Hi, I just joined up and figured I'd post the progress on a kit I'd started a number of years back and stashed in the box and forgot about. It's a 1/72 Roden Fokker D.VII.
Here are some of the initial pictures with the old date stamp on them of when I first started it and some of the recent progress I've made on it.







Here I've done the undercarriage in Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black and XF-1 mixed with a little Testors RLM80 Olivegrun for the underside.
The rubber is a shade lighter and is just XF-1 with a drop of XF-2 mixed in.
The engine was done in a grey that I can't remember, it was in the box, painted when I re-opened it. I gave it some washes of XF-1 and Testors 4675 Rust Oxide, mixed together.


The prop was done with a coat of Testors 1141 Nat Wood Enamel which was allowed to dry for 2 days, then I mixed some Testors Rust Oxide, Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black and a touch of XF-2 Flat White to get a little darker shade of wood and painted it on. There is a slight showing of the lighter colour in person which looks somewhat like wood grain. My first attempt at this and I'm somewhat happy with the result but it could use some fine tuning.
This is also my first attempt at such a massive decal. It is not fun at all and these decals are very very fragile and I'm pretty sure I've ruined the edges. I'll have to sort out something for that.


Here I'd given the fuselage a few coats of Tamiya XF-2 flat white and sealed it in with a few light coats of X-35 Semi Gloss Clear.
I left it to dry for a few days and then tonight I masked it off with Tamiya masking tape and sprayed a few coats of XF-1 Flat Black. I'll seal with Semi Gloss Clear when it's dry.
All of the masking is done with sticky tack or poster putty depending on where you are from

Hi Colin,
I've yet to do any of those big lozenge decals. Good to see you diving right in.

Gaz

Hi Collin, nice start with the kit.
Big decals are really pain in the neck. Don't know if you are using any of microscale products - Micro Sol is a big help here to decal setting. Sometimes you even could cut a big decal into few smaller parts.
Cheers 🍻

Thanks guys
Yeah I put some micro sol and micro set on them but they wouldn't conform to the corners, tips and leading edges.
Looking back I should have cut it up along the ribs and covered up the seam with rib tape. Maybe I can get an aftermarket set and try again.

on the round edges you can make few little cuts to the decal (~1mm) perpendicular to the wing edge - spacing depends on the curvature (the more curved edge the less spacing) and then using decal setter shape the decal and let it set. Still when it is not dried completely (but already fixed to the surface) use 600-800 grade sanding stick and sand the excess of the decal on the underside of the wing using the edge of the wing as a cutting plane. Don't know if I descibed it clearly

Howdy,

Roden decals from that time period are useless as far as I'm concerned. Get yourself some aftermarket lozenge and save yourself from anymore headaches. I want to see this finished!

Brian Riedel

Looks good so far.
I have a number of Roden's D.VII's in my stash (not this boxing though) so I'm interested to see how it turns out.
Just started reading Von Degelows biography 'Black Fokker Leader' by Peter Kilduff. Interesting reading so far.

Well this kit met with a bad end. I was resetting up my model bench and something fell and crushed the gear and struts and tail. Least to say there may have been some profanity streaming from my office

I've put this kit away till the memory of my own stupidity is gone and I can give it another try again.

Oh Colin,

My condolences. Been there. Done that.

That hurts, Colin. I can seriously empathize with ya.