1:28 Revell Fokker Dr1 Complete

congratulations on your Leaf.  My neighbor has one and enjoys the car very much.  Yes, he too saves on fuel!  

Your build is coming along nicely.  Looking forward to it's completion.

Toshi

MC,

The Dr.1 is coming along nicely.  Just be glad it's not a Caproni Ca.36. 

Jay Jay

Do you have any tips on how to align the wings when assembling them as the glue dries ?  That's a stumbling block for me as i have a 1/72 Walrus MK II waiting to install the top wing and don

No, the Dr-1 is pretty easy as it had pretty strong interplane struts, so it’s pretty much aligns itself. I have built other 30's bipes that were a nightmare. Some guys build a jig to help, others use a Biplane Assembly Jig such as the Aeroclub jig
http://www.internetmodeler.com/2005/december/new-releases/Aeroclub_Jig.php

Steve

You're doing a smashing job on the tri-plane.

Do you have any tips on how to align the wings when assembling them as the glue dries ?  That's a stumbling block for me as i have a 1/72 Walrus MK II waiting to install the top wing and don't know how to align it properly. ( my first try at a double winger )

Very little to update on this, as most of us, I have been busy with life.
I was looking for a newer car to replace my 2001 Ford F 150, which was in very bad need of expensive repairs, and with the winter coming, I thought this would be a good time. I bought a 2012 Nissan Leaf, and since I just commute with it, it’s pretty cool. I got it for the fuel savings and have gone from $150 mo for gas to $25 mo for charging. Nearly pays for itself. We have a second vehicle for longer distances.
Anyway, enough of that. Here is what I have so far. I attached the wings and filled some gaps. Next is the undercarriage and a few other fiddly things. I'm working on the guns separately.

Steve

Mc

I used the receiver and muzzle assembly from the kit. Then I used some of the pe parts along with plastic scratch built details on the receiver, cocking handles and a barrel. I also made the ammo box out of sheet plastic. 

I agree with the majority. The woodgrain on the prop is incredible! 

Thanks Alan,

Woodgrain is easy once you have a few under your belt, thanks to PJ's tutelage.

PJ,

 I have been studding the guns on your build. Did you use the original parts of the gun (except the barrel) and build up the PE around them with a piece of sprue for the barrel, or did you build them from scratch?

I remember this kit from the seventies.  I built the Ruckenbacker SPAD, too.  I was younger and never knew about or bothered with rigging.  I don't know that I'd be keen to try.

Your work is looking good so far!  Can't wait to see more.

Best Wishes,

Gary

Beautiful work you did on the interior.  Love that woodgrain!

A little more done on the Fokker.

Looking good MC. Crazy how Photobucket went kaput for a couple of days but came back on last night. They had some type of major malfunction in their system. 

Ok, it's been a little while since I posted anything on this, but I've been building other commitments, but have slowly been working a little and there on the Fokker. So here it is so far.
BTW. Imageshack is down at the moment so my (and PJ's) pics are not working right now, I am reluctantly using Photobucket.

Interior.



Engine.

Thanks Allan. Yes it's 1/28 scale and a very ancient mold but some scratch work and modern pe details make it a super model.

Wow.  I love the authentic props!

Toshi

1/28?  Odd, I suppose its box scale?  Anyway, looking forward to this build, Steve.  Great work on the props!

PJ, 

Thats a fine Fokker you did! Hard to believe its a 60s era kit.

Brandon

The graining looks very good. I don't know why you are kicking  yourself. How many oil washes did you do?

plasticjunkie

Just wondering how's the prop wood graining coming along?

Brandon

Just wondering how's the prop wood graining coming along?

Thanks PJ,

I'll start over with acrylics and follow your method.

Brandon,

Yeah, I need to get back over there and get some more pics of it.

The bird Steve is referring to is a replica and it is one of those displays that may indeed not be there one day, because they do rotate the displays from time to time. I have no idea how long it will be there, so get over there Steve.

BK

MC

This is how I did mine:

Painted with MM acrylic wood color

Laminations painted with craft acrylic burnt umber paint

A day or two later began brushing washes of artist oil burnt umber as filters and using a hair dryer to speed up drying in between wash coats. I did about 3-4 light wash filter coats a day until I liked the effect.

Prop was set aside to cure for a few days then given a brush coat of Future for the varnished effect followed by the Axial logo decals.

Carefully use some thinner and a soft brush to remove all the oil paint and start again as I described.

PJ,

I tried my hand at the prop, however it didn't dry and the oil paint is showing cracks. I started with a base of MM wood enamel, then a coat of thinned Brunt Siena followed (a few days) with an application of Burnt Umber (I may have those reversed). Last night, after a few days, the prop was still sticky and the oil paint was cracked. I removed the paint and started over. If I can't get this right, I may just send it to you after all. What am I doing wrong? I started to take a picture but changed my mind.

modelcrazy> That was at Aerodrome '92 held at Lake Guntersville, Alabama. Frank Ryder had a WWI museum there in the early 90s.  It's gone now.  This thread over at the aerodrome will explain a bit better.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20836

Yes, go and take pictures.  You never can tell when this aircraft will disappear. 

And while looking for information, I ran across this video from 1992 of the show!If you've got time (it's over an hour long) you might find it interesting.  I'm going to have to peruse it carefully as my friends and I are probably in it somewhere! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUycx74EVww

Great pic GAF, where was that at? I see a D5 slipped in there.

We have one at the local museum. I may have to go and get some more pics.

Nice!  Look forward to seeing this one built.

Plasticjunkie>  And I look forward to seeing the article someday!

Meanwhile, you can never have too many Dr.1s. 

However, I question the accuracy of some of the build details! 

But they fly well...

Theuns

The reason for the 3 wings was to increace wing area therby making for a lower wingloading, this equals a much better climb rate. You do not want to simply increace wingspan as this reduces roll rate. Because of the rotary engine's massive gyroscopic effect it wouls not react like a normal plane, if you could master it , it was extremely agile. Just like Sopwith Camel, you used the same direction of rudder offset to turn left and right! These rotaries also dod not have a norma throttle, you had selector switches that turned off some of the spark plus thereby decreacing power. That is why they "blipped" the engine for landing. Theuns

 

It is sometimes said that these engines did not have a throttle at all- they did, it was just that carburetor design was primitive, and the throttle was only useful for gross changes in power. This was true of all engines of that era, not just rotaries.

In early automobiles the same problem existed.  The throttle was just for going between idle and drive, for example, with fine speed control done by changing spark advance.  It took a few decades for carburetors for cars to develop adequate throttle response.  Such response was less important for aircraft, so aircraft engines had poor throttle response for half a century! 

I was eyeballing this kit yesterday on the web. I'm keen to see how this turns out.

BK

Thanks again Crown.

Steve

Not a problem. Shoot me a pm if things don't work out.