Review; Revell Fokker Eindecker Dr. I 1/72 Model Kit WW1 Aircraft Fighter Luftflotte Ottoman Air Force

Welcome to a new kit review, today we'll review a WW1 classic, the Fokker Eindecker.

The Box 

A bit too vintage for my taste, it seems taken from a wartime magazine! the exterior design is quite different.

Quite typical action box, with the strange of addition of the pilot in 1st person which gets your attention.

Typical Revell WW1 box, very finely detailed, made most possibly by the same author. Usually I like Revell boxes, but this one is a bit dull, the Fokker doesn't look as different and unique as it should. This is the version I bought.

The Kit 

Another very old kit from Revell, but it looks as if the mould hasn't been used as much as others, as the flash is still within acceptable levels. Everything fits very well, and there is no problem building the undercarriage, which is something fiddly that could ruin a model. The propeller will turn nicely along the radial engine if carefully built, the same as the wheels. 

Also, and it is very appreciated, you get a pilot, a very charismatic one in my opinion.
Accuracy in this kit is pretty good , I would say that only the machine gun was a bit flat and perhaps you could say that the undercarriage is a bit thick but in my opinion that is good enough as otherwise it will be too fragile for handling.

                                       The Verdict

This is another model kit from Revell that can be bought very cheaply, second hand from ebay / street markets (is easy to see if the rack is complete as it a very small rack) or new from a any respectable model kit shop with Revell kits (as it is has been recently re-released) for roughly 5 € only, or whatever that amount is in your country's currency. 

My version

I really decided to buy this kit in part because it was a different design, easily recognizable from other WWI biplanes, but also and in big part because I had seen pics from another modeller which did a very nice Ottoman version. So, for once, I had already decided how to paint it before owning it! a brief researched proved me there was no better alternative, so I only had to choose what shade of brown I wanted to use (I went for a very reddish one). The pilot looks very Ottoman so it fits perfectly. 

The cabling was rather tricky but I am proud of how it looks, I didn't do all the real cabling, because then it will be very hard to handle, and I must admit I did it rather thick, but that helps in solidness.
I used the original decals painting carefully the black square, just as it was done back at the time by the Ottomans, except for the fuselage logo, which I printed out.

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Review; Airfix Bristol Fighter 1/72 Model Kit WW1 Aircraft Biplane RAF British

After a long time, absorbed by work and other things of life, we return to our reviews at Toy Soldier Chest. This time a classic, the Bristol Fighter model kit from Airfix.

The Box; A nice artwork full of that vintage flavour, well detailed and with a supreme 1910s feeling.

Alternative box.

The Kit; this is a very old Airfix mould, so all the parts are very basic in detail and shaspe. This is luckily not too important in a WW1 airplane, so it does not compare so bad to other modern model kits as some WW2 kits which shared production years.

I am slightly concerned about the undercarriage position, it kinds of look like too low and too far back, examining real photographs. That would be the biggest criticism on the model (besides the moulding marks on the lower wing, which are very noticeable).

The pilots are completely unusable (at least the ones on the original kit, which was the one I built) so I have used a two replacements from my bag of spare pilots (sorry- don't remember from where they came). The machine gun could be substituted for something better, but it still has a minimum quality. 

If you are building the original issue, there is not many problems of fitting, provided you use solvent glue to make fit everything nicely. The only objection to this is the fitting of the lower wing, that needs to be heavily sanded to achieve a good fitting.

In the kit I have added the electric generator which was omitted from the model and gives a extra realistic touch, made with clear plastic and a small bit of plastic sprue. Impressively, the decals after 40 years were still in great shape (well done, Airfix!)

The model I made depicts an unusual experimental camouflage of 1918. The cockerel has been hand painted (I would have preferred to print with decal paper, but as it is white I would require a white ink printer which I am not lucky to posess).

The Veredict; A nice and easy model kit that you can finish in an afternoon (unless you want to top it up to a highest level of detail), while still giving the right feeling about the aircraft. I would you try to grab some early issue, as the crisper parts will save you whole hours of work, sanding and even having to substitute many parts. Even for me which I am not a super WW1 enthusiast, I find this model very appealing.