Flyzone’s
Fokker Dr.I
A notorius fighter that is small in size but big on fun!
By Jim Wiggin
PHOTOGRAPHY: JIM WIGGIN & FRANK FANELLI G
rowing up in a family that was well versed in aviation usually meant summer time vacation des- tinations involving some type of
visit to an airport, glider port or aviation museum. It was during one of these trips that my father drove us to the small town of Rhinebeck, New York. Oh yes, the town had quaint shops, eateries and the natural scenery was breathtaking. However, the clear destination, for my Father at least, was the Rhinebeck Aerodrome. It was here I first saw the legendary air-
craft of the “Great War” and learned of names such as Rickenbacker, Ball and Richthofen. Among the fleet of the Aero- drome was a flying SPAD, Albatros and, of course, a reproduction Fokker Dr.I Triplane. The Triplane was the villain in the Aero- drome’s weekend airshow, piloted by the “Black Barron” (Cole Palen), and causing mayhem on the fictional village before us. Watching the Triplane swoop in low and ma- neuver as it did was all it took to leave an indelible mark on an impressionable eight- year-old of the time. The full scale Fokker Dr.I of WWI was, to
put it nicely, a handful. It’s short stubby fuselage, rotary engine and poor visibility made the aircraft unruly for many pilots; however in the hands of the right pilot, the Fokker became a formidable and deadly
52
weapon. Many Germans would become aces, none more famed however than Richthofen. Richthofen went on to exploit the aircraft’s strong points and subsequently earned a few kills in the Dr.I before his downing by Allied forces April 21, 1918. Through the years of my modeling career, I
have often looked at Dr.I models, but had al- ways heard that the models, like their full- scale cousins of the past, inherited many of the same characteristics. Content to fly British S.E.5’s, Pups and Fokker DVIIs, I admired the Dr.I from afar. That was until a small box ar- rived here at FLYING MODELS. Pulling the bright blue box out revealed that the days of avoiding the Dr.I were now over. It was now time to strap into the cockpit of one of the most legendary fighter planes of all time. Flyzone has recently made a name for it-
self with the micro Albatros, and that plane has become immensely popular. My theory is that on the release of the Albatros, there were many requests for a Dr.I. Well the folks at Flyzone listened. The box is typical Fly- zone, bright graphics on the front, and a de- scriptive picture on the back to make the modeler aware that everything he or she will need is in the box. No ambiguity here. The Dr.I is available as a RTF, the subject of this review, and a new Tx-R. The Tx-R version does not include a transmitter but rather requires an AnyLink along with your
AT A GLANCE Type:
Construction: Wing span: Airfoil: Length: Weight: Radio:
RTF micro electric R/C foam and plastic 14.1 inches
undercambered 12 inches 36 grams
Manufacturer:
3-channel, Tactic TTX 402 Flyzone
Dist. by: Hobbico P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826 217-398-3630
www.flyzoneplanes.com
favorite transmitter. The Tx-R also includes a flight battery charger. Opening the box shows a few things fa-
miliar with Flyzone micros and a few things new. The airframe is captive in Styrofoam so as to cradle the aircraft along with its trans- mitter, flight batteries and five AA batteries for the transmitter. There are even addi- tional slots in the foam for additional 3.7V Li-Po flight batteries. This arrangement is typical of the micros that Flyzone has done and makes it easy to transport the model to flying venues.
JULY 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68