The kit…
Wingnut Wings is certainly producing some fantastic kits as I write and their release schedule would put many bigger manufacturer to shame!
I would recommend that you look at the previous Wingnut Wings Here Now and Finished Now reviews available in your SMN – you’ll see what an amazing job WW is consistently doing with each new release and this one – the Fokker E.I (Early) is easily up there with all that we have featured so far. It won’t have escaped your notice that the E.I is a monoplane albeit an early design and there’s less rigging too! Can’t be bad. We have reviewed the E.III (Late) here and you can see the full build of that model here. Here’s a photo of Dave C’s excellent E.III build to get you in the mood!
Looking at the breakdown of the parts-assembly it all looks logical and if you’ve completed any WW kit you’ll recognise the whole approach. Presentation of the whole package is second to none. This really looks like it would make an ideal entry into the world of Wingnut Wings and 1:32 WWI scale modelling if you are a newbie or relatively new to this type of subject in this scale.
Superb levels of detail
Levels of detail are superb and highly appropriate for 1:32 scale. The open cockpit will allow all that wood in the cockpit to be seen and admired. The Gnome engine is largely encased in the cowling so not a lot of that will be visible, although the lovely wooden prop will be. High levels of detail, crisp clean moulding – you just want to start cutting and building it!!
The wings have excellent fabric / ribbed detail moulded in and if you check out the multiple WW builds in SMN you’ll see just how well this can be painted and weathered to create a realistic effect. In addition, check out Dave C’s completed Rumpler build in Finished Now.
Wings
The two-piece wing sections have neat locating tabs that will make assembly and lining up with the fuselage much easier.
Guns
These are another highlight; especially as the MGs (Parabellum and Spandau) will look good when painted gunmetal and what’s great is that the metal cooling jackets are provided in photo etch adding considerable refinement to the model.
More on the cockpit… plus PE
I think that this is going to be a bit of a highlight with this release and the familiar cage, control column, seat and instruments – not to mention the MG will all look great when viewed from above. The seat harness is supplied as photo etch (PE) and this is great having used these WW brass items before. You’ll see from the photos that other small items are provided on the PE fret like the gun sight and other small details.
Instructions
The Wingnut Wings (WW) instruction booklet is one of the big highlights with any WW kit and this one is no exception – quite superb. Full colour illustration and diagrams give very clear instructions as to where everything goes. Good use is made of different colours to make identification and placement of all parts – and rigging later in the book, straightforward. There’s quite a bit of rigging to add to the Eindecker but the diagram makes locating each wire very clear.
There are also several period images in black and white and these give a very clear steer as to weathering possibilities later in the project. Add to that the all colour walkaround images covering all aspects of the airframe and you have a five-star guide to completing your WW Eindecker E.III (Late).
Decals
There are 5 great colour options for your E.I:
- Fokker E.1 1/15, Otto Parschau, June-July 1915 (8 victories)
- Fokker E.1 5/15, Kurt Wintgens, FFA 6b, July 1915 (19 victories)
- Fokker E.1 8/15, Uffz. Kneiste, FFA 62, August 1915
- Fokker E.1 13/15, Max Immelmann (15 victories) & Oswald Boelcke (40 victories), FFA 62, August 1915
- Fokker E.1 14/15, Eduard Böhme, FFA 9b, August 1915 (2 victories)
OK, the Eindecker may not have has the colourful schemes applied to various Jasta later but the weathering and marking opportunities offered here are still significant. There are some lovely small stencils too that will add the finishing touch to your markings; excellent quality decals if a little thick; colour density looks good as does accuracy.
Summary
There is no doubt that Eduard are pioneering some superb WWI models in 1:48 scale – Revell has some perhaps surprisingly good ones in 1:72 and Silver Wings cannot be ignored either in 1;32, I recently built their very nice Siskin. Wingnut Wings though has set a very high bar indeed for 1:32 and is unequalled in all elements of their package. The whole package is available post-free from WW at a staggering US$ 69.00 (around £46.00 GBP at the time of writing), amazing value for money. These models are available from Hannants in the UK, but check the pricing first to make sure you get the best price and service and compare with WW own website.
Highly recommended
Geoff C.
SMN Quick summary Star rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | ***** |
| Accuracy | ***** |
| Instructions | ***** |
| Decals | **** |
| Subject choice | ***** |
| Overall | ***** |