FTS Fokker Dr.I

[AchimEngels]

Hello All ,

Since I have been invited so kindly to this Forum, I thought you might perhaps be interested in seeing the progress of my Fokker Dr.I as it is being build.

This is a "on the sideline project" to me and for this reason please don´t expect a too quick progress. I am working on this triplane on saturdays only when nothing else is to do.

I may have a few days to figgure out how I best organise the postings of what has been done so far.

Maybe it is best to tell you a little bit about the drawings that I use to work from.

I am working from a set of drawings that I have created during the past two decates with an eye on being as authentic as possible.

This of course does not mean a lot since many people have done that before and I certainly can not request the right to claim I am the only one that succeeded.

For this reason I do of course welcome any hint to any thing that was done not according to the original if it helps me to improve my work. I am always eager to learn more and to be corrected if I am wrong.

So, to give you some insight into my drawing set I will post some of them as small images to provide you with an idea:

[AchimEngels]

These are of course only a very few samples to give you an idea. I draw all my plans by myself and I do not use CAD. I love to do the work as they did back at that time, by drawing with a pencil and then in ink.

I hope you enjoy this and I would be happy to continue showing more...

Cheers!

Achim Engels
Fokker-Team-Schorndorf

[cfgray]

Thank you, Achim for your postng, most impressive, as is all of your work. I look forward to seeing more.
Thanks for joining us,
cfgray

[AchimEngels]

Thanks Carroll,

here is the latest on the Dr.I progress:



Since I was working on the seat frames for some other projects of Fokker airplanes for other people, I have done mine for the Dr.I as well.

These seat mounting frames are pretty interesting. There are different layouts known not only for different types such as the D.VII, D.VIII, D.VI and Dr.I, but also different layouts whithin one single type.

The structural design is the same all through, but the discrepancy is in the angles the frame is put together.

To illustrate what I mean I am posting here a picture of three different layout of seat mounting frames that I have made during the past 4 days for the various projects of Fokker planes I am building.



Enjoy!

Achim

I thought we had lost you Achim, please keep doing what you are doing it is an invaluable resource for everybody who has an intrest in this field.

The people who are willing to take on such a massive undertaking as yourself and who are willing to share all their experiences are far too rare.

My continued awe and appreciation

Jason

[AAC Cadet Leader]

welcome to the home away from drome! i'll be watching you here, too. hope you'll post some new family photos occasionally, like you did on the drome. so glad you're back.

[Jeff Brooks]

Looks great Achim! I'm on the seat now too!

[AchimEngels]

Here are a few photographs of the triplanes controls so far.




Two views of the triplane control stick and torque tube


the flattened end of some of the torque tubes I made.




Two shots of the rudder bar.


And finally for today on this thread, here is a screenshot of another hobby of mine.

I love to generate three dimensional models of all the pats I hand draw plans for and create real pieces of.

The model above is of a late production version of the triplane controls. Many of the simplifications and improvements that can be found on the D.VII and the D.VIII as well as other subsequent Fokker planes have been used here for the first time.

You may notice the differences in the control stick and torque tube general arrangement drawing posted at the beginning of this thread and this one. Also note the differences in the rudder bar design.

Enjoy!

Achim

[AchimEngels]

The undercarriage axle boxes are done.

[AchimEngels]

Perhaps it wasn´t even a bad idea to split up the threads here into the various projects.

This way it may get more obvious how close all these Fokker planes of this generation are to one another in respect to technical details.


These are the ball and socket joints for the undercarriage and the center cabane struts of the Triplane. The forward joints of the undercarriage and the rear joints of the center cabane struts are adjustable.

When drilling these joints it is important to make sure that the "ball" sits perfectly in the "pan", since the loads during landing have not to be transported by the bolt, but by the ball and the pan.

Enjoy!

Achim