1/16th Fokker Dr1 scratchbuild

[DonnyW]

Still a lot of polishing to do at the rear of the firewall before I can finish the carburettor detail and run control links etc but the fuselage is not to far from completion

Not sure how I will tackle the cowl. I guess I will start with a hardwood plug and try beating an aluminium cowl. Im not sure if a flat sheet will form the cowl shape ?

I know a flat sheet can be spun round a plug on a lathe but my little lathe wouldn’t stand the pressure required to “spin” it?

Or I may just make it out of mat and resin. I rather fancy an olive green cowl with white eyes :-D

[xken]

Here is how my wife made mine for the Camel, same methods as for the DR I. She started out with a round disk of aluminum. However, she is also a silversmith and has all the required hammers and stakes needed along with the torch to anneal as needed. I also turned a hardwood wooden buck minus the wall thickness of the aluminum for her final truing to round.

Check out Arizona Models they offer a service to custom spin cowls, no idea of cost.

[Nortley]

Donny, Take a page from Whodaky's thread and look for an aluminum can the right diameter. Or, some outfit like Tower hobbies might have a blank cowl for RC planes that would get you started. Beautiful work you're doing.

[DonnyW]

Thanks for the info Ken .. it is much appreciated. At least now I know it is possible to make from a flat sheet and I will have to give it a try, especially if I intend to make more 16th scale models

Thanks for the heads up on trying an aluminium tin Nortley ..its half way there and perhaps softer to work with than the aluminium I have at hand. Definitely worth a try

I have worked with aluminium quite a bit before and like brass..it needs softening by heating. Its very easy to melt aluminium, so a tip is…rub the surface with a bar of soap..heat until the soap turns black.. then stop.. that way it wont melt. The soap acts as a temperature indicator.

I wouldn’t like to hammer it from brass. I hammered this radiator for my R/C scratch built Jenny and there was no way it was going to form from one sheet. Still the real deal was made from brass sections too so I guess they had the same problems as me.

The cowl for the DR1 can wait till the wings are done ..it will give me time to try different ways.

Thanks again for the tips and for looking

[xken]

Here is a link to Arizona Models spun cowls - looks like 1/12th is $49 US. Good reference if nothing else.

Also a tempurature indicator I use for annealing aluminum is drawing a cross hatch pattern on the piece with a black Smootie Marker and heating, when the black turns brown it is good.

http://www.arizonamodels.com/product...products_id/76

[DonnyW]

There are some lovely things for modellers on that site Ken, I had a good browse around.

To put the thread back on my little Fokker progress .. the rear engine compartment is now complete. No matter how hard I searched on the net.. I couldn’t find any detail pics of what connects to what under the bonnet, except for Mark Miller’s lovely renders of the engine. It didn’t show the links to the cockpit controls. So if I have a throttle linkage going up a magneto intake.. please humour me..I tried my best

[xken]

Look in my aldums...DRI I just posted some pictures for reference. The choke is close enough, the wires to the mag are good to the switch on the left side. The throttle linkage goes from the lever to a 90 degree bellcrank and then to the carb. Look close at the picture I posted DRI Portside close-up. Picture still not posted or I would have posted here; will check later.

Hope this helps PM me if you have more questions.

[DonnyW]

Thanks for your assistance Ken, any and all info is much appreciated. I did study your side photo. I doubt I could do the DR1 without your photo references.

Im not to concerned about absolute scale with this one as its my first attempt at 1/16th static display and is more an exercise to see what I can do. I know I have cheated in a few places to ease construction. As long as its instantly recognised as a DR1 I will be very happy. However my future models will be better researched and more accurate. Im already thinking about my next venture in this scale and style

The wing ribs are easy. I cut the 1/64th inch birch ply with scissors and pile the ribs on to of one another. A simple jig holds them all in position as I drill and slot them. This ensures the line up well.

The mid spar has also be attached to the fuz… and I have started fitting ribs to the bottom spar. I feel the model is getting somewhere now and things should start flying

[DonnyW]

Here is another weekend’s modelling progress photos

I didn’t get much done today as I had other things to attend. Any time I did have was spent cutting out wing ribs.

One side of the bottom wing is now complete .. only another five sides to go. I’m happy with progress and the result so far…

Thanks for looking

[JohnReid]

Lookin good!

[hot ford coupe]

That's one classy airframe. I can't wait to see this completed. Great work.

[DonnyW]

“Two wings on my wagon..and I’m still rolling along”

Yup..I have almost completed the two bottom wings and I am now thinking about the cowl.

I have decided to go for a green painted cowl with a white face rather than a shiny aluminium one. I think a splash of colour will add an artistic contrast to the wood and metal. It will be the authentic cowl colour scheme of the DR1 flown my Lt Werner Voss. That is my excuse for not attempting to hammer an aluminium one at the moment.

To make the cowl, I will construct it from 1/64” ply with a balsa ring at the front where it curves (see photo) The balsa will be sanded to shape then the whole cowl covered in fine glass cloth and epoxy resin. This will polish to a very smooth surface for priming and painting. Once that is done, the balsa ring will be sanded out from the inside leaving only the birch ply and resin cloth finish. This means it will still have a realistic thin section once complete

If you are wondering why I have wires hanging above the front of the cockpit area, these are the aileron control cable for the top wing. Scratch building is like a game of chess ..you have to think a dozen moves in front. If I had not installed them to the joystick assembly before I built up the wings.. it would have been murder trying to attach them now.

Anyhoo..here is the photo of the progress .. thanks again to all who comment and to those following the build ..it is appreciated

[Don Garrett]

You Rock, Donny!

[xken]

Looking great so far!!!! Will you be adding wire wheels or going with covered? As for the cowl that can always be retro fitted down the road and changed out.

Keep up the great work on this tutorial!!!

[hot ford coupe]

Beautiful. Donny, you're a master craftsman if I ever saw one.