Global Scale Modeller

I’m building Eduard’s 1:48 Fokker Dr.1 (Weekend edition)


The kit doesn’t have any PE however it does include ‘superfabric seatbelts’.

I’ve ‘borrowed’ Eduard’s photo’s of the kit








Their are two schemes offered

Ltn. Friedrich Kempf


Manfred von Richthofen

The Red Barron scheme is the one for me

This should be an interesting build and paint scheme, tonal variation on red painted canvas?


until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

To start I need to use either grey or black Ultimate primer depending on the finish required, wood effect will have grey primer, red and metal finishes will be black

Ultimate grey primer



Ultimate black primer





next I’ll be painting the wood effect in the cockpit and propellor

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

OK time to make the wood effects

first some parts needed masking


then a base coat of Tamiya XF-57 buff


the Eduard instructions call for the ‘canvas’ to be painted olive drab, I’m ignoring this advice and continuing the base colour of buff as I reason that the inside of the red canvas wouldn’t be painted a different colour?


the cockpit floor was sprayed vallejo model color 70.828 woodgrain and I used the PE mask


for other components I hand painted wood grain, I need more practice, with vallejo model air 71.007 wood and 70.828 woodgrain



these were then over-sprayed with Tamiya XF-59 dessert yellow




next everything was given a coat of Mr Hobby H92 clear orange




the propellor
[
the wood laminations have been masked…

…and sprayed with vallejo model color 70.828 woodgrain

this was then over-sprayed with XF-59 dessert yellow

finally a coat of Mr Hobby H92 clear orange



Now that the wood is done I’ll move onto detail painting of the cockpit

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Interesting subject John

I'm on board!

Just added the profi-pack to my wishlist!!

Fridgy wrote: Sun Aug 27, 2017 12:57 am Interesting subject John

I'm on board!

BobM wrote: Sun Aug 27, 2017 3:40 am Just added the profi-pack to my wishlist!!

thanks guys, its a interesting little kit

Detail paint of the cockpit




I’ve given this instrument a ‘brass’ effect rather than ‘painted’ I’ve no idea if this is historically correct, and I don’t really care as I think it’ll look good








The frame looks very dark in these photo’s, in reality they don’t look as dark




the kit comes with Eduard “super fabric” seatbelts



building the sub-assembly

…and fitting it to the side of the fuselage




fuselage halves joined



Next I’ll be preparing for paint

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Nice work with the wood grain.

bfrd wrote: Tue Aug 29, 2017 5:40 pm Nice work with the wood grain.

thanks bfrd, its a lot easier than the finished result looks

rgds
John(shortCummins)

Seeing red…

Everything was given a coat of Ultimate black primer and then a couple of thin coats of Alkan RLM:23 red.

the fuselage

a couple of thin coats of red


spars and struts


rear stabiliser, rudder and wheel wing


top/front of cockpit


the cowling, masking for the aluminium strip

followed by the red coat


the two lower wings


…and the top wing


As the aircraft is basically just red I want to try and break up the blocks of colour and give some interest by adding highlighting and slightly dirtying her up a bit. As the airframe is mainly canvas and wood its a bit limiting as far as weathering goes.
Anyhow I’ll show the process for the top wing
the spars are masked with strips of Tamiya tape cut to thickness


firstly some highly thinned 90% thinner 10% paint Tamiya XF-68 NATO brown to simulate dirt and wear

then the front of the wing is highlighted with highly thinned XF-59 dessert yellow

and everything tied together with some highly thinned red

the masking removed


The idea was to subtly depict shadows and highlights, with practice I’m sure I’ll eventually get there.


I now need to complete the paint/weathering on the other wings and fuselage, I can then assemble the aircraft.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Only a small update

Adding decals to the wings after a couple of coats of aqua gloss.
Top wing




bottom wing



I’ve given these a coat of aqua gloss and I’ll let them cure for 24hrs and then add the simulated dirt and wear.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Another small update

Simulated dirt and wear.
Top wing


bottom wing


all of the control surfaces


decals added to the fuselage




Next up will be some assembly.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

I assume that I either forgot or didn’t do a very good job on adding aqua gloss before adding the decals to the fuselage.
This caused quite a bit of silvering, in order to “fix” this I loaded up a brand new blade and very gently ‘scored’ the decals. I didn’t apply any pressure other than the weight of the knife/blade. Once the decals were scored I gave them a coat of micro sol, later everything will get a coat of varnish prior to some weathering.
Here’s the repaired decals…

the Fok.DRI213 and the weight list were the worst effected, they don’t look too bad now.
I’ve just realised that that’s the wrong number, it should have been Fok.DRI425, don’t tell anyone

When I removed the mask, it proved that I didn’t do a very good job


so a little bit of touch up was needed


The middle wing/top front of the cockpit was then attached




Machine guns were next.
The guns were panted with Hobby Color H76 burnt iron and dry-brushed with Mr Metal 213 stainless. the ammunition was painted with Mr Metal 213, the bullets Mr Metal 219 brass

here you can see the difference between the aqua gloss coated “metal” red and linen covered wings which have been ‘flat’ coated



The main rear stabiliser was added


The wing braces



…and then the bottom wing





Before I can add the top wing I have to prepare for the rigging, thankfully not too much on this aircraft. I’ve also notice a few places that the red needs touching-up, funny how sometimes you don’t see things until you look at the photographs?

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Rigging, quite a lot of work, thankfully not much rigging on the Fokker triplane.

materials used for the rigging:
0.2mm dia' copper wire
0.6mm brass tube (Albion Alloys)
Fine WZ Line


First I cut a length of the copper wire, bent it in half over a pin and then twisted the two ends together (keeping the pin in place) to make an anchor point.
The 0.6 brass tube was cut to size…
…and a length of EZ Line was threaded through the brass tube
the EZ Line was then passed through the ‘hoop’ of the anchor point and then threaded back through the brass tube. Easier said than done but a few deep breaths and Optivisor firmly in place the task was completed.
CA was then added to the EZ Line/ brass tube and synched up, after the glue dried I cut the excess EZ Line.

Holes were then drilled in both the wing and fuselage


The anchor/turn-buckle was glued in place


Top wing attached










EZ Line stretched to fit and fixed with CA







I’ll add the rudder, ailerons and other bits and pieces after I add the landing gear.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Adding the landing gear.
The airframe is “levelled” by using a roll of Tamiya tape under the rear of the aircraft. Struts for the landing gear are glued using Revell contacta to enable a little bit of movement to allow better alignment when attaching them to the main body.


The landing gear subassembly has been attached to the fuselage, using CA glue. You can also see where the strut(s) was removed from the spru and will need touching-up.


Wheels attached


Rear skid and outer wing supports(?) added





Control surfaces will be next.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Fantastic work on this little bugger I'm a bit late to this one but I'm fully in ore of the micro surgery you're performing on the rigging!

Very nice work, John, well done!

If you are interested in WWI subjects, have a look at Drooling Bulldog colours, they are focused purely on WWI and offer authentic shades. I work with them and they are really excellent.

AAC wrote: Thu Sep 21, 2017 10:14 pm Fantastic work on this little bugger I'm a bit late to this one but I'm fully in ore of the micro surgery you're performing on the rigging!

thanks Alexander, all I can say is thank god for Optivisors, no way I'd be able to thread the EZ Line through the brass tube otherwise

ondra wrote: Fri Sep 22, 2017 6:52 am Very nice work, John, well done!

If you are interested in WWI subjects, have a look at Drooling Bulldog colours, they are focused purely on WWI and offer authentic shades. I work with them and they are really excellent.

those look really interesting, I'll give them a try on my next WWI subject

best rgds
John(shortCummins)

For some reason I had a problem fixing the EZ Line rigging for the landing gear, I think I probably cut them a little too short and although it stretches the CA glue wouldn’t hold them in place and they kept springing back. So as an alternative I cut some thin, 0.2mm dia’ wire to length and fixed them in place with CA glue.

The wire had a red coating, I used a permanent ‘Sharpie’ to colour them black

Control surfaces.
First thing was to attach the control horns




Attaching the rear aileron


The rudder and 'top wing' ailerons






I’ll add the control wires to the various control horns after some more weathering. “Normally” I would use EZ LINE however as I've had “issues” with the landing gear I’ve decided to use more of the 0.2mm dia’ wire


Bolting on the engine will be next.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Before fitting the engine, cowling and propellor I thought I’d do a dot filter.
The oil colours I used were white, red, brown and dark brown. These oil paints are from a ‘generic’ set from the £1 shop, I’m sure that Abteilung or Windsor & Newton oils would do a better job but these are what I have.

I started on the underside using tooth-picks to place ‘dots’ of red, brown and dark brown oil paint


these were blended using a wide flat brush moistened with odorless thinners


The upper surfaces were treated to the same with the addition of some white oil dots
Here I’ve circled the oil dots




...and blended


The effect is really subtile and will take 24/48 hours to fully cure, as they dry the filter will show up a wee bit more, unless I've completely washed them off.


Bolting on the engine will/should be next.

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

The engine.
The cylinders were first given a coat of vallejo acrylic metal color dull aluminium 77.717


The engine block was given a coat of Mr Metal Color iron 212 and the cylinders were treated with Tamiya panel line accent color brown


The intakes were painted Mr Metal Color copper 215 and the block was also given a coat of Mr Metal Color iron 212


The block was dry-brushed with Mr Metal Color stainless 213


Cylinders and intakes assembled




Inside of the cowl was also painted dull aluminium


The cowl was masked for the red, leaving an aluminium band


Alkan red


Decal added


Engine placed in the cowl


The propellor decals have been added


The cowl/engine attached to the fuselage


There are still a few bits’n’pieces that need to added, grab handles, flare canisters etc. and control wires and then some final weathering and she’ll be finished.


until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

The last few bits’n’pieces added, grab handles, flare canisters etc. and control wires.

The control wires were made from 0.02mm copper wire cut to length(s)


these were then painted and CA’d in place




The remaining spars (rear wing) and grab handles were fitted


along with the flare canisters


and foot stirrup


then a touch of very light weathering and she’ll be ready for the reveal photos.

you can see them here…
viewtopic.php?f=45&t=23386

until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Hi John,


Sorry for this late reaction but i didn't had time lately to check the forum.
Great build, only one thing i was wondering. is it possible that you used the wrong stencel / decal for the serie number?

In my humble opinion this all red DR-1 was the 425.

Grtz Arjan

Timmie wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:26 pm Hi John,


Sorry for this late reaction but i didn't had time lately to check the forum.
Great build, only one thing i was wondering. is it possible that you used the wrong stencel / decal for the serie number?

In my humble opinion this all red DR-1 was the 425.

Grtz Arjan

Arjan your correct, well spotted, by the time I realised it was far too late, I'm still kicking myself, still if you won't tell anybody neither will I

rgds
John(shortCummins)

Looks great! I'm just finishing Eduards 1/72 DR.1 and I had a blast building it.

Nice work on that kit, a fine example of the aircraft. Thanks for sharing