HR Models Resin 1/72 Fokker E.I & E.II By Bob Pearson

History

The first aircraft that embodied the characteristics of the modern fighter was the Fokker Eindecker. It went through various modifications to try and improve its combat qualites, but none were truly effective in making it a better fighter. It was just the right aircraft in the right place at the right time, and was able to take advantage of the newly available synchronizer while its adversaries had to make do with other less effective ways of providing a gun on an aircraft. The basic Fokker E.I was modified in an attempt to improve its effectiveness by lengthening the fuselage, substituting a more powerful engine and increasing its wingspan and this became the Fokker E.II. Both of these Eindeckers are now available from HR Models.

The Kit

Both kits share many parts in common, with just the wings being different, so although I am describing the E.I, it also covers the rest of the Eindecker series, with the differences noted where applicable.

The basic kit consists of two wafers of common parts as well as the wings and fuselage. All are cleanly moulded, and I found but one airhole in one of the engines. The fuselage has the flank panels moulded in place and are solid on the bottom, whereas they should really be open to channel the waste oils and exhaust away from the wings and to fair the cowl to the fuselage.

The remaining resin parts are for the interior - stick, seat and pedals; two styles of engine - seven cylinder Oberurusel 80 hp and nine cylinder 100hp Oberursel; two types of Maxim "Spandau" machine guns, two types of rudder - rectangular (M.5) and 'comma' and two propellors. The rest of the parts are cowl, tailplanes and undercarriage. The struts are best replaced with a stronger material as they are somewhat fragile in resin.

The wings have a scalloped rib pattern to the upper wing ribs, while the underside ribs are represented by raised lines.

There is a small fret of PE included with jackets for the Maxim, seatbelt, prop boss, footsteps and instrument panel included. To go along with the panel, there is also the usual film instrument faces to glue behind the panel.

Decals are common to all the Eindecker kits and include markings for eight different machines: E1/15, E2/15, E3/15, E13/15 (Immelman), E25/15, 43/15, EII69/15 and 03.51.

The instructions show seven construction steps and they also clearly show the different parts for the various options.

Conclusion

These kits will allow the newcomer to build all the variation in the Eindecker line without recourse to scratchbuilding. The struts are best replaced, but other than that they look to be simple kits to build.

My thanks to Lubos Vinar of Hobbyshop.cz for the review samples