Review - from Kagero Monographs – Legends of Aviation in 3D: Fokker Dr.I: the Aces Aircraft

From Kagero we have the newest tittle in their Legends of aviation series this month. We start off with a suitably early aircraft for us to make our way forward in a series – namely the famous Fokker Dr.1 “Dreidecker” made famous by the German ace “The Red Baron (and by SnoopyJ) anyway this boo has had the 3D treatment of which was awarded the ME 262 book we took a look at last week – Is it worth it worth this release? Does it take away from the book or is it the best thing since sliced bread? Let’s have a look… 

 

Kagero Monographs – Legends of Aviation in 3D: Fokker Dr.I: the Aces Aircraft

Written by: Tomasz J. Kowalski & Marek Ryś

English text.

Pages: 140 pages 93 3D renders + 9 true 3D images + many B&W pictures
(3D Glasses supplied!)

Format: Soft cover A4 (210x297 mm)

ISBN: 978-83-662878-09-3

RRP: 27.25 Euros from The Kagero Bookshop online

 Kagero  have sent us this -the first in their new series of books called “Legends of Aviation in 3D” In which they celebrate a certain plane each issue that can be claimed in history as a true legend of aviation, this issues focuses on the famous triplane of the German Airforce in WWII – the Fokker Dr.I  or “Dreidecker”.

The format of this book is pretty simple, it – like the Me 262 book we looked at last week, divided into two clearly partitioned smaller books which complement each other. The first part of the first thirty six pages of this glossy A4 book contain a history of the aircraft and its development and deployment and vital statistics of the type which is accompanied by tables of reference and many many good quality black and white pictures.



The second half of the book I am sure will suit modellers or alternatively fans of the Dr.1 in equal order. The remaining pages are devoted to a pictorial celebration of this famous little aircraft. Using 3D renders and actual 3D images as well as aircraft profiles, this part of the book shows you everything you need to know through visual references of the aircraft.

Enough of the breakdown of the book - Let’s look in more detail: The first chapter of the history section of the book tells of the background of the aircraft’s development, of its designer Anton Fokker and his inspiration for the plane. This section draws comparisons to the British Sopwith triplane which you could say was of some inspiration in the Dr.I’s design, but as the book stresses – was never a copy of this aircraft.

The book takes you through several different early production types before you learn about “Dreideckers on Combat.” The Dr.I was often thought of as a Sopwith Triplane early on, and this mistake cost many allied ailment their lives as the new machine was given to high scoring aces like Baron Von Richthofen and Werner Voss. German pilots who flew this plane soon found their scores rising pretty fast.

The later images of rendering are truly top class - especially the stripped aircraft

The breakdown of the units of the German air force is explained here as we take a look at how the Dr.I was used in action. The reaction to the then battlefield domination Fokker is discussed, but it is as usual with these books the pilot’s accounts that are the really interesting parts of the book. Can we have more of these please? Upmost amongst them is the story of the Dr.I ace Lt. Josef Jacobs, a 30 kill ace in the type, who used to use his more manoeuvrable aircraft as bait and wait for his plane to be tailed by the enemy before breaking and then reversing and shooting down his enemy. It is this part of the book that I enjoyed the most by far.

A rigger's heaven

The construction of the aircraft is discussed in the text part as well. The main parts of the superstructure - the fuselage, wings, elevator and rudder, undercarriage, engine and armament, all have small sections in which they are described in details and this really helps you to better understand the aircraft.

The rendered guns look like the real thing

A painting schemes and markings section is included as well. This section is extremely helpful to modellers and explains some of the differences in the colour schemes and the variations of camouflage used by the various “Jastas” of the German Airforce of the time. This particularly is simply done in a quick reference for each group. The “stroke” system of applying the camouflage is explained in its practice and application as was the notes on the aircraft to denote several special instructions and things like airframe production numbers and serial numbers.

A biography, end notes and two appendixes are included in the rear of the “text” section of the book. One of the appendixes explaining everything you need to know about the basics of a rotary engine and the other about Reinhold Platz, the often uncredited partner of Antony Fokker. There are also some tables showing the breakdowns of the serving Dr.I Fokkers and their units, Aerial victories claimed by Fokker pilots and alternatively pilots who won victories against the Dr.I as well as production numbers delivered and serial numbers of the produced aircraft. There is a data sheet showing a comparison of the Fokker Dr.I and Sopwith Triplane’s performance statistics as well as the engines used in the Dr.I and as well the performance of the type with different engine types installed – Phew!

The next section of the book is the more visual stimulating part. It is this part of the book which separates it from the competition. Ill explain later but for now ill give the breakdown.

The first few pages have different profiles of the Dr.I in action. Six profiles of the port side of some famous aces are captured in colour here. Several aces from the text’s machines are included which is a nice point of reference. I would have however liked these to be mixed in with the text part proper as they would improve the depth of the text that way.

This is a computer rendering? wow!

The next section goes into the 3D computer rendering part of the book – hold off on the glasses just yet – this is 2D 3D if you know what I mean. Excellent computer renderings of the aircraft firstly skinned as a Jasta 11 plane from March 1918 (plane no. 502/17) in four views, then as a Dr.I stripped of its protective canvas which allows you to investigate the insides of this machine in detail. This is no mean feat either – as there are no original aircraft still in existence – just replicas – the digital artist would have had to do a lot of work on shapes and structure to make these as good as they are. Congratulations to Kagero for the successful application of this feature.

Profiles of the bare aircraft are shown from the front, back, from the top and bottom and the real meat here is the close ups of the cockpit and the excellent renderings of the aircraft’s machine guns, cowlings, cockpit, cooling system and engines. These are what are really impressive to modellers as every detail of the construction is shown. I have not ever seen such detail in an aircraft publication and it is a good thing that the animator did his homework here – Kagero’s reputation should gather more stock if they keep this up. These drawings make an excellent reference for anyone making this model.

The next part of the book shows three of the most famous aces of the Dr.I aircraft. Werner Voss’ F.I aircraft with the famous Samurai mask adorning the front of the radial engine is shown. Care is taken to differentiate the F.I's from the Dr.I’s in illustrations showing the differences in horizontal stabilizer and wing ailerons.

As mentioned earlier the book Lt Jacobs Dr.I (450/17) is included in several computer renderings as is the excellent reproduction of the captured Clerget 9B engine which is viewed from many angles. As well as the British propeller Jacobs preferred.

Red Baron's Dr.I (425/17) is shown in all of its glory. Arguably one of the most famous aircraft in history in this scheme this is the aircraft Von Richthofen was shot down in (by Australians thank-you J !) Anyway this famous kite has three alternate views offered. It is these profiles and 3D renders that the aircraft truly earns its title as a book portraying “the Aces Aircraft”

Call it a fad, call it hokey but 3D is here with us – and it’s time to don the supplied glasses as Kagero treat us to eight pages of full page size full 3D renders of the Dr.I. These are the shots already in the book but printed in the 3D manner so with the glasses you can see the depth of the aircraft. The cockpit, machine guns are all shown off to good effect here. A part of me thinks that these pages are a bit of a novelty. They do look really good – but I shan’t be wearing 3D glasses at the modelling table.

- Having no real previous love for this aircraft, I can now say next time I see an example of a replica at a museum I know I will be a lot more interested in it. Kagero have done a lot of good things here. The text is sometimes a little “to the point” and I think the application for the true 3D at the very end of the book is limited – BUT – there are no other books like this – it is ground-breaking for a publisher to show detail like this in 3D but better are the Computer renders – showing the complete insides and outsides of the Fokker.

They are the highlight of the book, along with the wonderful pilot’s accounts (again more please) they make this book a truly great book to have on your shelf as a reference or for just an interesting read.

Adam Norenberg

Thanks to Kagero for supplying us with this decal and book combo