Revell Fokker D.VII 1/28 scale, the build.

[StephenLawson]

Originally Posted by mgtaylor

Stephen, You have an awesome post and beuatiful build here. I can't thank you enough. Its great to see someone with skills put this kit together using the techiques from the '99 FSM article. AND even better able to document and describe your expereinces in steps for all of us...

Thank you for the kind words.

Originally Posted by mgtaylor

"...I take it the styerne sheet you added to the foward fusealge half is for support after you cut away the 'top engine cowlings' for the effect you were going for?..."

Yes even the plastic rod is added with the dual purpose of giving the build strength and thereby longevity.

Originally Posted by mgtaylor

Did you shorten the height of the engine compartment as described in the article? If so are you building a jig to put the top wing in place and making new struts or somehow modifying the kits struts?
Mike

I avoided altering the position of the lower wing by just carving out the lower rear fuselage faces (undersides) from the rear of the wing cut out to the stern post. Then I removed the upper section of the lower wing bridge spar (section between the wings.) This kept the depth of the cockpit a little deep. By sheering off the front cowlings entirely and repositioning them individually I was able to modify the engine compartment depth / height and keep it from being too obvious. I did re-skin the front lower cowling (chin pan) to have a more pronounced open louvre look. The engine of course had to have height added to the cylinders since I repositioned the whole compartment. PeterL's cowling panels mastered for CSM went a Loooooonnnnngggg way to help me in this modification. I find resin a great meduium to work with.

When it comes to the struts and landing gear I tried at first just to modify the kit items. While I was successful with the wing or interplane struts, I find that the landing gear struts are just too weak in plastic for longevity. In this case I differed to substituting the kit landing gear legs with "Aeroclub" STRUTZ (extruded brass.) If you refer back to the build we did for the Battle Axe 1/32 kit I and several others used STRUTZ throughout our build. Great stuff. For the interplane (between the wings) struts of the Revell 1/28 Fokker D.VII, since I had so much aftermarket stuff that had been purchased from Copper Stat Models (CSM) I wanted to try to stick with the kit plastic where possible.

Stephen,

I have to disagree about the land gear struts. My model has been "standing" on the kit struts for 5 years with no problem.

The kit is now $ 29 ? I only paid $ 15 but then that was 5 years ago. But after giving D.S. a kit I still have 3 left to try out your mods.

Those Copperstate decals look good.....so might mod one kit and order the decals.

[StephenLawson]

Originally Posted by topgun56

Stephen, I have to disagree about the land gear struts. My model has been "standing" on the kit struts for 5 years with no problem.
The kit is now $ 29 ? I only paid $ 15 but then that was 5 years ago. But after giving D.S. a kit I still have 3 left to try out your mods. Those Copper State Models decals look good.....so might mod one kit and order the decals.

Topgun56; On the landing gear normally you would be right if it were just the plastic of the kit and the piece was never moved. Remember though I added twenty-four resin parts, a laminated wooden propeller and sixteen metal pieces. Further more this piece has to stand transport attached to the base of a custom display case to Arizona to the fellow who contracted it. Also plastic struts can distort and twist unexpectedly in sudden heat changes. I'm trying to give this build as much life as I can.

Dan San actually carried out this modification on the kit you supplied him. The Copper State Models decals are nice but remember they are modern ink coloured items and will greatly benefit from a clear gloss coat. Otherwise they tends to fracture at the outer edges.

[StephenLawson]

Greetings all; Answering an offline query here. "Why not just build the kit as is?" This kit was contracted for by another fellow he paid for the build and wanted all the "bells and whistles."

[StephenLawson]

It was at this point I began to figure out the 1/28 scale width of the needed top wing red stripes.

[StephenLawson]

This is the math formula I begin with. Take the known dimensions of the stripe in real size, multiply it by twelve and take the sum and divide it by the known scale (28) and you will get the scaled down stripe size needed.

To copy a known decal from 1/48 scale to 1/28 scale you will need to kick it up to about 171.4%. In 1/72 scale to 1/48 scale you need to kick it up to about 150%.

[StephenLawson]

According to the old Blue Rider decal set that included DDN in 1/48 scale the red stripes are 6/64ths of an inch. In 1/28 scale they would be 9/64th of an inch or .140. Note that the white stripes are a little lager than the red (or black if thats your choice.)and you will need to begin at the referenced trailing edge rib spaces to beging the laying down of the red (or black if thats your choice)stripes to get them to lay correctly. The Blue rider decals are based on applications for the 1/48 DML / Dragon kit wing so again there was some concern for the Revell 1/28 application. But I found the math worked out pretty well.

[mgtaylor]

Steve , a quick question on the Extruded Brass Struts, by Aeroclub. Did you buy that at a local hobby store? Online? What size best suited this project? Do you think they have a size that will lend itself to 1/32? Mike

[StephenLawson]

Originally Posted by mgtaylor

Steve , a quick question on the Extruded Brass Struts, by Aeroclub. Did you buy that at a local hobby store? Online? What size best suited this project? Do you think they have a size that will lend itself to 1/32? Mike

Check out http://www.rollmodels.com/ You find each pack has multiple sizes and I used the blue tipped brass (the largest in the pack) does an nice job of duplicating the size needed. Member SteveS introduced me to it when we were doing the 1/32 Battle Axe Fokker D.VII build. I used Green tipped brass for that build's landing gear if I remember correctly. The brass rods ends are colour coded for quick reference. Good stuff Maynard!

Sorry, Didn't know you added 300 lbs to the fuse. Why not just channel the kit part and super glue piano wire supports ?