Fokker G1 "Reaper"

This is a plane I personally think is one of the most beautiful ever designed and flown: the Fokker G-1, nicknamed "Reaper".



Watch the youtube movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlOICYLc4Hw

The Fokker G-1 is one of those planes that just didn't get what they deserved though.
It was designed in the mid 1930's, and caught lots of attention at the Paris airshow at Le Bourget 1936. It was consequently ordered by numerous airforces in Europe, but the German invasion of the continent interrupted manufacturing and delivery to most of them. Had the Germans waited another year, then perhaps the G-1 would have been more famous than it is now, and done more damage to the German onslaught.



The G-1's of the Dutch airforce were pretty much all destroyed on the ground before they could scramble and counterattack. A few did manage to get up in the air, and down some enemy planes, among which Me-110's, which were comparable in class and performance. Most German casualties were Ju-52's though, which were also being battered by Dutch anti-aircraft artillery.



The G-1 was heavily armed with 8 machineguns in the nose, a rotating turret facing backwards, and a bombbay holding 2 bombs. The frontal machineguns were so heavy though that the G-1 had trouble taking off and landing because of its weight, and was not loaded with very much ammunition. The G-1's bombing capabilities were also never used operationally, even though the bombracks were available at the time.





After the Dutch government capitulated, the German invaders used the few remaining G-1's for training purposes, but there is very little information about this. I managed to find one picture online of a German G-1, and on this picture did I base my German paint.





Building the model for the G-1 was difficult, because there is so little information about the plane. Fokker destroyed all its information on the plane during the war, and there is only 1 non-flying replica left in the world, on display at Soesterberg airforce museum (the Netherlands). A team of enthusiasts is currently building a flying replica of the G-1 and their 3d imagery helped me a great deal in my mesh. I took the Mercury engine from Masa-AT's Fokker DXXI, which had the same engine (some G-1's had less powerful Wasp engines, including the Spanish orders). Of course the G-1 here has the characteristic Dutch WW2 camo scheme, dark-brown, and with those ugly orange triangles on the side. Still, even those triangles can't hide the inherent beauty the G-1 displays, and I hope my model will make you a G-1 enthusiast too.

Happy flying,

Major major
DOWNLOAD LINK:
http://www.4shared.com/file/45992841/1ae6fc30/fokkerg1.html