Hi there

I've bought Revell's re-boxed version of the Eduard 1:48 Dr.1 to replace the one that got trashed last summer. Revell include decals for two schemes - von Richthofen, and Ludwig Beckmann's aircraft as below:



Revell show the topsides as solid "Sea Green". Is that correct, or did Beckmann's aircraft have the standard streaked camouflage? Also, the decals include a lightning bolt either side of the fuselage that looks as though it's meant to appear over-painted (the decal is "shaded") - are there any photos showing how the real thing looked?

Thanks in advance and all the best

Rowan

Ltn.d.R. Ludwig "Lutz" Beckmann arrived at Jasta 6 Dec. 1917 and transferred on 21 Feb 1918 to Jasta 48. Then again he transferred on 10 March 1918 to Jasta 56 as its commander. He served in this capacity til the EOW.

The machine is probably Fok. Dr.I 556/17. It did have the Fokker factory streaked camouflage with lt. bue under surfaces. This machine was photgraphed at Jasta 6 and later in Jasta 5 hands. Beckmann's personal insignia was a red vertical band with a white wavy line(worm / dragon's trail)running through its center, parallel to the edges of the vertical red band. Before that the machine carried a white lightning bolt. It was part of a JG I transfer of Dr.I a/c to Jasta 5. This machine had the typical Jasa 6 modification of a square access hatch near the rear edge of the engine cowling.

All of Beckmann's eight victories were scored in Jasta 56.

Well being one to stick a spoon in and stir the mix...grins

I can find what I think is one pic of this A/C in the Windsock Jagdstaffeln book, in a line up on P20 pic 6/11. The interesting thing is...it appears to be late in the A/Cs carreer obviously second hand the lightning flash is there in the opposite side and partly filled in, seems it was in mid paint when it was passed on. The fuselage cross looks tatty/painted over/dirty but the upper wing surfaces and fuselage appear to be std Fokker streaked with cross fields overpainted.

I'm sure someone could give a more authorative answer though

Adds after seeing Stephen's post

yes theres a good pick of her on page 17 pic 5/1 at Jasta 5 clearly shows a possibly partially FILLED IN but overpainted lightning streak. though in this pic the white squiggley line is painted over.


Keith

Hi Stephen and Keith

Many thanks. Yes, that seems to match the s/n Revell have - it's mostly obscured by the lightning bolts. So the bolts were solid white? I may have to tinker with the way the decals have been done when I get round to building this one.

All the best

Rowan

yes I just updated after seeing Stephen's post

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a nice full-page size color link to the aircraft in question for you Rowen:

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww1/f/416/59/4/26

It looks as though the bolts were overpainted white, as were the backgrounds to the national fuselage insignias.

I have found that modern acrylic paints do nicely for overpainting decals.

Interesting is the black cowling.

Eddie

Cheers Eddie

Well, credit where it's due, Revell have done a fair job giving an overpainted look to the lightning bolts (they've actually got more white showing at each end compared to the profile), but they've missed the overpainted fuselage band completely.

All the best

Rowan

I think the band/squiggley was over painted when she got transferred from J6 to J5 so Revell might have it right for a certain time