by George Grasse

 

 

EDUARD EU8418 BOX ART

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO #1

FUSELAGE BEGINNINGS:  The instruction pamphlet is not a panel-by-panel, step-by-step illustrated guide.  After all, it is a "Weekend Edition" and rather sparse with crowed illustrations.  Nonetheless, the process can be followed but carefully.  The cockpit interior including the fuselage halves consists of 21 parts as shown above.  The fit is quite good for all parts though the illustrations could have been a bit better.

 

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO #2

COCKPIT CLOSEUP:  This photo shows early progress after the fuselage halves have been closed up.  Note that in the early steps as shown in Photo #1 above, it is critical to perfectly align the parts.  I made a couple of errors with gaps and misalignment evident in the photo.  I used a lot of putty to cover my errors.

 

 

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO #3

LEFT SIDE VIEW - TAIL WORK (front section covered in next photo): After the fuselage halves were joined, I used quite a bit of putty for fill.  Because of the sanding required, I had to virtually erase the raised fuselage frame lines on the topside.  To reinstate them, I used thin hobby masking tape sealed with primer.  The tail unit is straight forward but the tail skid requires a bit of finesse but was otherwise without trouble.

 

 

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO #4

RIGHT SIDE VIEW - FRONT END WORK:  The rotary engine was pre-painted in chrome then stained with semi-gloss black.  It was pushed onto the fuselage pin and the cowling glued in place.  The cowling side panels were added followed by the detail on top: bracing structure and machine gun.  In this photo you can see the putty "spill over" from the extensive repair work on the top deck of the rear fuselage.  The photo also shows the complex landing gear assembly.  This required three hands to complete - just kidding.  It is a bit tricky but it holds up well.  I pre-painted the wheels and stuck them on for show.

 

 

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO #5

WING ATTACHMENT:  And lastly, the wings but they were propped up until thoroughly dry.  Not visible are the many drilled out rigging holes at the tail, wings, and forward fuselage.  Now, on to painting.

 

 

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO #6

PAINTING:  My first choice was Vallejo VC0912 Tan Yellow but it seemed too dark.  I switched to Vallejo VC0847 Dark Sand and I was satisfied with the results.  I added one more coat and painted the rudder Vallejo VC0995 German Grey.  All of the bare metal aluminum parts were hand-brushed with Tamiya AS-12 Gloss Aluminum spray paint.  I did this by spraying a small amount about the size of a quarter on my paint palette and simply hand-painted where needed (great touch-up technique).  The model was over-sprayed with satin polyurethane mostly in preparation for decal placement.

 

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO #7

DECALS:  Because several of the rigging lines pass through the wing insignia, these decals had to be applied first.  After getting those on, I re-drilled the rigging holes.  Well, I couldn't stop and ended up applying all of the kit's decals for E.68/15.  The rear KeK Habsheim black and white diagonal bars on the fuselage had to be touched up with black and white to fill a few minor spaces where the decals did not exactly come together.  The model was once again over-sprayed with satin polyurethane to seal the decals.  Next is the rigging.

 

 

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO #8

RIGGING:  The tail unit was done first.  The connection to the rudder and elevator horns was short and are not visible in this photo.  Holes were drilled first in alignment with the horns.  Each line of .005 monofilament thread was glued into each hole.  Each line was passed through a horn, clamped, allowed to dangle, and then glued with a small touch of super glue.  When dry, the excess was cut off. The wing rigging as pretty straight forward.  I started with a piece of thread about two feet long, tied it to the kingpost, and secured with a tiny application of super glue.  I passed each end through pre-drilled holes in the wing, in this case, the forward inboard location.   The thread was looped to the lower center of the landing gear thread and glued.  The excess was sent back to the hole in the forward outboard location and back to the kingpost where it was glued.  The last of each one of these threads was glued into holes in forward fuselage section just behind the cowling.  A second long piece of thread was started by tying it to the kingpost leaving two eual long pieces that started off passing through the rear inboard location first.  The thread was then taken to the lower rear center part of the landing gear strut, tied off, glued, and passed back to the rear outer location and back to the kingpost.  A couple of short lines were added to complete the rigging. Two items were now added to complete the model:  the windscreen and the steps made from brass rod located just under the "Fok" decal, one on each side.

 

 

FINISHED  PHOTO #9

 

FINISHED  PHOTO #10

 

FINISHED  PHOTO #11

 

FINISHED  PHOTO #12

 

FINISHED  PHOTO #13

 

FINISHED  PHOTO #14

COLOR TABLE

------------------------------------------------  C'EST FINIS   -------------------------------------------

Bibliography:

Brannon, D. Edgar.  Fokker Eindecker in Action.  Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1996.

Bruce, J. M. The Fokker Monoplanes, Profile Publications No. 38.  Surrey, UK: Profile Publications.

Grosz, Peter M.  Fokker E.I/II, Windsock Datafile 91.  Berkhamsted, UK: Albatros Productions Ltd, 2002.

Guttman, Jon.  Nieuport 11/16 Bebe vs Fokker Eindecker, Western Front 1916  (Osprey "Duel" Series No. 59).  Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2014.

Roberts, Dave; Ray Rimmel, and Greg VanWyngarden et al.  Fokker Anthology series 1, 2, and 3, artwork and illustrations by Dave Roberts, Ray Rimmel, and Juanita Franzi; scale drawings by Ian Stair.  Albatros Publications Ltd, Berkhamsted, UK, 1997 (1), 2000 (2), 2002 (3).

Rottgart, Dirk.  German Armies' Establishments 1914/18, Volume 6: Signals and Air Forces.  West Chester, OH: The Nafziger Collection, 2007.

Ryheul. Johan.  KEKs and Fokkerstaffels: The Early German Fighter Units in 1915-16.  Gloucestershire, UK: Fonthill Media, 2014.

Scott, Josef.  Fokker Eindecker, Compendiums 1 and 2.   Berkhamsted, UK: Albatros Productions Ltd, 2012.

VanWyngarden, Greg.  Early German Aces of World War I  (Osprey "Aircraft of the Aces  Series No. 73).  Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2006.

GO TO?

Copyright by George Grasse