Michael Satin examines Meng's new 1:32 Fokker Dr.I, originally designed by Wingnut Wings and due for imminent release just as the company sadly closed.

Read the Review

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thank you for loading up the review, Rowan!

Michael

Not a fan of WW1 warplanes, but that is certainly a great review!

Thanks Phillipe!

Michael

Thanks for the comprehensive review Michael which is very balanced and fair I think.

What are the wings like on your example? I ask as everyone I know who has bought this kit (I have 3 myself) all have banana shaped wings. I wrote to MENG asking for the worst example (which I doubted even boiling water would straighten given how thick the part is) to be replaced and to their credit they did; but the replacement which arrived last week was even worst than that one!

Also and for some reason the one I am building at the moment, the trailing edge of the upper wing where it is scalloped and being so thin, it was also initially shedding like superfine stretched sprue before I got some paint on it...just weird and I have no idea what was causing this at all. There are also some huge attachments points to the sprue runners as well needing some careful separation of the parts.

Anyone expecting a WNW kit in a MENG box is going to be sorely disappointed and you can see where they obviously rushed this kit to market following the demise of WNW. In fairness, the engine is excellent and there are no problems with that little jewel at all.

Personally, I would suspect this is simply a first test shot WNW kit as it looks identical to what I saw and handled at Telford last year and which the WNW guys said whilst chatting to them "still had a way to go". Seemingly however, it has now been granted "It will have to do" status by MENG to go straight to market. This is a 'decent' kit that could have been a 'great' one had WNW finished and produced it in their own inimitable style and I would happily have paid the extra £20 or $30 had they done so.

If this Dr1 is a portent of anyone else being let loose with WNW tooling, then it will serve only to remind us even more of just what a bespoke, premium and subjectively unique kit manufacturer WNW were.

Gary

Hi Michael

Thanks for the really informative review of this kit. I was all set to buy Wingnut Wing's release without hesitation as soon as it came out.

Quality control aside - the real disappointment for me is how the UK cost has risen to pretty much a WnW price-point, without the added value of a WnW kit. Wow - do I regret not taking advantage of the cheaper pre-order offers I saw months ago!

As it is, with the QC issues highlighted, I'll probably wait until the consensus of opinion is that Meng have got it sorted - assuming they do... (and then wait a fair while to hopefully ensure getting a fresh moulding . )

It all just adds to the tragedy of Wingnut Wings folding.

All the best

Rowan

Good call Rowan as it is a £35- £40.00 kit (absolute tops) price wise.

It's a very disappointing situation all round with their QC on this kit and it isn't as if MENG don't know how to make a good premium quality kit as I have several of their quite superb AFV kits. I rather suspect instead that they have simply relied upon the WNW association to just crank them out warts and all to "grateful" modellers and then watch the money flow in.

Gary