I hope this inspires others to try one of these!
I just bought this kit in auction and then found it is still available from
http://www.virginiahobbysport.com for a mere $24.95 at the time of this post. A really nice price for everything you get in the kit in these days and times.
A few notes on what I found in the box which is new-old stock and was still factory sealed when I got it.
Two copys of the building instructions.
The wood was all very light in color with long grain indicating "A" grain cut wood. All straight with no warps. The fuselage is 1/4" thick as I expected but the thin wood parts are a little thicker than 1/16" as they should be. Still thinner than 3/32" this wood is very light. Almost contest grade in weight with hardly any grain showing at all. The wings are only 3/32 thick which surprised me at first considering the top wing chord is almost 4" (3 3/4"). I was actually glad because this will help the AUW (all up weight).
A nice set of waterslide decals.
2 1/8" dia. wooden dowels for the struts
A nice hardware package with most of the hardware needed. Two exceptions here. No leadout wire ( a beginners kit really should have this) and no wheel keepers. The instructions say to just slip the wheels on and bend the wire so they don't fall off. Anyone who has ever done this knows that this is a pretty shoddy way of getting this job done... The wheels I am not too happy with. Solid wood wheels like you would find in the Sterling rubber powered kits. While some may think this is OK, I must also add that they are way too small. Aboiut 1" dia. and a WWI model like this deserves at least 2" wheels which if are wooden as these are would add too much uneeded weight. I am thinking of replacing these with some light parkflyer narrow wheels maybe...
I have already cut the dowels as per instructions for the struts. This would be a difficult job for a beginner I think. I ran out of dowel material before I had them all cut. An oversight for this kit. Need 3 dowels.
Another oversight has to do with the detaling of the model. Not mentioned and barely shown in one view are the top cowl and machine guns. At least thats what I think they are. No picture published shows this detail at all. Seems there was only one picture that Sterling ever used is the rear quarter view of this model.
I do wish they had used a more scale type LG and I do miss the "wing" between the wheels but no real biggie. I might try to do something to help in this manner. We will see. I do realise that they were trying to use existing hardware and corners have to be cut between designs.
Overall I like what I got and I hope someone else will get one as well.
Pictures to follow...
Robert
Overall a nice kit indeed
Topic: Build thread for Sterling Beginner Series 1/2A Fokker D7 (Read 1170 times)
