Meng's Fokker Dr. I !/32 Der Rote Kampflieger

[GazzaS]

Hi everyone! 
    I haven't been very active here lately.  I just don't get the WWI jones as much as many of you.

It's a nice kit and seems to slap together well.  A couple years ago I added the dictum to my life that all builds get at least one figure.  It's slowed down my completion rate, but also improved my presentation photos.  This will be my first WWI build with a figure.  And who other than the Red Baron himself.



I had to do a lot of cutting on the figure to fix some proportional issues.  And I'm not sure about the face painting.  It's not one of my stronger suits.

The cockpit interior and engine.


I added plug wires to the engine using stretchy line.  Other than that, OOB.


Now...   I didn't want this model to look like a car.  One brilliant color that looks the same every inch of it.  So, my chosen technique was a massive go at pre-shading using red-related colors.


Some people thought it too dark.  And, I was unsure of how it was gonna turn out.


But in the end.  My color, shadow, and shape goals were realized.




I'm quite happy with that.  I have a tiny bit of the red:  Mr. Paint von Richthofen's Red...  for final touch ups.  It's not for sale here anywhere in Australia anymore.

The late style crosses were made using my Silhouette mask cutter. 

One thing I'm not happy about is the outfit that the figure is dressed in.


There are about 4 pictures of MvR in this jacket.  Is it black or brown?  Anyone know for certain?  Maybe it exists in some collection somewhere?  I wish the figure make would have put him in his regular uniform.

Anyway...   good to be back and seeing you all.

[NigelR]

That red looks good, I was worried the preshading might be too much but I think it turned out pretty well, quite subtle but gives a nice depth to the end result.

Black or brown jacket? Who knows, your choice. He might have had more than one.......

[Tim Mixon]

I agree.  The pre shading adds a lot of depth to the red color.  As for the jacket, I prefer dark brown only because I don’t like black leather items. 

Tim

[Davos522]

Love this rendition. Patsy Carisella, who wrote Who Killed the Red Baron and devoted much of his life to researching MvR showed me a great photo of this machine, and you could clearly see that it was definitely not a single, solid color. Really nice effect with that pre-shading... and the figure is just icing on the cake!

Dutch

[DaddyO]

Lovely bit of work.
When I scrolled down and saw the pre-shaded colours my initial thought was 'ugh!' , but it gives and nice range of tones to the red when the top coat was added

Paul

[GazzaS]

Thank you for the kind replies. 

Today's bit of modelling saw me concentrating on painting the pilot with acrylics.


I can give him a coat of Future, time to dry, and then i can give him a pinwash tomorrow.  I might go another layer of wash over the puttees.  They still seem a bit light.

[kensar]

I think the red finish turned out well.  I did have my doubts when seeing the first couple of pictures.
Nice painting on the figure.  I would need more practice to get to this level.

[GazzaS]

I think the red finish turned out well.  I did have my doubts when seeing the first couple of pictures.
Nice painting on the figure.  I would need more practice to get to this level.

Thank you!  I only started making serious attempts at figures 2 years ago.  I may have hit my ceiling/patience level.  Practice helps...  but i am always ready to accept that "good enough" point.  There is probably less than 4 hours of work on this figure so far.