This kit has been sitting in the stash for some time now, so I decided to make it my next subject for two main reasons... firstly, it's relatively straightforward to build with little rigging involved, and secondly, I don't yet have sufficient funds to buy enough turnbuckles to start my WnW Gotha G.IV... :-(. One day in the not-too-distant future, maybe...
Anyway, I bought this kit before the late WnW/Meng offering hit the market and for my purposes, I think this one will be good enough. First off, I can tell you that it will be finished in neither of the von Richthofen brothers' colour schemes, nor indeed, that of Werner Voss.
I can tell you that I hope it will be a colourful finish, and the photos here show the kit as it was couple of days back now. Since then, I have got as far as handpainting the streaked camouflage scheme and the underside blue. It has been a while since I've done a streaked scheme, the last being for the wing of my Fokker D.VIII some time back.
So, although the box lid describes the kit as an F.I, there are parts suitable for the Dr.I, the main external differences that I can see being the slightly altered ailerons and the slight curve on the sides of the horizontal tailplane. All three wings consist of upper and lower pieces combining to make one complete complete wing, but this was my first hurdle as the bottom wing of my kit did not have the corresponding upper surface pieces.
This necessitated developng a method to produce the uppersurfaces for these parts and I elected to try using balsa wood. Despite needing a little bit of careful working to get something close to the desired shape, I have to say it was a complete delight to re-acquaint myself with how easy this medium is to shape and blend onto the plastic lower wing piece. Of course, once this has been achieved, you have the wood grain of the soft balsa wood to eliminate as the preferred outcome of the surface texture should be for it to be as smooth as the plastic piece would have been. Please do use a mask and goggles while working with balsa wood to eliminate any issues arising from the fine wood shaving when sanding this material, and also with the subsequent use of wood filler.
As I got to the wing at a late hour of the night, I experimented with one wing, covering the balsa wood with Humbrol model filler; the following day, I did purchase some wood filler and used that on the opposite wing. In my opinion, there is little to choose. The model filler does the same job as the wood filler but possibly comes to a smooth finish sooner as it can be overpainted then glossed with Future/Pledge. Using the wood filler certainly creates a smooth finish when done, but 'smooth' is relative as it's a 'coarse' smoothness that requires sanding and gloss varnishing, both at least twice, to arrive at the same outcome. The wood filler is, however, able to be blended with the model filler if necessary. You can see the two completed lower wings below. The small white patches seen in the photos are areas filled with Perfect Plastic Putty. This, too, worked well on the balsa wood areas.
The frame detail along the leading edge is well-executed by Roden, but this also had to be added onto the bottom wing. After measuring the dimesions, I attached eight such pieces using thin plastic card, slightly pre-bent along their lower straight edge in order to allow them to sit over the curved leading edge of the wing; these were carefully glued down in stages from the leading edge, then up and over onto the wing itself and then left taped in place until the adhesive dried. I also added in the frame rib detail made from stretched sprue but I decided this was too prominent even after sanding it down and ultimately, it was removed. Strangely, this worked in my favour as the 'ghost' of these thin strips of plastic remained visible and can still be seen if the wing is examined closely. How they will look after painting is still to be determined.
The fit of the cockpit into the fuselage needed a little bit of juggling but nothing too extreme. I left the fuel tank off as it was hampering a neat fit of the upper forward fuselage section covering the centre wing. It is no loss as it isn't visible anyway once the model is finished. The internal fuselage frames are good if a little delicate, and the magneto on the right side frame should be removed and attached in the same position on the left frame instead. The cushion on the pilot's seat is made from a small amount of tissue wrapped in masking tape, trimmed to shape and attached in place before painting. Some additional frames have been added into the fuselage and surplus Aviattic transfers replicating the visible plywood panelling were added in between these. The remainder of the visible cockpit areas and the backboard to which the seat is attached are painted in a pale linen shade and seatbelts have been added from the spares box. Finally, the engine is a good representation once built up and painted. The alternative Fokker cowling from the Aviattic range is attached instead of the kit cowling as I felt it had better detail.
The last three images in this group show the model after having been undercoated with pale grey, then a very light coat of a homemade 'linen' shade applied to all upper and side surfaces; the centre wing comes as one assembly but I separated it into two for ease of painting and eventually, of assembly. I deliberately seperated the bottom wing as well to more easily work on the balsa wood and also because a dry run showed it was far too neat a fit if left connected to its central spar, and would have caused unnecessary terminal anhedral! I also added in the one-piece strut that runs through the centre wing in order to hopefully minimise any major issues when it comes to attaching the wings. The lower edge of this strut has been shortened to accommodate the fact that the uppersurface of the lower wing lacks the attachment slot that the plastic piece would have offered. I'm hoping that won't detract too much from the end result.
So, that's all for now. Thanks for looking in and I'll post more photos again in due course.
Regards,
Paul
13 attached images. Click to enlarge.
