Unarmed Fokker Dr.1 Trainer: Revell 1/28

Started by George R Blair Jr · 219 · 2 weeks ago · 1/28, Dr-1, Fokker, Revell, trainer
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    George R Blair Jr said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Thanks, Ian (@firelockg), Spiros (@fiveten), and John (@johnb). I have used Quinta before and used Gator Glue to help them stick. These long and thin decals have proven to work a little different than the others. When I started applying the rib tapes, I ran some diluted Gator's along the rib, then applied the decal. The working time to adjust the decal was very short. I then tried using lots of water instead of the glue and found I had a little more working time, but the ends of the decal wanted to curl up. The process that I am using now seems to work pretty well, which is position it with lots of water, then carefully lift each end and apply some glue. I think the problems are just in the nature of a long, thin decals. A regular decal would probably have some of the same problems. I am nearly half done with the ribs. I figure I will have it perfected about the time I am done. :o)

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    Louis Gardner said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    George R Blair Jr (@gblair)
    I'm sorry I have not been very active on here lately. We have been very busy with yard cleanup after the hurricane went through not too long ago. We have been burning all of the yard and tree debris... namely branches and leaves. At the end of the day after working like this, I don't really feel too much like building anything and the mojo gas tank is on empty.

    Now that we have our entire yard (and part of the neighbors) picked up / cleaned up, maybe I can get back in the groove.

    Your work on the Dr-1 is looking fantastic. I have been taking notes on how you have been applying the rib tapes. I have some of these set aside for several upcoming and current projects. By the looks of things, you just might be heading to the paint shop soon... Keep it going my friend.

    It's looking great.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Hi Louis (@lgardner): Glad you are starting to get the cleanup from the hurricane completed so you can do the important stuff (modeling). We have the opposite problem here in central Texas: No rain in 2 months, and the temp is 10-15 degrees hotter than normal. I am doing my best to help the water problem by drinking nothing but Diet Coke. :o)

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    I have been mired in stuff that seems to be taking forever. I got all of the rib tapes done on top of the wings, and I turned my attention to the bottom of the wings. I decided to do the rib tapes on the bottom using 1mm Tamiya tape, which looks fine after primer. I spent some time trying to figure out whether the ailerons and the elevators would have rib tape, but it is one of those online hot potatoes where there is no real consensus about the topic. I studied some photos in some of the books I have, and it looks to me that there were rib tapes on the ailerons, horizontal tail, and elevators. I plan to finish the rib tapes tomorrow, spray some primer, and start thinking about paint.

    I plan to paint the bottom color first, which is a light blue. If you look at a color sample of the paint, it looks sky blue, but is described as "turquoise" when it is on the plane. Here's what I think is going on: the underside of the plane is painted light blue, then shellac is painted over it to waterproof the linen. The shellac that they used was an amber color. I think that the amber color of the shellac slightly changed the apparent color of the light blue, giving us a more turquoise color. I want to try to replicate that by spraying light blue, then brushing a very thin amber-colored oil wash over the blue. It might be fun to see what happens.

    I also spent some time taking away some of the plastic in the middle of the middle wing. I have a very thin panel that I 3D printed that goes over this middle wing section. The panel includes a cut-out for an instrument that sits right between the machine guns. The trough in the panel that leads to the instrument would not sit correctly unless I carved out some plastic in the center of the middle wing. Looking at photos, I discovered that this panel is actually held on by fasteners, so it actually sits on top of the middle wing. I reduced the height of the plastic with a Dremel so that it would sit correctly.

    That's it for today. Lots of real life stuff keeps popping up to slow things down. We have our annual eye exam tomorrow, but I hope to get some modeling done after. Cheers.

    5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Very nice progress, George @gblair
    The resin has to be very thin to be able to see through. Great 3D printing.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Excellent progress, my friend @gblair!

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    This is really turning into a nice project George (@gblair). It's nice when you can work on something like this where you can pour your heart into. I am quite sure this will turn out excellent. I found your research and approach to the underside color to be quite enlightening. I look forward to seeing how this turns out as well.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Thanks for stopping by, John (@johnb), Spiros (@fiveten), and Carl (@clipper). This project has been fun because it has been fun to do the research and then apply it to the model. I hope this isn't one of those that I get to the end and then ask myself why I spent so much time on it.

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    IAN Convey said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    This model is an example of research and eye for detail, a very interesting project so far George.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Thanks, Ian (@firelockg). I am learning new stuff everyday.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    I had an annual eye exam and some other stuff to do with my wife, so not much done today. I got all of the wings taped, as well as the small airfoil between the wheel. I still have the horizontal stabilizer to do. I want to attach the lower wing to the fuselage and paint the blue undersides. The underside of each wing is blue, as are the interplane struts. I want to paint as much as I can before I start gluing a bunch of stuff to the fuselage.

    I had one of the "Oh, No" moments while I was working. As I was finishing the rib tapes on the upper wing, I realized the two ailerons were different. I had never seen that before and I assumed it was a mistake that would need correction. I did some research online and discovered that it had been addressed before on various blogs, etc. So, here is the story, if you haven't heard it: Testing revealed that the plane would need larger ailerons. Production had already started. In order to get the new planes to the front as soon as possible, they made enough of the larger ailerons to put one on each airplane at the factory. So the first 18 planes left the factory with one of the larger ailerons and one of the smaller ailerons. All the planes after these had 2 enlarged ailerons. At some point, most of the original 18 planes had their smaller aileron replaced, but there is evidence that at least on Dr.1 was shot down with the mis-matched ailerons. So, how did this weird configuration get onto the 1/28 scale triplane? Apparently, Revell of Great Britain drew up plans in the early 1950s for a 1/72 triplane and a 1/28 triplane. These plans were taken from Flight Magazine who had a diagram and photos of a Dr.1 shot down on Jan. 13, 1918. This plane happened to have the mis-matched ailerons and the plans were drawn that way. All of this sounds just weird enough to be true, so I am going to run with it. Since this plane is a trainer, and trainers were usually older planes not fit for frontline service, it would make sense that it might be one of these 18 planes with mis-matched ailerons. OK, problem solved. I am leaving the ailerons just like they are. :o)

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    That's a pretty amazing find George (@gblair). You obviously have the research chops you mentioned once before.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Wow! What a discovery, my friend @gblair! Yes, leaving the ailerons "as is" sounds great.
    Good progress!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Very interesting observation, George @gblair
    One of the nice things about modelling, discovering all those facts which you never knew before.

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    IAN Convey said 1 month, 2 weeks ago:

    Your research is impeccable George, good stuff.