Guillow’s Fokker Dr 1 – The Kit Parts

The kit parts are very well done on Balsa sheets.   Balsa wood is the primary wood used for these models,  light weight and easy to work with.   Older kits were die cut……the ones I remember……I was very pleased to see that they have progressed to the process of laser cutting the parts.   This is a milestone,  in my opinion…..the parts will be more defined and cleanly cut…….die cutting had a rougher appearance to them.   I have also used parts sheets like these,  in my model ship building,  using them in replicating the hull parts,  to make other ship models.    With luck,  I may be able to save these sheet panels as well,  and use them as templates.

The kit supplies the wheels,  propeller,  and other detail parts in plastic.   They need to be cut out and assembled……some trimmed to shape.

I have already assembled the wheels and roughed up the tread.  The Vickers machine guns are missing in this picture……..they are on my desk,  being assembled at the moment.   A fair length of rubber band is supplied,  to set up the model for rubber flight.

The kit includes a backing for gas power……die cut and barely visible.   This is the stick portion of the kit…..a number of 1/16 x 1/16 strips and larger strips.   I may substitute bass wood instead of the balsa strip,  for a stronger model.  I don’t intend to fly it.

Tissue is also supplied in the kit.   Nice that it came in color,  but I’m thinking of a different color scheme for this model.   Decaled and set up to make Richthofen’s ‘Red Baron’ plane,   research has shown that he flew several other color schemes on his aircraft.    He also flew Albatross planes as well.   Even though he was the one who had test flown the Fokker D VII,  he never lived long enough to fly one,  by the time they came into service.

The decal sheet came as one big sheet…….I cut it up to keep any damage at a minimum.   I also took a few extra pictures of them,  to use in my decal maker program.   These are the bottom wing underside and division insignia.   Below,   are the fuselage,  rudder,  and upper wing decals.   The specifications are there too…….the weight,  payload weight,  and total weight.

The wood panels are lettered according to the parts they contain…….also for ease of assembly.   The parts themselves have a number associated with them,  depending on what part of the model your assembling.

The arrangement of the parts on the panels is a bit disheartening…….I may not be able to use them for templates.   But,  the plans are done well enough,  so that the parts can be traced and drawn out,  to make paper templates.   It would be more of a task,  but it can be done.   The parts look very good…..should be a really fun build.

Fly’em High!!!