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Fokker D.VI - 1/32 Roden


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Fokker D.VI

1/32 Roden

 

dvi-1.jpg

 

The D.VI is not as well known as other Fokker fighters of the Great War, but it sits chronologically between the DR.1 Triplane and the superb D.VII. In fact it was entered into the same Idflieg 'Fighter Competition' at Adlershof in January 1918. It was already outdated with its rotary engine unable to provide the power levels of the inline engined D.VII. However a small number of them found a niche as Home defence fighters, as they were able to start up and take off immediately enemy bombers were approaching, whereas the inline engined aircraft had to take time to warm up.

 

The Roden kit is based on their earlier DR.1 Triplane kit, with a new set of biplane wings as the main change. It also has the advantage of almost no rigging. The LMG/08 Spandau guns are solid mouldings, but they also provide unjacketed ones for aftermarket etched jackets - I used some Eduard ones I had on a Fokker D.VII set.

The fuselage is pretty much the same as the Triplane kit. It comes with a full set of lozenge decals, which I was bit wary of having found previous Roden decals to be problematic. But these are a quantum leap forward, a vast improvement, they were easy to use, settled down well, and the colours are pretty good. So forget any previous experience with Roden decals, these are really good! On with the photos:

 

dvi-2.jpg

 

dvi-3.jpg

 

dvi-4.jpg

 

dvi-5.jpg

 

dvi-7.jpg

 

I added some brass etched stitching to the under fuselage centre line.

dvi-6.jpg

 

Thanks for looking,

 

John

 

 

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Very nice indeed. It does look very much like someone had spare parts from a Dr.1 and D.VII and decided to cobble them together. Could this be the first example of Company Marketing men 'designing' the next best seller from the parts bin?

 

Duncan B

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That's a very nice Fokker - superb modelling! The D.VI and the markings you chose for it are something special. As a youngster I wanted to scratch-build a D.VI by matching the 1/72 Revell D.VII with a Dr.I. Never did it...

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Hello, John -

 

Good to see you again, mate.   Brilliant job on your Roden Fok DVI (I would never expect anything less from you anyway!) and I agree with what you say regarding these lozenge decals.   I actually think this is a pretty decent kit from Roden too.  The only tricky part is fitting the lower wing to fuselage.   How did you fair here?

 

Regards

 

Dave

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Thanks for all the kind comments chaps.

On 09/03/2021 at 19:09, Epeeman said:

 The only tricky part is fitting the lower wing to fuselage.   How did you fair here?

 

 

Hi Dave, It was your build that made me want to do this one. I just noticed you'd mentioned to drop you a PM if I started to build one - I must have forgotten that bit!

Yes, the lower wing was a bit of an awkward fit. I trimmed the inner faces of each wing bit by bit, where it butted up to the fuselage, slowly shaving a tiny amount off until the fit was neater. I also reduced the thickness of the 'bar' that joins the 2 lower wings by removing most of it from the upper section (part 1A).  It was just old fashioned 'fettling' until I got a satisfactory fit.  The other thing that might be useful to anyone building this kit is that I glued the cabane struts on (10 & 11B) before painting. but left the uprights (14D) off until after decaling the fuselage side.

 

Cheers

 

John

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What a wonderful model you have created here!  You answered my only question which was how did you ever get Roden decals to look so good.  Well it is nice to hear they have improved as I really like the plastic in their kits. 

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