Fokker D.XXI (Mercury)

The Fokker D.XXI is a classic pre-war Dutch fighter aircraft. It first flew in 1936, and subsequently served with Dutch, Danish and Finnish air forces. The type was, despite being somewhat outdated by the outbreak of World War 2, highly successful with the Finnish Air Force.

The model represents an aircraft flown by the Finnish ace Lt. Jorma Sarvanto. His claim to fame is that on January 6th, 1940, he encountered a formation of DB-3 bombers and proceeded to shoot down six of them in 4 minutes, thus becoming an "ace-in-a-mission"!

Construction Notes

The MPM kit is generally accurate, but has one big problem: Finnish Fokkers had a small window behind the canopy in the dorsal spine. The kit comes with a part for this, but no opening in the fuselage; cutting the whole and fitting the transparent part is difficult. Aside from that, I made the following modifications and additions:

• Instrument panel from Yahu (part #YMA7230), photo-etch seatbelts, antenna mast from steel rod.
• Resin replacement Bristol Mercury engine from Engines & Things (part #72022).
• Resin skis from AML (part #AMLD 72 022).
• Machine gun barrels from Albion Alloys' aluminum tube, tailplane struts from Evergreen stock, tailplane rigging and antenna wire from 0.091 mm monofilament Lycra.
• Scratch-built venturi tube and some internal structure visible through the canopy.

After-market parts

Building the cockpit

Test-fitting major components

Scratch-built structure for the canopy

I painted the model with Tamiya acrylics, and finished it with Future floor wax and Testors' Dullcote. The decals came from the kit as well as from a GAL Decal sheet (swastikas, since I do not like putting those together from multiple parts). The kit decals worked well; I did coat them with Liquid Decal Film just to be safe. The GAL Decal swastikas were a bit on the thicker side, but eventually conformed to the contours of the model thanks to lavish use of Micro Sol. Note that before applying the national markings, I airbrushed white circles on the model to prevent the darker colors from showing through the decals.

Filling the seams of the canopy

More prep work

All prepped and ready for airbrushing

A restored D.XXI at the Finnish Air Force museum

References Used

The Fokker D.XXI, especially its use in the Finnish Air Force, is extremely well documented. Below are some key references, but this is not a complete list:

1. Finnish Fighter Colours 1939-1945 vol.1 (Stenman & Hołda); Mushroom Model Magazine Special - White (Rainbow) Series 9125; Mushroom Model Publications 2014
2. Fokker D XXI (Ledwoch); Wydawnictwo Militaria 1995
3. Le Fokker D.21 (de Jong); Collections Profils Avions 9; Éditions Lela Presse 2005
4. Fokker D.21 (Skulski); Seria 'Pod Lupa' 10; ACE Publication 1999
5. Fokker D.XXI Aces of World War 2 (Stenman & Jong); Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 112; Osprey 2013
6. Fokker D.XXI (Keskinen et al); Suomen Ilmavoimien historia 3; Tietoteos 1974
7. Fokker D.XXI plans from Historical Aircraft Corporation
8. IPMS-Mallari 73-74 (5-6/89), 148-149 (2/2003), 188 (3/2012); (Finnish IPMS journal)
9. Le fanatique de l'Aviation Mars 1978, Avril 1978
10. Lentolaivue 24 (Stenman & Keskinen); Osprey Aviation Elite 4; Osprey Aviation 2001
11. Lentäjän näkökulma II (Raunio); 1993
12. my reference photos taken at the Finnish Air Force museum in 1995