I am building the Dragon Fokker Dr1 right now and it’s looking great!! I put the model back on the shelf about a year ago because the photo etched stuff was getting too hard for me. Now I took a stab at it, and it’s starting to look alot better.
The only problem I had was bending the photo etch around the machine gun barrels (few will notice). I am planning on posting pics as soon as the decals are on and the painting is done!![:D]
You aren’t the only one who has trouble with those old Dragon photo etched frets. They were made before we had all this nice, soft brass, and the metal is very thick and hard and doesn’t like to bend, especially into a tiny cylinder. But one thing that will help if you face this in the future, and you should do it with brass PE too, is to anneal it. That is, run a match or lighter flame under the parts for a few seconds only. They will bend easier and stay bent. You’ll be amazed. Believe me, many a modeler has seen those old Dragon and Trimaster PE parts go flying away forever while trying to cut them off the fret.
I also have luck annealing PE by laying it on the stove burner for a few minutes. I should note that I have a smooth glass top electric stove. Not sure how it would work laying on coils
Looking forward to pics of yor build. That’s a great old kit.
Regards, Rick
I am hoping on finishing it probably tonight, but the photos may be in in about two days. The kit was a wonderful build, except for some photo etch, and some of the control fits in the cockpit.
I live a little more dangerously, I have a candle stuck in a bottle. annealing is a saving grace and then bent around a dowel or metal rod - works beautifully.
Greetings all. Yes the nickel coating needs to be burned off the DML / Dragon photoetch. Use a lighter and pass the fret over the flame until it is discoloured. You will see blues, greens and coppers. This removes the nickel coating that is only on the metal to give it a uniform colouring for marketing. Most photoetch is brass and copper types.