - D.I & D.II, Merlin, 1:72

[Brandy]

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

[Vince1159]

Beautiful looking builds LP...

Edited November 3, 2016 by Vince1159

[stevehnz]

Ian, those are quite wonderful, all the more so knowing what a journey they took you on. A couple of totally unique additions to what I'm sure is an awesome collection.

Steve.

[Bear Paw]

Hi Ian, those are great. All the more impressive to know they started as Merlin kits ( otherwise known as a collection of objects).  

Are you on quest to build all the WWI types?  

 

Andrew.  

[Brandy]

Thanks gents! 

Andrew, that is indeed the intention, but as I have over 140 different types in my stash I probably won't complete it....

 

Ian

[TonyTiger66]

They look reallly good Ian, well done .

The WIP was a fascinating and enjoyable journey.

Top class modelling

 

All best regards

TonyT

[TheBaron]

Truly knocked-out by the quality of your work Ian. Glad to have seen these.

Tony

[StephenCJ]

I like them a lot.  Well done.

[wyverns4]

I doff my hat to you! Amazing builds and from Merlin kits to boot!

 

 

Christian, exiled further saaf

[Brandy]

Thanks gents!

 Christian, interesting to see you're in Dar-es-Salaam, my Grandfather was stationed there as an Army Service Corps driver in WWI. He never did get rid of the malaria....

 

Ian

[Mr T]

Very impressive builds of rare subjects. You have really put some work in with those models and it shows. i have never finished a Merlin/Veeday 'kit', largely because they do sap the will to live. Furthest on I ever got was the airframe of a TSR2, which was damaged in a house move and never got any further. It was dire and had bits of what looked like the mould attached to a part of it. I do not QC was his strong point.