Meng Fokker Dr.1 Triplane - 1:32 Meng. via Creative Models

[Viking]

Fokker Dr.1 Triplane

1:32 Meng Model via Creative Models Ltd

 

 

 

Entering service in the latter few months of 1917, the Fokker DR.1 hardly needs any introduction, as it probably the most famous German aircraft of the Great War. Manfred Von Richthofens overall red machine is instantly recognisable and is probably the most famous pilot/aircraft combination ever. It achieved a fame out of all proportion to the number built (320) and length of service (c6 months). It wasn't particularly fast, but was highly maneuverable and had an impressive rate of climb.In the hands of a skilled pilot it could be highly effective, and became the favoured mount of many aces until the superior Fokker D.VII replaced it from April 1918.

The kit was due to be released earlier this year by Wingnut Wings, and was thus developed to their uncompromising standards. Unfortunately they shut down without any warning in April and laid off all their staff. Mystery surrounds the reasons for this, but speculation abounds so I'll refrain from comment other than to say I was very saddened by the closure. They were producing kits to a standard not equaled by any other manufacturer, and will be sorely missed. The Fokker Dr.1 kit was in the final stages of approval, and I was one of many who eagerly examined the test sprues displayed at Telford 2019. It seems that Meng were contracted to produce the moulds, and with the demise of Wingnut Wings have rebranded and released the kit under their own name. Packaged in a sturdy top opening box, the artwork features Manfred von Richthofens well known all red 425/17, having shot down a Bristol F2.b fighter. Inside are five light grey sprue frames of varying sizes, one small clear frame, a sheet of decals, a small sheet of etched brass, and the instruction booklet. All are individually wrapped in their own clear plastic bags. It is immediately apparent that the mouldings are in Wingnut Wings style, from the layout of parts and their quality.

The plastic is the same light grey type favoured by WnW, and the customary superb detailing is all there. It is obvious that this is all the work of the Wingnut Wings master designers.

The instruction booklet is simpler than the superb examples that Wingnut Wings used to supply, but adequately and clearly shows the construction stages. Naturally enough this begins with the cockpit, most parts of which are found on sprue A. The mouldings are well defined, with sharp detail. The seat/bulkhead, floor, and ammunition tank are fitted between two side frames, which then accurately position the whole assembly inside each fuselage half by locating a circular cutout over a raised ring. This sprue also contains all the parts that were fitted to the main production DR.1, as opposed to the early pre-production F.1.

 

 

 

 

Sprue B holds all three wings and the fuselage halves.

 

The fabric effect and rib tapes are nicely done, but there are a couple of issues with the wings themselves. They are all solid single piece mouldings, and there is a slight upward curvature along the span of all three, which should not be there. I saw comment on this on various internet forums from people who managed to get hold of this kit early on, so it is not unique to this example. Apparently it is easily solved by immersing the parts in hot water, taking them out and gently bending straight between thumb and forefinger.

 

 

Also reported by others is a breakage on the cockpit fairing moulded integrally with the middle wing, part B6. Again this is also present on the review kit, and again should be simple to rectify. Attaching it to the fuselage side when fitting the middle wing in stage 10 should ensure a strong joint.

 

 

Two propellers are also provided, part 3 is an Axial, the classic fit for an Oberursel powered DR.1.

 

Sprue C holds four clear parts, of which C3 and C4 are optional windscreens. Part C1 is an early reflector gun sight, and an interesting option to have been included. It is only for the all red Richthofen machine. Part C2 is not mentioned in the instructions and is thus not required.

 

The axle wing, late type cowling, late type control column, and alternate propeller are on sprue D. The propeller is not named, but looks to me more like an allied one that would probably have been paired with the Clerget engine.

 

 

Sprue E is the engine, which is provided with alternate front faces for the Le Rhone 9J (Part E1) and Oberursel UR.II (Part E7), The Oberursel being a licence built Le Rhone. Many German pilots considered the Oberursel to be inferior to the original French built engines and fitted captured examples to their aircraft. Identifying which powerplants were fitted to particular DR.1s is a bit of a minefield, as captured Clerget engines were also used. At least we have two choices here!

 

 

Option B, Werner Voss's aircraft is a prototype F.1 rather than a production DR.1, and was fitted with a captured Le Rhone. Sprue F holds all the alternate parts for the F.1. These are ailerons with larger mass balances, different shape rudder, curve edged tailplane, smaller wheels, and different cowling. The F.1 also did not have the wingtip skids fitted, so the locating holes in the lower wing will need filling.

 

 

The etched fret offers jackets for the LMG08/15 machine guns, which need to be rolled into a cylindrical shape and attached to the injection moulded bodies. If you do not feel confident doing this, then fully injection moulded alternatives are also offered. A four point harness is provided for the seat, along with round or square inspection panels for the front fuselage. These were field modifications, so check your references if not choosing one of the kit supplied markings.

 

 

Decals are printed by Meng and look very sharp with minimal carrier film, and an overall matt finish. It consists mostly of various forms of black crosses, with instrument decals and various serial numbers. There are few individual markings needed for the options, but unfortunately the 'face' for the Voss option doesn't look particularly accurate, so it may be better to hand paint it. Four options are provided, one F.1 and three DR.1's. Of course one of them is Manfred von Richthofen's all red version, which is a good choice by Meng as it is so famous and the box art will attract interest from potential buyers. For those of us who like the less obvious, the other three provide good alternatives. It wouldn't be that difficult to make Richthofen's earlier machine with the Fokker 'streaky' finish, and a red top wing, rear fuselage, wheels and cowling. By cutting out some of the serial numbers from the other options, you can make up the '152/17' it needs.

 

 

Option A. DR.1, 425/17. Manfred Von Richthofen, JG1, March 1918.

 

Option B. F.1, 103/17. Werner Voss, Jasta 10, September 1917.

 

Option C. DR.1 206/17. Herman Goering, Jasts 27, May 1918.

 

Option D. RD.1, Walter Gottsch, Jasta 19, February 1918.

 

Instructions.
The instructions are supplied as a neat little 20 page booklet showing all assembly sequences clearly, and unambiguously pointing out which parts are appropriate for which of the finishing options.

 

 

There is a parts map and colour reference at the end, but I am not familiar with any of the paint manufacturers quoted. Fortunately each colour is named so you can select from your own preferred range. It is not to the same exemplary standard that Wingnut Wings presented their instructions, but is still very good.

 

There are also a set of A4 sized cards, mostly in Chinese, but with some English translation explaining the types history.

 

Conclusion.
The sudden closure of Wingnut Wings was a real shock to the modelling community, the Fokker DR.1 was right on the cusp of being released and suddenly it was gone. This eagerly awaited kit was due to be released in 'Early' and 'Late' versions, and it seemed unlikely we would ever be able to get hold of them. Fortunately Meng had been contracted to produce the moulds,and were able to release the kit under their own name with all the parts for the 'Early and 'Late' versions in one box. It is a lovely kit, despite the minor issues with the breakage on the wing/cockpit part and a slight wing warp. Both are easily solved and it seems that it may have been sorted out by now as other modellers are reporting that their kits are free of this issue. It is in any case the best kit of the DR.1 in any scale. Not surprisingly Wingnut Wings kits sold out everywhere and are now like gold dust, fetching silly prices. At least we now have the opportunity to purchase this kit with Wingnut Wings DNA running through it, and at a sensible price. The aftermarket decal producers are already offering alternate finishing options for it, including the Fokker 'streaky' camouflage if you don't want to paint it.

 

 

Highly Recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Duncan B]

Very nice review, warts and all.

 

When QC'ing my batch of these kits I noticed that the way they had been packed was probably the reason for the breakages to the centre wing/cockpit coaming part. Sprue A, which contains the seat, was packed underneath Sprue B in such a way that the seat-back was pushing directly onto the coaming right where they seem to be breaking. I had 2 kits out of 30 that actually had the breakage but each kit had witness marks on the sprue bags showing where they had been rubbing against each other. After inspecting each of mine I repacked them with Sprue A facing the other way. If the Factory had packed them like this I doubt we would be talking about it at all.

 

Duncan B

[Julien]

Mine was packed badly, as well as the cockpit part being broken both the one part wings had broken of the sprues and are floating around in the bags. 

[redcap]

Really good review - thank you.

Gary

[sroubos]

Apparently it is easily solved by immersing the parts in hot water, taking them out and gently bending straight between thumb and forefinger.

 

It was suggested that that could be a solution but I haven't actually seen that as confirmed. Can you provide a link to a source from someone who has actually successfully done this? It's quite a dealbreaker for me.

[Viking]

On 13/10/2020 at 19:53, sroubos said:

 

 

 

It was suggested that that could be a solution but I haven't actually seen that as confirmed. Can you provide a link to a source from someone who has actually successfully done this? It's quite a dealbreaker for me.

 

 

Member Guy 'Gisbod' has done one on this very forum Here

[G.R.Morrison]

Just a couple notes from an ancient 'Triplane nerd' regarding some of the parts included.

 

B2 is a Garuda propellor, B3 the more-commonly-seen Axial

 

A15 (and p-e W1) square magneto-access door, and/or

A31 (and p-e W2) round magneto-access door; These were NOT a factory feature, added to some machines later.  The square ones were fitted to Jasta 6 aircraft.

 

A53  Oigee tubular sight

C1  Oigee reflector sight, which was tested on some Jasta 12 machines.  Many used the standard 'iron' sights on the guns.

 

A58  is an undercarriage brace installed on some Jasta Boelcke machines, and Jacobs' (Jasta 7) 450/17

 

MISSING from the kit – the small rectangular data plate on the starboard side of the cowling.  They also neglected to include the datum line on the decal sheet.  This was a black 10mm x 1 m horizontal line applied from the carburetor intake aft, on the port side, sometimes on both sides.

 

For those painting the factory-applied standard 'streaked' camouflage, the brush used was 80mm in width (2.5mm in this scale).

 

Regarding the box art subject, von Richthofen achieved only two victories in 425/17 (both were Sopwith 'Camels' of No. 3 Sq.).  His most-successful triplane was 477/17, in which he claimed ten between 18.March - 7.April 1918

 

A friend bought me one of these, and it arrived with all parts intact, so perhaps Meng has improved their packing (quality) control.

 

GRM

[BerndM]

Great review of this fine kit.

I must admit that the marking option don t really impress me.

Are there any aftermarket sets out ? I am only aware of the Eagle Cals set.

[Paul Thompson]

2 hours ago, BerndM said:

Great review of this fine kit.

I must admit that the marking option don t really impress me.

Are there any aftermarket sets out ? I am only aware of the Eagle Cals set.

Aviattic. This is their product news page, scroll down to find the decal sheet due this month.  https://www.aviattic.co.uk/news.htm

 

Paul.

[BerndM]

1 hour ago, Paul Thompson said:

Aviattic. This is their product news page, scroll down to find the decal sheet due this month.  https://www.aviattic.co.uk/news.htm

 

Paul.

Thank you !

[Viking]

Hi Bernd

 

There is also this, although it is not much different from the kit options:

Eduard Die Roten Flieger 

 

These look really good:

Flying Circus JG1 - I'll probably get this one myself,

 

Die Alten Kanonen - Also very tempting, specially if you want to avoid the Fokker 'Streaky green' finish.

 

 

Cheers

 

John

[BerndM]

56 minutes ago, Viking said:

Hi Bernd

 

There is also this, although it is not much different from the kit options:

Eduard Die Roten Flieger 

 

These look really good:

Flying Circus JG1 - I'll probably get this one myself,

 

Die Alten Kanonen - Also very tempting, specially if you want to avoid the Fokker 'Streaky green' finish.

 

 

Cheers

 

John

Thank you John !

That looks very tempting.

[Cometracer]

Boy is that an improvement on the old Revell 1/28th offering.  The Dr.I is the FW190 of the First World War.