Fokker E.III Eindecker, Wingnut Wings in 1/32 scale

 

Wingnut Wings Fokker E.III

Hans-Joachim Bruddecke's Fokker E.III 96/15

Alternative scheme, serial number unknown, appears to be a dark finish.

I felt it was now time to dive into my stash of Wingnut Wings kits! Having completed several Hobbycraft and Roden WWI kits, I think I'm ready. I decided to try the Fokker Eindecker for a start since it is a monoplane, that should make it easier, right?

The subject of my build is the Fokker E.III deployed to Turkey and flown by Hans Joachim Buddecke. We know the color scheme of this particular E.III is described by Buddecke himself as "my yellow bird with black threatening eyes"... There is another photo of Buddecke beside an E.III which appears to be painted in a dark color, but there is some dispute as to whether it was actually a dark tone or the result of a the type of film used at the time. At any rate, there is little dispute as to 96/15's scheme, as there is photograph proof and Buddecke's own discription.

To get things started, I decided to experiment to get that unusual "brushed" aluminum effect found on the cowling and panels of the Eindecker. 

I sprayed a scrap cowling with Tamiya Flat Aluminum and let it dry. Then I took a Signo Uni-Ball silver pen and scribbled random patterns onto the aluminum. The pen's ink sets up to be shinier that the aluminum paint, so there is a subtle difference which, I think, approximated the effect I was seeking pretty well.

You have to look hard to see the difference, it is a little more prominent in person.

Another view, maybe a little more visible here.

Having decided that that would work, I began the normal assembly, starting with, as usual, the interior. Wingnut Wings kits have excellent instructions and of course, the parts are well molded and construction was thoughtfully designed so you have a pretty good chance of success!

The completed interior.

With the interior completed, I assembled the fuselage and started painting. I used a pre-shading technique to break up the overall tan finish, and it turned out pretty well, giving a nice and not-to subtle effect, especially on the wings and fuselage sides.

Next was a new challenge for me; painting the national markings. Because these were the Turkish insignias, things were somewhat simple, just black squares on a white field. On the actual aircraft the squares were made by simply painting over the original Maltese Crosses of the German aircraft, so I was able to use the kit's marking for measurements.

All went well until I realized I had placed the fuselage square to far aft! I had to strip that off and repaint it further forward. After fixing that, I was able to apply the decals for the serial number. The actual s/n for Buddecke's aircraft was "96/15". I had a 9 and an 8 available so I used those and then painted the 8 to resemble the correct 6.

The motor was another subassembly. Like the interior, this was a little gem, fun to assemble, detail and paint. Nest, I turned to the photo-etched, (PE) cooling jackets for the Spandau. This time around, I tried a low temperature solder paste and heat gun to assemble the jacket and end cap. After a couple tries, I sort of got the hang of it. I also assembled a couple of other PE jackets to get the method down. I now feel pretty confident and look forward to my next WWI German fighter build!

At last, it was time to begin assembly! The fit of the wings into the fuselage is quite snug; I had to sand the lugs on the wings a bit to get them to slide in. Next, it was time to begin the rigging. On this aircraft the rigging, particularly on the underside, looks hopelessly complicated. But after studying the diagrams and photographs, I gradually got a handle on the pattern. I started with the undercarriage rigging. Then, I drilled out the holes in the wings to allow me to run the wire from the topside to bottom. This simplified the process considerably and created a support for the wings. 

After the undercarriage rigging, I ran the wing warping wires. I had lost the kit's piece which was supposed to represent the pulley wheel for the wires so I found an unlikely replacement, the tailwheel of a 1/48 scale Brewster Buffalo! After a little carving and drilling, it looked pretty good and actually worked better for my purposes.

F2A tailwheel repurposed into a pulley wheel!

Anyway, I ran the warping wires through this pulley, then through the appropriate holes in the wings and down to the control horns at the rear of the undercarriage. Next, the fixed flying wires were tied to the molded "turnbuckles" on the forward mast, then run through the front holes in the wings and to the forward part of the undercarriage. 

The result is nicely complicated looking but actually not so hard to achieve! All went pretty well, but I almost missed the forward two lines which ran from the cowling to the forward inboard wing rigging station. Fortunately those weren't too hard to add.

Rigging work continues.

One last touch was to add Copper State Models spoked wheels. These seem like a bargain at $16, and they look very scale like. I thought they would be fragile but they seem sturdy enough. They are hard to paint since you don't want to cover the fine details. 

Copper State Models spoked wheel.

The final step was a light coat of Windsor and Newton dull coat to kill some of the shininess from the upper surfaces. My first Wingnut kit is complete!