Famous as Snoopy’s nemesis, the Fokker triplane gets much more press than its importance should warrant. Designed in response to Sopwith’s three-winged fighter, the Dr.1 was not produced in large numbers. But it’s notorious as the mount of the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen.
Merit joins the fray of World War I models with a new, big-scale Dr.1.
The two marking options include one of Richthofen’s, albeit not the most famous overall red airplane. Most, if not all, Dr.1s were delivered with a distinctive streaked fabric camouflage; Merit provides decals of the scheme that cover most of the airframe.
A small photo-etched fret supplies control horns for the plane and cooling jackets for the machine guns but, oddly, no seat belts, a noticeable omission in this scale.
Construction of the interior tube frame quickly ran afoul of some oversize cross members. Fortunately, the problems were near the tail and can’t be seen on the finished model, so I just removed them.
The cockpit includes controls and other items, but there’s no representation of the plywood triangular frame stretching down the sides from the engine mount.
The engine mount is supplied, but none of the associated accessories are included. It’s not a big deal, because they won’t be seen anyway, so I left mine out.
The fuselage closed up easily and only needed a touch of filler near the tail to even out small sink marks. The rudder is designed to be sandwiched between the fuselage halves, allowing it to move — a nice touch — but the control horns are not included.
I attached both the bottom and middle wings and cleaned up the roots. The lower wing had a bit of anhedral. I flattened it and supported it across the fuselage with tape until the glue dried to fix that.
I sprayed the underside, including all three wings and the struts, with Tamiya light blue. I left the struts off to avoid masking them.
Then, the upper surfaces were sprayed with Tamiya khaki to cover any problems with the decals. The streaking looked too tan. But more importantly, many sections were seriously undersized, as though they were designed in 2-D and didn’t allow for wrapping around things.
The lower wing decal is especially small and really shouldn’t be used, leaving painting your own streaking the only option. The upper wing decal did not have separate ailerons and was quite long — I cut it into sections by color and it fit OK. The forward fuselage decal would be extremely difficult to fit around the wing root, so I just left it off. The rear section is too short, but it’s tucked under the tail.
The machine guns are simple, with almost no molded detail. The PE jackets go over molded jackets, somewhat defeating the purpose.
The upper wing and struts all fit well — actually the struts on my model aren’t even glued in place.
The engine is a highlight of the kit, fits well, and even includes separate pairs of molded spark plugs. I left it and the cowl off until final assembly.
The Dr.1 is light on rigging, so I added a few wires using stretchy nylon EZ Line. Be aware that the cutouts for the horizontal stabilizer control lines are incorrect — they should be at an angle, not perpendicular to the stabilizer.
I spent roughly 25 hours on my kit and was disappointed. The decals are flawed and the detail on the guns simplistic, and neither can be easily corrected via the aftermarket. Builders will want to consider painting their own “streaking” and maybe adding their own detail.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the March 2016 issue.
Merit’s big triplane features a fair amount of interior detail. The tubular structure is provided all the way back to the tail, for example. But there isn’t much detail forward of the ammunition canisters.
I prefer to assemble fuselage frames before painting because I’m a sloppy builder. I discovered that the frame was misaligned and curved to port. Sharp-eyed readers will notice the styrene rod substituted for a part that pinged off into the ether. As it turns out, I need not have bothered replacing it.
This won’t work. I double-checked the parts and their locations and something was definitely not right. The tail post is supposed to join as I built it, but the frame is supposed to meet at the centerline.
After scratching my head for a bit trying to decide where I or Merit had gone wrong, I realized it didn’t matter — you can’t see any of it anyway. Off with you, silly tubes, and the fit was back to normal.
Here’s the frame painted including the canvas bulkhead behind the seat. This frame was used as the primary jig during assembly — it worked great, and it was easy to mask for painting even while inside the frame.
It was time to add a bit of wood to the plastic model. This is the floorboard after painting with Tamiya buff (any light brown will do) and clear coat, then streaking it with diluted oil paint. Wait about an hour…
… then streak the oil paint with a flat, stiff brush. Voila! Instant wood grain.
The Dr.1 had triangular plywood reinforcement panels on the sides of the fuselage. These aren’t represented in the kit, so I masked off the area and painted wood grain. Here's the oil paint immediately after application.
The same stiff brush used on the floorboard worked for the panels. Detail enthusiasts will want to add stringers to these panels.
The seat is nicely shaped, but looks rather plain without belts. There’s a nice leather pouch for the sidewall, however.
Here’s a shot of the interior components after painting and detailing. Merit provide decals for instruments.
Ooops! The post that sticks up from the rudder bar interferes with the bottom of the ammo box. Note how both sit at an angle.
There wasn’t a hole in the bottom of the ammo box, so I trimmed the post. You really can’t see down in there anyway.
Here’s a shot of the interior installed. It’s a good idea to adjust the fit of the ammunition box to the top of the fuselage because they are supposed to touch and the top of the ammo box is the mount for the machine guns.
A number of the parts include sprue attachments molded onto the edge of the part instead of next to it. They’ll need careful cleaning even prior to test-fitting.
The hole for the prop shaft in the engine face is molded slightly off center. It needed to be opened up slightly for the shaft to fit properly, so I fudged it back towards the center.
Merit’s engine is nice with fine, crisply molded details, including spark plugs!.
This shot shows the many parts that go into the engine. It’s the most detailed portion of the kit.
The assembled engine and accessories all fit well.
The engine looks great after painting and an application of AK Interactive Engine Oil wash.
Merit included the exhaust manifold, which fits well. I painted it Testors Model Master Metalizer burnt iron, then dry-brushed it with a rust brown.
After the detailed engine, the machine guns are a bit of a letdown. The Spandau’s have very little molded detail and the photo-etched jackets go over solid plastic, which defeats the purpose of the open cooling slots. Notice that the gunsight still on the right gun is a solid disk; I think the Baron would have wanted to see thru it, so I removed them as seen on the left gun.
The finished guns look plain, even after removing the disk sights, adding the ammo chutes, and drilling out the end of the barrels.
Fit of the major components is very good. I clamped everything and ended up needing only a touch of filler at the middle wing root and at the tail. I used tape as a clamp, thus the “peel strip” in the middle of the firewall. I should have planned ahead for that.
The lower wing initially showed some anhedral, but bending it up and taping it across the top of the fuselage leveled it as the glue set. After that, both the lower and middle wings sat straight.
The kit's wheels are well defined, lending themselves nicely to my preferred painting method using a circle template as a mask.
I wasn’t a big fan of the color of the “Fokker streaked fabric” decals included in the kit. And I wasn’t confident they would cover all of the joins and corners, so I played it safe and airbrushed Tamiya khaki (it's slightly greener than the decals) over the body.
The streaked decals are a nice touch — in theory. There are problems. For example, there's no provision in the decals for the gear struts to attach to the stub wing between the wheels. You can either hand-paint the part or get creative to measure and surgically slice an access, then carefully fit the decals around the gear.
Oh boy, a huge, one-piece decal for the entire upper wing; I’m not a fan. Note: There are no cutouts for the ailerons. Playing it safe, I cut the decal into sections along the white areas. If the streaked portion doesn’t fit right, I will airbrush white to fill gaps.
Unfortunately, my suspicions were correct. The decal for the lower wing was too narrow …
… and the decal for the upper deck of the fuselage was too narrow with an incorrect opening for the cockpit. I suspect the decal was designed from a 2-D drawing without taking into account the curve of the plane. The printing of the decals leaves an dark brown mark at the edges not seen on full-size planes.
Unfortunately, the other fuselage decals were subject to the same dimensional challenges. So, I placed just the decals at the aft end of the fuselage. The forward fuselage decals do not allow for the prominent wing root or vents on the fuselage. To avoid complex trimming, you would need to place the decals prior to mounting the lower wing, which would introduce its own set of problems. If I build another, I will paint the streaked camouflage.