WingnutWings Fokker D.VII (Alb) Robert Greim, Jasta 34b

[jeroen_R90S]

Well... since I'm working on and off on my 1/72 Jasta 18 Fokker DVII and Albatros DVa, but as the list of things to do gets shorter, and the bag of parts remaining emptier, I've in between started working on my 1/32 WnW Fokker D.VII. This kit was a gift by a very, very kind ModellngMadness reader after reading my review of my earlier Roden 1/72 Fokker D.VII, which, honestly, isn't really one of Roden's better efforts.
The review is here: http://modelingmadness.com/review/w1/ger/koend7.htm
I've done all I learned from this on my curreny 1/72 build, but that aside. The kind soul who sent me the Wingnut Wings kit told me I should at least once have enjoyed one of those, so here I am now, working on my first 1/32 build since my teens. As I was given the Alb built-version, and I found Wingnut Wings did decals for Greim's aircraft, I asked around here on this forum for the strut serial numbers. I could mask and paint the rest, if needed. Very kind fellow forumite Stefan Buss came to my rescue with a partial sheet. Thanks again, Stefan! I hope I'll do the decals justice

Most will probably know what I'm building, but to be sure not to cause any confusion:


And this is the scheme I'm building:


I have, so far, cleaned up most of the parts and put them (labelled or not) together in containers and zip-lock bags. Much more to this than a Roden 1/72 kit! I will shamelessy steal some ideas I saw here, notably Red Baron's interiour improvements.

I started with the axle wing. As "my" aircraft was supposedly 833/18 I presumed it would look kind of like option B from the kit, Nickchen IV, which was 817/18. So I narrowed the axle wing and ran into my first question. Should those "triangles" near to the bungee springs be flush or are they supposed to be like this?


I then turned to the engine, which is truly a kit of its own. I had it most of the big parts assembled and suddenly decided I could not live with the valve springs...
so off they went, and replaced with wound copper wire from an old computer power cord:

Obviously, the last ones you do always look the best, but there are a few more WnW kits with Mercedes DIII engines on the wishlist, and practice makes, hopefully, one day perfect...
A little dry-fit:

One of the things I noticed is that the water pipe on the intake manifold was too short, and it looks to "run" different than it looks in the instruction book pictures. The rear "bends" not 90°, it appears?

The exhaust was assembled and hollowed out as far as I dared:

It also has some pretty big sink marks filled...

...as did one of the fuselage halves:


I will shamelessy improve the rudder pedals as Red Baron did, but I'd like to pose the elevator and rudder. Did the whole part you see here turn, or just the upper part? I can imagine the triangle is a sort of end-stop and turned with the whole bar?


Progress will primarily be on my Jasta 18 duo, but I'll sneak in some time on this one too. It is a lot of fun so far!

Jeroen

[lone modeller]

You are certainly making worthwhile improvements on this. Very different indeed to 1/72 scale models!

Stephen.

[uncletony]

I will shamelessy improve the rudder pedals as Red Baron did, but I'd like to pose the elevator and rudder. Did the whole part you see here turn, or just the upper part? I can imagine the triangle is a sort of end-stop and turned with the whole bar?

No, the triangle is part of the fuselage frame; the rudder bar bearing rotates around the shaft. Maybe this will make it clear how it works?: (Green parts are stationary, black parts move)

[Juan]

Awesome beginning, looking forward to your progress.

[rhwinter]

Awesome beginning, looking forward to your progress.

Me too!

[RAGIII]

Excellent start to your Greim DVII! Really looking forward to your progress!
RAGIII

[stefanbuss]

I hope I'll do the decals justice

I'm pretty confident. 

[Monty]

Nice start and looking good, Jeroen! I'm looking forward to seeing this one progress! A great colour sceme, BTW, Marc.

[jeroen_R90S]

Thank you all for the kind words and for taking the time to answer my questions

Bo, your picture is most helpful, and makes me realize how simplified the WnW parts actually are... It seems as yours actually
work! I've cut the triangle off and repositioned the rudder bar. When it is all dry I'll add the supports and U-shaped attachments for the cables.

Red Baron, thanks also for the help on the axle wing and rudder bar, I've fixed the axle (should have cut the axle in half and only inserted the outer ends...) and will reverse the rudder bar, now that I know that Greim was a shorter man...

Kind of miffed on my Roden Albatros, so as a diversion (or evasion.......) I may put some work in this Fokker

Jeroen

[uncletony]

... It seems as yours actually work!

Indeed they do...

:-D

[jeroen_R90S]

If I were to try something like that I'd never get anything done... it takes me long enough to build a pair of Roden 1/72 kits already!

[ondra]

If I were to try something like that I'd never get anything done... it takes me long enough to build a pair of Roden 1/72 kits already!

Do not worry about this, Jeroen. There are skilled modellers, then there are super skilled modellers, then there are gifted modellers, then there are gifted modellers willing to go an extra mile on every detail... and then there are Bo and Co.

[jeroen_R90S]

Thanks, Ondra!
I wanted to build this Fokker out of the box, but somehow can't seem to leave things alone, like the valve springs....

[jeroen_R90S]

Spent most of the somewhat frustrating work on my Roden Albatros, but since I was using WNW streched sprue anyway I figured I could do the rudder pedals of this one too.

Cut off the triangle, and re-glued it at an angle. As per RB's suggestion I "reversed" the rudder bar (actually it only means on which side you glue the control cable attachment). Those attachements come from the metal binding wire you get with garbage bags here, it's quite stiff you can can kind of clamp it on the rudder bar and simply add some superglue on the back.

Found a picture of an Albatros-built rudder bar that, unlike the one shown in the WNW booklet had only one triangular support? Not that it matters much, since it'll be on the back anyway.

Jeroen

[jeroen_R90S]

Oh... and another question crosses my mind...

How thick are those engine cowl panels supposed to be? On the model they have an indentation where they fit onto the frame, but I assume the real panels were just pressed/stamped pieces of sheet metal on which the louvres were welded?
When looking through the louvres and holes for the struts, they seem kind of thick. Can I simply sand them flush with the thin outer part?

Thanks again,

32-scale-newbie