Here it is... my first real WW1 aircraft ever... I've decided to have a go with this classic. Eduard's 1/48 Fokker D.VII (OAW). Please bare with me on this one, as I am a real rookie at modelling WW1 planes.

Here we go!

the first kit ever which has more decals than plastic parts.


Wings were assembled, sprayed with Mr. Surfacer, then with future, then the first set of lozenge decals were applied.


Then..... million decals later, the wings were finally covered... huh.

Now on to the fuselage....
Comments welcome as usuall...

Greetings Gregax;
You may benefit from several threads we have done here previously. Looks like you have a good start though. One small point the ailerons didn't have rib tapes. Also when you get to the tail unit - no rib tapes at all . You have picked a good kit to work with and out of the box there are not too many concerns. Which colour scheme will you go with?

Click here for one thread .

Here are some overall comments on kit #8131

Click here for lozenge camouflage applications.

It's a nice kit for sure. Though i had one problem when doing mine, i had all sorts of trouble getting the fuselage halves together- getting all the bits on one side to line up with their holes and slots on the other. But then again, i'm notoriously bad at getting fuselage halves together and i've heard no one else mention having the same trouble with these DVII's.

Anyway, just be thankful you're not doing a Fokker built airacraft, so you don't have to spend hours of enjoyment slicing up spare lozenge to make rib tapes.

Andrew

Hey Andrew in war time shortages what did Albatros (pink tapes ) and OAW (lt. blue tapes ) use instead? Yep, lozenge. (Fokker Schwerin just used it predominantly most of the time.) Just to add to the possibilities what if they used four colour lozenge covering but all they had was 5 colour lozenge strips? Yep they would use the lozenge they had on hand.

PS Cutting up the lozenge decal for tapes doesn't take hours, usually about 20-30 minutes.

Here are some more threads.
Royal kit build

Royal build Feature.

Hello Gregax,

I am doing the very same kit at this very moment. Actually 20 minutes ago I finished doing the last bit of Lozenge on the bottom wing.





This is my second Eduard Fokker DVII build. I did the Schwerin version some time ago. I used Eduard's Lozenge for that one, but now I go for the Eagle Strike 4 color lozenge. I was just about to put the ribtaping on the ailerons, but I am glad I read know that is not needed. I am doing the "Kassel" 56 Jasta version. Which one are you going to do? I put the lozenge on myself after adding the bottom wing. This is what Eduard suggests. Do not know what's for the best.

@ Stephen: it still takes me hours...

Gregax: goodluck with this one, it is a fun and pleasant kit to build. I even got 2 more on my stash (Alb. built Dual Combo)

Cheers, Nico

I have one about six of these wonderful kits in my stash. They are fantastic. The lozenge and rib tapes make my eyes go a little buggy though. They do build up real nice. And it seems you never run out of colorful schemes.

Ok, after some break due to other airbrush activities, I moved on to the fuselage bits.
I didn't bother with too much detail in the cockpit and engine... here are the pics.



Closed fuselage



Ready for paint


After a coat of Mr. Surfacerja 1200


And the green coat... Mr color really does open the nose and sinuses!

This is one of my favorite kits. It goes together beautifully.

1. I noticed the hand hold decals on the top wing. I saw a build feature in one of the big model magazines where these decals were on upside down. (You got yours on correctly)

2. It actually took me longer to decal than to build the kit.

3. Your engine and interior look great.

4. Since this is your first Biplane, take your time on the upper wing. You will find the struts on this kit are more forgiving than most other biplane kits on the market. I think this is the kit I would reccomend as the best kit available for a first time biplane builder.

If you like this kit, you should try the E.V / D.VIII. The Albatross and Nieuports are wonderful kits from this manufacturer. The Sopwith Camels are also great, but require a little more experience. I am anxiously awaiting their Dr.Is to hit the market. It almost sounds like I work for Eduard, but I don't.

I am looking forward to seeing your progress on this build.

I have to agree with Carl that this is a well engineered kit. Which scheme are you going for, Buchner's Jasta 13, Gargoyle? If so I will pass on a note here. The green and white tail unit is fictional and was not used on the late or mid production OAW types that he flew.

Heh, but it looks a lot nicer than with plain white...

This is the most psyhadelic scheme I ever worked on!



Wings were postshaded with thinned RLM 02 by gunze.



The bottom portion of the wings recieved some grayish-blue paint.


Instead of using decals, i masked and sprayed the tail... regardless of that this is purely fictional...

Looks cool, Gregax.

Good job on the decals. I was planning to do this one as well, but the LHS could not order it for me. I will probably end up with buying it on the internet as I have already bought a large sheet of 1/48 foreign Fokker D.VIIs.

Looking forward to see more

Looking good. I like the tailstripes.

Fast progress.

Tail is finished... almost


As well as the fuselage. Coat of future will follow, then the decal will be applied.


And all the small bits and pieces...


And the machine gun... could be done better I guess.

Almost there...

Lower wing


And the second store...

Looks great. The landing gear is probably the trickiest part of the kit.

I am thinking about using this kit for "When I Flew With"

I'm glad you made this thread. I decided to get a D.VII (I'm going to try and replicate the D.VII at the USAF Museum), but hearing about this kit made me decide to go with this one. I'm not sure there are a whole lot of other options, but regardless, I'm enjoying your build. It looks spectacular.

You are lucky then to pick this scheme you mention. Ltn. Stark's 4523/18 as one of the profiles provided in the decal sheet of this kit (out of production) and at least two other decal manufacturers. The Eagle Strike decal sheet #48080 (?) is available through Squadron mail order.

Huh... done.
Nice kit, and for sure not the last WWI airplane i will build...

Interesting build. Straight forward and very clean. Model On!

Just for the sake of having them in one place. For more reading on the various license built Fokker D.VII represented in kit form.
Click here
Click Here II
Click Here III
Click Here IV
Click Here V
Click Here VI

Colorful too.

Nice build.