Orline Fokker Dii - some random thoughts
04-04-2014, 01:10 PM
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Orline Fokker Dvii - some random thoughts
Hey guys,
I just joined a local flying club and was on line when this kit came up for sale. I have found another locally and have tucked it away encase I want to build or sell it in the future. So now we are back to building and having some fun!
I built a Fokker D7 back in the 80's in San Diego. l Flew it at Jack Murphy Stadium (now Qualcom stadium) with the Stadium flyers club. It was a VK kit I bashed a bit with a new type of engine - the fa65 Saito. I sold it and my am radios back in the early 90's.
It was a great flyer and I knew someday I would build another Dvii...
Advertised as a big fun fly which should be a clue as to how "scale it is, The Orline Fokker Dvii is not a 1/5 nor is it a 1/4 scale. It is 1 to 4.75 with a 72 inch wing span. As it is, it's a stand way, WAY off Fokker Dvii!
To be completely honest this ac was never sold to be a scale a/c, but a quick fun build plane that was inspired by the original.
For a 30+ year, no longer produced kit, it was in pristine shape. The plans and instruction book were discolored slightly and the heavy duty ABS cowl had a slight crack in one of the corners and one of the leading edge pieces had a nice chunk splintered off. All in all pretty good!
Some obvious scale observations
The cabane struts are totally different, so is the nose, aileron tabs, tail skid, airfoil, N struts, spar taper, spar placement, bla, bla, bla....
The front fuselage abs cowl, especially the radiator is so different it more resembles a SE5a than the dvii.
Dihedral in both wings looks horrible, ugh! Who wants stability! I want a cool twitchy fighter plane!
The top wing is way to far away from the fuselage.
The landing gear inter-plane wing bears no resemblance to the original. Good news is that the wheels are so far out to the side that when you ground loop you might never drag a wing tip!
About the kit;
The wood in the kit was flawless. Just beautiful! The die cutting was real nice - some very minor cutting of parts but still...
Accessories/hardware is fantastic. Plans and instructions are nicely done.
I'm very happy with it so far. Got the top wing framed up and just started on the lower.
My plan is to bash where I can and leave it alone if its to much of a pita.
A short list of mods-
Wings: No dihedral! Gonna build em flat with scale looking, framed up aileron counter balancers.
Install some fake cabane struts. The dvii has some distinctive looking struts from the fuselage to the upper wing
Lower the top wing, and machine guns back to the somewhat scale positions.
Bash some engine side panels and rework the ABS cowl (if I can or make a new one) to a more scale-like shape and look.
Might keep the landing gear stock, maybe not. As I said before, it's nowhere near scale looking. Also It's placed a bit to far forward on the fuselage imho but it might save a prop. or two!
So, has anyone built this kit? Love to hear about your build and how it fly's!
Since it's not in production, I don't know how valuable a build thread would be... At the least, I'll post some pic's when she's built and the maiden.
Cheers, Brett
I just joined a local flying club and was on line when this kit came up for sale. I have found another locally and have tucked it away encase I want to build or sell it in the future. So now we are back to building and having some fun!
I built a Fokker D7 back in the 80's in San Diego. l Flew it at Jack Murphy Stadium (now Qualcom stadium) with the Stadium flyers club. It was a VK kit I bashed a bit with a new type of engine - the fa65 Saito. I sold it and my am radios back in the early 90's.
It was a great flyer and I knew someday I would build another Dvii...
Advertised as a big fun fly which should be a clue as to how "scale it is, The Orline Fokker Dvii is not a 1/5 nor is it a 1/4 scale. It is 1 to 4.75 with a 72 inch wing span. As it is, it's a stand way, WAY off Fokker Dvii!
To be completely honest this ac was never sold to be a scale a/c, but a quick fun build plane that was inspired by the original.
For a 30+ year, no longer produced kit, it was in pristine shape. The plans and instruction book were discolored slightly and the heavy duty ABS cowl had a slight crack in one of the corners and one of the leading edge pieces had a nice chunk splintered off. All in all pretty good!
Some obvious scale observations
The cabane struts are totally different, so is the nose, aileron tabs, tail skid, airfoil, N struts, spar taper, spar placement, bla, bla, bla....
The front fuselage abs cowl, especially the radiator is so different it more resembles a SE5a than the dvii.
Dihedral in both wings looks horrible, ugh! Who wants stability! I want a cool twitchy fighter plane!
The top wing is way to far away from the fuselage.
The landing gear inter-plane wing bears no resemblance to the original. Good news is that the wheels are so far out to the side that when you ground loop you might never drag a wing tip!
About the kit;
The wood in the kit was flawless. Just beautiful! The die cutting was real nice - some very minor cutting of parts but still...
Accessories/hardware is fantastic. Plans and instructions are nicely done.
I'm very happy with it so far. Got the top wing framed up and just started on the lower.
My plan is to bash where I can and leave it alone if its to much of a pita.
A short list of mods-
Wings: No dihedral! Gonna build em flat with scale looking, framed up aileron counter balancers.
Install some fake cabane struts. The dvii has some distinctive looking struts from the fuselage to the upper wing
Lower the top wing, and machine guns back to the somewhat scale positions.
Bash some engine side panels and rework the ABS cowl (if I can or make a new one) to a more scale-like shape and look.
Might keep the landing gear stock, maybe not. As I said before, it's nowhere near scale looking. Also It's placed a bit to far forward on the fuselage imho but it might save a prop. or two!
So, has anyone built this kit? Love to hear about your build and how it fly's!
Since it's not in production, I don't know how valuable a build thread would be... At the least, I'll post some pic's when she's built and the maiden.
Cheers, Brett
Last edited by bbs428; 04-04-2014 at 02:08 PM.
02-10-2015, 03:23 PM
#2
My Feedback: (3)
I just bought this plane from an estate sale. Its about 90% completed. Is there any chance you would be able to copy the plans and instructions. For a fee of course.
Let me know.
John
[email protected]
Let me know.
John
[email protected]
Last edited by jricchio; 02-11-2015 at 07:22 AM.
