Author: Stan Alexander
Edition: Model Aviation - 2008/03
Page Numbers: 126,127,128,129
,
,
,

More from the 2007 Scale Masters

Stan Alexander ([email protected])

SCALE MODELERS traveled to Hemet, California, from across the country to compete in the 28th annual US Scale Masters Championships, held October 11–14, 2007. A qualification system held each year at regional scale contests makes modelers eligible to participate in this competition.

The opening ceremony was held Saturday morning after all static judging was completed. The Hemet Civil Air Patrol presented the colors, and Rob Lindquest sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Other dignitaries who attended included Hemet’s vice mayor and a team from The Discovery Channel.

Past champion Dennis Crooks of Rockville, Indiana, won Expert Class and was named Grand Champion with his Lockheed P-38 Lightning. This is the longest-surviving P-38 I’ve seen in competition.

Bernie Boland and Bill Ensley of Phoenix, Arizona, took Team Scale with their Stinson SR-10. Robert Blake of Newbury Park, California, won Open Class with his Republic P-47D Thunderbolt.

Special thanks to the city of Hemet and the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians for their exceptionally generous support of the event. The Hemet Model Masters worked long and hard as the host club to make the Championships a success. Any club that takes on a project such as this or any national event should receive all the praise we can give it. Help from One Eighth Air Force and Scale Squadron members also made it happen. See the end of this column and look for more in future columns about the Scale Masters Championships. Thanks to Mitchell Baker for sharing this information!

Fokker Dr.I Update

After painting the airframe and adding the streaky green, yellow, and red colors, I started looking at the markings; this triplane has several. A set of stencils on the left side of the fuselage is mostly covered with the yellow, which is Lothar von Richthofen’s personal marking.

The areas of the wing and fuselage that had been white on the original paint scheme and were painted with yellow didn’t look the same as the rest of the yellow-painted portion of the airframe. Testors Zinc Chromate Yellow replicates the tint more closely.

Use the method of painting with a sponge to apply the Testors yellow to the fuselage sides and upper wing in the correct positions. Be careful not to go outside the areas you want to paint with this color. A small mark with an art marker on the top and bottom of each area will help in this process.

Save the crosses that you stripped off the rudder, fuselage, and wings. You can use them as stencils for placing your markings later. With a fine-tip magic marker, carefully outline the cross on whichever surface to which you are adding it. Do this before permanently attaching the control surfaces or wings to the fuselage — it makes it much easier to add markings to the airframe.

The fuselage-side markings on Lothar’s Dr.I were smaller than the markings on the original color scheme that came with the model. Reducing these markings at the copy store to 80% of the original worked fine. The markings on the new color scheme are much farther back on the fuselage than on the original.

After you have added the outline, use a fine-tip modeler’s paintbrush to add the black coloring to each cross. Stay inside the black line you added with the fine-tip magic marker. This will give you room to add the white outline to each cross, and the markings should come out close to correct. There are four different-size crosses on this airframe: lower wing, upper wing, fuselage sides, and rudder.

Holding my breath as I make a stroke with the brush seems to help me. Starting from the center of the marking and working out is another trick I use. Practice on a surface that isn't on the model to gain proficiency.

The pilot figure included with the Dr.I is nice, but he sits way too high in the fuselage for a pilot in a World War I scout. He may as well have a target on his back. Cut the figure down and add a soft-balsa base to the figure to get him farther down in the cockpit.

You can add the leather cockpit combing around the cockpit using the Testors "Leather" color. There was more combing on the front half of the cockpit than on the back because the pilot was more likely to hit the front half of the combing in the air or as he tried to land.

A nice set of Spandau machine guns was included with the model. I didn't like the base for them; it broke into several pieces while I was trying to assemble the guns. I sanded down the bottom of each machine gun and added a 1/16" plywood base to it. It's flexible, which helps attach the gun to the curved fuselage section forward of the cockpit. I added Floquil's Grimy Black paint and a little silver color to the guns to add realism.

The dummy engine cylinders were painted gloss black. To add character to the engine, I added some Grimy Black paint to the cylinders in different places. Floquil Rust on the engine exhaust works well.

All those little touches make a more interesting model and look more realistic. Instead of the cyanoacrylate suggested for attaching the cylinders to the cowl, I drilled holes in the dummy-cylinder backs and used five-minute epoxy.

After final assembly it's almost time to go fly. After flying the S.E.5a belonging to the same ElectriFly series, I'm looking forward to it!

I used the following items to finish the Great Planes ElectriFly Fokker Dr.I:

  • Coverite MicroLite to re-cover the airframe
  • Great Planes 11.1-volt, 1250 mAh 3S Li-Poly
  • Great Planes Collet Prop Adapter 3.0mm to 5mm
  • Great Planes 10x4.5 Power Flow Slo-Flyer Elec Prop
  • Great Planes Rimfire 28-30-950 OutRunner motor
  • JR 6-inch Y harness
  • JR R610M microreceiver
  • Four Hitec S-55 microservos
  • JR 6-inch servo extension
  • Thin and thick Zap CA glue
  • Hangar 9 six-minute epoxy

All paints were applied with a sponge, spray can, or fine-art brush, depending on the application. The following Testors and Floquil paints were used:

  • Testors 1/2-ounce Zinc Chromate Yellow
  • Testors 1/4-ounce Leather
  • Testors 1/4-ounce Flesh
  • Testors 1/2-ounce Black
  • Testors 1208 Gloss Light Blue (spray can)
  • Testors 1214 Gloss Yellow (spray can)
  • Testors 1913 Medium Green (spray can)
  • Testors 1203 Gloss Red (spray can)
  • Floquil Rust
  • Floquil Grimy Black

New Products

Balsa USA was kind enough to send samples of two different types of its 1/4-scale, five-color lozenge fabric. I've seen several lozenge fabrics through the years; most are so thin you can see through them, thus I doubt their strength — especially for 1/4-scale models. After finishing a model with this fabric, you should be able to depend on its strength in the air. The Balsa USA covering seems to be a bit stronger and you can't see through it.

Since Balsa USA has several World War I aircraft that are 1/4 scale, as do other manufacturers, this fabric seems to be a natural fit for the company. Each roll is imported from England and modified at Balsa USA. Each 2-meter roll will retail for approximately $67.99.

I'm looking forward to using this fabric on a 1/4-scale Fokker D.VII. Check out this covering on Balsa USA's website.

Around Scale

This news does not directly affect our modeling efforts, but full scale is very much a part of scale modeling. The Schwan Food Company has announced the retirement of the Red Baron Pizza Squadron and a refocus of its Red Baron marketing program.

The Southern Indiana R/C Modelers will host the Mint Julep Scale Meet May 16–18 at the Rough River Dam State Resort Park at Falls of Rough, Kentucky. All AMA Scale classes will be contested, along with a few extras.

The Scale Nats will be held August 8–10 at the Muncie, Indiana, AMA International Aeromodeling Center. All AMA Scale classes will be flown for both RC and CL Scale; the only exceptions will be noted on the entry forms. The National Association of Scale Aeromodelers (NASA) will host the Nats, with Jim Rediske as the RC Scale CD and Mike Slaughter as the CL Scale CD. The Scale portion of the Nats, as is every other category at the contest, is open to all AMA members, regardless of skill level.

To learn more about this event, check out the “First Nats” article by Michael Ramsey; it was published on page 18 in the December 2007 MA. Visit the NASA website for scoresheets and other information about the Scale Nats.

According to Bill Hart, the 2008 US Scale Masters Championships will be held at the site of many Scale Masters qualifiers: Sarasota, Florida. The dates will be October 9–12, and the event director will be Jon Hay. He and the group in Sarasota are a great bunch of scale modelers.

I’ll give you more details as I receive them. Contact Bill Hart for more information.

Fair skies and tailwinds. MA

Sources:

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.