After much web-store trolling I finally tracked one of these down and bought it.$80.00 with P&P to here in Poland…
Now it is on its way I am beginning to think that if it so sought after should I build it or keep it in the stash and watch the E.bay price reach into the atmosphere in a few years time…
What should I do and what would you do ???
Hope the kit lives up to the hype…Resin figures,Por le Merite and all that plastic and P/E,etc
My original idea was a shadow box display…Planes in a flying pose,figures at one side with medal the other.Possibly with repro pics forming a background,etc etc…
After reading the review of that kit in this month’s issue of Fine Scale Modeler, I came to the conclusion that, even with all the bells and whistles, there is NO single-engine, single-seat 1/48th scale model worth that kind of money… So, in order to keep it real, I’ve started to stock up on Revell 1/28th Dr1 kits… I was able to to snag two of 'em off Ebay a couple weeks ago, both for under 25.00, and now have three… And you can buy a full-size reproduction, in metal, with ribbon, of the Blue Max for about 10 bucks… My WW1 kit needs in 1/48th scale are quite nicely satisfied with the old Monogram kits, when I can find 'em… 'Course, for the die-hard WW1 kit builders, this may be a hot kit, provided that they have already filled the car up with gas for the week…
You might be wise to invest in it as a collector’s item, though… I think that kit will likely tank pretty fast, at least in the US, because of the price tag… I doubt that many hobby shops, at least the single-owner types, will stock it… I know that my LHS guy would order it for me if I wanted it, but he’d never put it on the shelf, at least not more than one or two…
If it were me, I’d build it. I don’t really buy kits to collect. I buy them because I like to see the finished product (you’d never know it, though! lol). To me, the speculation of kit values in a few years is just too risky, and not nearly as fun as splashing paint on some plastic. But hey, it’s just me.
Hans, I know you hate the price but you really do get a lot in the box. If you figure two kits at about $15 each, photoetch for both at probably $10 each, and two resin figures plus a dog at $15, and throw in the big decal selection, portraits, and replica medal at $10, you get the MSRP of $75. Now if they came out with a “Weekend Edition”, they would sell just the plastic kit and one or two decal options. Price would probably be in the neighborhood of $15-$20.
If it shows up at Hobby Lobby and there’s a 40% coupon that week, I’ll look into it… I don’t mind mixed-media kits. I’ve built several. In fact, I think that mixed media is fine way to breach the gap between super-detailers that are scratchbuilders and super-detailers that rely on AM parts… I just don’t go for the over-blown price-tag that goes into them because of the resin and P/E, and the parts that SOME manufacturers chose to do in P/E or resin… A lot I’ve seen use p/e for parts that don’t really need to be, are easy to make yourself, or are so obscure you might not bother with 'em at all, but easily hook some less skeptical modelers simply BECAUSE there’s p/e parts in the kit… Then you get home and look in the box and find that the p/e isn’t what you thought it’d be… Whattaya gonna do? Not build it?.. Nah, they gotcha… It’s a marketing ploy, and a good one…
Also, I’m strictly a diorama builder, I don’t do displays, so stuff like the Blue Max medal are a waste of resorces, IMHO… I’d rather they add a tail trolley and a ground crewman or two, like the old Lindberg kits did…
I just bought the Dr-1 combo from Squadron for $36 or so. The twin Dr-1 kits were on their monthly flyer last month. Great kit and I highly recommend it. I don’t think I need the funky Blue Max medal or whatever it was that came in the Der Rote Flieger kit. I’ve already got the D-V so that’s how I dealt with the issue…
I don’t expect to see Eduard at my local Hobby Lobby anytime soon but we can always hope.
An update to the Squadron info. This month’s flyer has a Albatros D-V dual kit combo for $39. So if you bought the Dr-1 dual kit last month and the D-V dual kit this month you’d have the same kits as two of the Der Rote Flieger set for less money.
You will be happy with it once you have personally cracked the box. To build it there are only a couple of areas to be concerned about on the “Fok. Dr.I” kit. Several good European modelers have tackled it already andHere is an in box review
As the Dr 1 is one of my favorite WWI aircraft I had to pick up Eduard’s kit. I could not justify the cost of the Dr1 - DV combo (not to mention the ridiculous cost of the Dragon kits on eBay) to add to my collection. I just waited for the Dr 1 dual combo kit to come out.
I too contemplated adding more to the stash for later profit, but finally decided against it, theres no enjoyment from boxes on the shelves that I’ll never touch.
The direction I have planned for my two Dr1s are unique in the fact I have yet to see anyone else make the mods. I already have the Engine & Things R670 for one, and a 1/72 R2800 to convert into a VW torque master, just needed a couple of cylinders. Below are the links to my inspiration.
I found a great book this weekend at the Half Price Books in Dallas. It has great photos of the Fokker D-VI. It’s essentially the Dr-1 fuselage (a bit thicker at the rudder than the Dr-1 but an easy conversion) mated to the D-VII wing with a couple of bays removed. That’s what one of my Dr-1’s from the combo kit is destined to become. The other will be a Dr-1 but I’ve not decided which a/c yet. I’ve got to finish my Albatros D-V first.
Please let me share this with you. At the First Fighter Competition at Adlershof in January 1918 it was decided to manufacture the Fokker D.VI as a move to insure enough rotary engine fighters would be available for frontline operations. Since the Oberursel Ur.III 145hp and the Goebel Goe III 160hp or the Siemens-Halske Sh III 160-220hp were still in short supply due to production concerns, the Fokker V.13 with its very reliable Oberursel Ur.II 120hp was chosen to go into production. Make no mistake, while there are physical similarities between the Fokker company’s Dr.I and the D.VI, one was not developed from the other. Like any engineering concern the Fokker designers had formulas that they used for aircraft specifications, especially concerning the type and weight of an installed motor in an airframe. The closest similarity to the D.VI (rotary) is the D.VII (inline six.) Fokker built one for type testing in the ‘low altitude operations class’ and one for ‘higher altitude operations class.’
References: Corrugated Fokker by R. Houchin, Scale R/C Modeler Vol.5 #4 1979. Fokker D.VI by R Houchin pt.I, World War 1 Aero #77, June 1980. Fokker D.VI by R Houchin pt.II, World War 1 Aero #85, January 1981. Fokker D.VI by P. Grosz, Windsock Datafile 84, Albatros Pub. Ltd. 1986. Fokker Facts and Opinions, a plea… by Cross & Cockade USA Vol.5 #3, Pp.213-220, 1964. Fokker Fighters of WWI by A. Imrie, Osprey,Vintage Warbirds #6, Photos #60-1, 79,92-3, 1986. German Army Air Service in WWI by R.Rimell, Osprey, Vint. Warbirds #2, Photos 40-1, 1985. ‘Kest 1a - a thirty-two day tour of duty’ by S. T. Lawson, Cross & Cockade Int. Vol.22 #2, 1991. Kofl Report for Jasta 64w 1918. Pictorial History of the German Army Air Service by A. Imrie, Ian Allen Pub. 1971. Scale Model Aircraft in Plastic Card by H.Woodman, Model & Allied Pub., 1975. WWI Warplanes Vol. 1 by R. Rimell, Albatros Productions Ltd. Pp.40-7, 1992
