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Hello together, Here is my next project...... Wingnut Wings Fokker D.VII in red color, pilot Ernst Udet. The legendary Fokker D.VII is widely considered the best German fighter aircraft to emerge from the Great War, it was certainly the most numerous and as such was the only aircraft specifically requested to be surrendered in the Allies armistice terms. In early 1918 the young Jasta pilots were mainly equipped with Albatros D.Va, Pfalz D.IIIa and the Fokker Dr.1 Triplane which were no match for the SE.5a, SPAD 13 and Sopwith Camels that they faced each day. Fokker's prototype D.VII (the V.11) impressed the front line pilots present at the First Fighter Trials in January-February 1918 so much that word soon started to leak out about a new Fokker that would once again return air superiority to the Germans. So great was the need for this promising new fighter that, in addition to production at Fokker, Albatros were ordered to manufacture it under license at their Johannisthal (Alb) and Schneidemühl (OAW - Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke) factories, incidentally building almost twice the number of D.VII as Fokker! In keeping with previous Fokker design practices the D.VII featured a welded steel tube fuselage and tailplane along with thick ‘high lift' wings of conventional wood construction with steel tube frame ailerons. A few early production machines were powered by the 180hp Daimler-Mercedes D.IIIa but most production aircraft were fitted with the 200hp D.IIIaü, although a small number received the new Bayerische Motoren Werke 185ps BMW IIIa (rated at 230hp by the British) ‘altitude' engine. Interestingly, although only shown in a handful of known photos, some late production Fokker D.VII were powered by the long outclassed 160hp Daimler-Mercedes D.III engine. Initially supplied in small number to the most experience pilots of the elite Jagdgeschwader 1 from late April 1918 the Fokker D.VII quickly started to make a name for itself and allied pilots suddenly found that they could no longer count on their superior performance at higher altitudes. Supplies of the BMW IIIa were very limited with almost all available engines being allocated to the Fokker factory who designated D.VII powered by this engine the Fokker D.VII F. A small number of BMW IIIa engines reached the Albatros and OAW factories and were fitted into D.VII airframes but they did not receive any special designation such as Fokker's ‘F'. The exact number of BMW IIIa powered D.VII produced is not known. By the end of the Great War the Fokker D.VII was the main aircraft type equipping the German Jastas and despite the Daimler-Mercedes powered D.VII being very well received, it was the Fokker D.VII F fitted with the coveted BMW IIIa ‘altitude' engine that all Jasta pilots longed to fly. Any history of this important aircraft here is of necessity very brief so we encourage you to seek out any, or all, of the references listed below. (origin: website of wingnut wings) ... and that's it: Origin: www-deutscheluftwaffe-de I will use the gaspatch models rigging parts for the kit. Hope you will like the next project Cheers Michael

HI All, I recently purchased a Silhouette Portrait craft cutter and, of course, I had to use it as soon as it arrived. As a test subject, I have chosen Wilhelm Hippert's Fokker D.VIIF. I used the native software to trace a scan of the "Mimmi." lettering on the top wing and then cut a stencil using a sheet of Tamiya masking material. Unfortunately, in my excitement to use my new toy, I failed to take pictures, but here are the results. I sourced the lozenge decals from Aviattic. These look fantastic. Rib tape was post-shaded with Tamiya smoke and both upper and lower surfaces where given a burnt umber filter. Finally, the whole thing was sealed with Vallejo satin clear coat. Here are a couple of pictures. I'm now going to get started on the cockpit and follow the instructions in order. Build updates will follow and I will fully illustrate the application of the Aviattic decals to the lower wings, as well as using the craft cutter to generate masks for the black and white checker board pattern on the fuselage. I do have a question for those of you who have build one of these kits already. Does anyone know if the completed cockpit interior will slide into place in an assembled fuselage from the front? This would make masking the fuselage much easier. Thanks for stopping buy and everyone keep up the good work. Dave