Roden 1/32 Fokker Dr 1

By Mikael Terfors

My second take on Roden's Fokker Dr1 in 1:32. Originally I planned this one as one of Manfred von Richthofen's mounts. I even went so far as to buy Cutting Edges sheet containing all the Barons DR1s. Unfortunately I couldn't decide if I wanted to do one of his all red planes or one of his more subtler, reserve machines… So instead I decided to do his brother Lothar von Richthofen's DR 1, his markings are also available from Cutting Edge. Lothar was also he a very successful pilot and ace of Jasta 11, and flew a DR1 alongside his brother during winter/spring of 1918. With a total of 40 victories in an exceptionally short time, he was probably as good a pilot as his brother. However injuries put him out of action for long periods during 1917 and 1918 (for some reason he was always wounded on the 13th in the month). Lothar survived the war, only to die in a crash while piloting a commercial plane in 1922.

Construction followed the previous one, with some lessons learned. Dry fitting a very important step in construction, but overall a really good build, that I can recommend.

Lothar's plane came to Jasta 11 in standard Fokker streaky olive green. The red struts, cowling and wheels of the jasta was applied later, together with Lothar's personal yellow colour. I started by spraying the model with Humbrol 103, a beige "sail-colour" to simulate the doped linen. When this had dried solid, I went over the top of the wings and fuselage using a suitable broad brush with Humbrol 155. The trick is to dilute the paint with thinner, and make the long brushstrokes show. With a bit of practice on an old plastic sheet I managed a fairly good simulation of Fokker's streaky scheme - although I could certainly do with a bit more practice. The undersides was sprayed using Extracolour's German WWI underside blue, and the yellow and red are home-mixes of Humbrol paints. Weathering was done using artists oils and dry pastels.

Roden 1/32 Fokker Dr 1

By Mikael Terfors

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