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1/48 Eduard Fokker Dr.1 Tri-plane


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Tonight I began work on my first build, the Eduard 1/48 Fokker Dr.1 Tri-plane. I'll be modeling mine after the recently completed Fokker Dr.1 Tri-plane from the Pioneer of Flight Museum at the Old Kingsbury Aerodrome here in Texas.

OldKingsbury2009082.jpg

I took a lot of reference photos that I will have on my photobucket account soon, just in case some of you need some for your builds. Anyway, on to the progress. I didn't do to much today other than prep the fuselage sides and paint the interior the blue color of Kingsbury's example...there is a lot more detail to be added though.

CH-53_11003.jpg

CH-53_11004.jpg

CH-53_11007.jpg

Here is a little size comparison. The CH-53 is big to begin with, but in comparison to a standard pair of household scissor and a hobby knife it's obivous how small this model is.

CH-53_11005.jpg

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Edited by slick95
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It's nice to finally build something small for a change. Although there is quite a bit of detail, this kit goes together pretty quickly; at least up to this point. Here are some pics of today's progress. I spent the day working on the cockpit. I added some of my own wire details for both the fuselage structure and the control lines.

DR1_2019.jpg

DR1_2021.jpg

DR1_2024.jpg

DR1_2027.jpg

I'll try to get some better pics of the cockpit next time. I also posted all of my Dr.1 reference shots if anyone would like to use them:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n80/sli...ference%20Pics/

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Thanks everyone!

What shade of blue is that on the inside of the fueslage? Is that the same shade that should go on the lower wings surfaces?

It's actually the MM "Flanker Top Side Blue" I believe...I'll make sure tomorrow. It's a little brighter than the bottom shade on the wing, but because it's fairly close I'll probably just a mix a bit of paint to darken it up for the exterior colors.

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A little bit of progress from yesterday. I filled and sanded the seams on the fuselage as well as attached the bottom and middle wing. I also painted the firewall, but I still have some detailing.

DR1_3040.jpg

DR1_3041.jpg

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Thanks for the complements everyone!

A bit of an update for today. I assembled, painted, and weathered the LeRhone Rotary engine. There are still a few touch ups to deal with, but I will get to those eventually.

DR1_4007.jpg

Here is the real thing...I've still got a little work to do.

OldKingsbury2009088.jpg

I also attached the elevator and rudder, as well as the top wing.

DR1_4005.jpg

DR1_4012.jpg

The model is coming along nicely. It really is a joy to build.

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Thanks Jono! That is a really interesting site!

Today I added the ailerons and also added all of the control lines to each of the control surfaces. I also attached the gear, and will rig that tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from today's progress.

DR1_5013.jpg

DR1_5015.jpg

DR1_5016.jpg

DR1_5017.jpg

DR1_5019.jpg

Also, I added this picture just to give a sense of scale. The Dr.1 has gotten a bit larger with the top wing attached, but it is still very small. All of the aircraft are 1/48 scale.

DR1_5022.jpg

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Thanks for the complements everyone!

Here is the real thing...I've still got a little work to do.

OldKingsbury2009088.jpg

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Thats an interesting picture, as it seems the engine was installed backwards from the norm. Heres a picture of the engine, and clearly the pipes are running to the back, and the pushrods are also on the backside. The prop boss can be seen, so we aren't looking at the back of the engine. I'm guessing that this repro Tripe has a slightly different engine installed than the Oberursel?

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheet...ia.asp?fsID=843

The famous Voss picture. Again the pipes are going to the back of the engine

http://www.geocities.com/aw3aw3/images/image_voss_tri.jpg

And another of Loewenhardts Tripe

http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/1w/ima...4Lowenhardt.jpg

Heres some good 3-d renderings of the LeRhone which is basically the same engine

http://mwmiller.theaerodrome.com/engine/lerhone.html

I was most interested in this pic because I am working on my Roden Tripe with a Vector engine, and got bummed thinking I had assembled it incorrectly.

Edited by JasonB
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Thanks Gregory and Jason!

You are correct Jason, it is not an Oberursel. It is in fact a Le Rhone Rotary...though I'm not sure if the Dr.1's ever actually flew with the Le Rhone. When I started this build, I thought all Dr.1's had the Le Rhone until I noticed in the instructions that the engine was mounted backwards to the standard Le Rhone (then the research began). However, because I'm replicating this aircraft from Old Kingsbury, I plan on mounting the kit Oberursel backwards in order to fake it as the Le Rhone (both engines look nearly identical as you mentioned).

I was most interested in this pic because I am working on my Roden Tripe with a Vector engine, and got bummed thinking I had assembled it incorrectly.

Nope! If the Vector engine you have is the Oberursel (or something close) with the pipes going towards the firewall, then you've mounted the engine correctly.

Thanks for all the info, links, and now some excellent Le Rhone reference pictures Jason!

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Thanks Gregory and Jason!

You are correct Jason, it is not an Oberursel. It is in fact a Le Rhone Rotary...though I'm not sure if the Dr.1's ever actually flew with the Le Rhone. When I started this build, I thought all Dr.1's had the Le Rhone until I noticed in the instructions that the engine was mounted backwards to the standard Le Rhone (then the research began). However, because I'm replicating this aircraft from Old Kingsbury, I plan on mounting the kit Oberursel backwards in order to fake it as the Le Rhone (both engines look nearly identical as you mentioned).

Nope! If the Vector engine you have is the Oberursel (or something close) with the pipes going towards the firewall, then you've mounted the engine correctly.

Thanks for all the info, links, and now some excellent Le Rhone reference pictures Jason!

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Thanks for the info, I didn't know the LeRhone mounted opposite the Oberursel, as I thought the Oberursel was a direct copy. Unfortunately I found this, and if accurate, means I can't use the Vector engine as built, in my Voss Triplane

http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/voss/lerhone.html

Its interesting, in the first pic the engine obviously has the pushrodsat the front, but the pipes seem to go to the rear. The reference pic they show below that has them both to the rear.

Edited by JasonB
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Hm...that's interesting. It seems the Le Rhone could have been manufactured in a variety of different models/methods. Although, it's making me start to wonder why the Old Kingsbury guys would have mounted their engine backwards...if it is in fact mounted differently than any of the aircraft from WWI.

I was looking at that first picture ( http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/voss/lerhone.html ) where it seems the push rods are in front of the engine while the pipes go to the back...I'm not sure those are the push rods in front (though they may be because they are fairly thick). I took a few pictures of the back of the Le Rhone and there are some cables on the back of the engine that attach to the spark plugs. Here is a picture:

OldKingsbury2009162.jpg

However, when I looked back at the link you sent with the 3-d Le Rhone drawings, the cables are on the same side as the pipes and push rods.

This is becoming fairly confusing...:coolio:

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Edited by slick95
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In the picture with Voss and the LeRhone, I am fairly sure those are pushrods because the lifters (I assume they are the same as a car engines lifters) on top of the cylinders are oriented to the front as well. It is all quite confusing for me as a novice WWI model builder. I am sure that the Aerodrome forum guys get a good laugh at reading things like this, they have probably covered all of this stuff in detail many times over. I just kind of figured that if they copied the LeRhone exactly, then it would be the same configuration and mounting. Is it possible that the Kingsbury guys used a later or perhaps post war LeRhone, if there was such as thing?

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Is it possible that the Kingsbury guys used a later or perhaps post war LeRhone, if there was such as thing?

Yes, it is a post war Le Rhone...1919 to be exact. Although, being that close to the end of the war, I would think it's the same as the engines built during WWI...but of course, I don't know for sure. Yeah, I looked back at that picture and it does look like those are push rods rather than cables.

I took some video of the Le Rhone running if you're interested:

It is all quite confusing for me as a novice WWI model builder.

I'm right there in the same boat! This is the first WWI model I've built.

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Thanks a lot "Old Man" and "Isaac" for the complements!

Over the past few days I have completed nearly the entire painting process. This has probably been one of the most difficult paint jobs I have ever done for a few reasons. The size of the model, the fact that it's a biplane, and the paint scheme in general are all challenges that were difficult to overcome. Because of this there are some small touch ups I need to fix, but none of those are shown in the pictures...all my mistakes are visible :)

Anyway, since these pictures were taken I have re sprayed the white square on the top of the wing where the iron cross will be located. Thanks to a bought of stupidity I forgot to mask that area before dry brushing the green...so naturally I just went right through the white. I also have a little over spray in some areas around the struts...will fix this tomorrow. The liquid mask was also so difficult to remove that it took all of my control lines out of the empennage...now I have to redo that as well. Aside from these errors, I'm fairly happy with the looks.

Having said that, the green brush painting is a bit off IMO. Maybe someone has a good technique for making it look a little better. I'm going to try adding some more green tomorrow to fill it in a bit, but I'm still a little disappointed with parts of it. Anyway, some pics...

CH53_13002.jpg

CH53_13013.jpg

CH53_13016.jpg

CH53_13036.jpg

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CH53_13038.jpg

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I left our the red fuselage stripe, will add that tomorrow. Here are some real aircraft shots for comparison.

OldKingsbury2009081.jpg

OldKingsbury2009179.jpg

OldKingsbury2009145.jpg

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Edited by slick95
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