Mikro Mir 1/32 Fokker E.V/D.VIII by PeteR Barker

ORIGINS

A

14th century English

philosopher named

Ockham once posited

that the simplest approach to

a problem is logically the best.

Reinhold Platz, the designer of

the Fokker E.V/D.VIII, adopted

a similar principle in his

approach to aircraft design,

when he decided to depart from

Fokker’s previous bi- and tri-

plane designs, and return to

the purity of the Eindekker.

The design was not an

immediate success, due to two

fatal occurrences of wing failure.

Investigation showed that the

problem lay in the construction

practices of a sub-contractor,

rather than the design, and that

if properly built, the aircraft was

perfectly safe. A total of 381 were

built, but only 85 reached front

line service, with deliveries only

resuming to the front in October

1918, after having been suspended

in August of that year. Ockham’s

philosophy was called his ”razor”,

and this is the name given to

Platz’s E.V by Allied pilots.

THE KIT

Mikro Mir’s kit is a re-release of

one from Avis, produced about ten

years ago, and apart from a change

of colour schemes, it appears

virtually identical. Unlike Avis,

who went for variations on lozenge

RAZOR

Fokker's

6 • FEBRUARY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

BY SACCO DE VRIES

FOKKER E.V/D.VIII

BY PETER BARKER

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