Wednesday, October 26, 2016

The Red Baron! The Fokker Dr. I and Manfred von Richthofen

Despite having built models since the 1970s, I've actually never built the Fokker Dreidecker of that German ace, Manfred Albrecht, Freiherr von Richthofen, Der Rote Kampfflieger (together with many other names). The kit is the old Revell Dr. I model from 1964, which isn't too bad, although not in any way up to par with the much more modern Revell kit of the Dr. I. However, the old kit came with the decals of Werner Voss, and I am nourishing a project to use the Werner Voss decals on a modern Revell kit. The old kit deserved some attention, and I felt like a quick weekend build, so the factory-painted Dr.I of von Richthofen hit the spot. The wing surfaces were sanded down, and so was the sharp side contour of the fuselage. The wheels were replaced, and so was the propeller, and the model was rigged before adding a mechanic doing a final pre-flight check and the Baron himself, apparently having a bit of a clumsy spell while mounting his Dreidecker - the figure didn't really allow for a natural climbing pose. The decals came from the modern Revell Dr. I kit.