Okay: I got this kit from Rick Geisler awhile back when he was trying to raise some money for other kits. I had had this kit but because the Roden was better, I offed it on ebay. However, for the low low price that Rick was offering it for I couldn't pass it up, plus it would be neat to see how it compares to a Roden kit, of which I had recently finished.
The Kit:
First off one noticed the over exaggerated wing ribs to include the ribs on the ailerons and elevator, the engine isn't too well detailed and is actually incorrectly molded, but, who cares, this was going to be out of the box. And so it was.
I won't go into the nuts and bolts of what I did as it wasn't much. I will let the images tell the story. Although I did sand down the ribs, shaded and painted the undersides of the wings and tail, I added seat belts to the stock seat, added some rigging, as the interior detail is quite sparse.
The seat belts I used are the new Kitsworld Decal Seat belts. Sort of a novel idea but not the easiest to work with and I have read that they aren't accurate. But; I used them as I wanted to try them out.
I did some interior painting and on the floor board I painted Tamiya Deck Tan, drew in the wood grain with a pencil and covered with a mix of Clear orange and yellow.
My intent was to use the markings for Lothar Von Richthofen's DR.i. The Cutting edge sheet instructions showed a solid yellow wing, aft fuselage and tail. So I went with that.
However, I was informed by Lance Carroll and Gary Barling that the yellow was a thin coat and that the streaking could be seen through the yellow. As I was using Aviatic Streaking decals to see how they fit on a non Roden Kit, (some trimming required but not much) I put the streaking decals over the yellow areas.
Not bad. Were I to do it again, I would paint the yellow over the streaking to reduce the effect, but this was just trying new techniques as my skills had rusted a bit doing WWII Bombers, I wasn't displeased.
For the underside engine access door, I used sheet plastic and pieces of PE for the latches and hinge to perk up that area of the kit, plus it hides the seam without the infernal sanding. The kit did not provide the support struts for the tail, so I used some evergreen rod for that assembly.
Assembly pretty much followed the instructions. The engine mounting system was designed by an engineer with a sense of humor as it couldn't have been designed any more difficult: I pinned the rudder, ailerons and elevator, painted the struts and cowling red, and wrapped it up with minimal rigging using Bob's Buckles tubes and eyelets, Modelkasten .06 stretch rigging and Maxima fishing line for the under carriage for strength.
So that's the Hobby Craft DR.I in a nutshell. I Used the Cutting edge sheet that contained markings for LVR, I used Kit decals for same and Aviatic Streaking decals for the Roden DR.i.
A special thanks and tip 'O the hat to Rick Geisler for the super deal on the kit. Thanks Rick.
