Hello. I have heard of a French company called Battle Axe that makes some WWI aircraft kits. They are large but rather pricy. I was wondering if anyone has built one of their kits, and if so, are they worth the cost?

Greetings goldstandard;

I hate to say anything bad about a kit. The Battle Axe 1/32 Fokker D.VII has a long way to go for the average modeler not to be a bit frustrated. I have not built their other "Fokker" kits and probably won't. I don't mind the price so much as I am not happy with the D.VII kit's buildability.

If you do buy the Fokker D.VII there are a whole list of things you need to know to avoid the pitfalls. Expect ‘moderate’ amount of clean up of all the parts needed after removing from tree. This entails surface pits or pebbles as rough areas that are easily dealt with. As this was Battle Axe’s first run at 1/32 scale it is a good first effort in my opinion.

‘My Building Costs’;
1. Battle Axe Fokker D.VII (msrp) 49.99 - 59.99 USD. (I purchased mine for 25.00 USD.)
2. Tom’s Modelworks German Interior set #502. = 1@ 6.75 USD
3. Tom’s Modelworks German Machine gun set #500 = 1 @ 6.75 USD
4. Copper State Models Spandau Machine Gun set #125= 1 @ 5.99 USD
5. Tom’s Modelworks Mercedes inline 6 cyl. 160hp = 1 @ 7.00 USD
6. Battle Axe Lozenge Camouflage = 7.96 @ (two used) 15.92 USD
Total 67.41 USD


‘Parts used from the ‘Battle Axe’ kit’;
Top Wing boh halves (highly modified.)
Bottom Wings both halves.
Fuselage both halves (modified to show structure and engine compartment.)
Horizontal tail surfaces both halves (modified.)
Vertical tail surfaces (modified.)
Both Wheels both halves.
Spreader / Wing foil, both halves.
False floor.
Cockpit floor.
Control column (modified.)
Fuel Tank both halves.
Front bulkhead.
Cheek panels both sides (early types.)
Radiator face (highly modified.)
Brass instrument panel.
Plastic instrument panel.
Munition boxes (modified.)


‘Parts from the ‘Battle Axe’ kit that I replaced’;
Entire engine ( 2 halves.)
Spandau Machine guns
‘Molded in’ cockpit structure.
Control column yoke.
Rudder bar.
Compass
Seat
Rear cockpit bulkhead.
Seat support frames.

Kit Decals’; Again technical indications lead us to believe that these were from production batch 230/18- 376/18. Check listed references. I found out too late that the lozenge decals are translucent. You may want to first paint the upper surfaces of the plastic a dark to medium green and then clear glossed. This tends to subdue the decal colors and bring them a little closer to the original fabric colours when you apply the upper surface lozenge decals. Painting the lower surfaces lt. grey is fine if you just lay down a clear gloss coat first. If you intend on using the Lozenge decal cut in strips for the rib caps you should give the uncut decal a generous coating of clear gloss. To completely cover my model rib caps and all, I had to have a total of three sets ( six half sheets) of the upper camouflage coloured decal sheets for my build.

1. D.309/18 assigned to Ltn. Friedrich Friedrichs of Jasta 10 in early 1918 is generally accurate.

2. Serial unknown assigned to JG II Commander Oblt. Rudolph Berthold is generally accurate.

As mentioned earlier I expected a moderate amount of clean up and in that I was not disappointed. In fact the build itself was labor intensive. While not a bad thing I realize it was upto me to decide just how much work to put into it. Another unique aspect was the translucent Lozenge and its light absorption rate in differing conditions or time of day. Normally I would have attributed this to the variance in the film developing. What I noticed as I progressed was that I saw a definite visual change that was reflected by these conditions. I suspect that after having been clear varnished at the factory the full scale aircraft would possibly undergo a similar visual changes in various lighting conditions.