*( 134-129 ) FOKKER EINDEKKER,1964
1964AURORA KIT NO.134-129-FOKKER EINDEKKER
WITH a retail price of One Dollar and 39 Cents on first release, Aurora's Fokker monoplane was among the last of their WWI kits. Scaled up to 1:42 to fill up the standard box it was moulded in beige and black plastic with one of the largest decal sheets of the range. Outline accuracy is good for the most part with minimal attention needed for the wings, although the fuselage does slim down aft of the cockpit in plan view. The Eindecker was one of Aurora's select few of WWI kits to feature rib detail under wings and tail-plane although refinement of some smaller parts will be necessary. The undercarriage assembly is rather heavily moulded but to be fair, Aurora needed these to be robust to support the rather weighty model... Decals provide eight Cross Patee on white fields but only a single serial number to port-the starboard being absent from both sheet and fuselage mouldings. With just 27 parts, this is one of the Aurora's easiest to build and our example is absolutely mint inside and out-the colourful box is particularly well preserved and also includes a unique period sales leaflet promoting 'new Apollo Moonship' kits- a fabulous slice of history in its own right!
ONE of Aurora's later WWI releases, their Fokker Eindekker (sic), presumably an E.III, was deliberately scaled larger than 1:48 to better fill their standard 10.5 x 4 x 1.5 ins. 'Famous Fighters' box and works out to 1:42 (1:42.6 if you want to be precise). It's moulded in pale buff with a more highly-populated black runner than usual.Our mint example is complete with all original 27 parts accounted for,the simple breakdown of these making it a relatively easy build. Comparing it with 75% reductions of Josef Scott's superlative 1:32 scale drawings in WS Vol.28,No.5,202 reveals just how accurate the kit's outlines are in most respects. Eindecker wing panels featured a constant chord of 1.81m; the kit's trailing edges increase in area outwards and will require flattening back slightly and the rake of the wing tips need to be reduced slightly.The tail-plane is precise to 1:42.6 but since the rudder is oversized, re-profiling is a breeze. Fuselage basically sound: lengthwise it's fine but a little deep behind the cockpit where in planform it tapers towards the tail at 8mm-it should be 10mm-all cured by plastic card shimming.
The Oberursel is well detailed and designed to rotate with the airscrew rather than glued inside the cowling as previous kits. There's ample scope for detailing the cockpit and plenty of reliable references are around to enable the process. As with most of the original Aurora WWI kits, there's a ground panel with chocks on which the obligatory black nameplate is dropped. The 'ground officer' stands well back to shoulder the rear fuselage in flying position-a neat touch and often seen in period photos.
Decals are expansive and a tight fit within the standard box to accommodate full-chord eiserne kreuze panels. Only one bestelnummer is provided for the port fuselage: E.III 419/15 one of 236 Eindeckers ordered in October 1915: a pair of miniscule '401' werkenummern do appear on the sheet. This particular kit was a product of Aurora's Canadian plant based in Rexdale, Ontario hence the instruction sheet being in French and English. Our example is absolutely mint including its box with another eye-catching Jo Kotula painting-in fact both box and contents look almost brand new.
Fokker Facts: The finest monographs yet published on the early German monoplane fighters were the two Fokker Eindecker Compendiums Volumes 1 and 2 written and illustrated by Josef Scott published in June 2012. Both have since sold out and now scarce but we still have stocks of Peter M Grosz's WINDSOCK DATAFILE 15 first published in 1989 and reprinted twice. Includes many rare photos; 1:48 scale drawings; detailed cockpit sketch and colour profiles. Photos of kit subject E.III 419/16 appear on page 4...
*See also Profile No.38,The Fokker Monoplanes (1965) by J M Bruce with archive photos with colour profiles on inner covers. Limited numbers of both titles are available in store-please see links below...
