forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Completed models => Topic started by: Old Man on August 20, 2013, 05:18:29 PM
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(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4885_zpse5a080b7.jpg)
If you opened this with thoughts of Fokker Scourge and Pour le Merites and Immelmann turns and such, something may be starting to strike you a bit strange, oddly out of proportion, about the aeroplane displayed, which indeed lacks a gun. For this is not an armed Eindekker, but a Fokker A.II, the long-span version of the Fokker M.5 in military service. Strictly speaking, it is not the sire but the uncle of the armed monoplanes, which were direct descendants of the short-span M.5, but without it, the armed Fokker monoplanes would never have appeared at all. For the long-span M.5 was the design which saved Herr Fokker's aviation concern from failure and impending bankruptcy.
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4892_zpsd4be80f3.jpg)
By 1913, Fokker's trade-mark Spinne design was on its last legs. Its primitive means of control made it daily more unsuitable as a school machine, and less attractive to a sporting gentleman of means in the market for a flying machine of his own. An attempt to modernize it, and a new pseudo-Taube design, proved extremely poor flying machines. Herr Fokker knew he had to strike out in a new direction, one with an aura of modernity and a promise of prestigious achievement. He made a close study of products of Morane-Saulnier, a leading producer of racing aeroplanes. Fokker designed a machine which strongly reflected the lines of a Morane-Saulnier, but differed greatly in its construction. That design was the M.5 monoplane.
The fuselage of the M.5 replaced wood with welded steel tube, achieving similar strength with less weight. That saving went into making a stronger wing, and both its airfoil section, and the action of its warp-control, were improved over the original Morane patterns. Fokker projected the design to be built in two forms. One, with a longer wing span and so a lighter wing loading, would be apt for aerobatics, and safer for the gentleman pilot to fly; the other, with a shorter wing span, and so less drag and weight, would have a better turn of speed, and be suitable for use as a racer.
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4899_zpscbef9705.jpg)
In the spring of 1914, Herr Fokker himself began to put on aerobatic displays flying his new long wing M.5 machine, and achieved a sensation in German aviation circles. In the audience for one display at the end of May were several leading lights of the General Staff, who were sufficiently impressed that Fokker was once again in the running for army aeroplane contracts. The M.5 itself, however, with its poor downward visibility and offering such cramped accommodation for two men, was not considered particularly suitable for observation use.
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4894_zps1c87a4b4.jpg)
When the Great War commenced, Fokker received orders for many aeroplanes, which he did not have facilities to construct in a timely fashion. The German army wanted a version of Fokker's monoplane offering better visibility and accommodations for two men; this, the M.8, went into production off the drawing board, as the A.I. A few M.5s in civilian hands were impressed, or donated, into military service, and a handful were built under contract in 1914, receiving the designation A.II. In January of 1915, a more substantial contract for long span M.5s was let (for just how many is unclear, it was at least 15, and possibly as many as two dozen). These were being delivered by late February, with one of the first coming down intact shortly afterwards in French territory.
This build was inspired by this photograph:
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/loessl-ffa21-AIIM5L.jpg)
It shows a machine from the latter portion of the 1915 contract, as can be discerned from the reduced angle of attack of the wing, relative to earlier examples. Late production machines typically had a smaller portion of the nose panelled in aluminum as well.
Feldfliegerabteilung 21 was attached to X Corps, part of 11th Army. This was shifted from Flanders to the east in April, 1915, to take part in the Gorlice offensive commenced in May. This produced a breakthrough, and an advance of a hundred miles into Galicia during the summer, retaking Lvov, and forcing the Russians to withdraw from Poland by September. In such a fluid situation, amid a country poorly served by roads and poorly mapped, fast aeroplanes would prove invaluable for liaison and scouting.
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4904_zpsa6ca9683.jpg)
The serial of the machine in the photograph cannot be discerned, so the most I can say is that this model represents the FFA 21 example. Fokkers with Oberursel rotaries notoriously became badly oil stained, and the hot oil generally 'ate' the paint of serials (as well as the varnish on the fabric), and so I was careful to put on oil stains in a typical pattern down the lower longerons, then laid on decals for a conjectural A14/15 serial, and scraped them away where they overlapped onto the oil stains.
This is a conversion, employing two Eduard 1/72 scale Fokker E.III kits. Main points are: increasing wing span by two rib spaces, trimming chord and rake of tips, and putting cut-outs in the wing roots; shortening the fuselage slightly, extending the cockpit opening, altering the curve at the underside of the nose, and the shape of the cheek-pieces; reducing the span of the elevators by one rib space each. A seven cylinder motor must be swapped in for the nine cylinder one in the kits, and a taller cabane mast must be constructed.
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4889_zps37a8b178.jpg)
Course of the build may be followed from here:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/644810/thread/1375539842/Fokker+A.II+%28conversion+from+Eduard+Fok.+E.III%29+---+Revived+W.I.P.+%285%29
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excellent as always old man, i remember seeing this at the beginning and checked in a few times. she turned out quite well. you cant even see the wing splices top notch work.
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excellent as always old man, i remember seeing this at the beginning and checked in a few times. she turned out quite well. you cant even see the wing splices top notch work.
Thank you, Sir. This one has been a long time in the making, over two years. Not a record in length for me, but a solid second place, for sure....
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Very nice Fokker. Congratulations.
Jacek
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Thank you for bringing this piece of important history to us. Fine model, as usual, OldMan!
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Beautifully done Old Man, the model is a superb example and your description is, as always, very informative. Thank you for sharing your experience with us and for allowing us to view this wonderful model, congratulations on an excellent build.
Des.
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Interesting machine. Thanks for the info!!!
Steve
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Another outstanding model of an unusual subject, supported by excellent research, added to your stable. Like Scott, I remember her beginnings and have enjoyed the process. She's a beauty, OM. Congratulations.
Cheers,
Bud
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Very nice Fokker. Congratulations.
Jacek
Thank you, Sir. The 'pre-history' of Herr Fokker's designs is an odd patch, and most intriguing.
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Thank you for bringing this piece of important history to us. Fine model, as usual, OldMan!
Thank you very much, Sir. if I could manage once to finish one half so well as you always do, I would be a very happy man.
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Beautifully done Old Man, the model is a superb example and your description is, as always, very informative. Thank you for sharing your experience with us and for allowing us to view this wonderful model, congratulations on an excellent build.
Des.
Thank you very much, Sir. A lot of the attraction of modeling for me is illustration of points of history, aviation and otherwise.
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Interesting machine. Thanks for the info!!!
Steve
Thank you very much, Sir. It is quite a story. Fokker was a character and a half, certainly.
And this was quite a jump from the Spinne....
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/spinne-1_zpsb621840f.jpg)
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/spinne-6_zpsb6ed9dea.jpg)
(I do sometimes think of scratch-building one, yes....)
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Another outstanding model of an unusual subject, supported by excellent research, added to your stable. Like Scott, I remember her beginnings and have enjoyed the process. She's a beauty, OM. Congratulations.
Cheers,
Bud
Glad you like the end result, Sir. It has been awhile. I went and looked, and the build thread I started in with shows up on page three of the Modeling archive 'over there'....
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Another outstanding build and in God's Own Scale too. I truly hope that my current build will get near to your standard when it is completed. Very many congratulations on yet another very original idea - well worth the two year wait. Quality models are never built quickly.
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Woot? No Immelmann? No turns either? ;D :P
I guess that Fokker was getting more Spins that he could handle by then!
I guess that it the first time that i see a A.II model... and in 1/72 scale!
Great work from you OM. Very nicely done.
Cheers
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Absolutely beautifully done Fokker! I am always amazed at the quality of your work!
RAGIII
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Beautiful work and very interesting background. Congrats OM!
Ian
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Beautifully done Fokker, OM, and as always a very enjoyable Thread. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Cheers,
Lance
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You have worked your magic yet again. Excellent model and great choice of subject!
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Oldman,
As Rob stated you have worked your magic again. It's always a great pleasure to see projects build to built to such high standards. Truly Master Class works my old friend. Congratulations and Well Done.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
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Another outstanding build and in God's Own Scale too. I truly hope that my current build will get near to your standard when it is completed. Very many congratulations on yet another very original idea - well worth the two year wait. Quality models are never built quickly.
Thank you, Sir. It is the size God intended models to be, eh?
To be fair, this did spend a lot of time off to one side. I only picked it up again when I learned Mr. Scott's 'Fokker Compendium' was out and available.
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Woot? No Immelmann? No turns either? ;D :P
I guess that Fokker was getting more Spins that he could handle by then!
I guess that it the first time that i see a A.II model... and in 1/72 scale!
Great work from you OM. Very nicely done.
Cheers
Thank you, Sir.
Probably will not ever be too many models of the type. Conversion seems the only route available to an accurate one....
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Absolutely beautifully done Fokker! I am always amazed at the quality of your work!
RAGIII
Thank you, Sir.
Up close and personal, I can certainly see room for improvement on it. Sometimes I think the camera is kind to me....
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Beautiful work and very interesting background. Congrats OM!
Ian
Thank you, Sir.
I am glad you like it. I enjoy a model much more if I can present a good story with it.
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Beautifully done Fokker, OM, and as always a very enjoyable Thread. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Cheers,
Lance
Thank you very much, Sir.
I do like the way the layered colors worked out for the linen tone.
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You have worked your magic yet again. Excellent model and great choice of subject!
Thank you very much, Sir!
I do like the early and the odd. I was very tempted to try doing one of the impressed civilian machines, known to have been painted over-all a green which matched the facings of its owner's cavalry regiment, but could not get over uncertainty about the pattern of its crosses while it was in service.
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Oldman,
As Rob stated you have worked your magic again. It's always a great pleasure to see projects build to built to such high standards. Truly Master Class works my old friend. Congratulations and Well Done.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
Thank you very much, Sir!
Very glad you got a look at it.
Like scratch-building, conversions are really not so tricky as people seem to think....
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Beautiful . . . Beyond words Sir
Well done that man 8)
Cheers
DAVE
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Wonderful model. Very intersting subject as well.
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Excellent work, OM. The rigging, especially as it's in micro-scale ;), is really impressive.
Cheers.
Dal.
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At the request of Bob Hallinger, I am bringing this one up again, with some information on how it was done. It is a fairly simple conversion, but the WIP link no longer works, as HyperScale is no longer Network54 but Tapatalk.
Here is a link to one WIP thread that made the transition to the new host: it covers most of the necessary conversion elements....
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/1-72-fokker-a-ii-conversion-from-eduard-fokker-e-i-t486053.html
Here are some pictures which at least illustrate some other features:
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_2472.jpg)
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_2473.jpg)
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_2476.jpg)
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_2478.jpg)
Fuselage shortened by 4mm, and curve of profile under the nose flattened a bit.
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_2479.jpg)
Wing-root cut-outs made.
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_2503.jpg)
Some underlying interior, showing cockpit opening extended to the rear.
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_2509.jpg)
'Bench' accommodation, Morane-style, for two.
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_2515.jpg)
Not an instrument panel, but rear of the fuel and oil tankage.
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4166_zps1cd19ede.jpg)
Wings on, and shows shortened horizontal tailpieces.
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4170_zps90eb3933.jpg)
Shows alteration to underside of nose complete.
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4190_zps85ff38e6.jpg)
Fuzzy shot, but shows nose profile well, and altered shape of cheek-pieces.
(https://oi1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_4593_zps48c86d0b.jpg)
A good look at the small changes in the nose.
Finally the only other recoverable WIP thread from HyperScale, showing it nearly done:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/fokker-a-ii-conversion-from-eduard-fok-e-iii-reviv-t486978.html
It was a fun conversion, and I expect could be modified to produce a 'short span' M.5 from a single Eduard E.III, by doing the fuselage and interior work, and shortening the wings a bit. This of course could be made an E.I by simply adding the appropriate weapon.
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Thanks OM. I found this to be very interesting and helpful. Really nice conversion!
Best,
Bob
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Thanks for adding this extra information OM: your models are such an inspiration and it is interesting to see how you go about building them.
Stephen.