OTDAEABT Contest - Maly Modelarz - Fokker E. III

[cjwalas]

Coming along very nicely! I think these squared fuselages are the MM kits to do! They don't seem to have the bulkhead/tube nightmares.
Chris

[ShaunGamer]

The undercarriage was next.
I have never done anything like this before so everything is new and untried.
Once again I used straightened paperclips for the wire segments to strengthen the paper tubes. Rolling those tubes was another tedious and long job. At least they give you the segment with the greatest number first. (Tail skid and cockpit rig are smaller with only 2 or three tubes.)

[ShaunGamer]

Thanks cjwalas, I think you are probably right. Even the Pup uses a squared fuselage so I don't have anything to compare other MM construction methods to. Which brings me to another question . . . I will wait until the end of this post.

Finally I get to the wheels. I decided to try the cyanoacronate method of hardening the cardboard and then sanding them to shape! All that I can say is that it was a definite learning experience - and NO I did not glue the wheels to my fingers!!! :p

The wheels ended up being too thin for what I was trying to do and next time I will think a bit longer before acting. However the wheels did still turn out OK and definately no worse than what they could have been if I hadn't tried anything.

The undercarriage frame was also a bit of a learning experience but I am totally surprised at how strong it turned out. Next time I will cut angles onto the ends of the tubes to make things look a bit better when complete (Oh No - I am already talking about doing this again!!! I really must have been bitten by the bug!!!)

Up next will be the tail skid!!

And back to my question . . . I have heard a couple of things now, about a Maly modelarz archive, where you can download scans of the older kits. I have seen it mentioned both here and on other boards. I was just wondering whether this a legitimate site or if it is a Pirate site and should be avoided. If it is legitimate site then does anyone have a link?

[B-Manic]

Your build is looking mighty fine. If you want to build the Fokker E-III again there is a pretty good 1/33 freebee in 13 different markings including a captured RAF version here.

http://www.modele-kartonowe.com/fokker/index.html

[Golden Bear]

Nice job, Shaun, particularly with so many first time things in it. Very nice. If you're going to sand wheels downyou need to make them a little beefy first since they shrink during the process. Some folks attach the disks to a Dremel tool and turn them down. I just use a small sanding block and keep sanding it until it looks smooth and perfect. You did a really good job on these.


Carl

[rickstef]

the archive site is a pirate site, eventhough they claim everything from before 1997 to be "free" from copyright issues, it is not

[rlwhitt]

Nice looking undercarriage there - very fine work!

[John Bowden]

Shaun........... it's looking great!

After my lastest fiasco with MM models................ I'm thinking that even free they aren't worth the paper they are printed on..................but I guess I should not "profile" them.

john

[member_3]

LOL - I was going to say that the MM stuff from 2000 on was OK, but I'm pretty sure John would disagree.

Shaun - I agree with B-Manic's recommendation on the CardPlane free downloads. Those are high quality models (as are their printed ones) and free, free, free!!!

[ShaunGamer]

I haven't managed to get any more done on the MM EIII but thanks for all the encouragement!

I have downloaded the Kartonowe EIII B-Manic suggested, so expect that to appear in a thread sometime in the future. This will give me the opportunity to try Golden Bear's suggestions with sanding wheels - although a dremel tool has been added to wish list!!.
Eventually I may copy some parts from the MM kit to add to the Kartonowe kit, as it has some little extra details that would really flesh out the model.
At least I am getting to know all about Fokker EIIIs! :D

With so many good kits available (free and commercial) I probably don't need to increase my frustration levels by obtaining older models!!