I've seen several variations of M. von Richthofen's DRl (the red one!), both illustrations and models, and barely two are alike. Some with Maltese Cross with narrow white outline, and some on a white field; and similar with a Balkencreuz. And some with a white engine cowling. Which is the most accurate, or are they all accurate and reflect different DRl's that he flew? I just got Eduards' Fokker DRl (1/48) dual combo. It comes with markings for 6 aircraft but, alas, none for Richthofen.

Here are a few threads from the past.
basics

Eduard 1136x



Forget the white cowl stuff. It was never on his Dr.I aircraft. His all red birds were Fokker Dr.I 152/17, 477/17 & 425/17. The last two were similar but 477/17 never had a white rudder.

Von Richthofen flew a lot of Dr.1s. He had started using red colour as a distinctive feature long before, while flying Albatrosses, so most (if not all) of his Dr.1s were totally or partially red. As you say, there are lots of models/drawings/profiles. Some of them are backed by photo evidence, some are not. I also have two (or three) tripes in my shelf of doom, but the only thing I am sure about is that I will not get too obsessed about accuracy - after all, I build for myself and not for any Museum, not even any contest

My own personal Manny´s tripe will have red upper surfaces, blue bottoms, Maltese crosses, (most probably without white squares, and proud white outlines instead), dark metallic cowling, white rudder and wheels. Why? Because I like it that way and I like to think Manfred would have finally shared my aesthetic preferences, had he had time... But WHAT IF he actually shared them?

Think about it: Consider, for instance, the point about the white squares surrounding the maltese crosses: After close examination of almost 100 year old photos that were developed using long ago forgotten chemical procedures, wise guys are now sure that they were not actually white but something distinctly darker, most probably pinkish because of bad coverage of fresh red paint letting previous white squares show through. OK. But, can you be really sure that five minutes AFTER that photo was taken, Von Richthofen himself didn´t order a serviceman to get the paintwork properly done... or have his lazy butt kicked? photo evidence is not always such an evidence, and in any case it only certifies a particular instant in time.

My two cents... sorry for this chunk of anti-accuracy nonsenses.

I think I'll go with the March 1918 version shown above. I prefer the Maltese crosses over the Balkan.