Fokker D.VII

Roland Sachsenhofer
A start has been made! With these pictures I open the build report on Eduard's Fokker D.VII. As a small "double" it is built with a second Fokker, a D. VIII. The interior of both machines is now so far finished, the assembly of the fuselage shells can take place.

René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy
Taking a seat too... 😉

David Taylor
Smart.

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank, ,you are very welcome!

Dietmar Bogatzki
Great Start, Roland 👍

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you!

Gordon Sørensen
Nice start, Roland. I like the wood effect you have done on the floorboard and instrument panel.

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you Gordon for these motivating words!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you Markus for your interest!
A few steps forward are shown in the new pictures.

bughunter
According to the WNW manual (link on your project comment, see "B") this D.VII uses a Mercedes 200hp D.III engine. I think you build it according to the wrong Eduard manual, which tell to build a BMW engine. The kit allows both.
After seeing your picture I wanted to confirm the information before posting, but I was to slow 🙁

Roland Sachsenhofer
Hello! You never stop learning - and you always learn something new! Thank you for thinking along with me, but I'm aware that I'm a "rookie" on this subject and I don't take it so tragically. The two Fokker projects serve me to try out the principle of "lozenge" and WK.I bracing. I think I'll take the matter seriously, but it's still under the title "Jugend forscht" 🙂

Roland Sachsenhofer
I now need a little help - or good advice: the Fokker D.VII "Sieben Schwaben" is now ready for the lozenge decals on the wings, a test of the decals from "Aviattic" has proven their excellent quality. I am very enthusiastic!
The only problem is: the already printed strips of the wing spars are in a dark brown tone, but for the "Sieben Schwaben" Eduard suggests the version with light blue "rips". I could use the decals provided for this purpose in the kit, but I am afraid that these will not exactly cover the rib representation by Aviattic and risk an unclean result.

Does anyone have any further information on the model, whether this risk (and also the considerable extra work) is worth it? I am grateful for any information!

Erik Leijdens
Great start Roland! And looking closely because I have a bunch of D.VII's too that needed to be build, and I'm a Nub on the subject too! As Bughunter points out, the chosen motor is something that affects to look of the fuselage and I have BMW, OAW and Fokker D.VII's who all have a different engine cover I believe.

bughunter
Which decals do you use, I have not understand your question? I will use scalemates.com/kits/..wer-surfaces--693077 (as posted on your project page). This has to be cut stripe by stripe and follow the OAW rules, e.g. the seem was not on ribs. After that I will apply the Eduard rib tapes.

Roland Sachsenhofer
Erik and Bughunter, thank you very much for advice and answers!
I will use this one:
[img1]
[img2]
either ATT48020 or ATT48021- and I can see I was only looking at the four colours and not whether the production was done at OAW or Fokker! Alas! This probably also explains why the stripes are made in a dark purple-brown shade and not in blue.

So, as it looks, apart from the wrong engine, I will probably also create slightly different facts from reality with the shape of the Lozenge camouflage.
Well, I'll just call it "alternative facts" and know that I'm in good company 🙂

bughunter
Both sheets you showed are Fokker built (the main factory in Schwerin), which used lozenge rip tapes.
Aviattaic also offers linen, blue and lilac tapes, see aviattic.co.uk/148-fokker-dvii.html of the OAW and Albatros licence productions.
So ATT48026 would be the best match for this Fokker, but blue tape and factory fresh seems to be not available at the moment. At lot of combinations ... On your sheet the 5 color version is not used then.
That's why I prefer the normal sheets with a lot of stripes. The price is the same, but I can do around 3 aircraft with one sheet and have much more flexibility.

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you for the clear information and explanations! I will be able to apply what I have learned here to other Fokker D.VIIs - just as I will use the existing 5-colour lozenges specifically for other projects.
With this current D.VII here I will probably still think a little whether I continue to work with the existing material or acquire ATT48026 - which already excites me! But I still have some time, I will finish the Fokker D.VIII before that anyway.

bughunter
I personally prefer the factory fresh version, I think that would be this one:
scalemates.com/kits/..lour-lozenge--693156

Roland Sachsenhofer
The D.VII is a bit behind schedule, but I think the wait for the Aviattic delivery was worth it. I have uploaded a few pictures with a comparison of the Eduard original decals and the Aviattic Lozenge decals already applied to the model. "The better is the enemy of the good", as the saying goes so aptly.... I really like the Aviattic decals, if only because of the fine linen texture, which manages not to turn out overdone.
So, thanks for the tip, that really did the trick!

bughunter
I like it, the "Sieben Schwaben" on the fuselage sides are very nice 👍

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you, I appreciate your expert-words!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Slowly but surely it's coming to an end: there are still some small parts to take care of, but I can already look forward to assembling the upper wing; I'm curious to see how that turns out!

David Taylor
Looks fantastic so far.

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you David!

Rui S
Looking great 👍

Peppy
So very cool.
I always thought these markings were pretty wild
for a military aircraft.
Doing a bang up build on it Roland.

Dietmar Bogatzki
Looks fantastic so far Roland 👍

playtime 222
So what's the story with the guys chasing the rabbit with the ridiculously over-sized staff? Or spear?

Lex Jassies
That plane start looking very good 👍. Curious about the seven Swabians, I started looking for the story. Nice saga. Don't think the pilot felt related to them🙂

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you indeed for your motivating words and interest, mates!

The story of the seven Swabians is really quite ...amusing: seven Swabians - the legend knows their names - decide to go on a great adventure and perform heroic deeds. They organise a big spear, which they all carry together, and set off. In search of adventures, however, they tell each other such wild stories that they begin to fear everything and everyone. So a rabbit becomes a dangerous monster that they, quite despondent, attack with a spear. Unsuccessfully, because when one of them thinks the first one is turning to flee, he flees himself - and soon all of them..... The story goes on like this until it ends tragically: all seven of them drink while crossing the river Moselle: misunderstandings, lack of courage and equally lack of sense have struck again, this time lethally.
This would be the "moral of the story", as I understood it in a nutshell.If you would like to read the long version - this time by the Brothers Grimm - you can look here, for example (in German).
grimmstories.com/de/../die_sieben_schwaben

playtime 222
I had a hunch it might be a Grimm but couldnt think of which one. Thanks for indulging me.

Naimbs
Wow!! Fantastic!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you! The story is really curious - and especially as a picture on a fighter plane!
I would like to share a few pictures of the completed aircraft with you. Eduard's kit is really very comfortable, so this will not be the last D.VII. I hope you like it, I certainly had a lot of fun with it! Thank you for your comments and your interest!

Jan Peters
The story may be strange, but it makes a really nice and colourfull model more than 100 years later

Juergen Klinglhuber
It looks fantastic!

James C
It looks amazing Roland! 👍

Stefan Schacht
well done 👍

Christian Bruer
Excellent work and finish Roland. I am much impressed by the clean and sharp surface, no edges of decal fil to be seen. May you share your how to!? TIA and happy modelling, Christian

Lex Jassies
Concrats with this beautiful result. Looking very good 👍

Neuling
Sehr schöne Schwaben! Aber auch das filigrane Innenleben der Maschine fasziniert ........

Erik Off
Das Killerkaninchen! 😄
Tolles Modell! 👍

Roland Sachsenhofer
Hello mates! Thank you for this wonderful encouragement - how I appreciate it!

Christian, indeed, with decals you are never completely immune to the edges. I went the usual way here: apply a thick clear coat as a base, let it dry well, then apply the decals. After a day of drying, I sealed with another coat of glossy clear lacquer. The actual surfaces - gloss level and dirt etc. - could then be applied to this package.

bughunter
I was away for some days and: Wow - you finished this Fokker in meantime 👍 Very nice, if mine looks like this I will be happy!
One little error: the speed measuring tool on the left struts was mounted on the front strut to avoid disturbance of the air flow by the front struts, that is a bug in the manual. And I'm not sure it it was mounted on this aircraft at all: [img1]

Christian Bruer
@Roland, thx for your feedback regarding decaling and sealing. I usually do it the same way, but did not achieve such a very very clean result and finish. May I have to try it more and harder 😄

Lex Jassies
Seeing the picture Bughunter placed, it's a much bigger plane than I thought

Erik Leijdens
Fantastic result Roland! The Aviattic lozenge looks marvellous too! Will be using your build when I'll start a D.VII

Roland Sachsenhofer
Thank you very much for your encouraging and appreciative words, I am very happy! Bughunter, your comments are always a benefit, your verdict on a biplane makes me particularly proud.
Erik, it makes me happy when this construction can be an inspiration!

bughunter
That is a nice article on Kitchecker! 👍

Guillaume Blanchet
I really like these planes nose/fuselage art. The model are amazing to ?

Roland Sachsenhofer
That´s motivating, thank you both for your replies! I am glad your like the article as well!