Fokker Dr.1 Triplane Build Log

[BATTLEAXE]

I will say that both of your balsa builds look crazy amazing. I am on the side of the black is better, the red color scheme is kinda cliché. Gives it more of a hot rod look, like someone rebuilt a downed DR1 in their garage and put their own spin on it. Looks like you are really into scale, but if it was my build I would knock the flat front off the engine cowl and expose the radial all the way around, kinda like the Corsair, a little more of a rat rod look and not so stock. But that's just me and not my build. Looks fantastic and my hat is off to you my friend. Welcome to the forums, you came in like a lion

 

[TooJung2Die]

3 wings must mean more lift and gentle flying, right?

Actually you have to count the wing on the landing gear so the DR1 has 4 wings! My only experience with the DR1 is the FT Mighty Mini. It's one of my favorite airplanes, I've built three of them over the years. I found it to be a much better flyer and more stable than the FT Mini SE5. But the FT Mini DR1 is only a vague representation and not a scale airplane. It flies better with the weight and thrust of a 'B' Pack motor than the recommended 'A' Pack. The DR1 is notoriously tail heavy without sufficient ballast in the nose.

Your de Havilland Tiger Moth is beautiful.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Actually you have to count the wing on the landing gear so the DR1 has 4 wings! My only experience with the DR1 is the FT Mighty Mini. It's one of my favorite airplanes, I've built three of them over the years. I found it to be a much better flyer and more stable than the FT Mini SE5. But the FT Mini DR1 is only a vague representation and not a scale airplane. It flies better with the weight and thrust of a 'B' Pack motor than the recommended 'A' Pack. The DR1 is notoriously tail heavy without sufficient ballast in the nose.

Your de Havilland Tiger Moth is beautiful.

You put a B pack in the DR1! that's geniusly nuts! And it flies better you say? @Zetoyoc needs to see this. Do you have any video?

 

[Zetoyoc]

You put a B pack in the DR1! that's geniusly nuts! And it flies better you say? @Zetoyoc needs to see this. Do you have any video?

My dr1 balances and flies great with an f pack and 800mah 3s battery. Properly leapt off the ground on the maiden. . Not sure what would happen with a "b" motor. Wow

 

[TooJung2Die]

You put a B pack in the DR1! that's geniusly nuts! And it flies better you say? @Zetoyoc needs to see this. Do you have any video?

Double checked the motor. It's not a 'B' Pack, it's in between a 'F' and 'B'; 2208 with a 8x6 prop. It leaps into the air as "Zetoyoc" says. (Coyotez, clever) Here's the one currently in the hanger: KFm1 Mini DR1
Sorry your thread got hijacked here, TriplaneGuy. Now back to your regular scheduled program...

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Coyotez, clever

Yep I was wondering what it meant... more clever then me

 

[buzzbomb]

Hi All - I thought I'd post a few photos of a Fokker triplane build I started.

I've always wanted to build a balsa Dr.1 that was large enough to have some scale but small enough to be electric powered. I finally decided on a kit from Dancing Wings Hobby. Here's a link: http://www.dwhobby.com/s18-154m-bal...ing-aircraft-wingspan-1540mm-p0625-p0625.html. This kit has about a 60" wingspan and I wasn't sure what to expect (the best part about their website is the description of the assembly difficulty as "Very Hard, Let's Mad Together"). Despite that ominous warning the quality and fit of the kit so far has been outstanding.

It sat in my garage for about a year (too many other projects) and I finally got started in July. This is only my second balsa kit so you'll need to forgive the mistakes. Here's a few pics:

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Mounted engine box with a 600kv motor

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The wings are easily removable for transport with just one screw in each wing, which is a nice design.

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For the covering, I wanted to do something a little different from the traditional "Red Baron" red. I decided to go with a flat black with white trim / black decals.

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Will post more photos as I make progress on the wings.

Frackin' gorgeous! Where are you at with it, now?

 

[Jackson T]

THAT IS AMAZING! I can't wait to see more progress. How wide is the fuselage?

 

[Vimana89]

Really stoked to see how it turns out. I'm really curious as to how the design would fly at that size vs the FT mini in foam board. I imagine pretty good, especially the way you are building it

 

[TriplaneGuy]

THAT IS AMAZING! I can't wait to see more progress. How wide is the fuselage?

Thanks very much. The fuselage is 9" wide at the nose, tapering to 4.5" at the tail. The length is about 45".

 

[TriplaneGuy]

I will say that both of your balsa builds look crazy amazing. I am on the side of the black is better, the red color scheme is kinda cliché. Gives it more of a hot rod look, like someone rebuilt a downed DR1 in their garage and put their own spin on it. Looks like you are really into scale, but if it was my build I would knock the flat front off the engine cowl and expose the radial all the way around, kinda like the Corsair, a little more of a rat rod look and not so stock. But that's just me and not my build. Looks fantastic and my hat is off to you my friend. Welcome to the forums, you came in like a lion

Thanks! I like your idea with the nose and exposing the radial. You can't see it in the photo but most of the radial sticks out the bottom of the engine cowl. I'll see how it looks once I mount the prop!

 

[TriplaneGuy]

Actually you have to count the wing on the landing gear so the DR1 has 4 wings! My only experience with the DR1 is the FT Mighty Mini. It's one of my favorite airplanes, I've built three of them over the years. I found it to be a much better flyer and more stable than the FT Mini SE5. But the FT Mini DR1 is only a vague representation and not a scale airplane. It flies better with the weight and thrust of a 'B' Pack motor than the recommended 'A' Pack. The DR1 is notoriously tail heavy without sufficient ballast in the nose.

Your de Havilland Tiger Moth is beautiful.

You're right I completely forgot about the 4th wing. I had read that the DR1's are tail heavy so I plan to ballast the nose by putting weight in the engine mount (which I won't mount to the firewall until I've got the CG sorted out) Here's a pic of the engine mount. I plan to add metal plates inside the box to give it weight.

 

[TriplaneGuy]

Frackin' gorgeous! Where are you at with it, now?

Thanks I just finished installing the rudder and elevator servos and gluing all the tail pieces in place after lining up the servo rods.

Before mounting the rudder/elevator I built the tail skid. I decided to add a wheel to it to make life easier (not very scale, I know....).

 

[TriplaneGuy]

Really stoked to see how it turns out. I'm really curious as to how the design would fly at that size vs the FT mini in foam board. I imagine pretty good, especially the way you are building it

I'm definitely curious as well! I did find one video on youtube that appears to be posted by the manufacturer

It looks like the same plane flown in some sort of industrial park surrounded by power lines. They may want to work on their product marketing.....

 

[TriplaneGuy]

I also started work on the landing gear strut covers (?) (not sure what they're actually called). They're a bit tedious as you need to sand them quite a bit.

My question for the forum....what color should I paint them? White like the metal portion of the struts or black like the fuselage? Some other color? It's a major decision, I know ....there's disagreement in my household.....

 

[buzzbomb]

I also started work on the landing gear strut covers (?) (not sure what they're actually called). They're a bit tedious as you need to sand them quite a bit.

My question for the forum....what color should I paint them? White like the metal portion of the struts or black like the fuselage? Some other color? It's a major decision, I know....there's disagreement in my household.....

View attachment 150354

I'm thinking the same color as the fourth wing. Black. I think they'd stick out too much if they were another color.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

I also started work on the landing gear strut covers (?) (not sure what they're actually called). They're a bit tedious as you need to sand them quite a bit.

My question for the forum....what color should I paint them? White like the metal portion of the struts or black like the fuselage? Some other color? It's a major decision, I know ....there's disagreement in my household.....

View attachment 150354

White, they are almost an accessory and you want them to stand out

 

[buzzbomb]

White, they are almost an accessory and you want them to stand out

One day! One day you and I will agree on something!

 

[Madspadder]

One of my favorites!! I am building six indoor DR 1's for my club, there are so many color variations it's hard to choose. Really like how your build is coming along. I may have to try one.

 

[BATTLEAXE]

One day! One day you and I will agree on something!

White strut failings would almost hide the fourth wing by drawing attention to them. Mind you once it is done we will agree it will be a sweet looking plane and the both of us would like one in the hangar to play with