Is This the BEST WW1 Plane Kit?

Transcript*

Intro

Hello all. This is David from Loisirs vers le soleil and this time I’m going to be doing something quite different. I will be doing a full in depth model kit build and I figured the best one to do this with would be my favourite plane, the Fokker DR1 in 1/32nd scale from Meng. Uh, this is going to be a multi-part video. have no idea how many parts at the moment, but since we now have a spray booth in the studio and all the accommodations I need for a full build, I can’t put it off any longer. So, this will be a long one. So, let’s get started right away.

I’m going to try and quickly glaze over the history of the plane and the kit itself. So, it is released by Meng. However, they did not tool it as this was originally being developed by Wingnut Wings shortly before they went under and once they did and they were selling off all their assets, Meng purchased the moulds to this. So, I would expect this kit to be very nicely detailed and easy to put together. Now, for the DR1 itself, there is no doubt you have probably seen this plane somewhere in media. Arguably the most famous plane of World War I, flown by many German pilots, including arguably the most famous fighter ace of them all, Manfred von Richthofen or The Red Baron.

Definitely not the highest scoring ace. However, if you ask most people, some of them may have heard of Erich Hartmann. I said Hartmann, not Cartman. Uh anyway, uh yeah, some people may have heard of him, but everybody has heard of The Red Baron. And uh don’t let media fool you. Not every single DR1 was red. Now, the plane itself didn’t really stay in service for long. In fact, The Red Baron didn’t even get most of his kills in this plane. Uh the most of them were in the Albatross D5.

Unboxing

And being a rotary engineered aircraft where the the engine literally spun with the propeller made it notoriously difficult to fly, which is probably a big reason why this plane did not stay in service very long. But despite all that, like I said in the intro, this is without a doubt my favourite plane. I mean, other than the P40, how many planes do you know of that actually have a face on them? So, from what I saw, there actually isn’t too many parts.

So, luckily, uh, this isn’t going to be too difficult of a build for me. In fact, World War I planes in general have a reputation for being difficult to build. However, if you are be a beginner, the DR1 is actually one of the easier ones you can build as there’s very little rigging to it. And uh usually it just came in this one colour. So, upon inspecting the instruction booklet, it’s much akin to the old Wingnut Wings style of instructions.

Des instructions

And from what I’ve gathered, for a modern day 32 scale kit, there really isn’t that much to this, it’s quite simple. As you can see, the instructions were only like 10 pages. And since I do have a lot of experience building this particular plane, uh I shouldn’t find this very difficult at all.

So, this first part is mainly going to be just uh clipping off the parts for the interior. Uh gluing them together. Uh maybe some sanding if we get there before the end of the day. So, as you can see, we’re going to start in the cockpit with the seat and the uh rear bulkhead. So, let’s grab the sprue nippers and we’ll get started.

Sprue Cutting

So, as I’m clipping this off, I must uh make note of the plastic used here. It’s quite strong and sturdy, which um Édouard, even though you’re my favourite model kit manufacturer, your plastic is quite brittle. I mean, almost every kit I’ve bought from you guys, there’s always at least one part loose off of the sprue.

Seat and Cushion

So, we’ve got the seat, the cushion for the seat, and the rear bulkhead. So now those are clipped off. I’m going to take a hobby knife just scrape off the remainder of the sprue. So, uh, we’re going to just, uh, scrape and sand off some of this, make it nice and clean.

Cockpit Parts

So, that is all the cockpit parts laid out. Now, before I resume, I’ve got some grievances to air here that I was not expecting to see.

David’s Thoughts So Far

So, take here. This is the starboard side of the cockpit wall. If you have seen real pictures of the DR1, you’ll know that right around here, hanging off of this bar, is a little leather pouch where pilots would keep their maps and stuff like that. That is nowhere to be seen in the instructions, nor are there any parts on the sprues for such a pouch.

Now, I’m honestly surprised that Wingnut Wings would leave out a detail like that. They usually include every single little thing that was on the real plane. So, if you are a stickler for that, that’s something you’d have to scratch build. And while I’m still on this cockpit wall, why would they put the sink marks on this end, which is the visible end when they could have just easily put them here? This side will not be seen at all when it’s fully built.

So now I’m going to have to take some mastic and fill these in as well. But hopefully that’s all I’ll have to complain about here. I mean, other than that, the uh details on here, the surface details are quite good. Nice rivets and panel lines. All right, so now with that out of the way, I am going to start gluing some of these parts together.

Cement

So, I decided to pull out the Tamiya extra thin cement low odor version just to uh give it a little attention. I feel it’s kind of ignored even though it really does perform just as good as the regular one. So, I sincerely apologize.

David’s Updated Thoughts

Uh, it turns out once you’ve added all the parts onto the cockpit, then those sync marks I talked about are completely hidden. So, I’m very sorry, Wingnut or Meng or whoever I was complaining to. Uh, you actually did engineer it correctly.

What’s Been Cemented So Far

So, with that embarrassment aside, I’ve glued the ammunition boxes, the control lever, and the seat cushion together. So that is pretty much all I want to glue for now. As for the sake of ease of access as well as different coloured parts, I am going to leave everything else here unassembled and paint it in that way. And then once it’s all painted and varnished and whatever, then I will glue everything together. So, I will set these aside for now and move on to another step of assembly.

Machine Gun Assembly

Now, I get to show you how to make the machine guns. So, if you want the easy way out, the kit does provide you with fully plastic spandau machine guns. But for those of us who demand realism, you can use the included photo-etch barrels and get an end result like this with the uh realistic holes in the barrel that you can see right through. So, I’ve got the plastic parts needed for it.

And the photo-etch fret that comes with this kit, it’s actually unique. Instead of the usual fret which has little tiny connector pins from the part to the fret, uh they have this adhesive backing, which in a way is better cuz then you don’t have to worry about trying to take the part off of the fret without bending it. Of course, uh this way is a little awkward too, but if you get it right, then there won’t be any damage. There we go. So, how on earth am I going to get this flat sheet to look like that? Well, there are professional uh metal rolling rods that you can use, but uh I just like to use whatever I’ve got. So, I’m using a micro brush here, just the handle of it. with the barrel here.

I’m going to just simply conform it around the brush to get as perfect of a circular shape as I can. And that’s pretty much all to it. So now with some BSI Maxi-Cure CA glue, I’m just going to take a tiny amount and place it on the lip of this gun here and just slip it on. Just give that a few seconds to dry. And while we’re doing that, I’m going to take the gun site, which is also photo-etch. Add some more CA glue. to this end of the gun and sit that right there. Seems very uh risky, but uh if you’ve been doing it for a while, it’s no problem. So now I’m just going to attach the uh ammo belt as well as the uh this part here which uh acts like um almost like a gas power to the gun.

Rotary Engine Assembly

Next thing we have here is the rotary engine, which is in two halves. So, I’m just going to take some of my thin cement, hold the two halves together, and on each cylinder, just drip some in. As you saw, there’s a hole in each cylinder. So, that is where each of these tiny little parts go on. So, I’m just going to add those next.Perfect. Now, this part here has some copper tubing, which is going to be hand painted, but it’s going to be too hard to reach if it’s glued on here already. So, that is another thing that we will wait to paint. So, now I’m going to move on with a few more assemblies.

Wheels & Hubcaps

So, next up is our wheels. And here are the hub caps. Now, the instructions say that you can add this little piece here, which will help allow the tires to spin, but I personally don’t care if they spin. So, I’m just going to close those up now. Just align it up with the peg there.

Part 1 Wrap Up

And with that, I will wrap up part one of this Fokker DR1 build. I hope you had a good laugh. So, join us back for part two where I will finish up a few remaining interior assemblies. Then I will begin priming and if there’s time, maybe some pre-shading, too. And let me ask you, the viewer, have you personally ever built a Fokker DR1 model or any World War I plane for that matter? Feel free to let us know in the comments how your experience was.

So, thank you very much for watching this video. Remember to like, comment, subscribe, follow us on our socials, and until the next one, adios.

About the Author:

David Peckam has built scale models since he was 12, specializing largely on military aircraft. He is a makeup artist and background actor for films and TV. He enjoys watching hockey and of course, movies. He has an excellent knowledge of hobby products and if you have questions concerning scale model airplanes.

*Video by David Peckham
Video Edited by Daniela Castellano
Transcript generated by youtube
Edited by Angelo Castellano