A Bolt from the Blue

Building Meng Model’s 1/24 Fokker Dr.1

- Dave Hooper

Kit No: QS-003

Scale: 1/24

Type: Injection Moulded Plastic

Manufacturer: www.meng-model.com www.meng-model.com

Aviattic ATT24010 Fokker F.I/DR.I serial numbers, stencils, weights tables, propeller decals etc. www.aviattic.co.uk

The history of plastic modelling is packed with examples of kits depicting the triplane, from Revell’s 1/28 tooling, first issued in 1957, to the latest Meng / Wingnuts 1/32 kit that was released last year. At the beginning of this year Meng surprised the modelling community with the announcement that they would be releasing a 1/24 version of the aircraft. The kit began to trickle out from Asia in late spring, although at the time of writing is still not available from major British retailers. Why 1/24? Perhaps it hails back to the old 1/24 Airfix kits that almost every kid wanted, but few could afford.

The kit

Almost as soon as the kit was announced rumours began to surface about it being another abandoned Wingnut Wings project that was produced in collaboration with Meng. Certainly, if you look carefully at the sprues, all of Wingnut Wing's hallmarks are there to see, not only in the way that the sprues themselves have been broken down, but also the care and level of research that has obviously gone into the project.