WW1 Fokker Dr.1 Triplane - 1:32 Roden

[Viking]

Fokker Dr.1 Triplane

 

1:32 Roden

 

 

On hearing the news that Wingnut Wings are going to release 1:32 'Early' and 'Late' versions of the Fokker Triplane in 2020, I thought I'd better get on with my Roden kit or it might never get built. I bought it because Wingnut Wings have  a general policy of not producing kits already available from other manufacturers, and I reckoned this was one they might never do. Wrong!

It is pretty good but lacks the refinement of a Wingnut Wings kit, and also benefits from a few detail additions and corrections.

 

Having already built one from the Encore boxing of Werner Voss's early F.1 version with Fokker's 'streaky green' camouflage:  (it is the Roden kit in an Encore box)

 

I want to do a more colorful one. I intend to do the red and white one operated by Jasta 18 and featured as a bonus on Pheon Decals 1:32 Jasta 18 Fokker Fighters decal sheet. I've already used Pheons sheet to do it in 1:48 on the Eduard kit, so this is what I'll be intending to do here;

 

First up I added the edging for the plywood panels that are missing inside the fuselage halves, using some Evergreen strip. The white discs are where I filled in some ejector pin marks.

 

The forward tank should have a filler either side, so a matching hole needs drilling in the coaming, and scratchbuilt spout adding.

 

While I was working on the coaming section, I test fitted it on the taped together fuselage halves. There is quite a bit of fit interference, cured by trimming excess plastic from the inside at the rear of the opening for the middle wing.

 

Moving on to the cowling, it can be improved by scribing in the semi circular panel line on the front face. I put a block off wood under the prop shaft hole, and centred the compass cutter on it, and scribed.

 

Looking better. I also made a series of rivet marks around the outer edge.

 

Also, there is a raised strap that goes around the rear of the cowling. Roden have moulded it, but it is very faint. I ran a strip of plasticard around, and once it has set I will sand it back a little as it is now too prominent. I find it is easier to do it this way than to try and glue a very thin plastic strip on.

 

For some reason Roden moulded the tailplane as if the middle was part of the fuselage, with 2 separate 'planes' attached to it. It isn't. It's a one piece unit. I sanded the ridges down and also filled the deep channels in it. On the left corrected, on the right as it comes in the kit.

 

The 'Axle wing' needs attention as well. The split panel line and clamps need to come off. They were on the Fokker D.VII, but not the Dr.1 Triplane. I will sand and fill to fix this.

 

Finally, some of the interior elements ready for priming and painting. I show them here as some of them are assembled from more than one piece, such as the rear wall with seat brackets attached. Gluing them together now saves mucking up the paintwork if you try to do it later.

 

If you have a Roden Dr.1 in the stash, why not build it now?

 

Thanks for looking.

 

John

 

[Kev The Modeller]

Looking forward to this John 

[Brandy]

Looking good so far. I'm not a fan of this scale but a good WWI model is just that.

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

 

Ian

[Marklo]

I do like the DR1. Don't build in this scale too often, but I have a 1/48 DR1 in the stash which will be built to accompany the Pfalz, and the Snark (ant the Osprey ?)

[modelman182]

Definitely gonna follow this one. I'm also not a WWI aircraft fan, but I do like the DR.1 - mostly due to the Red Baron and a penchant for Charlie Brown cartoons (among others) in my youth.

 

Haven't bought a single WNW kit since they appeared, but have looked at a couple 'in the box'. They look to be well researched and manufactured, though I think they're a bit pricey for a subject I'm not wild about. This is, of course, just my personal view - I happily pay the same sort of prices for large scale plastic and resin kits of other subjects. The DR.1 is the first one that I have thought I could be tempted by.

 

Whilst I know your Roden build will probably be significantly different to the WNW experience, it will be a great help in reference terms as I haven't done any research on WWI aircraft before.

 

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

 

Kev

[Viking]

Thanks for the comments chaps, I hope this proves useful for anyone else tackling this kit.

It doesn't come with any etched brass, so there are no seat belts. Fortunately I had a set left over from a WnW Albatros, where I had replaced them in that kit with some HgW 'Fabric' belts.

 

Interior parts. I put a tachometer on the cross frame, from an Eduard set of 1/32 WW1 instruments (Set 32866).  I'm not 100% sure it was a tacho, it might have been an ammo counter, but I couldn't confirm it from my references.

 

Fuel tank and ammo containers.

 

There is a little brass Bosch Magneto moulded onto the starboard fuselage frame, but my references show it on the port side. I cut it off an relocated it to the same spot on the port frame. In its place a little leather pouch is often found. I cut one from 40 thou plasticard, with a triangular flap from 5 thou, and a button from a blob of white glue.

 

 

 

The engine was made up. I already had a spare prop from a Wingnut Wings kit (they often give you four optional ones!), already painted & decalled, so I may well use it.

 

It makes up into a nice little Oberursel UR.II engine, I only added stretched sprue ignition wires to the spark plugs.

 

The axle wing sanded smooth, and 2 square jacking pads added.

 

I've assembled the wings. Fokker used to put protruding dowels on the leading edges of the wings. These were 'stacking pads' where the wings could be stacked on their leading edges in a packing crate, for transport.  I drilled and glued small sections of plastic rod in, and sanded them down to just stand proud when dry.

 

Next stage is to fit all the interior detail in, and close the fuselage halves.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

John

[Viking]

Thanks for the comments as always guys.

Work has proceeded. The fuselage is zipped up now, but the lower nose was looking like a bit of a fragile join so I reinforced it with a strip of plasticard from the inside.

 

The upper cockpit coaming and whole front section is a single piece that is meant to go on after you fit the middle wing. I thought that it might make it a bit awkward to clean up the join all around with that wing in place, so I decided to fit it now and get everything neatened up, and the fit the mid wing in later.

 

Turning to the underside, the forward nose area was a bit untidy, with a join where the engine plate fits, and also along the fuselage halves. Anyway there should be a large removable access cover there and I didn't fancy trying to scribe it. So I made a plasticard skin and engraved the panel on that. Also the underside should have a line of stitching all along from where the lower wing fits all the way to tail skid. For this I used some Edaurd stitching, actually 1/48 scale as it looks nice and fine.

 

It meant that I had to re drill the undercarriage leg holes, but this was no big deal. I just used the assembled axle wing unit to mark where the holes should go. The lower wing glued and the join filled at the same time. There was a bit of a gap there.

 

Now having fitted the forward upper fuselage meant that the mid wing could not now be fitted asit is a single unit. So I simply cut it in half so that I can slide each wing in later. I also fitted the struts to the mid wings, so that I could clean up the joins more easily. They are single piece units that fit right through a slot in the wings.

 

At this point I had a change of heart about finishing it as the red and white Jasta 18 machine. I have a lovely resin figure of Manfred Von Richthofen with his dog 'Moritz' that I have already made. Having just completed Lanoe Hawker and his DH.2, I got the urge to to finish this as MvR's classic all red Triplane, 425/17. A bit corny I know, because the vast majority of Fokker Dr.1 models are probably finished in this scheme, but my figure really needs it!

 

So out comes the red paint! I fitted the undercarriage and cabane struts before priming and painting, as the joins will be so much stronger while I can do bare plastic to bare plastic.

 

And this is where it is at now. Paint is Tamiya X7 airbrushed over Halfords grey primer. The grey base tones the red down a bit, much more than if I had used white primer. I felt that it would have come out a bit bright if I'd done that.

 

There is a difference of opinion about whether 435/17 was delivered in Fokker streaky green, and then overpainted red at the Jasta, or that it was painted red at the factory specially for Von Richthofen.  I've gone for the latter as Anthony Fokker was a real salesman, and very 'in' with the aces of the day, giving them gifts and visiting them regularly at their airfields. I think there is a fair chance that he would have seen the value in presenting the No. 1 ace of the time with a specially prepared machine. And it is far easier to get a neat red finish over plain doped fabric, than it would be over streaky green, both in full size and on a model.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

John

[Smithy]

Bit late to this but I'm be following the rest of this build closely, although it's a reminder that my 1/72 F.I is sitting on the shelf half finished!

 

Wonderful work so far.

[Viking]

Small update, the middle wings are on now

 

So I turned my attention to the twin Spandaus. Roden supply a pair of solid ones, plus a pair without jackets. to take eched ones. Unfortunately they don't supply the etch. I have a set of Eduard etch Fokker D.VII details for the WnW kit which includes a whole load of details including painted seat belts and another pair of Spandau jackets. So I have nicked the WnW ones, as they are now spare.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

John

 

[Viking]

Short update...

 

The Spandaus are now painted and fitted. They were very fiddly to fit in place, getting them equal in relation to each other was the problem, but I got there in the end.

Shiny isn't it! That's to help the decals stick, It'll be matt/satin varnished once decalling is done.

 

 

I'm leaving the rudder off for as long as I can, It'll only get knocked off if fitted too early. But I wanted to give a bit  of 'depth' to it. The structure was outlined in this strips of Tamiya tape, and then a light coat of Tamiya 'Smoke' sprayed on. When this was dry I then went back over it very lightly with more white, to reduce the harshness. But forgot to take a picture, so only the first 2 steps are shown here.

 

The top wing is now on, and all the rigging and control lines done. The 2 'X's on the undercarriage and in front of the Spandaus were done with Maxima Chameleon 4lb fishing line, and as the control lines are all very short I did them with stretched sprue.

 

 

Time to put some decals on it I think.

Thanks for looking,

 

John

 

 

 

[Howlindawg]

Looking great so far - the etch is really adding value!

[modelman182]

Wow - she's really motoring along, John!

 

Looks great and I think I might adopt your idea for the middle wing split on the Revell 1/28th DR.I that I picked up last week (just because I couldn't wait for the WNW release and couldn't afford the Roden 🙂 )

 

Kev

[stringbag]

I take it you will have this one finished when I call for a cuppa tomorrow evening John? 

 

Chris.

[Viking]

I'm calling this one finished, although I may add a little more oil staining on the underside.

Decal are all one, I used the kit ones from various of the four options provided, as I only needed the black crosses. One thing I did need to do was get the correct serial number on, which is 425/17. Fortunately I had a decal sheet in the stash with just the right size numerals and very close to a matching font. All I had to do was use the kit 'Fok.DR1 477/17' and replace the numbers. Also, I wasn't sure whether or not  it had the weight table on the cockpit side. One of my references showed it in an artwork, so I went with it to add a little extra interest on what id otherwise a plain finish.

 

 

Here it is, 425/17. Manfred von Richthofen, and Moritz, his dog.

 

Thanks for looking, and the comments along the way. I hope this may be of use to anyone contemplating building this kit. I would say that at full retail price in the UK it is somewhat expensive. I got mine for a reasonable £30 from an Amazon seller, making it a worthwhile build. No doubt the forthcoming Wingnut Wings kit will surpass this one in every way, but this one is still worth it if you can get one at a good price.

 

More pictures in Ready For Inspection

 

John

 

 

 

[Mike]

Lovely job as always John

[f111guru]

Beautiful work on the DR. Have the ancient Revell and have thought of purchasing the Roden. With your looking so great I may get a couple.

Impressive!!

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[John Masters]

Very nice and an excellent WiP too!

[Howlindawg]

I love the DR1, such a lovely design.

You've done it justice, that's an immaculate build!

[europapete]

Well done John, a really nice build. For those of you still to do this kit or are waiting for the WNW's, don't forget Aviattic do an accurate cowling and rudder, an accurate seat, a complete photo etch set, and extensive decals including Voss, MvR, and streaky camo. I believe Pheon are coming out with Jasta decals, and Gaspatch has very nice machine guns. Taurus Models do the magnito switch and engine, while Flugzeugwerks on Shapeways does a very nice compass. Hope this helps, regards Pete in RI

[woody37]

On 10/23/2019 at 11:57 PM, stringbag said:

I take it you will have this one finished when I call for a cuppa tomorrow evening John? 

 

Chris.

Hope you’re taking your finished A300 round to show him whilst you’re there? 😂😂

 

just caught up with this John, gorgeous as usual, lovely detailing. How you get them etch machine gun barrels round, beats me!

 

cheers

neil

[stringbag]

3 hours ago, woody37 said:

Hope you’re taking your finished A300 round to show him whilst you’re there? 😂😂

 

 

Smartarse!!