Fokker E.V
Arma Hobby 1/72 Fokker E.V by Thomas Tirtaine
MANUFACTURER: Arma Hobby
SCALE: 1/72
TYPE: Injection moulded plastic, photo-
etch brass, and acetate sheet
STATUS: New mould
PARTS: 40 grey plastic and 45 brass
DECAL OPTIONS: 4A
rma Hobby has released
three plastic models
since 2015. Each model
can be purchased in a “junior”
or “expert” set, the latter adding
photo-etch parts and masks to
the plastic parts. The kit I was
offered to build by the editor is
the expert set of the Fokker E.V:
the culmination of the Fokker
monoplane’s development
during the First World War. Its
high plywood-covered wing,
associated with a steel-tube
fuselage gave this aircraft a high
level of manoeuvrability during
the short time it was on the front
line (from August to November
1918). After the war, some flew
with Belgian and Polish training
squadrons until the 1920s.
The kit comes in a side-opening
box, containing one sprue ofcrisply moulded grey parts and
a photo-etch fret. Decal options
are given for two Polish and two
German aircraft. Colours are called
out in the Hataka range, but their
names will help you to find the
corresponding colours from other
brands. What is interesting here
is that the inner surfaces of the
cockpit, made of wood and fabric in
the original, are supplied in decals.CONSTRUCTION
The stages are not numbered in the
instructions, but no one will get lost
since the first diagram concerns the
cockpit. All the parts fit together
very well, but the small number
of flight instruments on a World
War One aircraft surprised me.
The only thing you need to
take care with is applying the
decals, paint, and photo-etch
parts in the right order. That’s
the reason I waited until the end
of the overall painting process to
glue the photo-etch parts on top
of the cowling, as I wanted them
to keep their natural metallic look.
As expected, the decals went on
very well inside the cockpit and
conform to the support without
the need for any decal softener.
The fuselage of the aircraft was
assembled without any issues, and
again I put the photo-etch parts
that replicate the control horns
aside, to be added at the end of the
assembly. The next sub-assembly is
the undercarriage; construction is
made simple, as Arma have includeda jig to ensure that the four struts
find their right place, and it works!
Next came the one-piece
moulded wing, which needs to
removed from the sprues very
carefully, since the attachment
points are a bit thick,
With a number of subassemblies
on my bench, I was now ready for
the painting and decaling stage.PAINT AND DECALS
Lozenge fabric covers the overall
fuselage, so I just airbrushed a black
gloss base overall. The wing, struts,
undercarriage, and cowling were
primed in grey before being covered
in beige (for the wing) or olive60 • OCTOBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
KIT REVIEWS
056-65-Reviews-1018.indd 60 14/09/2018 15:23