1/48 Revell Fokker Dr.I Triplane

Gallery Article by Corbett Legg on Sept 26 2012

 

 

A friend from Austria visited us here in Abu Dhabi recently.  She brought me two Revell kits her husband had picked out, knowing that my hobby was building model airplanes.  He also generously included the appropriate Revell paint tins described on the boxes.  His only concern was that the boxes said they were skill levels 4 and 5 and he was not sure what level I was. 

My main modeling interest recently has been World War I, and one of the kits was the Revell reboxing of the superb Eduard 1/48 Fokker Dr.I triplane.  This kit is molded in red plastic making it look great, even without painting, to represent the Baron von Richtofen’s red triplane.  As it happens, I had already built the Eduard kit and decorated it for the Baron’s aircraft.  However, the other marking option in the Revell kit was for Ludwig Beckmann, whose Jasta 6 triplane had the more normal streaked camouflage fabric covering.  I had never tried the streaked camouflage before and thought this might be an opportunity to attempt it.  Revell skill level 4?  Why not ... I’ll go for it! 

Ludwig “Lutz” Beckmann briefly served with Jasta 6 where he added the red and white colors of his native Westphalia on top of a previous white lightning bolt on the fuselage of this Dr.I triplane.   He also served in Jasta 48 before joining Jasta 56 where he scored his eight victories of World War I.  He eventually became the commander of this unit and also served in the Luftwaffe in World War II.

 

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I have been told there is nothing more difficult than building a model from red plastic if you don’t want to decorate it red.  This was almost 60 years ago and at that time the modeler was referring to the colorful early Aurora kits:  yellow Zero, light blue P-38, and red Messerschmitt.  I found this to still be very true … red keeps peeking through any scratch, chip, or thin paint.  Well, I wanted a challenge.  After considering various ways to represent the streaked canvas, I instead ordered a set of streaked camouflage factory markings for the Dr.I made by MicroSculpt  and Hannants got them to me in about a week. 

I started by spraying everything with a light grey for undercoat.  I mostly used the Revell paints, applied in several very light coats by airbrush, allowing for drying in between coats.  Whenever I would glue a part I needed to scrape the paint, exposing the bright red plastic. 

I added a few details to the cockpit similar to my previous Eduard Profipack version of the triplane such as seatbelts and instruments, but I used the kit guns as is, painting them gun metal, applying a thin black wash, and then dry brushing with steel.  They turned out great.  I finished the engine in a similar fashion.  The propeller and other parts representing wood were painted tan with acrylic and then streaked with a thin mixture of yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and raw umber oil paints and left to dry for over a week before being covered with Future floor wax. 

I mixed the pale blue for the underside and painted the upper areas with a light khaki.  This was with the intention that any chipped striped decals would simply show the khaki.  Wrong!  After applying Micro Sol decal setting solution, the striped decals dried like paint, incredibly thin and completely opaque, and any chipping went all the way to red.  The tail section was painted white, and then rather than using the kit decals, I masked for the black stripes.  I seldom use black because of scale effect (except for repairing decals) and opted for a very dark grey instead for the Jasta 6 cowling and striped tail section. 

The MicroSculpt streaked decals are simply amazing.  There are generous spare amounts included which were very helpful as I was mastering them. I started with the three upper wing surfaces and ailerons, then did the top of the fuselage, and finally the fuselage sides, matching the streaked directions with documentation photos from various reference books. 

For the rigging, which on the Fokker Dr.I is mainly just the control wires, I use 8X tippet (monofilament plastic thread used by fishermen for tying flies).   I first clean the thread with alcohol and then paint with thin coats of flat aluminum enamel, giving it a subtle texture.  Painted, the “wires” are about 0.08 mm (.003 inches) thick, which for 1/48 represents well less than a quarter inch full size.  They easily fit into holes drilled with a No. 80 bit in a pin vise.  A tiny drop of thin superglue will then keep them fast.

After applying the excellent kit decals, letting them dry overnight before washing the film off with water, I went over the entire model as carefully as possible finding the places that red plastic showed through to touch up with paint.  I may not have gotten all of them yet, but I'm getting there.  I finally sprayed a light coat of Micro Flat clear acrylic finish.  I had finished the red triplane with a satin finish, but I think it looks too shiny.  The flat finish makes all the markings look as if they are painted on.

I created and printed a card similar to the rest of my growing World War I collection and am quite pleased with how it turned out. 

Now, to see if I’m up for the skill level 5 Revell PV-1 Ventura …

Corbett Legg

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Photos and text © by Corbett Legg