Zvezda

1/72 Fokker F-VII/3M (Southern Cross)

Kit Number: 7233

Reviewed by  Fred A. Amos, IPMS# 6672

MSRP: $21.95 Review kit provided by Dragon Models USA Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com A brief history: The Fokker F-VII was an airliner produced in the 1920's by Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. The original design of 1924 was a single-engine high wing monoplane Anthony Fokker modified the design by adding two more engines to enter the Ford Reliability Tour of 1925, which it won. Consequently, the production versions F.VIIa/3M, F.VIIb/3M, and the F10 all had three engines, and the aircraft became popularly known as the Fokker Tri-motor. The kit: I have built several Zvezda kits in the last year or so and until this one found them to be very well engineered. It wasn't until I was well into this build that I realized that this kit is actually the old Frog kit from the late sixties. I should have known that as soon as I saw the pebbly surface on the wing parts. (See photo of wing). Further examination found a good deal of flash on small parts and on the edges of the larger pieces. After cleaning up the flash and dry fitting the larger parts I sanded the pebbles off of the wing surfaces followed by a good scrubbing with Final Touch Modeling Wax. The wing came out very well. The interior was painted tan as per instructions, but I seriously suspect that is the wrong color. I placed the clear windows in the fuselage sides, added the cockpit, and glued the fuselage together. After all the glued parts were sanded smooth the wing was painted with Floquil Old Silver and the fuselage with Model Master True Blue. The wing was then placed on top of the fuselage and glued into place. The next step was to place the windshield under the leading edge of the wing, which surprisingly fit pretty well. At this point, I discovered that there were no cockpit side windows provided in the kit. I found some clear plastic from an old blister pack and cut and sanded until I had two reasonably fitting windows. They had to be held in place with super glue and they look terrible. The rest of the components, landing gear, engine nacelles, prop blades and horizontal stabilizers were also painted Old Silver. Each landing gear, with the engine attached, is comprised of five individual pieces. The locating holes are small dimples and had to be drilled a little deeper. I used Gorilla Glue and placed the parts one at a time to allow the glue to work. This kit was a surprise and a disappointment. When I saw the name Zvezda, I expected the same quality as the kits I had built in the past, not a re-pop of a forty plus year old Frog kit. All in all, with a little extra effort the kit came out pretty nice. The decals are very thin and nicely printed. But be careful with the longer decals, because they will have a tendency to fold up when they come off the paper. I can only recommend this kit to a modeler with plenty of experience and patience. My thanks to Dragon Models USA for providing this kit for review.