WNW Fokker DVII (Early)

[Greif8]

Hi guys, I recently purchased the Fokker DVII (Early) kit from another modeler as I was interested in trying my hand at building one of these "uber" kits.  I normally build WII aircraft and armor, with the occasional ship or sub thrown in and have only previously built two WWI aircraft; Roden's Sopwith Triplane and Fokker DrI.  I have mostly enjoyed building this kit thus far - the framing for the engine was a bit fiddly - and it has gone together well up to this point.  I don't know very much about WWI aircraft so I am pretty much following the WNW instructions for which parts go where for the Fokker I am building, as well as color call outs.  The kit I bought has a nice A/M resin seat, Spandaus and decal set that I plan to use.  Hopefully I can do the kit justice.

 

Following are a few photos of the cockpit, MG bins, fuel tank section.  This went together well and I found it wise to pay close attention to the instructions to minimize any "uh-oh" moments.  I added the control cables with E-Z Line, and the tensioning/bracing wires on both sides of the rear cockpit tubing.  The seat is the A/M one and the seatbelt is an HGW offering.  I used artist oils on the floor and instrument panel and airbrushed/hand painted the rest with either metallic paint or acrylics.  I paid close attention to making sure everything lined up as test fitting showed tolerances are tight. 

 

Hmm, the photos are pretty big hopefully that is not an issue.

 

   

 

 

 

 

Next up is the very nice engine.

 

Ernest

[Greif8]

Following are some photos of the very nice engine.  First up will show it in "factory fresh" condition.  I used some 1/32 scale A/M sparkplugs that I have in my stash and .1mm wire for the plug wires.

 

 

 

 

 

[LSP_K2]

Nice! Have you picked a scheme yet?

[Greif8]

And here is the engine after weathering.  I used Tamiya clear yellow to try to get the effect of spewed castor oil as I have read that these engine sprayed a lot of it while operating.

 

 

 

 

[Greif8]

4 minutes ago, LSP_K2 said:

Nice! Have you picked a scheme yet?

 

Hi I plan to try to replicate Hugo Schäfer's aircraft.  My 5 year old daughter likes the winged snake, and red and blue are her favorite colors.  I also want to try getting the A/M lozenge decals down as they look pretty cool.  I have decided to take a bit of a risk and am in the process of airbrushing the parts that will be red in color before construction.  There is a lot of fragile parts in the cockpit and engine area, and I don't want to risk breaking something while taping those areas off.  So far the fit has be excellent so I think I will be able to get everything together and only have to do some minor filling/sanding and touching up.  That is the plan at least.  The blue does not look like it will be nearly as involved vis-à-vis protecting already assembled areas so I plan to take the traditional approach of build as much as possible than paint.  

 

Ernest 

[LSP_K2]

You might consider using some damp facial tissue as a mask for the 'pit. When damp, it can easily be manipulated to fill the opening, with very little chance of knocking anything loose inside, especially if you dampen it again before removal.

[wmoran]

Looking good Ernest.  On the cockpit, make sure those curved sections of pipe are glued securely.  On the two D.VIIs I worked on (and moved to SOD), those pieces would always pop loose  when gluing the fuselage halves together even though I did my utmost to ensure there was no paint to interfere with the fit of the cockpit.  When applying the Aviattic lozenge decals, a hairdryer seems to help much more than decal solvents and setting solutions.

 

Bill

 

PS:  If you have any problems with the kit decals, let me know.  I have extras I can send you.

Edited December 8, 2019 by wmoran

[Greif8]

8 hours ago, LSP_K2 said:

You might consider using some damp facial tissue as a mask for the 'pit. When damp, it can easily be manipulated to fill the opening, with very little chance of knocking anything loose inside, especially if you dampen it again before removal.

 

Hi Kevin thank you for the reminder on using damp tissue to mask.  I had forgotten about that method as I so rarely used it in the past.

 

Sincerely,

Ernest

[Greif8]

6 hours ago, wmoran said:

Looking good Ernest.  On the cockpit, make sure those curved sections of pipe are glued securely.  On the two D.VIIs I worked on (and moved to SOD), those pieces would always pop loose  when gluing the fuselage halves together even though I did my utmost to ensure there was no paint to interfere with the fit of the cockpit.  When applying the Aviattic lozenge decals, a hairdryer seems to help much more than decal solvents and setting solutions.

 

Bill

 

PS:  If you have any problems with the kit decals, let me know.  I have extras I can send you.

 

Hi Bill, thank you for the advice and kind words.  I also made sure no paint was on the mating surfaces before gluing and it looks like that did the trick.  I use Tamiya Extra Thin cement and have found it pretty bullet proof once it has cured.  Thus far the build had been pretty smooth, and I think the fit of the parts is excellent.  I followed the advice on here and shaved down a couple of the mounting holes at the rear of the cockpit tubing and test fitting has shown I won't have a problem getting the upper part of the fuselage closed up.  

 

Also thanks for your advice on the Aviattic decals.  I normally use the micro set/sol setting solutions, but I have read that both the kit decals and the Aviattic decals can react poorly to that.  I had planned to use the old standby of using a damp hot cloth pressed on the surface to get any decals that don't want to lay down to conform, but the hair dryer method works the trick as well.

 

Hopefully my painting plan for the red and blue sections of the fuselage won't backfire on me.  I already airbrushed the parts that make up the red section separately.  Given how well everything has fit thus far I think I will be able to assemble the painted sections without having to fill and/or touch up too much.

 

I am glad that I purchased the kit from you as it has been a fun build and thank you for your generous offer to send extra decals if I need them. 

 

Sincerely,

Ernest 

 

[Greif8]

Well this project met an unexpected and unhappy end yesterday.  While I was out my sister-in-law visited with my 10 year old nephew.  I did not know they were coming over or I would have locked my "man cave" up as I know the young lad does not do well at keeping out of places he does not belong and even worse keeping his hands off what does not belong to him.  Well he got ahold of my build and ended up smashing it pretty completely.  When I got home the look on my wife's face told me something was amiss and when she showed my the remains of my hard work I was not best pleased.  I managed to salvage only the aftermarket seat and seatbelt and the parts that had not been built yet of course; the rest was a total  write off.  It took me a good day to cool off enough to write this.  I have ordered a replacement and will start again once it arrives.  I am a fairly patient and understanding person but I admit this whole issue is still very vexing for me.  

 

While waiting for the new kit to arrive, I will work on the pilot figure I bought for the build, as well as the wings.  This means I am going to have a fair amount of left over parts and when I am finished I will very likely offer those to any of you that would like them for the price of shipping as I don't think I will be able to use much, if any of they left over parts on future builds.

 

Ernest 

[RLWP]

Ernst, this is obviously an awful thing to happen. Can I suggest you put the parts away and forget about them for a while? My instinct is at some point in the future they will come in very useful for something. Do something else and give your mind time to work on this

 

I can imagine a few dioramas for the parts - replacing a battle damaged wing, towing a wingless 'plane, doing an engine swap, even a crash

 

Deepest sympathy, put the parts away and do something else for a while. I bet you will come up with something amazing in time

 

Richard

[Greif8]

3 hours ago, RLWP said:

Ernst, this is obviously an awful thing to happen. Can I suggest you put the parts away and forget about them for a while? My instinct is at some point in the future they will come in very useful for something. Do something else and give your mind time to work on this

 

I can imagine a few dioramas for the parts - replacing a battle damaged wing, towing a wingless 'plane, doing an engine swap, even a crash

 

Deepest sympathy, put the parts away and do something else for a while. I bet you will come up with something amazing in time

 

Richard

 

Hi Richard, thank you the kinds words and wise counsel.  I am already past the worst of my anger about this.  Working on both the very nice Gaspatch Spandaus and the pilot figure this evening were very therapeutic.  The replacement kit should be here in 4-5 days and I should be able to get the pilot finished and wings primed, clear coated and decaled in that time.  You are right about the "now" extra parts.  I will wait until I am finished with the build (probably 3-4 weeks) and see how I feel about the extras.  I rarely build WWI subjects, but I admit I have been eyeing the WNW Göring DVIIF for the past few days and will probably end up buying, so your suggestion about using the parts for a diorama is well worth considering.

 

Thank you and sincerely,

Ernest 

[RLWP]

No problem

 

Imagine you have been given a pile of WNW Fokker D.VII bits to play with. There's no way you'd buy a whole kit to do that kind of thing, but the possibilities!

 

Richard

[Kagemusha]

Oh jeez, I only just came across this and really liked what you had done so far, all the best next time out, and I wouldn't let that kid anywhere near my house.

[LSP_Mike]

+1