While waiting for it to arrive I will start a little research on the subject.

With the Dr.I Fokker proved that an internally braced cantilever wing with no external wires, was feasible at a time when most thought it would simply collapse and fall out of the air.The Fokker D.VII and VIII were produced using these radical changes in aircraft design.
The high wing failure rate was attributed to poor craftsmanship at the Fokker manufacturing plant and not the aircraft designs themselves.

The steel fuselage was another innovation at a time when most other designers were still using wood.The fuselages however, were internally braced because Fokker didn't trust the welding when under stress at the time.

Looks like the Dr.I is now available but I gotta finish the Camel first.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FOKKER DR.1

The Fokker Dr.1, Tri-Plane was the favorite plane of Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, who is credited with 80 victories before he was shot down and killed. He flew it from September 1917 until his death in April 1918, accounting for the last 20 of his kills.

Built by the Dutch airplane designer Anthony Fokker, the Dr.1 was powered by the 9 cylinder rotary Oberursel UR II engine. It could climb to 3000 ft in under 3 minutes and had a ceiling of 19,000 ft. It had a high roll rate and was difficult to fly. Only the best pilots could master it, but deadly in the hands of those who did.

It arrived today ! Looks like fun.
A big thank you to Model Airways for asking me to review this sample kit.

Parts for the jig and 6 sheets of aircraft parts still in the plastic bag.

First Impressions

This is not a kit for beginners but if you are looking for a challenge and something a little different this is the kit for you.Unlike the Hasakawa Camel kit it will not just "fall together" and does require some effort on the modelers part .
I use the Model Airways kits exclusively for my museum work,they are the right scale and when viewed in a diorama are great examples of the type being depicted.I use these kits as a starting point and highly modify them for my own storytelling purposes.
What is really nice about these kits is that everything you will require to build the basic airplane is in the box,no aftermarket to buy.There are jigs and instructions,plans and drawings to help get you on your way.They cut down on a lot of the basic research required and supply you with good basic materials.
This particular kit requires some moderate scratch building especially for the control surfaces but nothing that can't be overcome by the average modeler.
What it doesn't give you is 100% accuracy in each and every part like we have become used to with the modern plastic kits.Some parts require a little adjusting and careful handling......

..... some pewter parts may require a little strengthening or modifying such as the undercarriage legs and "N" struts.I plan to replace or modify some minor parts of the fuselage that I want to be absolutely straight.As I am building I like to take close ups with my camera and of course the camera picks up every little thing that the average modeler would probably overlook.These pics I make copies of for the museum's future reference ,so I have to be a little extra cautious in this area.
Whenever I deviate from the normal I will record in pics and text how I went about doing it.
Of course I am always open to suggestions and comments and different ways of doing things. Now on to the build,Cheers! John.

I read the manual from cover to cover at it is very well written and should be easy to follow for a step-by step build.I will be starting with the fuselage and not the wings however, as I like to have something to look at while building
what can be a repetitive wing assembly procedure .

It is also an encouragement for beginners to press on when some of the initial enthusiasm wears off,believe me I know,dry spells are a part of every build.

The Developing Storyline

All of my dioramas are fantasy pieces based upon reality,"if it could have happened " that is good enough for me.
The Dr.I triplane was experiencing upper wing problems and Fokker was ordered to repair the problem at his own expense.This diorama "Against the Wind" will reflect Fokker's determination to get it right.There was at the time a lot of skepticism about the internally brace wing and the Dr1 wings were failing. It turned out that it was sloppy workmanship that was causing the problem but at the time that this diorama is depicting it could have been a design problem.But Fokker had faith in his calculations and pressed on with his research.In the diorama I want to show his determination by including a monoplane design that he was experimenting with at the same time as he was trying to resolve the triplane problem.

"Against the Wind "is a very important concept in aviation.We take off against the wind,it determines our air and ground speed,stall speed and our range of flight just to name a few examples.Crosswinds,turbulence,micro bursts etc..all are part the our aircraft's home environment , aviator's must at their peril, be well aware of the consequences of ignoring this fact.
The history of aviation has always been a struggle "Against the Wind".

I have decided that the primary focus of this diorama will center around a crashed triplane,just how serious has yet to be determined as I am researching this right now.I don't want a pile of junk but I do want a somewhat damaged airplane sitting on the trailer that was used to haul it to the Fokker test facility.The upper wing will be removed and shown on the hangar floor being stress tested with sandbags.
This will allow me the maximum amount of freedom to use artistic license to get the story across to the viewer.Bent ,broken and weathered parts and pieces are expected and my favorite part of modeling is weathering.
A lot of the airplane will be built using the Model Airways instructions and then bent and broken just like it would be in real life.I am researching different real life pics to determine what amount of damage wound be expected at different degrees on impact with the ground.For example I want for the upper wing (or part of it) to survive the accident.To accomplish this the aircraft will have to be shown at a certain position on the trailer with no fire damage.If I decide to show fabric at all it will be only remnants or pieces on the test facility floor.

I could show minimum damage like the wing failed on takeoff or landing which allow for an almost full build except for parts that I want left off for interest sake.

After looking at many Fokker accidents I have noticed that aft of the cockpit there is usually little damage to the steel tube fuselage
no matter how hard the impact.

I'll start here with the fuselage.