Meng Fokker Dr.I, 1/32nd Scale, Kit No. QS002

The thing about Irony is that so few people get it. Ray Wiley Hubbard said that and it’s one of those universal truths that touches every corner of life, and can even be found in the world of plastic modeling. Take, for example, the Meng Fokker Dr.I triplane in 1/32nd scale. It’s a dandy kit, a superb replica of one of the most iconic military airplanes ever designed and flown. It’s also a kit that managed to get itself bushwhacked by the experts before it was ever released, its character sullied almost beyond redemption by people who didn’t have a particularly good grasp on what the kit really was or is. It’s time to right a wrong, as it were, and declare those early assessments to be the bovine defecation they truly are. The Meng Tripe is a good kit, easy to build and accurate. That’s what we’ll choose to call a premise. Here are some facts to support our claim.

Before we begin, there’s an elephant in the room that we need to dispose of right off the bat; the involvement of the late and much-lamented WingNut Wings in the production of this model. For years they had held to the notion that they wouldn’t release a Fokker Triplane in their kit range because there was already a good one available, Roden’s truly excellent offering in 1/32nd scale, and they saw no reason to compete with it. Somewhere along the way they changed their minds and decided to do a Tripe after all. Then they folded, but not before they had begun the tooling for their DR.I, and that tooling was far enough along to be able to produce viable kits when the decision was made to shut off the water down in New Zealand. Things became a bit murky at that point but the bottom line was pretty obvious in that Meng had both the tooling and the legal ability to produce models from it, making their production of a Tripane kit pretty much a no-brainer. It took no time at all for the wonderful and sometimes highly opinionated and catty world of scale modeling websites to jump on the Triplane bandwagon, but the party was short-lived as soon as the kits hit the shelves. Complaints immediately began to circulate that the new Triplanes were unfinished, tooling-wise, and not nearly as good as a “real” WingNut Wings model. A significant part of the structure of the middle wing was short-shot on all the kits released (not true) and the one-piece wings were warped straight from the box (true). Why, it wasn’t a WnW kit at all!

Let’s jump on that last sentence for a minute; the one where we determined this wasn’t a WingNut Wings kit. The model was designed by Sir Peter’s boys, but didn’t quite make it to the state of refinement that would have characterized a “real” WingNuts kit. The decals aren’t as good, and neither are the instructions, but that’s with a huge caveat. This is a good kit, bordering on being superb. We’ve built two of them and feel reasonably well-qualified to discuss the model, so let’s do that.

Taking first things first, let’s discuss those “bad parts” that the pundits jumped on when this kit first became available. Nothing was ever short-shot but the center wing around the cockpit on the right side was easy to damage, quite possibly due to packaging processes at the factory. We experienced that damage on our first kit, purchased as soon as it hit the shelves in Austin, but it wasn’t an issue and took all of a minute, if that, to repair by the simple process of gently bending the part back where it belonged. The warped wings were equally easy to deal with—they usually ARE warped but gentle pressure will get them back flat and true, no hot water, hair dryers, or black magic voodoo required. As previously mentioned, we’ve built two of the Meng Dr.1s and only the first one had the anomaly on the middle wing. Both of the kits we built had warped wings, an almost inevitable result of molding them in one piece, but the fix is ridiculously simple; gently bend them until they’re straight, working from wingtip to wingtip until they lay flat when placed on your workbench. Bad parts? Nope, just poor problem-solving on the part of a couple of reviewers who quite possibly never took the time to actually build their review samples.

The kit itself is pretty remarkable, as you might expect considering its parentage. Everything fits well with no surprises or pitfalls and the model is accurate. There’s very little need for aftermarket parts, maybe just some belts if you don’t like the kit items, and almost certainly different decals but nothing else is needed and you can quite frankly get an excellent replica using only what’s included in the kit. (That said, we used a bit of aftermarket on ours. We always do…)

The interior is a big part of any model of an airplane from The Great War and this one is well-handled, certainly complete for a basic Dr.I and including photo-etched belts and harnesses as well as a couple of optional instruments for that highly non-standardized cockpit. Basic polystyrene guns are provided, as are a second set of weapons without cooling jackets so you can roll your own out of the photo-etched items also included with the kit.

The engine is very good indeed, and needs only a bit of wiring to really make it pop. All of the molding is crisp, although both of the examples we built suffered from a miniscule amount of flash on the trailing edges of the scale-thickness elevators.

There are options in the kit as well, including the different cowlings, tail surfaces, wheels and ailerons required to build a replica of the pre-production F.1s flown by Manfred von Richthofen and Werner Voss. Less obvious are the inclusion of three different propellers, two gunsights (a collimator, known to most people as a “telescopic sight” and a rarer than rare but used on a handful of Triplanes Oigee reflector sight) and a seldom used undercarriage brace as seen most often on those Tripes operated by Jasta 36. There are two flare pistols, one with and one without a mount. There are optional windscreens. All of these parts are well-detailed.

On the negative side of the ledger there are some minor tooling marks on the horizontal stab and elevators that need to be sanded smooth, and similar blemishes surround the lifting handles found on the aft fuselage. The decals are a bit thick although the crosses are perfectly usable; the rest of the decal sheet isn’t all that accurate or particularly well-done but there are a number of aftermarket decal sheets available to remedy that particular issue.

The only real let-down of this model is its instructions, and they’re only poor when compared to the encyclopedic booklets found in WingNut Wings kits—nobody did instructions the way the boys from New Zealand did them, and it’s unfair to criticize Meng for failing to meet those lofty standards. (Nobody else does it either, although we’ve heard the new Kotare Spitfire kit will come close, not surprising since it’s being done by the WingNuts team sans Peter Jackson.) You’re on your own for colors, detailing beyond what’s supplied by the kit, and rigging instructions. No mention whatsoever is given to the use of optional parts either. References, in the form of books or on the internet, are in order should you desire to build this one to its ultimate potential, but the kit’s instructions will guide you through building a solid basic model. They’re adequate. They’re not superb.

Our final assessment is a simple one: This is an excellent kit marred only by the opinions of a handful of individuals who reviewed it but apparently never attempted to actually build it. Our model of 425/17, the airplane in which Manfred von Richthofen scored his final two victories and was flying the day he met his death, was constructed over a period of two weeks or so, using aftermarket instrument faces and harnesses as well as a set of Master gun barrels. It could have been just as easily built using only the parts included in the kit. Don’t let the mediocre decals or uninspiring box art throw you off. This kit is simple and relatively easy to build. It’s accurate. We’ve built two and fully intend on building others. “Highly Recommended” is a term that comes to mind.

It was by all accounts a dreary April day. In spite of an unhealed head wound Manfred von Richthofen was in good spirits before taking off on a flight he had no reason to make, even indulging in horseplay with some of his fellow aviators. His last fight took him across the lines at low altitude and saw him break every rule he had ever learned or taught to others during his several years of air fighting. His end came as something from a Gothic novel as he chased his last intended victim in and out of the swirling mists, swerving to miss the steeple of a tiny church just before a single bullet struck him in the chest, fired either by Captain Roy Brown in his Sopwith Camel or by an unknown Australian infantryman bivouacked nearby. He left the fight, depressurized his fuel system, and switched off his engine’s ignition. Witnesses said he attempted but failed to flare on his final approach and his landing was a hard one, and it’s surmised that he was dead as the airplane hit the ground. His enemies buried him with full military honors.

This kit provides the modeler with a superb opportunity to pay homage to the Richthofen brothers, Manfred and Lothar, as well as to Werner Voss and so many others. It will inevitably be compared to the Roden offering in the same scale, a comparison in which it will come out ahead for detailing and overall buildability. The seeds of greatness lie within that Meng box. All that’s required is a willingness to ignore the internet!