The KVA's reconnaissance thoroughbred

Introduction.
Some aircraft are ugly (and I've built quite a few of them). Some are beautiful with fine lines and an appearance of speed standing still. The Fokker C.X is one of the latter and I was pleased to see that KP were re-releasing the AZ kit with upgraded parts and masks. So a bit of research was necessary.

History
The Fokker C.X was developed as a replacement to the Fokker C.V series at the instigation of the KNIL (Netherlands East Indies Air Force). It was slightly smaller than the Fokker C.V and powered by a Kestrel II engine. After satisfactory trials with an initial run of 4 aircraft, the LVA (Netherlands home air force) ordered a definitive production run of 16 aircraft powered by the Kestrel V starting to enter service in 1936. The KNIL had 14 aircraft and the Finns also ordered a batch powered by Pegasus engines and signed a contract for license production. At least two later aircraft also served in Spain with both the Republicans and Nationalists. Initial Dutch experience with the Kestrel was not positive. Gears wore out rapidly and there were problems with the fuel injection at high G forces (similar to the issues with the later Merlin). These problems were never really solved - the KVA having to content itself with replacing parts frequently. Despite the issues and problems with Dutch made bomb racks which meant that the C.X wasn't really able to fulfill its bombing role this was a successful and popular aircraft being very versatile and performing well in the Second World War.

On entering service, the Fokker C.Xs had an open cockpit with just a windscreen for the pilot. This was judged inadequate and a sliding canopy was added for the pilot. The observer was still exposed to the open air to allow him to perform his role easily. I chose to model the second aircraft of the main production run - #705 which escaped The Netherlands to be abandoned at Dunkirk on 14th May 1940. However, I backdated this to the initial production run without the canopy.

References
Research is very necessary here. The Wilko Jonkers website was very useful as was the Beeldbank NIMH but the must consult site was the Fokker History website which has a superb collection of photos of Fokker aircraft particularly the C series.

The kit
This is not a kit for the beginner - or even the intermediate modeller - requiring a lot of work to produce an accurate Fokker C.X. The AZ kit was based on an earlier CMR kit possibly of the prototype as a lot of the features weren't present on production machines. However, they also introduced their own errors just to make things interesting. The major point for correction is the under fuselage. This was flat but CMR/AZ have produced this with an oval cross section which needs to be filed to a flat profile as per the actual aircraft. Now if the KP kit had been a model of the prototype it would have still been an error but not such a serious one when coupled with all the other errors. It's an easy fix.

The lower wings include the full length ailerons fitted to the prototype, aircraft 701 and PH-AKJ (the first production machine). These were deleted after a demonstration flight in Ankara when the left wing broke off PH-AKJ causing it to crash. Flutter was judged to be the cause and all production aircraft had ailerons on the upper wings only. As the kit represents a second batch production machine the lower wing ailerons have to go. Also needing to go is the integral leading edge landing light which was only fitted to the Finnish aircraft NOT Dutch aircraft and finally the machine gun trough on the right needs filling. The second batch Fokker C.X only had one forward firing machine gun on the left side.

Decals are nicely produced but the serial numbers are too large. Spares need to be found and Dutch Decals used to do a very good sheet of interwar markings. You do get the option of both neutrality and normal KVA markings which is nice. Also included (to justify the 'hi-tech' kit label) are a set of masks and 3D printed wheels and pilot's seat. The latter does not include molded on seatbelts and one has to buy a separate etched brass sheet for these and for the instrument panel. In my opinion and given the kit label this should have been included as part of the kit. Whilst the fuselage is nice and typical AZ quality the detail parts are crude and very poorly realised - there is a lot of replacement and scratch building needed. The instructions are poor with no rigging information and generic basic drawings. Dry fitting and careful checking of photos is essential.

Building the kit
I started by addressing the errors - the rogue machine gun trough was filled and blended in. The lower wings were replaced by the Kora resin correction set. These are excellent being a copy of the kit wings with the ailerons and the landing light deleted. They fit perfectly and are really worth it. The underside was filed flat and new lower panels added. These were very thin plastic sheet and change the appearance of the aircraft from pregnant to sleek and smooth looking. This is an essential correction. At the same time I also replaced the kit tailwheel which is far too big with one from the spares box.

In my experience AZ mess up the wings of every biplane they make and this kit was no exception. The interplane struts fit superbly well and the assembly is quite sturdy but the cabane struts do not fit at all. I scratch built a new assembly. The cockpit was redone and more appropriate Dutch features added. Fokker C.Xs were fitted with a Fairey high speed gun mount and the kit's provided example was too crude to use. I scratch built a new one but left the Lewis gun off (rarely carried by pre-war C.Xs). The observer's panel was also fabricated and a new seat built for the latter. As I mentioned I was building an early aircraft without the canopy and the kit part is a one piece molding (though it is a very nice piece). I separated the windscreen and the canopy using my usual method and deleted the molded on canopy runners as well. I also removed the molded on curved framing on the windscreen (the framing on the C.X was straight) and replaced it with the correct version. The radiator was reshaped to the angular C.X shape and a Steelworks.de etched metal Vickers Potts oil cooler added. Fiddly and time consuming the latter is well worth the effort and really does add something extra. The kit example went straight into the waste bin. I also filed out the trailing edge cutouts for the handholds and fabricated the grips from plastic rod. Another little correction that makes all the difference.

Colours were Hataka A193 LVA Yellow Olive which was the correct shade for these aircraft and AK 11169 blue green for the turquoise underside colour. The interior was painted Humbrol Matt 64 which matches Dutch interior grey nicely. Decals were a mixture - the nice kit roundels and fin flash were used but Dutch Decals numerals for the fuselage numbers and the red cross marking was made from scratch. Despite their FS numbers Dutch interwar paints were uniformly gloss so the kit was gloss varnished to get an authentic finish. Rigging was SBS 0.2 mm flat wire with added attachment points. The rigging looked simple but did need a fair amount of care and with the cabane strut rigging I had to drill a hole in the auxiliary strut at the front. Not an easy operation but the end result justified the effort (the kit omitted this part). I added the position and navigation lights scratch building the former and using CMK ready molded parts which were very nice to work with.

Conclusion
Is this a good kit? Well...no. It's error ridden and doesn't rebound well to KP's credit. KP could have retooled it properly but were content to issue this poor effort with new decals and a few 3D parts. It can however, be built up nicely and into a spectacular looking replica if one is prepared to put the effort into it. Replacement of a lot of the kit parts is essential and the modeller has to be prepared to do a lot of work on the ones that do get used. Even so, I enjoyed the build and I am very happy with the end result - it proved to be a nice challenge but rather an unexpected one.