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Which WNW kit first?


AlbertD

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I have a small stash of WNW kits and although I don't have the fuselage together on my Hasagawa P-47D I'm thinking about my next build. I want to get some references and see what's available in aftermarket for what I choose. I have heard several people say that a Fokker D.VIII would be a good choice. I have one of these in my stash. But I happen to have 2 Sopwith Camels in my stash and was thinking it might be a pretty good place to start. One thing that I have on my side is that although I have not built many planes I have build sailing ships with rigging. Most of the other WNW kits in my stash are more complicated or out of production. I plan to build them but don't want to mess them up. I could get a monoplane I guess. I'll want at least one or two in my collection eventually anyway.

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The Fokker is not a good starter. If you align things imperfectly it all goes tricky. In fact the easiest build I've done so far is a 2 seater, the Roland c2. The wings are really secure, there's rigging for experience.

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5 hours ago, DrDave said:

The Fokker is not a good starter. If you align things imperfectly it all goes tricky. In fact the easiest build I've done so far is a 2 seater, the Roland c2. The wings are really secure, there's rigging for experience.

I see your point DrDave. With the upper wings firmly attached to the fuselage it will have a strong point of alignment. It's a nice looking plane to boot. I think I'll go ahead and order one.

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5 hours ago, DrDave said:

The Fokker is not a good starter. If you align things imperfectly it all goes tricky. In fact the easiest build I've done so far is a 2 seater, the Roland c2. The wings are really secure, there's rigging for experience.

I completely agree, the Fokker is not a starter kit. 

 

The Pup is a great design, the kit has a low parts count, and design makes it easy to align the wings. Dont worry about rigging, do one wire at a time with ezline.

 

The Camel is good kit, but has a 50% higher parts count. 

 

The Fokker E.I/II/III is a nice kit too.

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I agree with Brian  about the D1. It's probably easiset of the bunch. My first one was the albatross DV back in 2010 and that one wasn't too bad either. Most of the British planes have extensive rigging so save those for later if you are worried about wires.

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I found the Sopwith Camel to be rather tricky.  Getting all the cockpit area parts lined up correctly with everything in place as you bring the two sides together was a real nightmare for me.

 

I thought the Fokker DVII was much easier, though certainly not without it's problems, including mis calculated parts design leaving a little gap around the cowl area where you have to literally manufacture your own shim just to close the plane up.  

 

The monoplanes have a good bit of rigging to tackle.

 

I agree the Junkers D-1 would be an easy start, but that's because it doesn't involve any of the things that make WNW kits WNW kits, if you know what I mean.  Presumably you want to do at least a little rigging, have to do some wood grain paint work, and maybe even replicate some clear doped linen or the other things that make WWI aircraft WWI aircraft.

 

The Junkers D-1 is more like a WW2 aircraft in a funny shape.

 

I think I would suggest the Pfalz D.III as a nice place to start, but that is now out of production.

 

How about an Albatros D.V?  

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I the type of person that is willing to take on a project that might be beyond my abilities. I tend to take things slow, do my research and things through no matter what I do. My biggest lesson in this was deciding to scratch build an acoustic guitar. Never built one before or since but it turned out pretty darn nice. It even sounds good.

 

Finished-Guitar-resized.jpg

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How about a float plane, my first WnW was the Handa Brandenburg W 29, it's a big big 2 seater, plenty of wood work to paint inside and those huge wings give you plenty of practice applying lozenge decals. Only problem is this one is now oop but equally the W.12 would be a great start for all of the above reasons as well as being a bi-plane with minimal rigging.

 

Regards. Andy

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