I’ve been asked to build a model of the Red Baron’s Fokker triplane for a relative. I know there are a few out there; does anyone know the best one in either 1/72 or 1/48 scale? Thanks!
Check out Roden’s offerings. They have several excellent WW-I German aircraft. They have a DR-1 in 1/32 scale also.
Darwin
I think Roden’s is the best too. Markings for Manfred’s plane are up for speculation. I can’t speak about their 1/32 scale offerings but the kits I have (1/72) are great. They have had decal problems tho-but those can be replaced with AM.
In fact, the Baron is said to have had as many as a half-dozen or more personal mounts wherever he served, and the Roden kit, to their credit, avoids the obvious and offers one of his partially red Tripes, but not the commonly modeled red-over-Fokker Light Blue machine he was reportedly shot down in. Since this was a pretty small airplane, it’s not that big in 1/32.
But if you must have one in 1/48, check and see if Eduard is not sold out of theirs, and on eBay or even in a local hobby shop you might find the old Dragon/DML 1/48 scale kit with their dreaded hard steel PE parts in it. They also tended to include rigging wire with this series, but one of the reasons the Fokker and Sopwith Triplanes were built in the first place was because they could be made with few wires holding them together, reducing the chance a stray bullet would cut a critical wire and cause the wings to fold up, which happened a lot more often than you might imagine.
TOM
Greetings all;
Eduard has one in 1/72 standard and Profi-pack.
As has been stated The Baron (MvR) flew several Fokker Dr.I and the early pre-production F.I (102/17.)
The Dr.I serials were
114/17, 161/17 both in standard Camouflage with some red to cowlings and struts only.
152/17 , 477/17 was flown in partial and completely over painted condition.
425/17 was painted all red at the Fokker Factory for MvR. No camouflage , no light blue.
For an excellent reference see, “Richthofen” by A.E. Ferko, Albatros Pub. 1996.
See; http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.com/
Richthofen by A E (ED) Ferko. This is a superb record of Germany’s leading fighter pilot, which also includes detailed appendices and notes. There are 203 photos (many hitherto unpublished) that trace the Baron’s WWI career. 84 pages offer a unique, fresh insight into Germany’s Ace of Aces; also included are 4 colour pages with 15 colour profiles of the Baron’s aeroplanes. £21.00
Thanks guys; I appreciate your responses. I’ll check my LHS for the Roden kit or Eduard, then start some research. Thanks again!
in 1/72, the eduard Dr.I can b had in both regular & profipack versions,
the profipack has extra decals, masks & a sheet of p/e.
i have built this kit & it is really pretty good…
it has also been reboxed by SMER, but u will need aftermarket decals
in order 2 do a von richtofen a/c w/ that kit as it comes w/ markings
4 Lt. Paul Baumer of Jasta 2 & Lt. Josef Jacobs, Jasta 7…
no masks or p/e, either.
the revell Dr.I in 1/72 is another excellent kit, w/ more engine detail &
pre-drilled holes 4 rigging the tailplane control wires. got this on
the do-do pile, but haven’t actually built one yet…
possibly a bit more fiddly 2 build & it’s molded in red styrene…
but that won’t b too much of a problem if u r building a Red Baron triplane !
hth,
frosty[:)]
Thanks Frosty & everyone else. I’ll be looking for either the Eduard or Roden kit; I noticed that Squadron had the Eduard kit in this month’s catalogue. I’ll head there if the the LHS turns up empty-handed.