The kit supplied engine looks good but I decided to add better looking crankcase nuts. I removed the plastic nuts using a very sharp scalpel blade, I then replaced them by using vectorcut nuts. I placed a very small drop of CA on the crankcase and using pointed tweezers, I placed the nut onto the crankcase, I held it in place for a few seconds so the CA could grab. Once all the nuts were in place I drilled a 0.35mm hole through the centre of the nut and through the crankcase, the plastic is reasonably soft so drilling was easy. I cut short lengths of 0.35mm copper wire and inserted one into each of the nuts pushing them down until a small section of the wire was protruding past the nut, a small drop of CA holds them in place. Once the glue was dry, I used a very fine flat file and filed the ends of the copper wire so they were all flat.
The cylinder cooling fins are well defined but are very small, most of the fin detail will disappear under the first layer of paint. The induction manifold which fits at the back of the engine is a very poor fit, I needed to modify the back of the crankcase to allow the manifold to sit in it’s correct position.
I removed the moulded spark plugs and fitted new ones. The main body is made from a length of 0.6mm brass tube, the insulated part is from a length of 0.4mm brass tube with a vectorcut nut fitted over the end. I slid the 0.4mm tube inside the 0.6mm tube and pushed the nut down until it rested against the larger tube, a drop of CA holds it well. For the ignition lead connection I inserted a length of 0.2mm drill bit into the 0.4mm tube, again CA holds it in place. I drilled a 0.6mm hole in each cylinder then fitted the nine spark plugs. The insulated part of the plug will be painted an off white whilst the main body and nut will be a metallic steel colour.
The fuselage frame as supplied with the kit is very rough, so I have done all the measurements and cut 0.8mm brass tube to make a new frame. I assembled the frame and taped it in place checking for square and overlaying the original to make sure it was the correct shape. I applied a small drop of runny CA to each joint and once dry, I turned the assembly over and applied another drop of CA to the joints. I made the two frames, took about an hour, and test fitted them onto the fuselage halves, they lined up very well and the improved look was certainly worth the effort.
The kit rudder bar and foot holds are not to scale and are the wrong shape, so I am making a whole new set up. 1.0mm brass tube is used for the bar and 0.8mm brass tube for the post. Foot holds are shaped 0.38mm wire and is fitted into 0.4mm holes drilled in the bar.
I fitted the timber floor to the bottom of the airframe, the instructions are very unclear as to the correct position for the floor. The brass tube frame has also been fitted and painted, cross bars are fitted but the brace rigging still needs to be done. The rudder bar with post and instrument are now completed, rudder cables will be fitted later. The floor still needs a coat of matt clear, the forward section ahead of the timber floor will be painted black (that’s what the instructions say????). The plywood has also been painted on the inside of the fuselage sides.
The kit supplied throttle quadrant is a very poor moulding, so I made a new one from small diameter brass tube shaped and flattened, it is all held together with CA. The fuel shut off tap is made from a piece of 0.13mm copper wire. The cockpit photos show the compass fitted and the control cables. I used 0.1mm smoke thread for the two rudder cables with 0.4mm brass tube connectors, the crossed aileron cables are the same as are the elevator cables from the control column. The fuselage frame bracing wires are also 0.1mm smoke invisible thread. The throttle quadrant is only sitting in position for photo purposes.
This is the limited edition Avis 1:32 scale Fokker E.V. All the sprues were contained within a single plastic bag, a quick inspection revealed pretty good detail but a lot of clean up will be needed. There appears to be no damage to any of the parts and there are no bent or warped sections, sprue attachment points on some parts are very large and take over the detail of some small parts, careful removal and trimming will be necessary. The decals are showing signs of age and are doubtful at this stage, the lozenge does not match any colour reference material I have so they will probably be discarded. The instructions are very poor and hard to read, the placement of parts is very unclear, perhaps if the instructions were enlarged it may improve matters.
I had to make the switch which is mounted on the left side of the cockpit, for some reason Avis thought it was unnecessary to include this in the kit. The main body of the switch is made from 2.0mm brass rod, then a 3.0mm brass washer is placed over the rod leaving about 0.75mm of rod exposed, CA holds it in place. I drilled a 0.5mm hole off centre in the front of the switch and inserted a piece of 0.45mm brass wire, bend the wire to shape once the glue is dry then flatten the “handle” part of the switch using a pair of smooth jaw pliers, sand it to the required shape. I shaped a piece of 0.4mm styrene to act as a mounting board for the switch. The primer pump is also hand made from brass tube, some photos I have show a pump fitted, other photos do not, so this is a little controversial. It is a very spartan cockpit, instrument decals are from a leftover WNW decal sheet.
The seat is now finished and ready for fitment. The seat back was base coated with Gunze H85 Sail then wood grained with Burnt Sienna oil paint. The seat cushion is made from Milliput and painted with Gunze H17 Cocoa Brown. Seat belts are made from foil and left over PE, the belts are painted with Gunze H71 Middlestone.
The fuselage has now been closed up, it went together with no fit problems with only small amounts of filler needed. I cut and fitted two lengths of 2.0mm brass tube to replicate the engine intake tubes, they are held in place with CA. The seat fitted very well and the seat belts compliment the cockpit. The engine cowl in these photos is just sitting there for photo purposes.
The fuselage has had all the gaps filled and has been sanded smooth. I have decided to do the bumblebee colour scheme, yellow and black stripes, so the masking has been done. I will be spraying Humbrol gloss yellow No.69 first, because I will have to mask over the yellow I will allow at least two days drying time. The wire through the engine air intakes is very handy to handle the fuselage when spraying.
Painting has commenced. The Humbrol enamel full gloss yellow No.69 is a beautiful paint, with enamel thinners it sprays so easy and adheres very well. Several light passes with the airbrush allowing a few minutes setting time between coats prevents any runs or sags. I place all painted parts in my heat box, it prevents dust from settling on the items and speeds drying time for handling. I usually thin the paint by 50% (approximately) and with my particular air brush, I spray at 20psi.
I masked the yellow after allowing it to harden for two days then sprayed Humbrol No.21 full gloss black thinned by about 50% with enamel thinners. Two hours in the heat box was enough time for the paint to be hard enough to remove the tape.
The two guns have been sprayed with Mr Metal Color No.212 Iron slightly thinned with a few drops of lacquer thinners. These guns have been fitted with the “Master Models” gun enhancement set which are featured in my product review section. Once the paint is dry the guns will be polished to a metal finish.
NOTE. I like to remove the masking tape as soon as possible after spraying as the thinners in the paint can sometimes react with the tape adhesive and cause the glue on the tape to come away and stick to the model.
The guns after being given a slight buff using a small brush. The Mr. Metal Color is a pretty good product and with extra rubbing with a soft cloth the resulting finish would be a very highly polished metal finish. Right photo shows the feed belt and exit chute fitted, painting is next.
The weak plastic axles were discarded and replaced with lengths of 1.5mm brass tube. The brass tube is fitted and glued to the inside of the undercarriage wing before the two halves are glued together, makes for a much stronger assembly. A 1.5mm hole is drilled in the back of each wheel.
I trimmed the decal as close as possible to the white border and with the help of some decal set solution I managed to save the kit supplied decal. The entire fuselage and tail will be sprayed with Humbrol Clear Cote Satin. The engine and engine cowl fitted extremely well with no need to do any trimming on the inside of the cowl. Tailplane also fitted very well with a large flat area for it to sit on.
This is a trial fit of the two machine guns. It took quite a bit of manipulation to get the two guns to sit side by side, the exit chute of the right hand gun fouled with the feed belt of the left hand gun, also the exit chute of the left hand gun did not fit in the cutout in the top of the fuselage, I had to enlarge this hole quite a bit before it fitted. The guns nearly sit right now, a little bit more work and they will be ready. I also fitted the two fuel tank filler caps and painted them with Gunze Mr. Metal Color 217 Gold, CA holds them in place.
The guns are now fixed in position, CA holds them in place. The instrument between the two guns has also been fitted, I made this from brass tube and fitted an instrument decal. The entire fuselage and tail has been sprayed with Humbrol Satin Clear Cote which was thinned to about 50% with enamel thinners and sprayed at 25psi. The decal on the fuselage is a little transparent where it sits over the yellow colour, I was reluctant to use the kit decals because of their age and appearance, guess I should have listened to my own thoughts.
The undercarriage has been painted with Humbrol No.155 Olive Drab and Satin Clear Cote. I drilled the undercarriage strut locating holes in the fuselage just a little deeper than what was already there, this gives a more positive locating connection. The assembly was very flimsy until I fitted the rigging, this also helps to align the undercarriage with the tailplane. I fitted small turnbuckles to the undercarriage wing with eyelets, the rigging wire (0.12mm monofilament) then passes through the eyelet and is retained by 0.4mm brass collars super glued in place. The tail skid has also been fitted but requires painting. The wheels are also fixed in place. There were no problems at all fitting the undercarriage, everything lined up well, it’s amazing how much strength the two small rigging wires gives to the whole assembly.
Kit foot step has been fitted, I drilled two 0.5mm holes to locate the step easier. I made new lift handles from 0.45mm brass wire, they were fitted into 0.5mm holes drilled in the bottom of the fuselage. Step and handles are painted with satin black. A 0.5mm hole was drilled in the fuselage to allow the control cable to pass from the inside of the cockpit to the wing.
The forward struts have now been fitted, it took a bit of messing around to get them to fit correctly. For some reason one side appeared to be shorter and needed a 2.0mm infill to get the wing to sit right, but when measured both sides are the same, very odd.
I will allow the glue to set overnight then add some paint to the struts.
The rudder has now been fitted. I painted it with Humbrol full gloss white enamel and once dry applied the kit supplied decals. I trimmed the decals as close as possible to the black to remove any chance of silvering around the edges, they settled down very well with a little decal set solution. The small section of white on the fin was hand painted again using Humbrol full gloss white. The wing struts are also painted using Humbrol Olive Drab No.155 so it is nearly time to install the wing.
The wing has now been completed. It was first painted with Humbrol No.155 Olive Drab, when dry a coat of Humbrol full gloss varnish was applied where the decals were to go. I used the kit supplied decals which were trimmed right back to the colour, decal set solution was applied and the decals settled down very well. Once the decals were dry I sprayed a coat of Humbrol Matt Cote, depending on how it dries out overnight I may apply a second coat. The fin and rudder have also been sprayed with Humbrol Satin Cote. The wing struts have been brush painted with Matt Cote.
Because the wing was such a large area to spray, I upped the air pressure to 25psi, this gives a much better spray pattern and a wider coverage, the Humbrol Clear Cotes were thinned by 50% using enamel thinners. For ease of clean up I always use lacquer thinners to clean out my air brush.
The prop was base coated with Gunze H318 Radome then wood grained with Raw Sienna with a hint of Yellow Ochre. It was left in the heat box for two days then the hub was painted using Mr. Metal Color 213 Stainless. Once everything was dry I sprayed it with Humbrol full gloss varnish, decals will be applied to the prop once it has dried overnight.
These decals were left over from another model so I decided to use them here. Wolff propellers were a German propeller manufacturer and were used on a lot of Fokker aircraft, so I think it appropriate that they adorn this propeller, probably not correct for this particular aeroplane but they look good.
These are the small brass collars I use on the rigging to retain the mono once it has been looped through the elevator and rudder control horns. Photo on the left shows the material dimensions and photo on the right shows how they look when installed.
A small drop of CA holds them in place.
The wing is now fitted. The rear struts fitted pretty good, one needed lengthening by about 2mm, but once glued they form a rigid structure. The wing sits nice and square to the fuselage and there is ample space between the guns and the wing. I will allow the glue to set overnight then I will paint the rear struts. The wing control cables are also fitted.
This model is now completed. It has been a very enjoyable build, there were are few little problems but nothing that could not be solved easily. Avis have produced a nice kit of a nice looking aeroplane with construction being basically straight forward, the lack of rigging would make this an ideal model for anyone wanting to get into WW1 aircraft for the first time. The colour scheme, even though a little outlandish, looks very good and is reasonably easy to implement. I would highly recommend this model to anyone who has moderate to medium modeling skills.
Engine cylinder heads -
Engine cylinders -
Crankcase -
Spark plugs -
Spark plug insulators -
Cockpit -
Cockpit linen -
Cockpit frame -
Rudder bar -
Control column -
Control column -
Seat -
Seat wood -
Seat cushion -
Fuselage -
Fuselage -
Tyres -
Wing -
Prop -
Raw sienna plus a tad of yellow ochre
Hub, Mr. Metal Color 213 stainless
Fuel filler caps -
Machine guns -
Bullets -
Bullet belt -
Feed and exit chutes -
Engine intake pipes -
Decals -
Overall finish -
Wing -