Decal History

The Seventeen current releases, sheets #30001 - 30020 continues the growing line of products from Wingnut Wings, The new set #30007 gives us a wider choice of subjects to portray than what is in their #32027 kit.

The priced at $19.00 for each set and the Wingnut Wings current international free shipping policy also applies to these. For this scale we see that this is not as costly as other aftermarket sets.

#30007 1/32 Fokker D.VII (Alb) Fighting Fokkers part 2 decals, $19.00
-4 page fully illustrated instructions.
-2 high quality Cartograf decal sheets with markings for 7 Albatros built D.VII;

A. Fokker D.VII (Alb) 571/18, Oberleutnant Adolf Gutknecht, Jasta 43, July 1918 (8 victories). He became Jasta Fürher on 1 June 1918 and served as Commander until he was hospitalized on 25 October 1918. The instructions do not mention that this aircraft has a small plywood sheet over the pilot’s lower left wing root from spar access door to trailing edge, between the first & second ribs. See: Fokker D. VII Aces of WWI, pt. II by Franks & VanWyngarden. Osprey pub. 2004.

B. Fokker D.VII (Alb) 666/18, Ltn. Hans Dannenberg (4 victories), Vzfw.Möhring, Oblt. Rudolf Nebel (2 victories), Kest 1a / Jasta 90, late 1918. This machine was with Kest 1a from 6 September - October 1918. The account of this unit from September - October 1918 can be found in Cross & Cockade Intl. 22 #2 1991 “Kest 1a - a thirty two day Tour of Duty” by some plugger hereabouts. This Home Defence unit traded in its worn out Albatros D.Va fighters for one flight (Kette) of Pfalz D.VIII and one flight of Fokker D.VII aircraft. This machine was equipped with a wireless radio for communications to note enemy flight movements and an over-compressed “ü” motor (domed pistons = 180hp). Their main mission was to intercept and engage bombers from the British Independent Force. Kest 1a was literally half a normal unit and was stationed in near Mannheim. This is the Oblt. Nebel that was the designer of the “Nebelwerfer” in WWII.

C. Fokker D.VII (Alb) 833/18 (??), Oblt. Robert Ritter von Greim, Jasta 34b, October 1918 (28 victories) Oberleutnant Greim reached his first aerial victory in October 1916 while serving as an observer with FA 3b. He graduated as a pilot after the normal training course, serving with FA 46b. In April 1917, he joined Bavarian affiliated Jasta 34b, and became the unit commander in June, 1917. He led this unit until end of the war, with brief periods where he commanded the temporary groupings of frontline units called Jagdgruppe. These were Jagdgruppe 9 and Jagdgruppe 10 (Jasta 34b was a part of these temporary groupings, which were similar to a wing). Von Greim claimed a total 28 victories and he was awarded the “Pour le Mérite" on 8 October, 1918. When he lost D.833/18 on 30 Oct. 1918, he started to fly a machine from the D.6650 - 6899/18 batch, (probably one of the airframes before D.6746/18 ) in four colour fabric. And according to photographic evidence we have on the machine at the right of the instructions D.6650 - 6899/18 not 833/18 , these red bands were roughly applied. There are some ragged edges to their borders over the white areas. One source says that the image was altered by Greim (?) Having a red ink applied to the photo.

He continued with his aerial career after WWI, as a consultant to the Chinese Air Force. Later, in the mid thirties, he led Jagdgeschwader Richthofen. His wife was the famous German female pilot Hanna Reitch. In late April, 1945, he was designated as the last Luftwaffe supreme commander and ordered to throw back the invasion of Berlin. He was captured by US troops and committed suicide in a Salzburg hospital on 24 May, 1945.

D. Fokker D.VII (Alb) 5278/18 “Hertha”, Jasta 27, October-November 1918. The fuselage banding is representative of the city of Bremen. This is a late Albatros built airframe and has been photographed in allied hands at Nivelles. The image I will include shows it being towed out after disassembly at RAF Sqn 48. This machine had the name "Hertha" on both sides of the fuselage and the center of the top wing upper surface. The airfield had been a German Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) advanced fighter training centre - Jastaschule II and after the Armistice became an assembly point for surrendered aircraft. . . The Armistice terms required the surrender of 1700 aircraft, including in particular the Fokker D.VII, within 31 days of the cessation of hostilities. RAF 48, 29, 79 and 206 Squadrons were based at Nivelles at the time of the mustering of German aircraft. The surrendered aircraft appear to have been disassembled and destroyed & some towed away by truck to be further tested & flown.

E. Fokker D.VII (Alb) (D.525/18 - 874/18/18 ) “2”, Otto Creutzmann (8 victories) & Josef Raesch (7 victories), Jasta 43, June - July 1918. It is generally known that Jasta 43 received its initial Fokker D.VII aircraft in a transfer from Jasta 18. Ltn. Raesch inherited this machine from the unit’s temporary commander Ltn.d.R. Otto Creutzmann on about 5 June 1918. The three pronged pitchfork is easily recognizable as a manure fork used on cattle and dairy farms. Both Creutzmann and Raesch had grown up on farms so it is easy to see why it was retained. Ltn. Raesch crashed this early machine on 25 July 1918.

Bonus 1. Fokker D.VII (Alb) 652/18, Jasta 23b, Mid 1918. For those of you interested in doing a model in just lozenge camouflage and factory stencils.

Bonus 2. Fokker D.VII (Alb), Ltn.d.R. Simons, Jasta 43, Mid 1918. See: Fokker D. VII Aces of WWI, pt. II by Franks & VanWyngarden. Osprey pub. 2004.

What you get in the package:

The decal sheets came "Zip-Loc" sealed in A4 sized plastic zip locked bag, making it easy to reseal, and keep the decals safe until you use them. A folded A4 sheet printed in full colour serves as a four page booklet that gives you the instructions on application and also the bio of the pilots that flew the planes. The style of the monograph is similar to what we have seen in the instructions from their kits. Full colour profiles are complimented by archival images of the subjects. One fine detail in the instructions hints as to which optional parts to use from the kit and which engine option to choose.

The decals are of the same quality and style of what we have gotten used to from their kits. Clean and crisply printed by Cartograf of Italy, my samples are in perfect register with a glossy sheen and clean opaque colours. Small decals such as the prop, gauge faces, weight tables and rigging instructions are also included on these sheets. Some of the crosses tend to duplicate what is already in the basic kit. Carograf utilizes overlapping with markings that are grouped as single decals.

Lozenge

Now that Wingnut Wings has released their version of their versions of factory printed intermediate day 4 & 5 colour lozenge (Farbenflugzeugstoff) these decals are even more relevant. Of special note is that the kit #32027 has complete 4 & 5 colour decals.

When contacting manufacturers and publishers please mention you saw this review at Aeroscale