Roden 1/32nd Fokker Dr.I
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History
Instead of repeating the History of the Fokker Dr.I related in numerous recent articles I will give a brief history of the aircraft I chose to model. This is Fokker Dr.I 521/17. Originally issued to JG1 (most likely Jasta 11) the aircraft was subsequently handed over to Jasta 34b. Dr.I 521/17 was flown by ace Robert Greim (later ritter von Greim) while leading Jasta 34b. The aircraft was photographed at Foucaucourt in June 1918. The photo suffers from a distortion (seen in all copies) blocking most of the right wings. On 27th June 1918 this aircraft lost its cowling, damaged the upper wing, and presumably was struck off strength soon after.
The Model
The Roden kit is well molded, suffers from no flash, and overall is well detailed. A few problems with the instructions and part numbers (well covered in previous reviews) are the only major initial problems with the kit. Parts are included for both early and late ailerons, and the F.I tail is also included.
Construction: Interior and Fuselage
Construction
of this kit begins with cleaning up the basic parts for the interior,
wings, fuel tank, and landing gear. Be sure to remove and sand smooth
the mold release pin from both fuselage interior halves. I assembled the
wings, taking care to get the wing tips glued to the right wings as they
are mixed up in the instructions. I also chose to add interior structure
based on the Memorial Flight's Dr.I and the Windsock Datafile. I used
strips of plastic to simulate the veneer strips covering the tubing to
which the triangular wooden panels were attached. I then sprayed the upper
wing surfaces, the cockpit floor, and the interior of the fuselage halves
Polyscale CDL. The triangular wood panels were then streaked with a wet
brush technique using artist's tube oils (Burnt Sienna) to simulate wood
grain. This same treatment was given to the cockpit floor. The metal tubing
framework and fuel tank were painted Polyscale RLM 02 grey. The stick
and certain other tubing was painted gloss black to match the interior
of the Memorial Flight Dr.I. A couple of minor changes were made to the
kit interior. First the instrument molded to the right fuselage half was
removed and attached to the left side as indicated by reference material.
I also chose to replace the molded on assembly that looks like a throttle
but isn't :-) with a photo etched version from the Battle Axe Fokker D.VII.
I added some wiring to the control stick and glued the basic cockpit assembly
to the left fuselage half. The seat was painted a semi gloss black, with
a brown leather cushion. A seat belt was fashioned from foil, painted
CDL and lightened with dry brushing of oils. Buckles were from an old
PE set. I chose to model the wide lap belt preferred by some pilots. The
ammo cans were painted aluminum and 
attached
to the right fuselage half, along with a pouch made of putty, and the
pump. The next step is where I began to run into a few problems. When
the fuselage halves are assembled the ammo cans, tubing, fuel tank etc.
DO have some fit issues! If I were to build another the fuel tank would
be left off until after the fuselage is assembled. The engine mount (parts
8C and 19C ) are also a fit problem. The mount and firewall do not want
to sit right without trimming the lower fuselage on both halves. I ended
up thinning the inside corners quite a bit. In the end I also trimmed
a little from the tubing on part 8C where they were interfering with the
part dropping into place on the fuselage. Finally to get the firewall
lined up with the upper fuselage halves I had to pull them apart until
the outside edges matched the firewall outline, then super glue the assembly
in place. Be sure to trap the tail skid in place before gluing the fuselage
together. When all of this was complete I saw that there was a concave
surface on the under fuselage. This was filled and sanded smooth using
super glue. The upper fuselage seam also required some filling and sanding.
Painting Streaks
At this point I masked off the cockpit interior opening and painted
the fuselage CDL. I then mixed artists oils in preparation for painting
the characteristic Fokker Dr.I streaks. I use a mixture of ivory black
and cadmium yellow which makes a nice olive green. I also added a small
amount of red to the mixture to bring the green just a little into the
brown range. This proved to be a mistake as oils are somewhat transparent
and the brownish green went way too brown when applied over CDL! A second
mixture without the red proved to be more correct. This of course was
all discovered after I applied the streaks with the first mixture! :-)
The technique I use involves working with a thinned mixture and a 1/4"
flat brush. Working with a wet surface I apply the paint heavily in one
place then 
spread
it out using the brush and thinner (Oderless Turpentine) pulling the paint
in the desired direction for the streaks. The best part about using oils
is that if you don't get the results you want you can wipe it off and
start again. There are limits to the number of times you can do this as
I found out on the upper wing. I had to totally clean it off after my
third try and re spray CDL My fourth attempt got results I could live
with. The fuselage was treated in a similar manner from the firewall to
just behind the cockpit. After a couple of days drying the mid wing was
taped off and the olive green fairing sprayed using Pollyscale Fokker
green. This was somewhat too dark so I lightly brushed my oil mixture
over the fairing coming up with the desired effect. I also taped off and
painted the under surfaces of the wings and fuselage using Misterkit Fokker
Turquoise.
More Construction
The next stage was attaching the center wing to the assembled fuselage.
This is a difficult fit as others have discovered. After some effort I
got this lined up, did some minor filling on the undersurface/fuselage
joint, and touched up all affected painting. Next the interplane wing
ties were installed (not without difficulty), and the lower wing attached.
About this time I decided to add the access panel under the fuselage.
Yes, it would have been better to do this before painting, so what.:-)
I used 5 thou. plastic sheet cut to shape using a 1/32nd drawing. I then
painted this with the 
turquoise.
Finally the upper wing was attached to the wing ties, and the cabane struts
glued in place. These were a small problem in that they were almost too
short (others seem to have had the opposite problem). Probably has to
do with how successfully one seats the wing ties! I then painted and glued
on the axle wing and strut assembly for the landing gear, attached the
tailplane and its struts, setting the stage for the next painting sequence.
At this time all struts had been painted Fokker olive green. I also attached
the engine assembly and cowling at this time.
Final Painting
Robert Greims aircraft carried his personal markings of 2 red bands with a silver stripe between them on the fuselage, just aft of the cockpit. The remainder of the rear fuselage and tail was the whitish silver of the Jasta 34b unit marking. The cowling was also red (more on this later). I masked off the forward fuselage and sprayed Pollyscale RR colors AT&SF red where the stripes were to be located. The cowling was also painted red at this time. I then masked off the bands and painted the remainder of the fuselage using Floquil Old Silver. Tape was removed and touch up accomplished with decals painted the appropriate colors after the entire model recieved a gloss coat.
Decals
The
wing crosses were taken from Americal Gryphon's 1/48th sheet for large
aircraft. These represent the changed in the field look common to Dr.Is.
The fuselage crosses were from an old Aeromaster Dr.I set (lower wing
crosses in 1/48th scale). Finally the rudder cross and all stenciling
were kit items. As an aside here it seems Roden has indeed fixed their
decal problems as I had no trouble with those I used! Now I was ready
to attach the final small parts and move on to the relatively easy rigging
found on the triplane.
Machine Guns
Roden supplied 2 options, one is injection molded jackets barrels etc, and the other is ready to have PE jackets attached. I used the jackets from the Battle Axe D.VII, painted the assemblies Gun Metal and attached them to the fuselage.
Paint Scheme Correction
I posted a request on the Aerodrome Forum for further info regarding 521/17s use in JG1. My question was answered by Greg VanWyngarden (co-author of Osprey's Dr.I Aces) one of my primary reference sources for this aircraft. He mentioned in passing that the drawing and description in the Osprey book were slightly incorrect. It seems that Greims 521/17 also had RED Interplane struts and Cabanes! So back I went and hand painted the struts in the correct colors (easier said than done).
Rigging
Now
for that easy rigging. I had neglected to drill locating holes in the
undersurface of the upper wings for the aileron control cables. These
are double wires running from the rear cabane area to the fuselage just
to the sides of the Machine guns. I used stretched sprue and the first
2 wires went on with no problem. The other side took about 7 hours as
one attempt after another failed to get them the right length, located
in the right spot etc. By the time I finally got them in line I really
didn't care if they were perfect (or for that matter if they were even
close)! :-) The remainder of the control wires and bracing wires went
on with no more stress.
Final Assembly/ Finish
I now attached the wing step, lift rings (made from wire), and the wing tip skids. The prop was painted using Testors wood, artists oil burnt sienna, and raw sienna. A flat finish was sprayed overall. Weathering was achieved using oils and acryllic scenery paint. This being an older bird I went fairly heavy on the oil stains along the lower longerons and corresponding lower wing area. The Oberursel Engine and ersatz castor oil created quite a mess requiring a lot of cleanup after use. Oil and carbon was common on the fuselage sides of these birds. Some earth tones on the wheels and bottom of the wings and rudder finished the weathering.
Conclusion
This kit does take some effort! With careful assembly and painting (don’t forget to drill those rigging holes) a real showstopper can be built! Thanks to Matt Bittner and Roden for the review sample.
References
- Fokker Dr.I Data File, Albatros Publications
- Fokker Dr.I Aces, Osprey aircraft of the Aces
- The Memorial Flight Website
- Internet Modeler