spacewolf Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 Hi all ! After much playing around with sci-fi, dieselpunk and space cities I decided to go retro.. ... Yup, gonna build a kit !.. of an airplane !! This one as a matter of fact. I ran across it at the hobby shop .. it was big, beautiful, the sprues looked good, it had photo etch and I'd never heard of it so it came home with me. As I said, the sprues looked good.. So I figured, how bad could it be... and therein lies a tale... A quick search on line found people moaning about how bad the Merit kits were... seems Merit is a part of Trumpeter (hit or miss city) .. their Spad is considered too terrible to build, the SE5 A has problems and the tripe... well, lets just say the reports are not glowing. Well, you guys 'n gals know me... and I LOVE the tripe.. it was my first ever build at 8 years old.. an old bag on card 1/72 kit whilst I was reading Enemy Ace comics... Then the Aurora 1/48 kit in that translucent metalic red plastic followed by the Revell 1/28 Werner Voss kit... I'm a sucker for tripes and no kit is unbuildable.. so away we go ! I have these two books to work from.. So I'm diving in .. lets see what happens. Alain Gadbois, AlbertD, Gazzas and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 First thing I decided to do was jump into painting woodgrain.. I've seem peoples work, read about how to do it so with half a clue I sprayed a few parts with deck tan.. I had gotten oils for another project so I broke out the Burnt Umber and a stiff brush... This was so easy it almost scared me... So with things off to this kind of start I'm feeling good about the build so far... tune in next week to see what happens from here... TorbenD, Out2gtcha, Pfuf and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Owens Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 (edited) Nice wood, but the interplane struts on a finished airframe would have been painted the same light blue as the undersurfaces. Depending on the unit/pilot they may have later been overpainted in different colors. Quote Edited June 2, 2019 by Rob Owens LSP_K2, Out2gtcha and spacewolf 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 Wow Vaughn, not sure I'm even used to seeing airplane builds from you! This will be great to follow along with! LSP_K2 and spacewolf 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 1 hour ago, Rob Owens said: Nice wood, but the interplane struts on a finished airframe would have been painted the same light blue as the undersurfaces. Depending on the unit/pilot they may have later been overpainted in different colors. Yup, you are correct.. but I couldn't resist trying to see what it looked like !!.. and I'm pondering how I'm going to do this.. it's a DR 1 but I'm thinking of backdating it to one of the F1 prototypes.. and using a bit of artistic license .. Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coogrfan Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 (edited) I've been hoping someone would tackle this kit. FYI - there is a very nice replacement engine available: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-24-Oberursel-Resin-Engine-UPGRADE-for-Merit-International-Fokker-DR1-24001/173810914910?hash=item2877f0165e:g:BkMAAOSw88NZ9TGg Edited June 3, 2019 by coogrfan Out2gtcha and spacewolf 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_K2 Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 I did a review of this kit some time back, and while not the worst I've ever seen, I was very disappointed with what I saw. I'll look forward to seeing what you can make of it. (Both excellent books, by the way.) spacewolf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 39 minutes ago, coogrfan said: I've been hoping someone would tackle this kit. FYI - there is a very nice replacement engine available: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-24-Oberursel-Resin-Engine-UPGRADE-for-Merit-International-Fokker-DR1-24001/173810914910?hash=item2877f0165e:g:BkMAAOSw88NZ9TGg That Im sure would add a lot to the build, but while I dont think its a terrible price, it does seem a bit steep for the price of the kit itself. However in 24th, Im not sure there are any other options other than trying to spruce up the OOB engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 On 6/3/2019 at 11:46 AM, MARU5137 said: Vaughn.. This is really something .. Looks Brilliant... love the Fokker DR1. Sweet start Hey Maru, great to have you along !! I'll try and make your love for the machine grow !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 On 6/3/2019 at 11:58 AM, coogrfan said: I've been hoping someone would tackle this kit. FYI - there is a very nice replacement engine available: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-24-Oberursel-Resin-Engine-UPGRADE-for-Merit-International-Fokker-DR1-24001/173810914910?hash=item2877f0165e:g:BkMAAOSw88NZ9TGg Indeed, it needs the replacement.. I'll get into this shortly. Here is the guys site; https://resin2detail.com/product/24001/ coogrfan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 On 6/3/2019 at 12:31 PM, LSP_K2 said: I did a review of this kit some time back, and while not the worst I've ever seen, I was very disappointed with what I saw. I'll look forward to seeing what you can make of it. (Both excellent books, by the way.) For the price it is not the best.. I put it on par with the Revell 1/28 scale kit with a few things better/ worse. LSP_K2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 Ok gang... it's update time !! Looking over the kit and test fitting... we have work to do. Initial impressions ?... on par with the 1/28 Revell kit in some area's.. better in some things. Fit is pretty good, no flash and minor seam lines... an honest builders kit. You could slap this together and it'll look like a DR 1... or you can go nuts on it and make it a stunner with some aftermarket and scratch work. I'm going for improved but not to the stunning standard Sandbagger is doing with his Fokkers !! The engine is an example of the issues with the kit.. it's not the Oberursel but rather the Clerget... this along with a few other things I've noted leads me to the conclusion they copied a reproduction aircraft rather than doing the research to get it right. I've ordered the replacement engine but figgured I'd put together the kit engine just to see how it goes together. There is hardly any issues with the fit of the cylinders and almost no clean up needed.. I just brushed a bit of thin cement over the seam and it blended things very well. The cylinder heads are separate, well detailed and go in without problems. The push rods are nicely detailed and they give you 1 extra for each set.. needed in my case as I nipped off the bottom bit thinking it was not part of the pushrod... The parts go together rather quickly and with a bit of care you get a very nice engine.. The spark plugs fit into openings molded into the side of the cylinders and look very good to my eye.. A splash of Vallejo chrome silver... A wash of black and some white for the spark plugs and one has a very nice engine. No extra detailing, straight OOB. With some work and TLC this would be a jewel for any scratch build using this engine. MikeMaben, coogrfan, 109 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 That was so much fun and went so quickly I moved on to the cowling. It is not bad but the cooling and prop shaft holes are wrong, the raised section where the cowl meets the flat face is only shown as a engraved line... so out with the trusty books.. gotta fix this ! Plugs were cut from sheet and glued in.. The openings carefully plotted and drilled out.. one of my plugs popped out and had to be redone... The outer cowl was cut from thin sheet and glued on, then sanded flush with the curve ... Primered and with light divots from a pin vise and small drill to represent the rivets.... A bit more work to do before I'm fully happy with it but really pleased with how it's coming along thus far ! Please feel free to chime in ... any advice or insights to the build are welcome !! Fvdm, AceofClubs, Out2gtcha and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 Terrific modifications, Vaughn! Kev spacewolf and 109 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 Excellent! And fun too spacewolf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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