[Serpiko]

Box picture as found in the web

Here I am with my first 1/48 job... an all-time classic!



PROS
-Good detail and fitting
-Many alternative parts
-Simple construction of wings

CONS
-Some cockpit details missing
-Guns and internals require precision assembly



THE PLANE

No, seriously... Is there anything to be said? 8)


THE KIT

In the box you get three large sprues with a total of 65 parts, instructions and a decals sheet. The unusual thing is, the sprues are molded with bright red plastic (quite eye-punching). Not a real problem, but I had preferred the usual grey.
Pieces appear to be flash-free and finely detailed. Smaller parts are fragile, of course, but otherwise the rest is solid enough. And there's plenty of options: the kit provides two alternative propellers, two pairs of MGs (either with or without the cooling grid around the barrel), two sets of ailerons, and two alternative tailplans with their related two sets of elevators (with a minor difference in the leading edge).
No seatbelts included: if you want them, you'll have to make them from scratch.
There are decals and serials for two aircrafts: the full red machine flown by Rittmeister Manfred Freiherr von Richtofen when he was downed on April the 21st 1918, and a plane from Jasta 6 flown by Leutnant Ludwig Beckmann in March 1918. This one has a green livery with black nose, a wavy band on the fuselage and a black-white striped tail.



PAINTING

Before building? Yes! Since most of the painting job has to be done on internals and mechanics, and both paintschemes feature an overall color with no camouflage, you may prefer to paint pieces before removing them from the sprues. With a little care in slicing them off, they'll only need minor finishing once they are fixed.
So I did. Instructions give color references for every part, using Revell's usual system where each color is indicated by a letter. Beware of inaccuracies though, since some indications look odd (i.e. the indicated color scheme for the left side of fuselage interior is different from the one for the right side - two reference letters are inverted).
In order to obtain the "wood" effect on propeller, seat and internals, i used this technique: after painting a base layer with matt black, I applied a sand/light brown layer using a "semi-dry" brush, intentionally painting irregular strokes while leaving the underneath color partially visible. Then I repeated the process using mid-brown (intended to be the main color). Last, a VERY thin and liquid layer of the same mid-brown smoothed the remaining lighter and darker areas. You can see the the result on the propeller, in the pics. (Note that the outcome of this technique depends mostly on your hand: the resulting "mottling" may vary a lot depending on different stroking styles and thicker/thinner intermediate layers, as well as different brown tones.)
Machine guns were painted flat black, and then a very thin layer of aluminium was applied, to give an "iron" look.

P.S. MGs' detail is better than you see in the pics. That's my fault because, having meddes up with aluminium in the first attempt, I applied several paint layers before getting the desired result. The same is true for fuselage details, since my red paint required a thick application, thus hiding some of the details (i.e. rivets on the nose).

I took a licence and painted the rudder white instead of red. The "grainy" surface you see in the pics is due to a final coating with matt transparent spray.



BUILDING

You know, building multi-wing birds with all their struts and rigs always implies some tricky parts. this said, the structure of the DR.I is simpler than the average, and this kit does its best to make the job easy.

COCKPIT AND FUSELAGE - Precision is required here, since most of the internal structure relies on small pieces supporting each other. This means that a single misplaced piece can compromise the global fitting.
After fixing the two frame pieces on fuselage sides, you have to build the floor by adding the stick, the compass and a "tree-shaped" rod supporting rudder pedals. This rod is particularly important, because it will be the main support for the MG block. As for the seat, it must be glued to a rear panel, and the "pillow" and side supporting frames must be added.
When fixing floor and rear cockpit panels onto one of the fuselage halves, make sure that the sides of the "tree" rod match their correct place onto the side frame. TRY DRY FITTING, to ensure the fitting is correct on both sides of the fuselage.
But it's not time to join fuselage halves yet: first, you need to add two "boxes", behind and ahead of our beloved "tree" rod. These are, respectively, the MGs ammo box and what appears to be an empty shells container. Once this is done, you have to add one more horizontal rod (behind the ammo box), whose vertical elements will be the rear support for MGs. Again, DRY FITTING is the rule!
The last thing you need to do before joining fuselage halves, is adding a small piece inside the tail, that will later receive the tail "brake".
You've probably noticed that, apart from the compass (or whatever it is), there is no gauges panel at all. AFAIK, different DR.I series had different gauges setups, so I just kept the cockpit as it was.
The completed fuselage has an engraved slot along its bottom centerline. It houses a long thin piece reproducing the junction line of the fabric cover. A little piece must be fixed just on the right of the cockpit, it looks like a flare holder or something similar.



WINGS - Good news: lower, mid and top wings are all single pieces from tip to tip, making for easier building and greater sturdiness.
The first step is the middle wing. You have to glue the top side of the fuselage onto its central section, then the resulting block can be applied onto the fuselage (remember to add the two little pieces filling the two round holes on the fuselage).
There are two holes near the wingtips: that's because outer struts are molded in two single pieces from top to bottom wings, passing through the middle wing. They can be easily fixed, as they fit firmly in position.
Now you can easily add the lower wing. It only requires a bottom "cap" under its central section to fit correctly in its slot under the fuselage. Oh, and remember to add the two reinforcements under the tips.
Adding the top wing is quite simple too, but you'd better wait and do it after building the MGs.
Anyway, to build the top wing, you need to fix the inner struts onto the fuselage first, taking care to fit them in their correct position. Ailerons must be added separately, after glueing the control bracets on them. While there are two pairs of ailerons, instructions only refer to one pair. Ah, btw, ailerons are NOT ambidextrous, as they're slightly different; anyway, even if you glue them inverted (and, of course, I DID ), the mistake will be almost invisible.



TAIL - Just like with ailerons, although two options are present, the instructions only mention one. The orizontal plan fits easily on the top side of the fuselage, and the bottom brake must be inserted into its dedicated hole.
Again, before adding control surfaces, you must fix their control bracets on them. Once rudder and elevators are in position, it's rigging time: control cables should exit from precise spots in the fuselage and reach the tips of control bracets. The top cables of the elevators must even "cross" the horizontal plan. You'd better apply control cables first, and then add the two reinforcing struts under the tail, so that they don't interfere.
Then you can add the two handles on fuselage sides and the staff under the cockpit, on the left.

MACHINE GUNS - They directly protrude from the cockpit and can be considered part of it, since they require the same care in positioning.
First you neet to add the two ammo belts on them, on their right side. Then you have to fix them on their supporting pins, making the ammo belts match their correct position on the ammo box. Then you must add the horizontal piece joining the two rear sides, and then the two shell exhausts ducts on the left side of each MG (the longer duct goes on the right one). Do your best to make MGs stay parallel, or they will look awful!



ENGINE - As you probably know, the engine of the DR.I was fixed to the plane by its shaft, and the cylinders group rotated along with the propeller. So, be careful NOT to glue the engine to the plane!
The job here is quite simple: just join the front part (cylinders) with the rear part (pipes), make the front pin pass through its hole in the cowling, glue the propeller onto the pin (taking care to leave the propeller-engine block rotate freely) and lastly glue the cowling to the fuselage. (You may as well add the propeller after glueing the cowling, it doesn't matter.)

GEAR - This isn't going to be that easy. The wheels axis itself isn't complex: a central element that actually supports wheels must be enclosed between top and borrom sides of the aerodynamic surface. The hard part comes with the four legs joining the gear to the plane: they have dedicated holes in the gear, ok, and instructions state clearly where to place each one of them... but then, you realize that their junction points under the fuselage are almost inexistent, and that minimum inaccuracies in even a single leg will make the whole gear fit wrong.
The way to go here is by trial and error, tweaking and adjusting until you find a compromise among the four legs so that the plane stands straight on its gear.

RIGGING - Well... that's up to you! IMO, while in 1/72 models a missing wire can be forgiven, in 1/48 scale rigging is mandatory. I spoke above about the tail section; then you should add the crossing wires between the two front gear legs and between the two front inner wing struts. Also, although instructions don't show that, there must be two wires running almost parallel to the rear inner struts, check the pictures to get what I mean.



DECALS

Only in the Jasta 6 bird do decals play a major role, since Richtofen's mount only features German crosses and the standard stenciling.
Anyway, all decals can be applied either WIP or when the building is over (with the exception of the huge striped tail decal, you'll need it in position before adding control cables). I found them to be solid, finely printed and adequately "sticky"; in short, they are good!



CONCLUSIONS

Actually, this is both my first 1/48 model and my first WWI bird, my only previous experiences with biplanes being a 1/72 CR.42 and a Swordfish. So, honestly, I can't judge the detail level of this kit compared to others of this scale, although it looked good enough to me.
As far as ease of building is concerned, though, my overall impression is positive. I found no fitting issues and the construction of wings is made as easy as possible. I met some difficulties, but I can hardly say if it was the kit, or the subject, or just me.
Therefore, thumbs up! If you have at least a little experience, and feel good enough to mess up with struts and wires, this kit is user-friendly enough to be your first triplane. If, instead, you eat Fokkers and Sopwiths for breakfast... it's simply a nice DR.I!

Of course, any comment/criticism by experienced 1/48ers will be appreciated.

See you!