Fokker E.V / D.VIII Parasol Mikro Mir 1/32

[DocRob]

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's official, I will do a WIP about the Fokker E.V / D.VIII. It's a late WWI monoplane with a parasol wing design. I liked the sleek design of the Fokker and when I spotted the Mikro Mir kit, I decided, I have to build one in Lozenge finish.

It took my some tries to find solutions for the biggest obstacles I saw, until I felt save enough, to call it seriously a project. I'm kind of an up front coward , when I evaluate a non Tamiya kit, I look for the most difficult steps in the build that I can see and only if I have the feeling, that I can solve these, I really start. In my evaluation phase there often goes a lot of effort in learning new techniques and prepare myself for whatever will thrown in my way.

The kit plastic is not up to modern standards, there are flaws in the cast, flash and soft details, but what bothered me most, was the flimsy struts for the wings and undercarriage and the bad fitting fuselage.
The benefit of the planes design, is that there is nearly no rigging to be done, but I would have changed some riggings for some better plastic, now that I have some routine.

I will use a lot of AM:
- Lukgraph Le Rhone engine or CSM Oberursel, depending which fits better under the cowling.
- Aviattic engine cowling
- Aviattic pilot seat
- Aviattic PE-set for the firewall, engine hatch and other details
- Some Eduard or Airscale decals for the IP
- Gaspatch 08/15 MG's
- Lozenge decals from Aviattic
- Decalsheet including jig from Pheon
- Seatbelts from the spare box
- Albion brass tubes and rods and Albion Connecto connectors
 

Cheers Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BlrwestSiR]

Ok, I'm pulling up a seat for this. My favourite WWI plane. 

Carl

[Bill_S]

Watching for sure!

[Jeff]

34 minutes ago, Bill_S said:

Watching for sure!

ME too !

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Ok, I'm pulling up a seat for this. My favourite WWI plane. 

 

40 minutes ago, Bill_S said:

Watching for sure!

 

5 minutes ago, Jeff said:

ME too !

Good to have you with me. When time comes, I know, I will benefit from your knowledge . Until then, be my guest. Like Carl, it's one of my favorite planes of the era, at least among single engine fighter, so I hope, I can pull a reasonable result out of this build.

Cheers Rob

[Jeff]

Being a parasol, I am wondering how strong the wing and struts were, but knowing it is a Fokker, I would assume welded tubing?  I would think if one got in a bit of a dive, and yanked back on the stick, one might find himself going from airplane to missile, and what a fun few last seconds that would be.... NOT

[harv]

Oh, a must see !.....harv 

[GazzaS]

Luftstreitkräfte...  Check!  Saw Combat...  Check!  You're building it...  Check!

 

                                                                

[DocRob]

14 hours ago, Jeff said:

Being a parasol, I am wondering how strong the wing and struts were, but knowing it is a Fokker, I would assume welded tubing?  I would think if one got in a bit of a dive, and yanked back on the stick, one might find himself going from airplane to missile, and what a fun few last seconds that would be.... NOT

The initially problem with the Fokker E.V were not the wing struts, but the parasol wing itself, which collapsed midair on several occasions. That seemed to be caused, by bad coating of the wood, which led to water seeping in. Other sources claim, that there were changes in the wooden material itself and in the construction from the original plans.
With the made changes, the plane got it's new designation D.VIII and the initial problems seem to have been solved.

13 hours ago, harv said:

Oh, a must see !.....harv 

Thanks Harv

2 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Luftstreitkräfte...  Check!  Saw Combat...  Check!  You're building it...  Check!

Down the alley, it seems . Thanks mate

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

The upfront coward I am, I started with my most feared parts of the build, besides the fuselage fit, the struts. I decided to substitute all by self made brass ones in two different sizes. I wanted an elliptical shape of the tubes and used wooden brackets in a wise to flatten the tubes, which worked to my satisfaction. To avoid flattening the tubes completely , I inserted brass rods into the tube. I manufactured two different sized type of raw strut from 1,5 mm tube with a 1 mm rod inserted for the wheel struts and the large wing struts and 1,2 mm tube with 0,5 mm rod for the smaller V-shaped struts.
Normally I cut the tubes with a scalpel, which didn't work with the oval ones. As I had no superfine saw, I first used a file, but then tried my trusty Tamiya nipper, which worked good, as long as you insert some rod into the tube while cutting.

The V-struts needed to be soldered and there will be another bigger third strut added later, when everything will be assembled to the fuselage. This construction needed a connection into four directions, two for the V, another for the larger main strut and one to fix the wing. I used Albion Connecto connectors which I bent in shape and then soldered in.

These were the parts

After soldering the V on a glass pane

Here are all the pre manufactured brass parts. The inserted rods will be cut to length, while assembling and will be glued into pre drilled holes in the fuselage and wing.

Cheers Rob

 

[Bomber_County]

You’re almost done then...........

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, Bomber_County said:

You’re almost done then...........

More or less , but Im sure, this kind of kit will throw some other obstacles at me, without me expecting them. 

Cheers Rob

[Jeff]

Thanks for the wing info , Rob, very interesting......  not a bird I know very much about, I will follow along, and will learn as you go....

[GazzaS]

Thanks for the mini strut tutorial.  I think it was good to get that part of the build over with, first.  I find it's a good way to motivate the rest.

 

nice job!

[DocRob]

4 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Thanks for the mini strut tutorial.  I think it was good to get that part of the build over with, first.  I find it's a good way to motivate the rest.

 

nice job!

De nada Señhor, and yes, I had to have the solution for the struts first and then get everything started.

The results are rewarding and the way I realized it, will help to solve another problem area on the Fokker. The side panels of the fuselage are bended inward, where they meet the upper front part of the fuselage. As I drilled the holes for the strut attachments into the side fuselage panels, the struts will help to bend these fuselage parts in shape.

Only dry fitted

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

Struts look great!  I'm toying with the idea of learning to make the LG legs from brass tube....  gotta figure out what size to get.

 

GAz

[Kaireckstadt]

On 12/23/2020 at 12:21 AM, DocRob said:

De nada Señhor, and yes, I had to have the solution for the struts first and then get everything started.

The results are rewarding and the way I realized it, will help to solve another problem area on the Fokker. The side panels of the fuselage are bended inward, where they meet the upper front part of the fuselage. As I drilled the holes for the strut attachments into the side fuselage panels, the struts will help to bend these fuselage parts in shape.

Only dry fitted

Cheers Rob

That looks great Rob! You are really going the extra-mile, which pays off! The tutorial is very good. I have the Meng Triplane in my stash and will probably use your method. 

[RichO]

Already building with the scratching!!  See how things get started.  I'm just saying.

Nice work with the scratch struts!

[DocRob]

On 12/23/2020 at 12:43 AM, GazzaS said:

Struts look great!  I'm toying with the idea of learning to make the LG legs from brass tube....  gotta figure out what size to get.

Thanks Gaz, Albion has the so called slide-fit sets, with three tubes of different diameter included, that's a good way to start, as you don't need a lot of tube for some wheelstruts. I took the measurements from the plastic. The larger struts are 2,00 mm wide in plastic, which equals to a 1,5 mm tube flattened.

On 12/24/2020 at 11:41 AM, Kaireckstadt said:

That looks great Rob! You are really going the extra-mile, which pays off! The tutorial is very good. I have the Meng Triplane in my stash and will probably use your method. 

Thanks Kai? I think the struts on a DR.I are way stronger and shorter in plastic and there is no real need to replicate these in brass. If I remember it right, the DR.I struts have a curved conture, where they connect to the wing. This will be hard to replicate.

20 hours ago, RichO said:

Already building with the scratching!!  See how things get started.  I'm just saying.

Nice work with the scratch struts!

Thanks, definitely a kit, which needs some extra work here and there .

Cheers Rob

[Kaireckstadt]

On 12/25/2020 at 2:18 PM, DocRob said:

Thanks Gaz, Albion has the so called slide-fit sets, with three tubes of different diameter included, that's a good way to start, as you don't need a lot of tube for some wheelstruts. I took the measurements from the plastic. The larger struts are 2,00 mm wide in plastic, which equals to a 1,5 mm tube flattened.

Thanks Kai? I think the struts on a DR.I are way stronger and shorter in plastic and there is no real need to replicate these in brass. If I remember it right, the DR.I struts have a curved conture, where they connect to the wing. This will be hard to replicate.

Thanks, definitely a kit, which needs some extra work here and there .

Cheers Rob

Thank you for your tip, Rob! So I will use the ones delivered with the kit. I will be my first WWI plane. Always been afraid of the rigging. But that not much on the triplane.

[DocRob]

I compared my engine options, without showing the kit one. It's a little bit better detailed, than other plastic parts of the kit, but I only plan to use it in parts as a dummy for the right attachment.

Lukgraph Le Rhone type J engine, 3D printed, with great detail and relatively easy clean up and construction.

 

Copper State Models Oberursel UR.II engine in resin and PE, also very nice, but needs a little bit more work

 

Comparison of the engine cases

 

I think I will use the Lukgraph engine and use the CSM in my Roden DR.I. There are some differences between the two, but I read somewhere, that some captured Le Rhone engines were used in German Fokker E.V / D.VIII.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Here you can see, how the engines build up.
On the left side is the CSM offer, on the right Lukgraph, which includes steel wire for the pushrods. Both kits don't have the spark plug wiring included.

 

The Lukgraph parts after a simple cleanup session. The 3D-printed material is not as brittle as resin, it doesn't break that easy (These are my first printed parts)

 

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

Those engine parts look pretty amazing!  I like that 3d printed parts are less brittle than resin.  A lot of options have opened up with 3d printing that could only be done with metal before.

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, GazzaS said:

Those engine parts look pretty amazing!  I like that 3d printed parts are less brittle than resin.  A lot of options have opened up with 3d printing that could only be done with metal before.

Indeed Gaz, the material is very forgiving and the process seem to allow differently casted shapes, which reduces the parts count. As I'm new to printed parts, I tested primer and glues on residues. Tamiya rattle can primer doesn't do harm, but you definitely need CA for gluing, Plastic cement doesn't work.

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

Just catching up on your build. The struts are really impressive. Just curious how you get the alignment on the joint where all three struts meet? You did the V first and when you add the third one, do you solder it on too? 

Carl