1:32 Fokker Spinne (Spider)

[IvotB]

Nigel - I would very much like someone in the Netherlands to take a heap of photos of the surviving Spinne at the Aviodrome Museum. all photos would be greatly appreciated.

Des,

I did react, but just didn't see your last sentence. The pictures I posted are of the Fokker Spin of the Aviodrome. But they have 2. One is the 1936 replica, which is in my pictures and is still in flying condition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zSBjnx7iDg
The other one is from 1913 and has quite a history, but doesn't seem to be complete, but is restored.

From Wikipedia:

Een van de laatstgebouwde Spinnen in 1913 werd door Fokker na de Eerste Wereldoorlog mee naar Nederland genomen. Dit toestel was echter toen al niet meer compleet, begin jaren twintig werd hij weer opgebouwd met voorhanden zijnde onderdelen. In de Tweede Wereldoorlog werd dit toestel door de Duitse bezetter als oorlogsbuit meegenomen naar een vliegtuigmuseum in Berlijn. Na de oorlog werd de Spin naar Polen overgebracht. In 1986 keerde hij terug naar Nederland en werd hij bij Fokker gerestaureerd. Een tweede nog bestaand exemplaar werd door personeel van Fokker in 1936 gebouwd ter gelegenheid van Fokkers vijfentwintigjarig vliegjubileum. Beide toestellen bevinden zich in het luchtvaartmuseum Aviodrome op luchthaven Lelystad.

The 1913 Spin was taken to the Netherlands after ww1. In ww2 the germans took this plane to Germany and went to Poland after ww2. In 1986 it returned to the Netherlands and was restored.

I will post more pictures of the Spin here or in a separate topic as you prefer. I tried to make as many pictures as possible from the rigging, rudder and elevator control.

I'll have to look, but I expect to have also pictures of the 1913 Spin.

regards,
Ivo

[Des]

Thanks very much for the photos Ivo, I have moved them to the Aircraft board, this will be a permanent record for anyone to use.

I will be going through each photo with a fine tooth comb looking for any details which I might have missed, it is excellent to have so many good photos.

RE, The Lathe -  The company name is Sieg, the lathe is a Nanometer N1, I purchased mine about two years ago on ebay from a guy here in Australia who specialises in lathes, it was brand new and I won the auction for $350.00.

Des.

[lcarroll]

Thanks for the Lathe info Des. I'll do some "homework" on this and post results.
Cheers,
Lance

[Des]

Here is a link to all of the distributors world wide.

http://www.siegind.com/distributor.html

Des.

[Russell]

Here is a link to all of the distributors world wide.

http://www.siegind.com/distributor.html

Des.

Des,
Thanks for that info, I’ll investigate further. Not only is it far handier doing tiny work on a miniature lathe but desk-top lathes avoid standing in a cold garage in winter!

Regards
Russell 

[lone modeller]

By the way, I don't know why in english you are referring to the Fokker Spin as a Fokker Spinne. Don't know where those two additional letters came from. Spin is Spider in dutch.

For those who do not know Spinne is the correct German spelling for spider (it has a capital because it is a noun). A. Fokker was Dutch so no doubt he used the Dutch spelling in Holland and the German spelling in Germany.

Hope this might help to clear up some confusion.

On the topic of the aircraft, which is also completely new to me, I am left wondering who had the nerve to fly such a thing? I thought that some of the early aircraft were pretty hairy things to fly but this one takes the biscuit! Great subject Des - and thanks for the info on the lathes. This is a truly wonderful site.

[Chris Johnson]

Well, I'm blown away by the engine Des. It's simply superb. I've been following the build log on your main site and it never ceases to amaze me what you can fabricate from bits and pieces of various materials.

Cheers,

Chris

[IvotB]

On the topic of the aircraft, which is also completely new to me, I am left wondering who had the nerve to fly such a thing? I thought that some of the early aircraft were pretty hairy things to fly but this one takes the biscuit!

Anthony Fokker himself flew the Spin. He studied early aircraft building in Germany and together with a friend he built his first aircraft. The first one was wrecked by his study friend and then he tried himself. He seemed to have been a better pilot and made lots of succesfull flights with it. I do think that it takes quite some nerve, but that goes for most pioneers. But there are still pilots that fly the Spin even today. Look at the video I posted earlier.

By the way, you are completely right about the Spin Spinne discussion I started earlier.

regards,
Ivo

[IvotB]

I will be going through each photo with a fine tooth comb looking for any details which I might have missed, it is excellent to have so many good photos.

Des.

There is one thing I should mention. In these pictures I think the radiator for the engine is missing. I have seen many different arrangements of radiators in the frame of a Fokker Spin. The historic aircraft kit places the radiator between the two main girders of the fuselage, but I have seen more pictures of a fuselage with two radiators placed along the girders in line with the fuselage, thus reducing drag, but probably having less cooling capacity.

regards,
Ivo

[Nigel Jackson]

Ivo

The Youtube material you have linked us to shows some awesome modern moments of preparing a Spin for flight and then in the air. The pilot is so exposed in his open position! I think my knees would have been too busy knocking to actually control anything.

Thank you

Nigel

[GAJouette]

  Des,
Magnificent work on her engine my old friend. I love those details you've included. No doubt about it your lathe was an excellent investment. I'm looking forward to following this latest project unfold.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[IvotB]

The Youtube material you have linked us to shows some awesome modern moments of preparing a Spin for flight and then in the air. The pilot is so exposed in his open position! I think my knees would have been too busy knocking to actually control anything.

Nigel,

the video shows the 1936 Spin in flight around 1992. It was flown by Edwin Boshoff, a test pilot of Fokker, probably then flying normally only Fokker 50 and Fokker 100 aircraft.


Des,

Looking through a book about 100 years of Fokker, I am getting the impression that the beautiful engine you made was only used on the first 3 Fokker Spinnes. I am sure about the alignment of the radiators on these Spinnes. There is at least one useful picture for this and I'll make a scan.

The Historic Wings kit is from a later Spin in 1912.

regards,
Ivo

[Zabu]

Very nice engine... great for a spin!

I'm sure that lathe will be quite handy.

Cheers

[ALBATROS1234]

yes ivotb des will have to make the first spinne with that 50 hp engine.

[Des]

I have made a few small steps with this scratch build. Most of the framework is now complete and glued together. The two beams that the engine is sitting on is the fuselage, that's it, there will be a seat slung between them for the pilot to sit on. It is a very flimsy structure at the moment but there will be a heap of rigging which will hold it all together securely. Not much to show as it is a very basic airframe but at least the photos show I have been doing something 

Des.