WNW Fokker DVII (Fokker version)

[pepperman42]

Thats the ticket!!. Thanks for the info. Nice model too. Dave, yours is coming along very well too.

Steve

[lcarroll]

Dave,
    Terriffic looking cockpit/engine/frame module, you've made pretty fast progress with no compromise in quality. I won't be getting to mine real soon (any of the three!) however I'm enjoying following your Build and will be gleaning a lot of hints as you go, and as I already have. Nicely done so far.
Cheers,
Lance

[Epeeman]

Thanks, Lance - nice of you to say.

Latest progress report:

As stated previously, test fitting the fuselage halves revealed a less than perfect fit.   I therefore trimmed down some of the cockpit structure to aid fit.  Well, the good news is this was worth the effort.   When I got to it, installing the cockpit/engine compartment into the fuselage gave me no problems and all went together effortlessly.
My advice on closing up the fuselage halves is to follow as advised within WNW's instructions.  That is, you glue the top half first, allow to set, then glue the bottom half.  This method worked extremely well.   In fact, the fit was so good, very little filler was required on the top deck.

The next stage will be to see if all the cowling parts go together as they should - looking at other builds this seems to be a problem area regarding good fit.

More update/progress in due course.

Regards

Dave

[mgunns]

Hello Dave:

Looking good.  Everything is first rate and looking forward to seeing more. Glad to see you back in the ring with a real champion.

Best

Mark

[coyotemagic]

Fantastic job in closing her up, Dave.  She's looks nice and tight.
Cheers,
Bud

[Whiteknuckles]

Nice work Dave, she's coming together nicely.

With the glueing regime that WNW recommends and you followed, I take it that it allows absolute control of surface mating so that minimal filler is required. What intrigues me is if the top of the fuse is all nice and smoothly mated and then the bottom somehow doesn't match smoothly. In that case do you guys totally rely on filler/sanding or can you somehow manipulate the two halves into smoother alignment? It may sound like a silly question but that manipulation would be extremely difficult if not impossible?

Secondly, WNW fine tolerances notwithstanding, what would you do if the lower fuse somehow didn't match in a major way?

Andrew

[Epeeman]

Thanks, gents -

Andrew - thankfully all went to plan here.  Once the top half had set, I got glue into the lower gap half mixed with a bit CA.   I then used a set of model clamps just to hold the lower gap in place until dry.   Once this dried, glued in place the molded stitching - no filler is therefore required as this part covers up the join nicely.

In all honesty, not sure what I would have done had this not worked!

So far, this is a nice kit, but tolerances are ultra fine.  The key to getting things together nicely seems to be ensuring the cockpit structure is assembled perfectly.   I've just test fitted the radiator and chin cowl and note I will need to do a bit of fine tuning here to avoid a gap underneath cowling.

Dave

[IvotB]

 Dave,

Perhaps with more than average attention I am following your build. Studying your latest pictures I noticed that you added spark plugs and plug leads too. They look excellent!

I also see that you closed the fuselage, which should be my next step when I finish detailling.

But I have just one question. It seems that you have closed the holes in the fuselage for the aileron controls with filler. They are at top level between the tank and the empty shell container. Apart from the rigging at the landing gear and the tail controls it is about the only rigging on this aircraft.

I hope to see more of your progress. I also like the lozenge detail on the inside of the cockpit. I haven't used them as they weren't used in the LVA Fokkers (just one D.VIIF, perhaps a future build).

regards,
Ivo

[Epeeman]

Hello, Ivo - thank you.

Don't worry, I've not filled these holes.  What you see is the white paint leaking through I used as a base coat for the cockpit lozenge decals.

More progress report to follow shortly.

Regards

Dave

[GAJouette]

  Dave,
She's shaping up to be one awesome Fokker D.VII my old friend. Excellent update too .I'm looking forward to the next one as well.Have pencils sharpened for taking notes.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Epeeman]

Thank you, Gregory!

Next update:

I now have the cowling panels, cockpit coaming and MG's installed.  However, the fit has been a problem in all these areas.   
Not assembling the cockpit/engine structure correctly has really come back to haunt me.   I have therefore struggled to get a decent fit in these areas.   The result has been some work (lots of filing and careful trimming) to get things together.

I admit to being really disappointed in myself getting these things wrong.   Thus far, this has proved to be a tougher build than anticipated - especially as I was eagerly awaiting the release of this kit.   On the nose, I have ended up with a slight space from the front rounded panels (parts 13 & 14) when it should be level with edge of the radiator.  I could leave as is or I could attempt using model filler to try and get the right profile - what do you all think?

Coaming did not fit well either - got there in the end but getting it on resulted (only discovered this later) in the rear mounts being pushed out of alignment.  Which of course, meant I did not get a great fit here for the MG's either.

I can only hope I am over the worst of my self inflicted fit issues!

Regards

Dave

[kornbeef]

Dave, don't believe its only you, I had a awful time getting the nose set, mine mysteriously decided to warp to oneside ofernight too. I think its partly compounded by the multitude of anels to get the sides together.  I really feel it was rather a Uncalled for corner cutting exercise WNW not supplying early and late fuselage halves for instance when they gave you wrinkled and amooth fuselage halves for the SE5a

As constructed the side cowlings won't naturally sit flush as theyre designed to have the upper cowls behind so a degree of jiggery pokery is needed. I had troubles with my coaming too, maybe we both made the same fundimental errors then?

Anyway all things said you've done a cracking job so far.

Keith

[IvotB]

Dave,

You're quite ahead of me and I am trying to find based on your experience where I can go wrong. I don't see the problem with the coaming in my version it almost slides automatically over the cockpit:



It clicks over the fuel caps and I don't have any problem with the MG supports. You might discover on the other hand what I did wrong. The magazine box is tilted slightly forward, which leans in front on the edge on the coaming too much and results in a not exact fit of the bullit belts into the Spandaus. It can probably easily be avoided in taking a little bit more care with glueing the empty belt box and the magazine box together. At least that is where I think I made the mistake.

The fit of the coaming however is not completely snug to the fuselage halves:



Nothing is fixed here in this picture. The fuselage is slightly opened at the front, but will close to the pieces of the firewall, which are marked inside the fuselage halve. Also the coaming can be pushed gently in the correct position, thus resulting in the required fit.

I haven't progressed to the engine panels yet. I read at modelling madness that Tom Cleaver ran into problems here too. I do find just as you did that the radiator doesn't fit very well to the chin cowl:



I have already tried some filing at the outer edges of the chin cowl, but it doesn't really help. After painting you might not notice it this strong, also because at the real thing they were all separate parts.

Hope to see more of your progress.

regards,
Ivo

[Epeeman]

Thank you for your feedback, Ivo - helpful and appreciated.

If others are experiencing these same issues, is it then not likely that this kit may not be engineered to WNW usual high standards?  I'm wondering if us modellers should give (constructive) feedback to WNW on the problems encountered in this particular model - what do the rest of you think?

Regards

Dave

[pepperman42]

Interesting if the "bugs" in this kit are found by others. Considering the length of time it took to arrive you'd think they would all be worked out.

Steve