Decal History

The Seventeen current releases, sheets #30001 - 30020 continues the growing line of products from Wingnut Wings, The new set #30009 give us a wider choice of subjects to portray than what is in their #32030 kit. Given the numbers of the current sheets, we can probably expect more releases of this line of products. A guess is that more of these will be forth coming for the current Fokker D.VII that also offers a wide range of about 70 of colourful profiles.

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 high as other aftermarket sets.

#30009 1/32 Fokker D.VII (OAW) Fighting Fokkers part 4 US $19.00;
-4 page fully illustrated instructions.
-2 high quality Cartograf decal sheets with markings for 5 OAW built D.VII;

A. Fokker D.VII (OAW) 4025/18, Paul Strähle, Jasta 57, September 1918 (15 victories). Strähle joined the army on 1 October 1913. Early in the war, he served in the infantry but transferred to the German Air Force in 1915. He was posted to FA(A) 213 on 15 July 1916 and trained on fighters in the fall before joining Jasta 18 on 27 October 1916. He scored seven victories in 1917 and on 1 January 1918, he assumed command of Jasta 57. Before he was wounded in action on 27 September 1918, he scored eight more victories. He later became an automobile manufacturer and returned to service as a Major der Reserve during World War II.

B. Fokker D.VII (OAW) 4649/18 ‘Seven Swabians’, Gefreiter (private) Wilhelm Scheutzel, Jasta 65, 1918 (1 victory). The seven Swabians is a narrative material which is about the adventures of seven Germans from the state of Swabia. As a climax of the silly farce is a fight with a monster who turns out as a hare. Private Scheutzel arrived from JastaSchule II on 10 June 1918 nd served until 20 October 1918 when he was injured in Crash lightly (IIC,lt). He was then sent to the Hospital on 28 October 1918 and stayed there til EOW. The image at right of the injured Scheutzel may have been taken on or after 20.10.18. Infection may have set in and he was medically ordered out.

C. Fokker D.VII (OAW) 6344/18 “Chrome Yellow X”, Jasta 58, Late 1918. Recent studies of Jasta 58 machines say that orange may be an alternative to the black area of the tail. Contrary to what has been published, the Fokker D.VII markings of Jasta 58 are a white radiator shell and an orange rear fuselage and tailplane. The fin and rudder were white with orange edging. Individual marking were displayed on orange and white bands or devices aft of the cockpit. Take a good look at the the photos on pages 14 and 15 of "FOKKER D.VII" Anthology 3. Compare the edging on the rudder with the cross on photoJ58-1 and the leading edge of the tailplane with the horizontal arm of the cross on J58-3. Dan San Abbott chose his colour information in matching up combat report observations for 28 October 1918.

D. Fokker D.VII (OAW) 6428/18 ‘Lude’, Hans Joachim von Hippel, Jasta 71, October-November 1918 (2 victories). On 23 September 1918, von Hippel wrote: "Ltn. Oppenhorst was assigned to Jasta 71 and we are together again . . .We have nicknames for our machines: 'Ede' for Oppenhorst's and 'Lude' for my equipment. The names were originally inscribed on our Pfalz D.XII and they are now carried on the fuselage of our Fokker D.VII (machines)."

E. Fokker D.VII (OAW), Ltn Heinz ("Fritz" may have been a nickname) Schliewen, Jasta 6, September 1918 (2 victories). In August 1918 when their new Fokker E.V types were grounded due to a series of fatal failures, Jasta 6 were assigned a complement of Fokker D.VII (OAW) types from a small portion of the mid production batch that includes D. 4500 - 4549/18. These aircraft were given the unit’s black and white stripes on the engine cowling, tail and wheel covers. Coming from Jastaschule I, Ltn. Heinz "Fritz" Schliewen was photographed in this aircraft after he reached the unit on 15 August. He was to gain two victories with Jasta 6. Later on he was a ship-owner. His famous Flying P-Liner sailing ship PAMIR got lost in the Hurricane Carrie in 1957. By the way he was not a Bavarian either.

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 were 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. While the basic kits have 4 & 5 colour decals for the wings. Five colour for the fuselage is not included in the this decal set or the WNW kit #32030.

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