Fleas and FEs

Greg Springer (gspring@ix.netcom.com)
Thu, 9 Nov 1995 17:53:02 -0800

Hello all!

On Saturday the Austin Model Clubs had their joint annual contest
at the Pflugerville Fire Hall. (Don't laugh! It was rent free!) I
purchased from 'Wings & Things' of Dallas an Eduard DFW T.28 Floh.
Priced at $18, tax included, the kit consists of 16 plastic parts
molded in light grey, one PE fret and an acetate instrument sheet.
Most of the fret is taken up by the now familiar fold-it-yourself
cockpit. The stick is also etched and will need to be beefed up with
some thick primer. The instrument panel is convincingly period looking
although I know of no documentation for it. Windsock Vol.3,#1 is the
only reference that I have for this bird. There are no locator pins on
the fuselage halves. It might profit from a little sanding for a
better fit. You will need to drill out the dimples in the fuselage
which indicate the points for the wing locator pins. I bought it
because it will make a quick,easy subject to build and it makes a good
conversation piece.
I also purchased the Aeroclub FE2b for $40.60 from Lone Star
Models of Houston. I've always loved this ugly stringbag. To me it
epitomises the whole idea of the first years of air combat and all the
attempts to design fighting machines. You've got to admire the men who
fought from the front cockpit. It was an FE crew who nearly did for
von Richtofen some months before his actual demise. But enough
blether! This kit is molded in a light khaki plastic with good surface
detail on the wings and stabilizers. Rib detail is include on the
inside of the crew nacelle. All detail parts, struts and landing gear
are white metal. The intake/exhaust parts on the engine look a bit
anemic to me but I'm trying to find better references. A jig is
provided for construction of the tail booms. The instructions tell you
to assemble the booms with cyanoacrylate. However I don't think this
would result in a very sturdy structure if you wished to travel with
this to contests. I believe I'll fabricate the boom struts from brass
and silver solder them to the booms. The landing gear will probably be
reproduced in brass as well. Decals are provided for two subjects on
the back cover of Datafile #18, 'Zanzibar #1' and A 5548. Building this
kit will be pretty time consuming. I'd recommend it to those for whom
it would be a labor of love.
Now dig out your copies of Vol.6 #4 of 'Over the Front' and
examine the photos of 'Seven Swabians' on pages 355-357. In my next
post I'll have some questions about the colors on the top of the
fuselage between the cockpit and engine.

Cheers!

Greg Springer
'All the world is my friend for I am a brewer.'