Author Topic: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)  (Read 21259 times)

Offline Borsos

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #30 on: January 21, 2018, 10:58:50 PM »
Hello,

thank you very much for your interest and your kind comments!
Gary, yes, now I think it was your E. II build. Really nice! Bud, Lance, Manni, Rick, Des, Ian and Stephen thanks for looking and your nice words!
Frank, if it will be possible for me to go to FFB (which is sadly not sure, but hotel rooms are already booked – I hope I don't have to cancel them), I will bring the D. II with me. I am very keen on seeing your birds in person!
Willy, I know the problem of too large resin engines not fitting the plastic cowlings. The reason is mostly that the resin engines are 100% up to scale, so the cowlings are too thick for them. WNW's rotaries are as far as I know a little under scale to fit their plastic cowlings. So the WNW Oberursel fits the SH cowling perfectly, no trimming needed at all. I'll post pictures as soon as possible.

Work went on as a kind of therapy for me. I never had thought how important gluing little scraps of plastic could become.
Seat belts are made with lead foil, I only used the kit's buckles, cut from the PE belts. I prefer flexible lead foil instead of PE seat belts.

Meanwhile the fuselage halves are closed and the lower wings are added. At first I was afraid of installing the lower wings according to the instructions. Both wings are connected by a quite small plastic bar that resembles the single wing bar of the original. This configuration connects the wings quite shaky and you can't hold this part on one wing without the other sagging dramatically. My first intention was to cut both lower wings into separate parts, closing the fuselage by adding the bar and then connecting both lower wings to the fuselage with brass rods. But my lazieness brought me to give the intended connection a try and after gluing the part onto the fuselage it became quite a sturdy construction once the glue had hardened.

All the seams are sanded and/or puttied and sanded and I started to add some detail to the exterior. There is a rectagular inspection pannel behind the engine that is a separate part. After gluing and sanding all the details had disappeared so i had to rebuild it by carving the panel lines with a needle and a steel ruler.


Now on to the tail unit! And it is time to think about the color sheme.... I didn't decide yet if I should do a Jasta 16 Fokker, painted by Fritz Grünzweig, or maybe Josef Jacobs dark blue Jasta 12 Fokker. The kit's decals are for two versions, once for Otto Desloch, CO of KEK Ensisheim/Jasta 16 in factory colors (WDF, p. 17, no. 35 and 36) and a bird of the well known Kest 4b at Freiburg marked "Dodo" (op. cit, p. 33, n. 77 along with other Fokker biplanes, a Fokker E IV and a Halberstadt scout). But as I prefer doing frontline airplanes, I tend to doing Grünzweigs less well known Fokker that is shown on p. 22, n. 55 of the WDF. This picture is quite well known and also can be found on the internet:

As Special Hobby is going to release another boxing of their D. II called "Grünzweig's planes", including these markings as decals as well, it may sound like a stupid idea. But anyway, I am going to paint the Heuschrecken-face by brush. But this picture raises several questions:

According to the WDF the first Fokker D. II left the factory in CDL, later ones were spray painted in two or three tone camouflage of brown-green or brown-green-light green respectively (cf. Kissenberth's Fokker D. II). Obviously some Fokkers had their wings and upper fuselage camouflaged, but the sides left CDL. other's have camouflaged sides, too. Camouflaged machines frequently had their metal parts including the cowling camouflaged as well, but the engine fumes removed the color on the lower part of the metal front, exposing the "swirreled" Fokker metal. A closer look at Grünzweigs Fokker shows light fuselage sides. So:
1. Was Grünzweigs plane a CDL-over all airplane or were its wings and upper fuselage camouflaged (the serial number is unknown)
2. The light color on the fuselage sides brings me to the conclusion that this plane didn't have camouflaged sides. There are color profiles on the web that show it with Fokker streaked sides – but there are no traces for them on the photo. The problem is: an uncamouflaged fuselage side speaks for a non-painted engine cowling/metal forward part of the fuselage.But there's the swirling only on the lower part of the forward fuselage side, the upper part including the cowling looks like painted with a solid color.  For me that makes three conclusions possible:
a) The upper part of the front part of the fuselage and the cowling were painted a solid color on Jasta level as a kind of primer for the Heuschrecke painting. Then it could be any color appearing in that tone on B/W photos, maybe gray, beige or a light green (like grasshoppers – heuschrecken – look like).
b) The fuselage and/or the whole plane was painted field grey instead of CDL, like many Fokker Eindeckers were painted as we meanwhile know.
c) The shadow of the upper wing makes the swirrled metal look like a solid color on the upper front part of the fuselage.
What do you think – especially regarding my theory that also Fokker D planes could have been painted field grey?
Thank you for your opinions!

Best regards
Borsos

« Last Edit: January 21, 2018, 11:32:16 PM by Borsos »
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.

Offline lcarroll

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #31 on: January 22, 2018, 01:12:08 AM »
Borsos,
    I have not studied this subject as have you however based on your possible "options" and the photo I would conclude that your theory "a" is the answer. The demarcation between the lower "swirled" cowling and the upper portion is very sharp, and not what we would expect to see from a shadow effect nor paint damage from oil. The definition appears curved, sharp, and symmetrical in the photo, I'd guess/conclude that the upper swirled cowling panels are over painted leaving the lower portions natural swirled metal. I would personally go with that treatment of the metal cowling panels and a lighter (CDL?) fabric fuselage, the painted cowling components in the Field Grey or Grey-Green Primer you mention. That would be my logic.
    Great work on what appears to be a very basic Kit, I'm going to file this Thread for future reference. 8) 8) 8)
Cheers,
Lance

Offline jeroen_R90S

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #32 on: January 22, 2018, 02:12:38 AM »
I can't really help with your questions, but I love the work so far on the Fokker! :) Especially those seatbelts look great.
Are you going to scratchbuild the dog? ;-)

Offline Borsos

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #33 on: January 30, 2018, 01:00:34 AM »
Lance, Thank you, that's my favored answer too. Actually it is a basic kit, but to be fair compared to the original there's not really much missing. I am still browsing the exterior pictures I have for any details that could be added, but I don't find much besides of the tail section. Here I added some brassrod and plastic to improve this area.

Jeroen, I didn't think about the dog yet, but thanks for the idea... maybe I'll have to add it somehow  :)

Meanwhile I gave the parts a good shot of Mr Surfacer 1000 and started painting with the white areas:



Best regards
Borsos
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #34 on: January 30, 2018, 02:36:39 AM »
Your work to date is gorgeous as always. As for the painting scenarios I agree with your interpretation in A.
RAGIII
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"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline wmoran

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #35 on: January 30, 2018, 02:47:34 AM »
I agree with Lance that the cowling looks painted.  It also looks like at least the wings might be camouflage painted because looking at the leading edge of the lower wing, there appears to be a clear demarcation between a dark upper surface and the light lower surface.  If that is true, then you have to decide if the fuselage sides were left CDL or were over painted like the cowling.

Note:  These are the observations of a WWI newbie. 

Bill

Offline Twowingwilly

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #36 on: January 30, 2018, 04:44:17 AM »
I ordered this kit last week, straight from the SH website since Sprue Bros (preferred) does not know when they will have it.  Not sure how it will be shipped, I’m just hoping it won’t be aboard some WWII era liberty ship.  I just purchased a print of a Fokker D.III from Fine Art America in Chicago to put in the work room (as if I’d be allowed to hang it anywhere else).  I have also found some different photos of early Fokkers on Pinterest that I had not yet come across.   You might include that website for your research if you don’t already...

Offline Borsos

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #37 on: February 06, 2018, 03:03:32 AM »
Rick, thanks for your interest. Greatly appreciated as always!
Bill, thanks for your opinion, a sharp eye is a sharp eye and being a "newbie" doesn't minimize somebody's opinion in any way!
Willy, i think you won't be disappointed. It's a really nice kit that needs the usual care for short run products but comes together quite well.

Here are the first pictures of the paint job:

CDL was done with Gunze's buff, the shading with 'smoke' from the same brand. After this I covered the CDL surfaces with AVIATTIC's linen decals. This time I didn't forget to spray a good shot of future before decalling and the linen decals went on like a charm. I regret that the pictures cannot show the whole effect this fine product gives to CDL surfaces. After the decals had dried I sealed them with ALCLAD's gloss.

The camouflaged surfaces were spraypainted with Revell 46 and 37, shading again Mr Color's 'smoke'. The shading of ribs is in my opinion one of the most problematic parts of the paint job. Because what looks overdone at the first view, almost disappears under a coat of gloss varnish...

Best regards
Borsos
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.

Offline rhwinter

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #38 on: February 06, 2018, 04:57:37 AM »
Beautiful, Borsos! And what an interesting little aeroplane it is! Looking forward to seeing more!!

Bughunter

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #39 on: February 06, 2018, 06:29:21 AM »
Andreas, very nice painting result!

I am not building aircraft models these days because I am overrun with work and I can not enjoy my hobby at the moment facing a project that is too large for me.
So this little model works like balm for your tortured soul, at least it gives the impression.

Have fun with this kit,
Frank

Offline coyotemagic

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #40 on: February 06, 2018, 11:51:57 AM »
She's so gorgeous, Andreas!  I have this one in 1/48 scale and may have to build it right after the Morane. ;)
Cheers,
Bud
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream in the dark recesses of the night awake in the day to find all was vanity. But the dreamers of day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, and make it possible." -T. E. Lawrence

Offline lcarroll

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #41 on: February 06, 2018, 12:04:00 PM »
Andreas,
     Very inspiring Build, and I say that seriously ............. I just reserved one at my Canadian Mail Order Shop, due in two weeks!
Cheers,
Lance

Offline Manni

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #42 on: February 06, 2018, 06:58:44 PM »
Great as always, Andreas. The shading is so good.
Bye,
Manni
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"Warum noch mehr Bausätze?!?": meine Frau

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #43 on: February 07, 2018, 12:53:52 AM »
Gorgeous paint work as always Andreas. Your build has reinforced my decision to order this one over the WNW Junkers D1!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline Borsos

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Re: Fokker D. II (Special Hobby, 1:32)
« Reply #44 on: February 14, 2018, 05:41:10 AM »
Thank you very much, Richard, Frank, Bud, Lance, Manni and Rick! Your comments are really appreciated!

I went on with the painting of the Fokker. When I was aware that the quite complex tail section needed further improvement I removed the ruders again...

One Problem is: The Serial number of this very grass hopper aircraft is unknown. But there are some pictures in the WDF that show partially erased serials by the exhaust fumes. That seems to have happened after a relatively short time. So I used one of the kit's serial numbers and played "exhaust fumes" with the help of a scalpel blade...

The stitching on the underside is replicated by the kit's PE parts. They were painted Humbrol 29 before gluing them carefully with some small drops of super glue. Then I shot several coats of flat varnish over the underside that acts as the real cement.


Pictures of Kissenbert's flying Fokker D. II show an incredible amount of dirt an oil on the sides and the unserside of the canvas covered fuselage parts due to the rotary engine. As the exhaust fumes already erased my serials partially, I weathered sides and underside of the fuselage heavilly as well. I am not sure at the moment if I went a little too far, but as I cannot chane it any more i prefer calling it intentional.
Best regards
Borsos
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.