WW1 Top Gun - Fokker D.VII

[11bee]

The Fokker D.VII was considered by most to be the finest fighter of WW1. It had the distinction of being the only German weapon mentioned by name in the armistice agreement. It combined good handling with outstanding climb performance (especially at higher altitudes and most especially when equipped with the high-output and greatly coveted BMW engine). It swung the balance of power back to the Germans. Prior to that, the German Albatross D.V's, Fokker Triplanes and Pfalz D.III's were increasingly dominated by the Allies' Sopwith Camels, SE5a's and SPAD's.

That's it for the history lesson.

I've always loved WW1 fighters but have had no interest in building one due to their complex rigging. Instead I had to satisfy myself by viewing the models of others and the occasional "virtual" dogfight in Rise of Flight, an outstanding WW1 flight sim. Imagine my happiness when Wingnut Wings announced that they were releasing a series of 1/32nd Fokker D.VII's. Not only was the VII the best fighter of the conflict, it was attractive and best of all, it had pretty much no wire rigging. This was one of the first aircraft that derived all of it's strength from it's internal structure.

Wingnut Wings was established with one goal - to produce the best WW1 aircraft kits in the world, bar none. They have succeeded. In my humble opinion, their kits are the best plastic models on the planet. Available only by mail order, my D.VII arrived within a week or so direct to my door from New Zealand. The cost was $79.00 (US) and included free shipping. This would be a good value for any 1/32 aircraft from a mainstream manufacture such as Tamiya, Hasegawa, Trumpeter, etc. However, when you open the box, you truly realize what an outstanding value these kits are. Plastic parts are as detailed as anything out there. You also get photoetch, a fantastic color instruction booklet (more on that in a bit) and a plethora of marking options to choose from. The only aftermarket part I've opted for is a very nicely detailed resin intake manifold assembly from Barracuda Studios. Very low cost, great detail and the part arrived in my mail box 3 days after placing the order online. Can't do much better than that.

Kit box & the Barracuda intake

Marking options

The instruction manual is in a league by itself. I would consider purchasing this separately as a reference. Full color, it is loaded with detail shots of the cockpit, engine, etc as well as original WW1 photos.

Just an example of the instruction booklet

In addition, you get 5 very colorful marking options. So far the hardest part of the project has been trying to decide which option to go with. Beyond the markings, each option has subtle differences pertaining to the engine, cockpit layout and other small parts. The instructions cover these differences in great detail. If the kit options aren't adequate, Wingnut also offers a few decal sets for each D.VII version. After a lot of back-and-forth, I opted for D.VII No. 817/18 "Nickchen IV" flown by Fritz Blumenthal of Jasta 53. Nickchen IV was forced down after a dogfight behind British lines. It was repaired and tested extensively by the British. I selected this one because of the (IMO) pleasing personal markings of the pilot, the brown-tinted fabric lozenge camouflage (makes for a more subtle appearance compared to the regular lozenge) and due to the fact that it flew with the upper engine cowling removed. This allows me to show off more of the engine. Early in it's career the D.VII had an unfortunate habit of catching fire while in flight. Depending on who you believe, this was due to the close proximity of the gas tank to the engine, fuel leaks or the "cooking-off" of the German's incendiary MG ammo from engine heat. Until modifications were made to the engine cooling louvers, many early / mid-production D.VII's flew with the upper cowling removed to allow for better engine cooling.

Nickchen IV

To provide for all of the marking options, you get multiple full size decal sheets, including full lozenge covering, pre-cut. WNW's provides both 4 and 5-color upper and lower lozenge camo. I've seen lozenge decals like this costing $30 or more. Just another example of the outstanding value of these kits. They go so far as to provide interior lozenge for the cockpit, which nicely represents the reverse side of the exterior lozenge fabric. In addition, they provide decals for every single cockpit instrument, placard, etc.

The various decals sheets

That's it for tonight. More to follow....

Edited June 23, 2013 by 11bee

[jester292]

I will be following!

Aaron

[11bee]

This update will be pretty basic, I originally built most of the interior before deciding to take some pics.

First off are the decals for the fuselage sidewalls. As noted before, Wingnut provides nice interior decals that represent the backside of the lozenge fabric. Both 4 and 5-color options are provided to correspond to the particular version you are building.

Fuselage interior

I built up the fuselage components pretty much per the instructions. A few highlights:

- I wrapped the seat back in wrinkled aluminum foil and painted everything leather. I drybrushed the seat to represent wear and tear, picked out the buttons on the cushion with silver. If the pilot was equipped with a parachute (not all German pilots flew with them but they became much more prevalent towards the end of the war) you are supposed to delete the cushion. However, it is so nicely detailed I decided to use it. Once all this was done, I added the very nice PE harness. The photoetch on this kit seems to be improved compared to some earlier kits. Prior to painting I annealed it over a flame to make the metal a bit more pliable.

Seat and lozenge fabric rear bulkhead

- The woodgrain on the instrument panel and floorboards was replicated by spraying both with a base coat of radome tan. After this dried I streaked on burnt sienna oil paint, once dry I lightly overcoated with Tamiya clear yellow for a nice lacquered wood finish. Getting a realistic wood finish is difficult, I'm happy with my results but they are not even close to what some others have been able to obtain. Once all was dry, I drybrushed some wear spots on the floor using Testor's flat tan and radome tan.

- Wingnut gives you lozenge decals to represent the fabric cover at the rear of the cockpit. These went on nicely, one thing I like is that all of their decals have little or no carrier film so you don't have to spend time closely trimming each one.

- Once the instrument panel was dry, I applied the various instrument dials and placards. Lots of small decals here, I had a problem with some sticking properly, I ended up using future to seal them in place.

- I added the throttle / mg control cables to the joystick, using stretched sprue.

- The cross bracing on the side framework was replicated using very fine streched sprue. I used the same stuff for the various control wires coming off the rudder pedals and control stick.

- All of the metal framework was painted RLM02 which was a WW2 German grey green. Some folks have suggested that this color was identical to the primer used by the Germans in WW1. It seemed to be a pretty good match based on what I have read.

- The MG ammo bins and the bin for the cartridge belt were both painted flat aluminum and weathered using Testor's steel. I could have cleaned them up a bit but to be honest, nothing except for the feedchutes will be visible once the cockpit is sealed up in the fuselage.

- Research indicates that only late model D.VII's had a metal engine firewall. Since my Fokker was an early version, I eliminated the firewall, with the exception of the top-most fabric section. I cannot find any good pictures of the early engine compartment but (to me at least) it stands to reason that this top fabric section may have been present on all versions, to keep engine oil from spraying back onto the MG ammo and backside of the instrument panel. Another bonus to eliminating the firewall is that with the cowling off (as my version will have) you can see a bit of the fuel tank and ammo bins. Otherwise, none of these parts will be visible once the fuselage is assembled.

Lastly, I added streched sprue for the mixture control actuator. That is it at this point. The part count (including sprue and decals is ~ 65). Not done with the cockpit yet, still have a few more bits and pieces to add. Here are some pictures of my progress so far:

[11bee]

Cockpit is done.

The original had sections of lozenge printed fabric wrapped around the upper interior framework (I assume to provide some cushioning for the pilot). Wingnut provides a decal that represents this pretty nicely, only problem is that no matter what I did, the decal would not conform to the tubing. As a substitute, I added slanted dabs of purple, blue, green and brown colors, using Sharpie markers. Not a perfect match but looks ok from a distance.

Last touch was to add some additional tubing, touch up some paintwork and add some oil stains to the engine mounts. I also added a bit of grime to the front of the cockpit floorboard, figuring that with a missing firewall, some grease and oil would make their way back that far.

Final pics:

[BoroDad]

I had trouble with the lozenge around the tubular frame as well...since it was an option, i didn't do it. Same with the decal on the firewall. However, I think the blow dryer trick would have solved both of these issues.....

[11bee]

Slow progress, only thing done in the last few weeks are the two machine guns. Wingnut gives you the option of a solid plastic MG or a plastic MG with photoetch cooling shroud around the barrel. I opted for the latter, the PE is very nice and they also provide a plastic cylinder to assist with rolling this piece. One word of caution, if you are one to anneal your PE to make it more flexible, be very cautious with these parts, I went overboard on my Albatross kit and ended up burning through one of the shrouds. Just a quick pass through a flame, anything more and you are asking for trouble.

In addition to the basic assembly, I added a bit of stretched sprue to represent the cocking handle spring. The completed MG was painted semi-gloss black with a touch of silver, I also drybrushed the cocking handles with a lightened mixture to represent wear. Lsst thing I did was drill out the muzzle. All in all, I'm quote happy with these parts.

[Dal]

That's absolutely brilliant work, John, I particularly like your work in the cockpit and on the gun jackets. I cheated with those and bought the Master brass sets, as I could never get the PE to look right.

Cheers.

Dal.

[11bee]

Next up is the engine, "my" Fokker was equipped with a standard Mercedes 180 HP water-cooled motor. Other versions had overcompressed Mercedes motors that gave slightly better high-altitude performance and a smaller number had the outstanding BMW motor that took a very good performing aircraft and totally transformed it's high-altitude performance. The BMW powered Fokkers were rare and typically assigned to only the best pilots in a unit.

Wingnuts provides for both Mercedes versions and has just released a new kit of the BMW powered D.VII.

Since my variant had the upper cowling panels removed to aid cooling, I am going to have to spend a bit of time on the engine. As noted before, I purchased a very nice resin intake manifold from Barricuda, this represents the variant that was wrapped in asbestos material for added insulation. I also broke down and bought the Taurus valves / timing gear set. The highlight of this kit are some incredibly done resin springs. Pretty pricey but since my upper engine will be uncovered, I'm hoping these parts will be a nice addition.

Some pictures BTW, sorry for the rotation of these, I corrected it in Photobucket but when I post them here, the edits are ignored. I really need to start using another service....

Aftermarket bits

The stock engine (major parts only). The very basic molded-on valve lifter springs will be replaced by the Taurus parts.

[rhwinter]

Hi, 11bee, simply stunning, so far! I am eagerly looking foreward to seeing your Nickchen-build grow. Now, since I am infected with the Wingnut Wings virus, but haven't been building WW1-planes for nearly 25 years (last was Revell's 1:28 Fokker Dr.I, but...), I am looking for a kit to start with over again, one wit only few/no rigging. The Fokker D.VII seems to be a possible start (although I am not a real D.VII-fanatic, I love the Hannover Cl.IIa much more, but that's one for later in my life...) and Nickchen looked best to me. - So that's my story. Now I'll go on eagerly watching your build. Thank you!

Richard

[HOLMES]

John,

OUTSTANDING work on a very beautifully designed classy Aircraft.

You have done a Fantastic job and its looking just astoundingly brilliant. .

Keep it going ..lyou are doing marvelously .

[11bee]

Hi, 11bee, simply stunning, so far! I am eagerly looking foreward to seeing your Nickchen-build grow. Now, since I am infected with the Wingnut Wings virus, but haven't been building WW1-planes for nearly 25 years (last was Revell's 1:28 Fokker Dr.I, but...), I am looking for a kit to start with over again, one wit only few/no rigging. The Fokker D.VII seems to be a possible start (although I am not a real D.VII-fanatic, I love the Hannover Cl.IIa much more, but that's one for later in my life...) and Nickchen looked best to me. - So that's my story. Now I'll go on eagerly watching your build. Thank you!

Richard

Thanks Richard (and Holmes). The hardest part of these WNW kits is deciding which option to build. I spent hours going back and forth between all the versions. My only gripe is that the lozenge decals seem way too bright but with the Nickchen version, I can tone it down since the real thing had the fabric overcoated with a brown tint.

Wish these guys would branch out into more modern subjects, I'd love to see them take a shot at a 1/35 scale UH-1 Huey helo.

John

[11bee]

Making a bit of progress on my engine. Added the Taurus valve springs, rocker arms and camshaft cover. These parts a mixed bag. They definitely are an improvement over the kit version but the camshaft cover is too long and I had to slice small sections of it and re-glue in order to get it to fit properly. The parts are very small and it's quite time consuming to install them but in the end, I guess it's worth it. Just make sure you have the springs as far outboard as possible otherwise, the rocker arms won't fit. I had some issues here but will have to live with it.

Once assembled, I shot the upper section gloss black. I then drilled out the oval shaped oil pan access openings in the bottom of the crankcase and painted the crank case flat aluminum. I then went over selected areas with Testor's steel to show a bit of weather. I then added the placards to the crankcase. Great detail on these decals BTW.

Once I get more parts installed, I will add some additional weathering to both top and bottom.

Anyway, at this point, here is how she looks:

Few more shots after some additional detail painting:

Lots more work to do....

Edited July 7, 2013 by 11bee

[11bee]

More work on the mini-Mercedes.

Mostly stock parts, I added individual spark plug cables coming off the dual magnetos at the rear of the engine. These were made from individual strands of wire from a lamp cord. Stretched sprue just doesn't cut it when you have to make tight bends. It's not perfect but since the parts won't be directly visible, it's not worth it (to me at least) to do the job 100% when 75% will be sufficient.

Still have to run the leads to each spark plug. Other than that, I've started weathering the engine. One of the hardest things to do is to realistically weather an engine. I'm not very good at it.

Can't wait until this tedious stuff is over and I can start assembly of the fuselage.

Some pics:

[11bee]

The Mercedes DIII is pretty much complete. I'll add a couple of pipes / cables once it's in the fuselage.

I added individual spark plug leads from the conduit, an oil transfer pipe on the right side of the motor, connecting the upper and lower sections of the crankcase and lastly I added the very nice Barracuda resin carburetor. This replicates the common practice of wrapping the pipes with asbestos insulation in order to lower the temperature and squeeze a few more HP (180HP) out of the motor. Later DIIIau versions of this motor used water cooling and dispensed with the asbestos insulation. This version brought horsepower up to 200. Not bad for an older engine that originally was rated for 150HP.

http://wingnutwings.com/ww/productdetail?productid=3043&cat=2 shows a good picture of the asbestos insulated unit.

Some last pictures of the engine, just note that the sunlight is pretty harsh and makes the weathering seem more pronounced. In better light, it looks pretty good - trust me :)/> :

Dryfitted into place:

[11bee]

Finally starting to look (a bit) like an aircraft.

[jester292]

Sweet build. That Mercedes is fantastic! I don't build 1/32 scale but Wingnut Wings makes it very tempting. Looking forward to more.

Aaron

[11bee]

Sweet build. That Mercedes is fantastic! I don't build 1/32 scale but Wingnut Wings makes it very tempting. Looking forward to more.

Aaron

Thanks Aaron! My motor is nothing compared to some of the builds done by others but I like it nonetheless.

Next step is to finish the fuselage. I started by painting the white portions of the fuselage /radiator housing and then painted the upper fuselage cover a semi-gloss green. My version had additional openings cut into the nose to improve engine cooling.

As noted, the Germans utilized pre-printed "lozenge" fabric on these aircraft. WNW provides pre-cut decals for this. The decals don't require setting solution (actually, WNW states that using this could damage them). Instead, you are supposed to use a hairdrier to provide a bit of heat, this gets them to snuggle down on the surface. It worked well for me. All surfaces that get these decals were first painted a gloss grey to improve decal adhesion (decals won't adhere to an unpainted plastic surface).

All in all, things went well. Some experts have suggested that WNW's lozenge is a bit too bright but it's a moot point for me since "my" Fokker had it's lozenge over-painted with a brown tinted glaze. That will tone things down quite a bit.

Anyway, here are some pics, just note that I still have quite a bit of touch-up and detail painting to do:

The lower surface lozenge. Most experts seem to feel that WNW's representation is pretty accurate.

Edited August 3, 2013 by 11bee

[11bee]

Getting further into the finishing of Nickchen's fuselage. You gotta love the Germans for over-thinking a solution to a problem. Aircraft too bright? Fine, instead of just painting it solid green (topsides)and leaving clear doped fabric on the undersides like the sensible Brit's, lets come up with a 4 or 5-color pre-printed fabric to use on our aircraft, one type on the top sides, another for the bottom. After we put it into service, we realize it's much too bright to work as an effective camo scheme. No problem, we just over-paint all the upper lozenge with a brown semi-transparent glaze. Oh, wait... It's all a moot point because once the Germans finally have the camo problem figured out, they then ruin it by applying all sorts of high visibility personal and squadron markings, which pretty much makes any camo attempts useless :)/>/>/>

Anyway, after my lozenge decals had time to dry, I had to apply that brown glaze. Wasn't sure how to go about this, some folks recommended future with a some coloring added, I finally went with an old armor modeling trick - I lightely dusted the lozenge surfaces with thinned medium brown paint. The trick is to apply a very light coat from a far distance and then repeat as necessary. Have to go slow... if you overdo it, you can't fix the problem. I have no idea how heavy to apply this. Some pictures show the lozenge almost completely covered, others show the colors still visible under the glaze. I opted for a lighter coating, similar to what I have seen on a few scraps of preserved fabric.

After that, I coated the surfaces with future and applied the fuselage decals.

I'm pretty happy with the end results. I will say that I a bit underwhelmed with the WNW decals. The larger sections tended to start coming loose around the edge after they dried. I had to brush in a diluted white glue solution to keep them anchored down.

Anyway, here are some pics:

Compare the over-coated lozenge to the original, personally, I like the effect:

Thanks for looking.

Edited August 4, 2013 by 11bee

[11bee]

Nickchen has her motor! Did some minor detail work and added the panels under the nose. Along the way, I managed to get some glue on the radiator housing. I'll add that to the punch list.

One word of advice, you need to be 100% accurate when building this kit. The tolerances are so tight that if you misalign a single part, it can throw the entire build off. Ask me how I know this.

Some pics..

[jester292]

Sharp! Keep the sweet pics coming!

Aaron

[zaxos345]

Awesome work so far!!!

John

[11bee]

Awesome work so far!!!

John

Thank you very much!

Just finished the wings. Very basic assembly, I like the fact that both wings are constructed from a single piece, should help keep everything aligned properly (fingers crossed). After assembly, I sprayed everything gloss grey and then applied the lozenge decals. I was a bit hesitant but they went on fine. Just need to be patient, work out the trapped air bubbles and then hit the decals with some heat from a hair dryer to get them to tighten down. As with some of the other decals, I had some issues with sections not adhering. All I did was to work in some diluted white glue and then put a bit of pressure on the decal. So far, everything seems to be in good shape.

WNW gives you a choice of both the 4 and 5-color lozenge, both top and bottoms. They also give you a full selection of rib tapes (pink, blue and lozenge colored) and ample spare lozenge to correct any mistakes. There is enough here to cover two models. Very impressive. For whatever reason, Nickchen's upper wing was covered in 5-color lozenge, the lower wing was covered in 4-color camo. Works for me, adds a bit of extra color.

Here are the completed wings. Still have to add a bit of stenciling and then overcoat all upper surfaces with the brown tint.

Topsides:

Lowers (still have rib tapes to add):

[Rocat]

Wow. Great work so far. I'll watch this topic :-)

[11bee]

Thanks Rocat!

I added the rib tapes to the lower wings, sealed again w/ future and then dusted the upper sections with the brown "glaze" used to tone down the lozenge fabric. I varied the covering to avoid having the entire airframe a uniform color. I also went very light on one of the ailerons to replicate a replacement part. After all that, I re-coated w/ future and added some inspection windows and stenciling. Had no idea WW1 aircraft had some many markings. The WNW decal sheet has dozens of stencils and manufacturer markings on it, many are tiny. Just goes to show the depth of their research. Last item on the wings was to paint the various metal fittings and access doors.

I also cut circular sections of extra lozenge decal and applied to the wheel coverings. The photos of Nickchen aren't clear enough to determine if it had the wheel covers painted in the standard RLM-02 grey-green primer or with lozenge. I opted for lozenge to add a bit of variety. I used a lighter coat of brown tint once the decals dried. After all that, I used a new x-acto knife to cut open the tire valve access openings.

That is pretty much where things are at. Some pictures:

Edited August 17, 2013 by 11bee

[11bee]

Landing gear is complete. I added some mud splatters to the tires and fabric housings. Still much more weathering to do, this is just a start.

Need to be very precise when you glue the struts to the fuselage, even after letting things dry overnight, still have a bit of flex. Rigging wires will be added at the end. According the instructions, Nickchen's landing gear and wing struts were painted semi-gloss black or possibly the same dark blue used on the white trim. I opted for black. The pictures of the real deal definitely show the struts to be darker than than normal (which would be the standard grey-green primer). The landing gear housing and under-fuselage access panel were painted grey-green.

Other than that, I added the Maxim MG's, rudder and tail skid. Still lots more to do but Nickchen is finally starting to look like an aircraft.

Thanks for looking....