Encore Fokker F.I

[DougN]

Nice work Chris, you're wrestling it into shape! Looking forward to seeing some paint on this one

Doug

[LSP_K2]

Challenging kit to be sure, but it looks like you're handling it.

[SinuheH]

Any progress - curious to see how it is coming along

[csavaglio]

Nope.....my attention's been diverted to other things. I'm on the tail end of a big paint/body/exterior restoration of a 1:1 1969 Corvette and that's taken up a lot of my time. I've also gone full nerd and started messing around with a 1/350 fully lit Star Trek Enterprise. I've also done just a little messing around on the vac 1/32 U-2. And of course, job hunting/interviewing. So the little Fokker sort of fell by the wayside. It's not off the bench or anything, just not at the front of it.

 

It does have primer on it and there's a few spots to touch up. Once I get going back on it, it won't take long to finish.

Chris

Edited March 20, 2013 by csavaglio

[SinuheH]

Hi Chris - no hassle - just curious to see what it was turning out like.

Enjoy your other activities, and wish you successful job hunting!

cheers S:)

[csavaglio]

No worries...just a lot on my plate. I did manage to get some sanding done and put down the base colors. Fokker F.I's were different from most later Dr.I's in that the entire airframe was doped turquoise before the streaking. Most Dr.I's had the streaking applied over clear doped linen and the undersides doped turquoise.

 

I'm of the school of thought that Voss' tripe had a green cowl. I don't really want to open that notorious can of worms, but my belief is that it was unlikely that the cowling was painted due to the very limited time the airframe was at its unit and the pace of operations at the time. As much as I would love to have bit of color, I just think that it was too unlikely.

 

The pics make it look much greyer than it is. In person, and I'm sure when I take the time to set the camera up better, it looks much more turquoise.

 

Once this is all good and dry, I'll start the streaking with oils.

Chris

 

 

Edited March 23, 2013 by csavaglio

[csavaglio]

The streaking is mostly done. I did manage to drop the camera on one of the middle wings, so there's some repairs to make on the coaming joints once everything's dry. I used oils, a mix of an olive green and brown, using Japan drier as a thinning/drying agent and streaked by hand with a brush.

 

Chris

 

 

[mark126804]

Chris,

 

Looking good.

 

Mark

[SinuheH]

That looks good - I really like the Voss scheme - and agree about the green cowling.

[eoyguy]

Nice streaking. Harder than it looks to get right, and yours is right. Good on ya for the Green cowl, its the right choice...

[csavaglio]

I had some questions about the streaking. I used the same techniques I use for creating woodgrain, just slightly altered.

 

Basically, I lay down a base acrylic.....oils, oderless mineral spirits (white spirits, if you're outside the US), and japan drier won't affect it. If I'm doing wood, I usually use a sand or buff colored. In this case, I gave it an overall turquoise blue, just like the real one. I think I used PollyScale RLM 65, which is more green and darker than the Model Master RLM 65.

 

I use japan drier, which is available at art stores and hardware stores. I have had the same can for probably 8 or 9 years...it goes a long way, even though I used to build only WWI planes. Basically, the drier speeds the drying process of the oil paints and helps thin them. Normally, the oil would be going on canvas, which would wick away the moisture and allow them to dry, on plastic, oil paints can take days or even a week to dry. Using the drier, it'll dry overnight, even in a humid environment.

 

For paint, I use artist oils. I have 5 or 6 colors I use for different shades of woodgrain...burnt sienna, raw umber, yellow ochre, etc. I also use oils for washes, streaking, and other weathering. A while back, I got an artists starter set, which had a ton of different oils, acrylics, watercolors, etc. The colors aren't labeled except with a color stripe. For this streaking, I used a generic mid brown with some Windsor Newton Olive Green mixed in.

 

Basically, I put a blob of green and of brown onto an old plate I use as a palett. I dip a brush (fan style with harder, spread bristles for woodgrain, a normal flat style brush about 1/4" wide for this) into the drier. I mix a little with a bit of the oil paint. It's at this time I mix a little green into the brown. Oils are forgiving and for this, I didn't want it to be consistent. I blot this onto a paper towl. Too thin and it'll act like a wash and not streak. Too much, and it'll go on with a texture. It takes a little practice to get a feel, but it's not too hard.

 

I streaked just like the Fokker factory did. Brush strokes starting at the front and toward the trailing edge. Tripes were streaked by hand in specific patterns. Bascially, they loaded a brush, streaked until the brush ran dry, then started again. This gave that darker to lighter appearance.

 

The oils tend to go on evenly, though. So I did it in two sittings. The first was to give a light streaking overall, more green than brown. The second sitting was heavier on the brown and was heavier at the start of each section to give the pattern.

 

Screw ups can just be brushed out or a cotton swab can wipe it away. It will stain the paint, but once dry, it can be touched up.

 

Hope this helps....

Chris

[csavaglio]

Go for it. Oils are super forgiving because of the slow dry time. Worse case, you just wipe it off and try again. The hardest part is trying not to inadvertently put a fingerprint or smudge on it while handling .....

 

C

[LSP_K2]

For whatever it's worth, this is the best photo I've ever seen of 103/17. Snatched from the WWW, and I don't recall where.

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow, that is one of the clearest period photos I've ever seen! Terrific stuff!

 

Kev

[LSP_K2]

Yep, that's a great photo of the F1 that Voss flew, and doesn't show up in any of my Triplane books.