Peter Rake kindly lets me build a prototype of his 30" Fokker F.II.

Currently i'm studying the plan and will probably visit my local modeling shop for laser cutting the parts later this week.

From Wikipedia:

The Fokker F.II was the first of a long series of commercial aircraft from the Fokker Aircraft Company, flying in 1919. In a biplane age, it presented a distinct clean, high wing monoplane style that sold successfully across Europe and North America during the development of commercial passenger-carrying aviation

General characteristics
Crew: One pilot
Capacity: 5 passengers
Length: 11.65 m (38 ft 3 in)
Wingspan: 16.10 m (52 ft 10 in)
Height: 3.66 m (12 ft 0 in)
Wing area: 38.2 m² (411 ft²)
Empty weight: 1,200 kg (2,650 lb)
Gross weight: 1,900 kg (4,190 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Armstrong Siddeley Puma, 180 kW (240 hp) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 150 km/h (93 mph)
Cruising speed: 120 km/h (75 mph)
Range: 1,200 km (750 miles)

Pete,

I noticed two issues while looking at the plan:

1. On the plan it seems that rib R7 is marked twice, while R8 is missing.

2. On the sheet with the parts to cut, TE1 is missing.

gupi

Oops. The ribs themselves were correct, both on plan and cut file, I just labelled two the same. The missing trailing edge piece is now added and I've sent you the revised file.

Pete

Thanks, Pete.

I'm thinking to use the classic KLM color scheme. They were Fokker's first customer.

gupi

Finally it's getting serious. I visited my model shop today and printed out the plan two times: one for building on it and one to hang on the wall for reference.

I ordered the laser cut pieces, too. If everything works out, i might get the parts tomorrow already.

Pete,

Living in a country with metric units I can't get imperial sized wood. So my build will be a little off in weight i guess - and i might have to sand the spars a bit to make them fit into the ribs.

gupi

gupi,
Yes, if you use 2.5 mm sheet. It's only 0.1 mm though, so depends on the accuracy of the cutting - and the accuracy of the wood thickness.
That's pretty quick service you get there.

Pete

My favorite model shop delivered!

I've got all laser cut parts ready and verified on the plan. The ribs fit nicely on the spars. Everything looks very good now.

Pete,

I noticed that wire part A is printed as 16 swg on the plan, but in the shopping list it says 18 swg.

gupi

Dry fitting the left halve of the wing. I bravely resist the urge to start glueing and go to bed for today. It's better to start a build well rested.

Thanks mate. It's now corrected on the plan and should, of course, have said 18 swg.

Those laser cut parts look rather nice. It's no bad thing that they appear to fit well too.

Pete

Today i started to build. I started building the fuselage first. I'll probably keep the nose section open until i get the motor i want to use to make sure i can fit it in. I haven't decided yet which one to use, though.

The lighting isn't really working on those photos. The ones you took of the wing assembly are much sharper and more crisp. Remember that without good photos, I have nothing to publish. Therefore, I hope you're saving the uncompressed images for me.

That said, the model seems to be progressing nicely. Interesting technique of gluing the parts to the film.

Pete

Originally Posted by PETERRAKE

The lighting isn't really working on those photos. The ones you took of the wing assembly are much sharper and more crisp. Remember that without good photos, I have nothing to publish. Therefore, I hope you're saving the uncompressed images for me.

That said, the model seems to be progressing nicely. Interesting technique of gluing the parts to the film.

Pete

Indeed! I took note of that as well. I admit having observed how the film still "sticks" to the structure a bit when removing the parts from the board, but I'd never thought to actually utilize that effect! Sehr klug, gupi!

James

Pete,

I feared that the light might not be enough. I'm very sorry about that. The other photos were taken on the kitchen table (vs. my regular building table, which is much smaller by the way). I'll take the photos on the kitchen table again until i manage to get better lighting for the building table. Sure I keep the originals, the ones I'm posting here have to be downsized otherwise i can't post.

Pete, James,

Thanks for the praise for the technique. I've read a build log some time ago where someone used CA to glue his build to a glass table with the plan taped underneath and thought: this might work with clear film, too. It allows for very quick builds.

gupi

I have a couple of pictures left from yesterday's build session that i didn't post yet, showing the joining of the sides. (So these have the same lighting still.)