Fokker Dr.1 "Kurier" triplane- A fast postal plane conversion of Eduard's 1/72nd kit

 

The Fokker Dr.1 Kurier was an unarmed machine portrayed as a fast postal plane, belonging to the airline Deutsche Luft-Reederei. It's unclear if it ever rendered service, or if it did, in which manner. Little has been found about it, only very few photos and a caption. Eager to model a triplane that wasn't involved in any bellicose endeavors, this was my chance, and I waited a long time to see if more information would appear. It didn't. So with the little that is at this time available, the model went ahead. Conversations with fellow modelers presented a number of alternatives for the finish, as it is always a quagmire interpreting B&W photos. On the Net you may find representations of it as in CDL, and as painted in an metal color. But photos show that the wings and possibly the horizontal tail were of a darker hue, especially noticeable on a little area were a metal fairing overlaps the middle wing. Of the many theories kindly advanced by friends, I chose to follow none, and came up with a scheme that arguably carries a certain risk, following the colors of a DLR advertisement, colors that were later adopted by Lufthansa (the successor and inheritor of DLR). So my take on the Kurier  -as I see it as a "marketing" plane, eager to sell mail services to the government and public- is yellow fuselage, white rudder, and blue horizontal tail and wings. 

The step-by-step building article can be consulted here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/10/fokker-dr1-kurier-eduard-12nd-kit.html

Among the other possible schemes proposed it deserves attention the one advanced by friend and fellow modeler Sönke Schulz, sustaining that the darker surfaces were a left over of the plane's past as a service machine, and therefore wearing the slanted streaky uneven green color treatment, furthermore, he thinks that the fuselage was white and the rudder CDL. I don't discard the green, but I don't agree with the latter colors.

The kit itself, by Eduard (profipak edition), is very good indeed, and gave no problems whatsoever (there is a small caveat with the engine P.E. parts that you may check on the building post).

The decals in this case were homemade, as they were black and simple enough.

The only modification needed comes at the result of removing the armament, which leaves a gap. That gap is spanned in the original via a continuation of the metal sheet that goes over the middle wing, and so was solved on the model too.

Small in size but large in legend, this special Fokker Dr.1 will be now, in the wide skies of imagination, delivering the mail instead of bullets.