1:28 Hobby Craft Fokker Dr I

[sluggo]

So, here I am after yet another bi-annual hiatus with another piece that's been lurking in the closet for many moons. It will be the first WWI kit I've done in 40+ years of modeling. 

 

First off, a bit of a warning. I made a commitment to myself a few years back that I was done with super detailing and never finishing a kit. That said my goal for this build is nothing more than to teach myself a couple of new techniques.

 

How I finish the engine and cockpit will be determined by the level of satisfaction I get from the finished paint job.

 

I did not take any construction pictures or masking process because you've all seen that a million times. I simply forced this turd to fit together and made the seams go away.

 

Painting process was as follows:

1. Make stencils
2. Paint entire model light green
3. Paint entire empennage white from the leading edge of the red stripe back and the white areas on wings.
4. Apply stencils and paint all the black elements.
5. Lift stencil covering red area and paint red.
6. Mask off markings and drag green and brown oils over green to produce camo pattern.

Lessons learned:

1. I'm too impatient to be messing with oils. Acrylic next time.
2. I don't like oil paints.
3. Oil sux.

I'm not sure yet whether I like the camo or not. A couple of locals seem to like it but I'm on the fence.

 

Pictures were taken with cell phone right after a second round of oil so the oil is wet and is still pretty wet 24 hours later.

 

On to some pics.

 

 

 

 

Prop was painted the darker color first then stencils applied and lighter color painted. Then black, burnt umber and yellow oils
mixed loosely and drug across surface with a stiff flat brush. It still needs hub painted and a coat of varnish.

 

I don't have prop decals in this scale and the Axial logo I made a stencil of has letter heights of .499mm on the word xial and
.231mm on the word Berlin. The overall size of the logo is 3mm. But hey, If want one 28 inches in diameter I can make it happen.

 

 

Because someone is sure to ask why I painted crosses on top of the lower wing.................

 

[mpk]

That looks fantastic!

 

       

[Uncarina]

Outstanding work Randy! I've always loved these markings, and built this aircraft with them years ago in an unmentionable scale. However, those were all decals. Your build with the painted markings is so much better! That propeller is pretty amazing as well.

 

Cheers, Tom

[Bill_S]

Outstanding work Randy! I've always loved these markings, and built this aircraft with them years ago in an unmentionable scale. However, those were all decals. Your build with the painted markings is so much better! That propeller is pretty amazing as well.

 

Cheers, Tom

I concur on the prop! The rest of the build looks great, too!

[ClumsyDude]

Hey Randy, that looks great! Terrific contrast between the randomness of the paint and the crisp striping and crosses.

 

Cheers

Jim

[sluggo]

Thanks gentlemen!

 

Jim, how's the project coming along?

[Guest Peterpools]

Randy

Super work on the Fokker Tri Plane

So very nicely done

:thumbsup:

Peter

[ClumsyDude]

Thanks gentlemen!

 

Jim, how's the project coming along?

G'day Randy, project is slow ... too much life getting in the way! I am about to lay down some colour on the horizontal tails, which should look pretty sweet. Should be posting in the next couple of weeks, I'm really excited about it!

 

Cheers

Jim

[sluggo]

Still waiting for the oil to dry up on the aircraft but the prop finally dried out. 

 

Broke out the Testors gloss lacquer and the HP-C and buried the paint edges. A little polishing and it should shine up nicely.

 

[Guest Jessie_C]

Sehr wunderbar!

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow, that prop is superb!

 

Kev

[sluggo]

Thanks everyone.

 

Been hard at it but have not had time to do an update.

 

Started to take care of a few touch-ups. I was not going to do any masking operation pictures but the touch-up process I use may come in handy for someone else. Some of you may know about back-masking but I'm guessing others don't so I'll share that part.

 

Back-masking is basically a method used to contain the paint without leaving a hard edge. Particularly useful when you plan to clear coat over the area in question.

 

Quite simple to accomplish.

 

When I first painted it, I painted all of the white first, then black followed by the green undercoat. You can see in this picture I had some green blow under the edge of the tape because I did not secure it properly.

The hard edge is masked normally and the edge you want diffused is taped to overlap the first edge then rolled back as pictured. I then paint perpendicularly the area I wish to cover with out painting the rolled edge directly but letting the paint settle against the rolled edge from the natural turbulence.

 

The upper wing had a couple spots I wanted to fix after painting the blue as well. Here it's back masked on both sides because I wanted to maintain the soft edge of the blue. I've already sprayed it in this picture.

 

This is the result.

 

Next thing I did was repair the red stripe on the side of the fuselage. Tiny brush touch was all that was needed.

 

Next was to paint the lettering on the fuselage.

 

I had previously done a couple coats of clear lacquer to help protect all the paint work. Not sure why but the clear de-laminated from part of the stripe area when I de-masked it. Oddly enough, only where I used Tamiya tape. I was able to carefully cut the clear at the stripe's edges and remove the rest of it. Not exactly part of the plan but not really a big deal either because the next step is to bury all of the paint work under automotive clear so I can wet sand all the paint edges to make them undetectable even to touch.

 

First coat of auto clear.

 

Second coat.

 

Because I really want the clear to flow out and be as free as possible of orange peel, I put a small heater inside the booth and commenced the baking process. 

 

The outdoor temp reading is actually the inside of the booth as the "outdoor" sensor id mounted to the roof of the booth. The indoor temp is read at the display so it naturally rises as the booth heats up. The room heats up too but not to where it's uncomfortable to be in there. I suppose I could drape a sheet over the front of the booth and trap more heat inside but I need to experiment with that before I commit a model to what would essentially be an oven.

 

Here it is about half way done baking.

 

 

That's all I have for now.

Edited March 8, 2017 by sluggo

[ClumsyDude]

Sweet gloss, Randy! You say automotive clear, but the bottle says Testor's - is it the same stuff?

 

Jim

[sluggo]

That bottle is just a convenient height.

 

This is the real deal.

[Out2gtcha]

Wow, Randy, that looks TERRIFIC! Glad to see you back at it..............

 

Makes me want to bust my Encore DR.1!