Fokker Dr.1 1/32 Roden and maybe more...

[RAGIII]

Excellent progress and your DR1 is looking great. That bar is a pita, I always struggle with getting it located properly. Nice recovery!
RAGIII

[Alexis]

That is excellent progress Marc 


Terri

[Monty]

Thanks for checking in Rick and Terri! It always makes me feel better if someone else struggles with the same thing, Rick, I feel less ham-fisted! But I was playing around with the wings and the struts, and just with a minimal amount of trimming got it all together, securely dry-fitted but beautifully aligned... Roden did very well here....



Hoping to make some progress this weekend, my only modelling time!

Marc

[Monty]

So, some progress... I decided to mate the wings up to the fuselage, just dry-fitted, to check all the alignment and make sure it looked like a Dr.1... and here I had a few surprises.. suddenly the wings weren't exactly parallel when viewed from above. and it seemed to be the lower wing that was throwing everything out via the  wing struts... there was also a small gap where the middle wing under-surface met the fuselage...



The tailplane is dry-fitted and the fuselage seam needs attention. No one has really commented on the different plastic colour of the two fuselage halves.. well, I lost a fuselage half (put it in another kit box) and thought the kit was history... then another kit came up for sale really cheaply here in SA so I nailed it... and was surprised to find the plastic colour completely different! I subsequently found the other fuselage half, so there will be another Triplane! So on with the build! The best wing fit was the middle wing but I needed to fill those gaps on the lower surface - so I cut strips of 10 thou plastic card and glued them to the fuselage stubs, seen here in the photograph as white strips...



Some putty on the fuselage join as well, leave it all to dry and add the other fuel (or oil) filler on the right upper fuselage cover... made a bit of a pooch of that, so no detail photos... weathering is very forgiving...

Then glued the middle wing to the upper fuselage cover as it mates up well, makes a strong structure, and sets the angle of attack.. I see Rick did it this way.... and leave it to dry... and trim my bits of plastic card....



....and finally glue this structure to the fuselage for ever, ensuring it is at exactly right angles to the fuselage center line... good-bye cockpit... I do not intend to detail the top of the ammo boxes as precisely nothing will be seen..



....and sand the fuselage join, (will still need surface primer). The tailplane is dry fitted and the gap at the front edge (prominent on the real plane) will be improved.... so far everything lines up and is square... and that's OK for now...

ATB,
Marc

[Bughunter]

That will be a nice triplane! Your build shows, that also a Roden one could be built nicely.
All the Dr.I builds here reminds me, that my collection has some triplanes but no Dr.I yet

Cheers,
Frank

[gbrivio]

The cockpit is very realistic, nice steps in the building of your Fokker.
Ciao
Giuseppe

[RAGIII]

Your DR1 is really taking shape. Lovely interior and excellent construction!
RAGIII

[Alexis]

That is some really nice work happen here Marc , Keep up the excellent work !


Terri

[Monty]

Thank you Rick, Terri, Giuseppe and Frank for checking in! Your encouragement is so appreciated! And after a lot of dry-fitting and fiddling I worked out that the lower wing fitting was indeed the problem... it sat too high up in the fuselage and put stress on the struts and threw the alignment out too... I added a 10 thou piece of plasticard on the upper surface of the cross strut and suddenly everything seemed to fit so much better... seen here...



... and I could instantly glue the lower wing in place with little problems and the interplane struts now fitted perfectly... Here the upper wing is dry-fitted and I'm happy so far.. I only need to glue those struts in very lightly as the fit is now so good... You can also see lots of putty and ongoing gaps on the lower surface, with Rick's invaluable help a plate will be added over the lower wing spar and a hatch underneath the forward fuselage... I feel things are taking shape...



Enjoy your modelling!

Regards,

Marc

[RAGIII]

Your Triplane is really looking Terrific Mark! Nice work on figuring out the fit issue and the correction!
RAGIII

[mgunns]

This is coming along quite nicely with the pre fitting of everything, you have made good progress.  These Roden kits do reward the modeler with a very striking model with some care and time.  Yes, doing the engine inspection door on the underside will blend everything in nicely.  Nice tip on the lower wing shim.  I will have to try that on my next Roden DR.I build.

[PrzemoL]

Great work, Marc. Dry-fitting is the key, isn't it?

[Monty]

Thank you Rick, Mark and Prezmo for checking in, and yes, this one needs lots of dry-fitting! Just sorting the lower wing position out took me a day... Well, on to some fiddly stuff, and the cowling definitely needs some help, and well, some difficult detailing... The lower lip of the front plate with the turn in has been replaced with a thin strip of plasticard, and now I've started on the semi-circular join line.. a strip of 10 thou, carefully glued on edgewise to mark the spot... hope I got it right... it will be sanded down later... I have plans for this...



Regards,

Marc

[Alexis]

Hey Marc ,

You are making excellent progress on this bird . Nice fix on getting the lower wing to fit and the edgeing on the cowl is off to a nice start . Looking forwar on the next up-date .

I also think that solving fit issue and such really do aid in developing ones skills for thinking out side the box .


Terri

[lcarroll]

    I'm watching carefully Marc, and learning a lot despite having built this one before! The fix for the lower wing is a real jewel but the cowling work really got my attention; as Terri says "out of the box" and looks like it will be very effective.Great work!
Cheers,
Lance