Fokker DVIII wing

[LSP_Mike]

With the advent of the new Mikro-Mir Fokker DVIII, perhaps it is time to initiate a discussion regarding the finish of the wing. The wing was covered with thin plywood which was very strong, and when subjected to Idfleig testing, including inundation in water, the wing passed with high marks. One recommendation after testing was using a higher grade of varnish to seal the wing. At this point in construction, the wing would be natural plywood color, possibly similar in tone to unpainted Albatros fuselage's.(fuselagii?) It was commonly accepted for many years that the final finish of the wing was a sort of "Olive-Green", or "Dark Olive." There has been a great deal of discussion regarding this recently, and some new information has come out in part due to better photo analysis.

 The Windsock Datafile 25 I have shows four distinct stains being used to finish the wing, and provide camoflauge. The four colors are: mocha brown, New True green, Violet, and Azure blue, The wing uppers were Mocha brown, which was a stain type finish, and New True green possibly a paint, as opposed to a stain. The under surfaces were Azure blue and a shade of violet under the brand name "Azin."

  The color was applied in four distinct bands of approximate equal width at roughly a 45 degree angle from the leading edge. A photo of a Dutch DVIII (p. 23) shows a dark color at the cockpit area, so that seems to be the brown, and the color bands would move outboard from there. The undersurfaces were Azin violet, IIRC, a stain, and azure blue, again more of a paint as opposed to a stain. These were again applied in four equal width bands, and may have run at the opposite 45 degree angle from the upper surfaces. The stain application would have allowed the wood-grain to show through, at least a little, whereas the paint would have been more opaque; this would be true of the upper, and lower surfaces.

  I'm happy to see the DVII released again, and for myself, will use Aviattic decals for the fuselage, and tail, and can see doing the wing in wood tones, and then applying the color. This is meant to open a discussion, and I'm hoping that others better informed than I will add to it.

 

[petrov27]

Interesting discussion and pics of the streaking and application to a reproduction DVIII:

 

http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=2389.0

[DeanKB]

I'll take a look at my books.

 

In the meantime, it's fuselages.

[R Palimaka]

This discussion will be interesting to follow. I have an Avis 1/32 Fokker E.V and have plans to build it as the aircraft flown by Stefan Stec of the Polish Air Force.

 

I had seen profiles done ( of his aircraft and others) showing the wing to be the Olive finish, and I was reluctant to paint it that way having seen the information about the four colour finish. There was a build on the Aerodrome website that had several photos of the aircraft flown by Stec, some of them close up, and it also showed that the wings were clearly finished in four colours.

 

I'm not as informed about First World War aircraft and their finishes, but the thread had a lot of information. I'll see if I can dig it up...

 

Found them...

 

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37977

 

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45805

 

 

 

Richard

Edited April 27, 2017 by R Palimaka

[LSP_K2]

As it turns out, I have virtually zero references on the D.VIII, though I intend to eventually grab the datafile.

[Out2gtcha]

Ive got the Avis kit and do SO love the DVIII.  So, Im thinking Ill invest in the Mikro-Mir kit as well as some time on the Silhouette cutter to make some custom masks.

Id love to see how this turns out, as some of the wing treatments and camos look unclear. 

[LSP_K2]

My error, I do have datafile #25. It's the D.III that I'm missing information on.

[AndersN]

I have a 2,2m rc plane with all over olive green wings...something less not at all interesting would be great

[Kagemusha]

Here's a couple of profiles I've found

 

 

Edited April 28, 2017 by Kagemusha

[dutik]

The violet undersides look at least ...interesting.

 

Maybe they did so, but why would someone paint a camouflage pattern onto the underside instead of plain blue...? Really odd decision

 

Regards

- dutik

[LSP_Mike]

The lozenge pattern was actually quite effective, so the violet/blue may have been expedient, experimental, or given the vagaries of human sight, effective as well. It sure beats the look of the "Olive green."

[Out2gtcha]

 It sure beats the look of the "Olive green."

 

 

Agreed. The streaked however Olive wasn't too bad, but still rather blah.  Ill end up probably having to do a streaked wing on my D VIII, if I choose to make my own masks for it. 

[LSP_Mike]

What is a streaked wing? Similar to the Dr I? I'm curious.

[Rob Owens]

dutik, Undersurface disruptive schemes are not unheard of. In the 1930's, the US Army Air Corps experimentally applied light blue/violet/white (temporary, washable pigments) camo to the under-surfaces of several different air frames, including a B-17C, IIRC.

 

The "streaked" colors appear to have been applied in much the same fashion as the Dr.I & early D.VII finishes, albeit a bit more evenly (without the dark/light patches). See Ronny Barr's plan views in Kagemusha's post