John Fokker - E-III -- * * FINISHED * *

[Gregers]

Very nice work on the interior. I have to admit I chickened out of attempting the burred finish on the cowl on mine. Maybe I should re-do it.

All the best.

Greg

[JohnRatzenberger]

We are off on a care-giving trip, be back Tuesday, but there are several things going on next week also.
Nice progress, if it weren't for the above, finishing would be a piece of cake, now it's a question.

Fuselage, wings, tail are on -- need a quick coat of fabric to clean things up.
Engine, cowl, etc are on, need a coat of alum then fake hammering; haven't started prop paint yet.
Gear all painted, waiting to go on.
Need to pull the masks off the white blocks, clean them up and then see if I can neatly cut out the crosses from the kit decals.
Final assembly and rigging; holes are all drilled.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Well, here we are. My modeling time has been minimal.



It's mostly together. I'm painting the prop and wheels and assembling a replacement machine gun from photo-etch, so the real work is the rigging for which most holes are drilled. Oh, yes, can't forget the footholds and I think some touch-up on the tail skid. Oops, I havn't tried the hammered cowl paint effect yet ...

As I stated early on, the decals were too yellowed so I coated the with decal film, then cut out the black crosses and applied those over painted white panels. Unfortunately the decal film made them a bit stiff and it took 3-4 heavy coats of Micro-Sol/Set to get them to lay down decently. I added a couple little rods to simulate the elevator control horns. OTOH, I'm not going to try any sort of Fok-serial.

The paint job isn't particularly neat, but I think some flat over it will bring it all, if not together, at least close enough.

I carefully drilled a tiny hole through the top of the inverted-V strut on the fuselage and glued a tiny rod through that the rigging should lie on going wing to wing. I have all the holes and things needed for the wing rigging and the tail control lines, but am probably a bit shy on completely/correctly rigging the gear assembly -- and that will be the last thing I even try to work on, well, because it's underneath.

I have two days left, but Saturday is Youth Aviation day at our airport and I'll be over there all day, so I'll be down to what I can get done Sunday.

[AndrewR]

Looking good John.

Cheers

Andrew

[malepo]

that pit looks great - very nice details

[MerlinJones]

Ssssh...won't disturb...John's working!

Regards,
Bruce

[JohnRatzenberger]

Nope, I attached a few rigging ends, but today's Mother's Day and I've spent it with SWMBO.
I''l be done tomorrow or next day, but don't extend just on my account.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Day late and a Deutschmark short, but it is finished .... well except for the coat of flat I forgot and will now have to wiggle amongst the wires, and paint and glue that is drying while you watch.

Rigging is gray EZ-Line, fine size. EZ line is good/bad because it bonds immediately to CA, no accelerator needed. As long as you're accurate it's fine.









I made a stab at the milled/machined cowl, doesn't show well in pix. There's a few stray ends of EZ-line that could be snipped. Prop is a weak, but streaky, coat of reddish brown right over the cream-colored kit plastic, followed by a weak coat of a Vallejo wood to smooth it out. The kit MG was a blob, so I replaced it with some PE MG parts from a Gotha update set.

If Greg allows it as a completion, I'll post glamor shots tomorrow ... if not, at least it's a DNF that actually got finished.

[MerlinJones]

Looks good, John...looks good.
It always amazes how they went from that to the DVII in so short a time.

Regards,
Bruce

[jssel]

Beautiful work John. Everything looks just right.

[JamesPerrin]

Lovely little job.

[AndrewR]

Nice work John, and so quick too!

cheers

Andrew

[JohnRatzenberger]

Managed to slop on some clear flat over the canvas and some clear satin over the cowl and prop without any noticeable damage, so here it is in natural light, but not direct sunlight due to the high winds. I've posted a couple different shots in the finished fokkers gallery.