Fokker E.II 69/15 Kurt von Crailsheim

[Des]

Brilliant is about the best word I can use to describe your model, the finish, the rigging, every aspect of your work is superb, this is one of the best Eindeckers I have ever seen, extremely well done.

Des.

[Russell]

Dirk,

I’d like to echo all the previous comments.

Any build log is an interesting & valuable resource of tips, ideas & so on. However the level seen in this build (plus many others on the forum) really does inspire & pull the rest of us along.

Russell

[RAGIII]

Dirk,
Without question one of the nicest Fokker Es' I have seen! Well done Indeed!!
RAGIII

[Flip Hendrickx]

Brilliant model indeed..  can only second what's been said before :-)
Looks very realistic!

Grtz

Flip

[Zabu]

What a beauty!

Can't add nothing more to what's been said.

Trully an amazing work. Congrats for that.

Cheers

[mc65]

I can not do anything but join the chorus of praises ... beautiful!

[Whiteknuckles]

Wow, missed most of this and just caught up. Beautiful work Dirk!

Andrew

[dirk]

Hi friends,

thanks a lot for your encouraging replies. Without your support, work would be half as good.

Meanwhile I have worked on the Germania Propeller which is the proper type for my E.II. The rear hub was already in use for the Garuda prop, so a replacement hub has been punched out of a WNW LVG prop.



The hole for the original hub was filled with some sprue and sanded down.



The prop got its future sealed base coat and was masked.



A mixture of the basic wood, brown and mahagony was used for the darker wood.







Some gloss clear varnish was used before applying the wooden grain with oil paints.



So here's the result:







And the two props side by side:



with kind regards,

Dirk

[IvotB]

Excellent result, beautiful prop. As I followed your photographs I wondered why you started masking the laminations with tape (seems to be too much work and it might never be accurate enough and it leaves some small edges), but after seeing what you have done with the oil paint (and probably some extra work too) it looks just fine! Superb detail on a already superb plane.

regards,
Ivo

[Ernie]

Beautiful job on the props, Dirk.  They both really
look the part!  Thanks for the information on how
you did it.  Great help.

Cheers,
Ernie

[Zabu]

Trully an amazing work in that prop.

Thank you for showing us how you do it.

Cheers

[dirk]

Excellent result, beautiful prop. As I followed your photographs I wondered why you started masking the laminations with tape (seems to be too much work and it might never be accurate enough and it leaves some small edges), but after seeing what you have done with the oil paint (and probably some extra work too) it looks just fine! Superb detail on a already superb plane.

regards,
Ivo

Hi Ivo,

thanks for your feedback. I am very interested in your way of painting the laminations. Masking was quite helpful especially because of the symmetrical character of the laminations on the blades. The coat of darker wood shows a significant differece in height due to the extra layers. This leads to a fine "Lamination effect" especially on more homogenic toned laminated props, i.e. the Garuda. But back to my question: How do you paint laminated timber?  Thanks in advice.

Cheers, Dirk

[IvotB]

Hello Dirk,

My first and until now only laminated prop wasn't painted but I used several color pencils. The problem I would have with the tape is that especially the curved edges are difficult for me.

Here you can see how I did it. Those pencils will be available in Germany too at any artstore.

But I like to see other techniques and I like your result very much.


regards,
Ivo

[pepperman42]

Great prop Dirk. When you put on the initial colours I thought - no way theyre off - but then you worked it a bit more and theyre perfect. On a side note - after reading Ivo`s prop thread I have been meaning to ask - How do you thin the Tamiya colours for airbrushing or do you use them unthinned - sorry for the lack of question mark - the cat walked on the keyboard and now its a É

Steve

[dirk]

Great prop Dirk. When you put on the initial colours I thought - no way theyre off - but then you worked it a bit more and theyre perfect. On a side note - after reading Ivo`s prop thread I have been meaning to ask - How do you thin the Tamiya colours for airbrushing or do you use them unthinned - sorry for the lack of question mark - the cat walked on the keyboard and now its a É

Steve

Hi Steve,

thanks for your reply. The Tamiya colours look dickey once applied but the oil paints do their job as filters quite well. For the Tamiya colours i used their special acrylic thinner in a 1:1 proportion.  Their thinner contains alcohol and water which acts as a retarder and results in a very smooth surface. If you try to use alcohol with a ratio over 98% the drying process will be so fast that the laquer dries before it reaches the surface. The result is an almost grainy texture. Hope this helps.

Cheers, Dirk