Bought these from Arizona Models a few years ago and wasn't too satisfied with them. Put them away. They were getting to be in the way so decided to give 'em the 'once over' to make 'em presentable. Almost done. Complete re-build data on RCScalebuilder. One will be Ltn. Heinrich Bongartz's Fok DRl 441/17 and the other will be Ltn. Heinrich Gontermann's Fok DRl 115/17. The streaky camo is hand brush painted with dope and the insignia is sprayed dope.

Very nice job on the camo. Very realistic. Thanks; Ernie P.

Thanks for looking, Ernie P.!

Pretty the other day for a photo op. Almost finished with them.

Reworked the cowls. Masked off face plate then heavy primere added. Rivet and cable anchor groove detail added. Sprayed a base layer of silver to mimic metal then color sprayed. The blue cowl goes on the one with the cross on stab. That's H. Bongartz's. The green cowl will be for H. Gontermann's. Cockpit detail to be added. Machine guns and wheels to be fabricated next. Still need stab and interplane struts.

Home made wheels to fit. Haven't glued the 'tyre', yet. Access hole reveals two 'spokes' and 'valve stem'. Ply discs and balsa, toothpicks near hubs simulate spokes. Koverall and dope.

Made new axle tubes to accommodate new wheels. Cut tubes to length, drilled holes, soldered washer then soldered unit to axle stubs. Cotter pin with another washer retains wheel. Do y'all wanna see what else was done to make these things a little better (at least to me)?

Here's what I did with the ailerons that came in the kits! I did the same with a lot of other stuff. Does any body wanna see what was changed?

Do you glue the tubing to the axle to keep it from sliding off? wheel spins freely on the tubing?

Hi Texasclouds- I was beginning to wonder if I was wasting my time posting this stuff so thank you (and the few other folks) for looking! The brass tubes were soldered to the wire axle stubs. You could just as easily epoxy them in place. A brass tube inside wheels fit over the axle tubes so the wheels spin freely. The axle wire inside the sub-wing has a Panhard Rod (track bar to you NASCAR fans) that locates the axle to keep it from moving laterally. Rubber bands are the bungees for shock absorption and the vertical travel is 1".

The fuses needed mega-repair! I removed the cheesy fairings to which the covering was firmly attached. Then new fairings were installed so the new covering would lay better.

The wings required MAJOR surgery. The ailerons have been mentioned. The wings had this goofy rear 'spar' on top surface that was proud thru covering. This was cut out of each wing and being there were two kits, that's a lot of sawing! The middle wings had an awful square shaped trailing edge in lieu of a nice air foiled transition so that required a lot of work. The last pic shows the fruits of this effort. Folks, after removing kit covering from bottom surface after the repair, one piece of Koveral was used to re-cover this wing, fairing and all.

Two pulleys installed into middle wing. The micarta tiller will be operated by servo. Cables from tiller go round the pulleys and up to the top wing. Cables go round pulleys in top wing to a pushrod in the upper wing which drives bell cranks which in turn are attached to short pushrods to aileron horns... whew! Works like a treat!

Fairly forgot! Finally feverishly fabbed form for fin frameup... hahahahaha! In last pic, a new one on left is covered - yay! A new one in center uncovered- yay! On right, original uncovered... yuck! Bueno nuevo! Mucho mejor!

I have been in here watching ,
Trying not to start anything new, but you are making it tempting... Are these dr1 about the same size as the Great Planes arf they used to sell?

Just what I needed, thanks a lot.

ARUP,
Thanks for posting your progress. I recently bought one of these that had been re-covered by it's previous owner. I hope to get it fitted out soon.
Carl

Foodstick! Wilfredes! Carlosmalone! S! (salute given to y'all)
Foodstick- this one is a little bigger(?) than GP version having a 59" span.
Wilfredes- where do ya fly? I'm an RCRC member but haven't flown there in years. I fly in some 'secret' places.
Carlosmalone- are ya gonna put up a re-build thread?
Pics show hard points for yet to be made Ash tip skids. Other pics show how wing to cabanes mounting accomplished. Not shown is jig made to hold wing brackets in alignment while silver soldering completed.

Stab and elevators had awful alignment so the covering was stripped and parts re-done. Hard points for strut attachment added by using segments of dowel let into stab. Some cable 'pass thru' points were added to stab. Micarta horns made. After hinge points drilled they were covered. Merry Christmas!

Covering with Koverall and Stix-It. Use the Stix-It to stick it down on undercamber, first. Stix-It all around then lightly shrink with iron. If you pull covering good and tight then iron won't be needed much.

Kit tail skids crummy ply. New ones cut from Ash, stained and varnished. A coiled spring used for the 'action'. Sub wing re-made so gear can have shock absorbing qualities. Acces to place rubber bands easy- just remove wheel cotter pin, pull off wheel and put rubber bands on it the re-install wheel!

Dope... seal fabric with nitrate first then butyrate base coat. Hand brushed to make the streaky effect on top of cream base coat. Looks good enough for me... I'm easy [8D] !

Good thing they were ARF's or you would have had alot of work. (tounge in cheek) Great job. Thanks for sharing.....Jim

Thanks for posting, Jim! Yeah, most ARFs are pretty crummy but they can be salvaged. ARF retailers/ manufacturers are great at marketing! I got the itch to buy these at the time. Learned my lesson (for now, lol).