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Eduard 1/48 Fokker Dr.I "Weekend Edition"

By Dennis Ugulano

A couple of months ago this kit appeared on the shelf at Hobbytown and for the next few weeks I picked up the box and wondered what was inside. I loved the box art and the neat picture of Ltn. Weiss' plane. But I always put it back and returned to my class. One day it was gone and I thought the temptation was gone. The following week it had returned with a note on the box saying “As Is” for pittance of what the kit cost. It seems it had two “B” parts trees and no “A” tree. So I laid a few coins on the counter and opened up the box.

What a beautiful and easy kit. Three trees of parts, one decal sheet with one option, no masks, no metal etch, no hassle. I sent an email to Eduard with a photo attachment of my problem and about 10 days later I had the “A” tree. Again, no hassle. Let's see how this beauty goes together.

There are no progress shots as I was going to build the kit to sell and did not think about a build until I was about half way completed.

Fuselage

After painting the interior, the frame work is attached. Make sure the framework is level with top edge or the middle wing will not fit tight. The interior is very easy to assemble and it fits in exactly as shown.

The problem comes in with the installation of parts B6, B4 and C39. These three parts are for the magazine, oil container (?) and piping for the machine gun gases. The instructions show where they go but there was no cooperation from the parts. There are locating pins but they did not line up when the fuselage was closed. I finally closed the fuselage, snipped off the locating pegs and worked the parts into place. The real problems comes in down the road when you try and attach the machine guns. I see how they were supposed to fit but in reality, they did not. I finally had to snip and cut to get the guns mounted correctly. The chutes for the bullets are too long and have to be shortened after the guns are in place.

Some putty is needed on the bottom forward of the plane because of the way the bottom wing attaches, but this takes only a few minutes and the results are good. There is a molded piece that represents the stitching on the bottom rear and it fits perfectly.

I then masked off the rear section for the white and added the decals.

Wings

No problems at all here. I painted the top wing white on top, blue on the bottom and applied the decals. I put the control horns in last so they would not be damaged during construction.

The middle and bottom wings are painted blue on the bottom and unbleached linen on top and then streaked with green. Both of these wings are attached and touched up. I did the same to the undercarriage piece.

The wings struts slide into their respective slots exactly as designed. There is a notch that denotes top and bottom. I turned the kit upside down and attached the top wing. The cabanes were added and alignment is almost automatic.

Final Assembly

There is not much left to do at this point. The undercarriage struts are four separate pieces so exercise care in their location. I drilled the front pieces for the rigging. The attachment presented no problems.

At this point the engine and cowl was attached along with the prop. Tail skid and control horns followed and the control lines and rigging was completed.

Conclusion

The kit is called the Weekend Edition and I can see why. If built out of the box, assuming all AMS is controlled, the kit can be built in less that 10 hours. The only problems are mentioned above but the results are very pleasing in the end.

I do thank Eduard for this beautiful kit and the speed with which they sent the missing parts. This is a nice kit that will allow you to complete it quickly and have something to show off on your shelf.

Eduard 1/48 Fokker Dr.I "Weekend Edition"

By Dennis Ugulano

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