FOKKER Dr.1 TRIPLANE - AIRFRAME ONLY KIT (ADD YOUR OWN ELECTRONICS AND RADIO GEAR)
The Fokker Dr.1 Triplane needs no introduction as perhaps the most recognisable aircraft from WW1, made infamous by Manfred von Richthofen - the "Red Baron".
We have been asked for versions of these kits that can built for display or for fitting customers' own electronics, etc.
This is a Legends of Flight "short kit" that includes all of the sheet wood and additional airframe components to assemble a 23.5" (597mm) wingspan Dr.1, allowing you to source your own hardware, onboard electronics, battery and transmitter.
THE "RED BARON" FOKKER Dr.1 TRIPLANE
When the Sopwith Triplane began to appear over the Western Front in early 1917, it quickly proved itself superior to the more heavily armed Albatros fighters then in use by the Luftstreitkräfte - despite the Sopwith having only a single Vickers machine gun.
In April 1917 Anthony Fokker inspected a captured Sopwith Triplane and subsequently instructed Reinhold Platz to build a Fokker Triplane, the prototype of which was further modified by Fokker to improve the operation of the flying surfaces. The revised Triplane went into production as the Fokker Dr.1 Dreidecker and entered service in the autumn of 1917.
Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen first flew a Dr.1 in September 1917. Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, the "Red Baron" is one of history's most famous fighter pilots. He scored nineteen of his eighty victories in a number of Fokker Dr.1 Triplanes. Seventeen of his victories were all achieved in a six-week period from March 12th to April 20th 1918, during Operation "Michael", Germany's last great offensive on the Western Front.
This kit is based on the Fokker Dr.1 425/17 aeroplane that Richthofen was (most likely) flying when he scored his final two victories on April 20th, 1918, and also the one in which he was shot down and killed the following day, thirteen days before his 26th birthday.
The Dr.1 remained in service on the Western Front until it was replaced by the superior Fokker D VII in May 1918.
Only 320 of the Fokker Dr.1 Triplane were built, partly due to quality control issues that resulted in some suffering top wing failures. This, together with the requirement that the aileron attachment points needed to be strengthened, resulted in the Dr.1 being grounded during November 1917 for the rectification work to be carried out.
Three triplanes are known to have survived the Armistice. One was retained as a testbed by the German Aviation Research Institute at Adlershof. After being used in the filming of two movies it is believed to have crashed sometime in the late 1930s. A second Triplane, in which Richthofen obtained three victories, was displayed at the Zeughaus museum in Berlin. This aircraft was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during World War II.
In 1932, Fokker assembled a Dr.1 from existing components. It was displayed in the Deutsche Luftfahrt-Sammlung in Berlin. The aircraft was also destroyed in an Allied bombing raid in 1943.
Now there are only a few original Dr.1 parts remaining in museums around the world.
CHRISTMAS 2024 DELIVERY INFORMATION
The workshop will be closed from 12pm Friday 20th December 2024 until 9am Monday 6th January 2025.
Any orders placed while the workshop is closed will be despatched in the week starting Monday 6th January 2025.
We will monitor emails during the period we are closed, but replies may take longer than usual.
Thank you for your custom over the past year - we look forward to serving you again next year.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The VMC Team
UK SHIPPING
Most orders are shipped via Royal Mail’s Tracked 48 service.
We are in a very rural location and so our Royal Mail collection is at around 1pm.
Example:
An order placed before 12pm on Monday should be with you on Wednesday.
An order placed after 12pm on Monday should be with you on Thursday.
For larger or heavier orders, we use APC to deliver your package on a Next Working Day service.
Example:
An order placed before 10am on Monday should be with you on Tuesday.
An order placed after 10am on Monday should be with you on Wednesday.
Shipping is free to UK Mainland addresses for orders over £30.00, otherwise we charge £6.00 for Royal Mail Tracked 48 parcels and £12.00 for APC Next Working Day.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Unfortunately, for the purposes of the new EU GPSR regulations introduced on 13th December 2024, Northern Ireland falls under EU jurisdiction.
Until we have worked out how to comply with the new rules, we will not send items to Northern Ireland.
We are really sorry about this and hope to have a solution in place sometime in 2025.
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK ISLANDS
Royal Mail considers the Scottish Highlands and UK Islands as part of the UK and so does not charge a premium for deliveries.
Pretty much all other UK couriers have surcharges for deliveries to the following postcodes: IV, HS, KA27-28, KW, PA20-49, PA60-78, PH17-26, PH30-44, PH49-50, ZE, IM, TR21-25
If you live in one of these postcodes and the parcel size of your order is outside Royal Mail's dimensions, you will have to pay a surcharge.
Our system is not clever enough to work this out and so if your order attracts a surcharge, we will contact you before despatch to see if you would like to pay the surcharge and proceed with the order or cancel and receive a full refund.
INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
EU COUNTRIES
On 13th December 2024, the EU introduced new regulations with respect to product safety called GPSR.
There was very little publicity or notice given to small UK businesses about the new regulations, but needless to say, to comply will be time-consuming, onerous and probably expensive.
Unfortunately, until we have worked out how to comply with the new rules, we will not send items to EU countries.
We are really sorry about this and hope to have a solution in place sometime in 2025.
Smaller items
Items that fit within Royal Mail International Tracked Medium Parcel parameters (59cm x 17cm x 15cm weighing less than 2kg) can be sent to most countries outside the UK.
For example up to 3 of our smaller 18” wingspan kits can fit into one of these parcels.
A parcel like this currently costs around £18 to send to the USA and will take up to 3 weeks to arrive. This is because Royal Mail hands over the parcel to the local Post Office service for your country who have to clear it through customs and then deliver it to you.
The Royal Mail tracking code also transfers over to the tracking for your country’s postal service.
Larger items
For items that do not fit within Royal Mail International Tracked Medium Parcel parameters, we use standard international couriers such as DHL, FedEx and UPS.
These companies use something called volumetric weights to calculate the cost of shipping.
For example, a Balsa Basics RC bundle kit that measures 102cm x 34cm x 16cm and weighs 2.5 kg is actually calculated at 14kg!
This makes these very expensive to send outside the UK - a large kit can cost nearly £60 to send to the USA.
