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Fokker D.VII (Early) - 1:32 Wingnut Wings


Viking

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Fokker D.VII (Early)

 

1:32 Wingnut Wings

 

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Introduction
The Fokker D.VII first appeared over the western front in May 1918, as the Great War was entering its final phase leading up to the November Armistice. At first issued in small numbers to elite pilots, it proved to be a very capable fighter and began to build a formidable reputation. Production contracts were awarded to Fokkers' main rival, Albatros, such was the need to get production ramped as quickly as possible. In fact Albatros produced more D.VII's than Fokker themselves, and of better quality.
The early machines revealed a tendency to engine overheating, so various attempts were made to increase the airflow around the engine bay, mainly by cutting vents and louvers in the cowling panels. The number and location of these vents can often be of assistance in identifying the age and manufacturer of particular D.VII's in old photographs.
 Much has been written about it, but it was an outstanding fighter often awarded the accolade of being the finest such machine produced by any side in the conflict.

 

 

The Kit
It was something of a surprise to see this kit announced on Wingnut Wings website a few months ago, but it is certainly very welcome. All their previously released versions of the D.VII sold out long ago, and have been fetching silly money on auction sites.


As usual we start with the wonderful Steve Anderson artwork adorning the box lid, depicting a pair of Jasta 15 D.VII's in a clear blue sky. Opening the box reveals that it is packed from top to bottom with a host of individually shrink wrapped sprues, leaving no room far anything to rattle around. It is a good idea with any Wingnut Wings kit to carefully unpack it in sequence, putting each item in the upturned lid as you go. Then reverse the process to get it all back in, otherwise you might find you can't get the lid back on properly. There is that much packed into every kit!


Wingnut wings have previously released four other boxings of the D.VII in Fokker, Albatros, OAW, and Fokker D.VII(F) forms. They naturally share a lot of common parts, with the individual variations being taken care of by other sprue(s) unique to the particular version. Construction starts with the cockpit, and here sprue A holds most of the parts. Pay attention to the instructions to make sure you select the correct ammunition tank and machine gun mounts. They vary in height according to early, mid, and late production.

 

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The etched fret provides seatbelts, which look very good once painted up and applied to the seat. Having made several of these kits already, I have a number of previous 'build' photographs that are useful here.

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The cockpit framework builds up very precisely, so you must ensure that you scrape any paint away from mating surfaces, and that you fit items like the firewall and ammo tank correctly. Any incorrect fitting will result in the finished unit 'bulging' and being too wide, which will then interfere with the fuselage sides closing around it.

 

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Several items have pins that fit into sockets on sideframes B10 & B11. It is a good idea to ream these out with a micro drill after painting. As usual, Wingnut Wings provide superb instructions, showing detailed colour photos of the interior of the Memorial Flight Associations meticulous replica. These are accompanied by coloured CAD drawings showing how it all fits together, with paint references.

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The engine bay is made up of several beautiful mouldings that replicate the welded steel tubing of the real thing.

 

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Take care with parts B14 & B15 when you remove them from the sprue. On my first build I inadvertently cut them at the front where the engine mounting plates end. But these 'spigots' that stick out are later used as radiator mounts. My fault, the instructions show them clearly but I wasn't paying attention!

 

I absolutely love Wingnut Wings engines, they make super little models in their own right, especially if you go the extra step and wire up the magnetos to the plugs. Fine copper wire is ideal for this, and I often use a little bit of artistic licence and paint them in a light colour. After all, If I have installed all the ignition leads, I want them to be visible. Alternate air pumps, intake manifolds, and decals are provided for whichever of the five colour schemes you select. The Mercedes D.IIIa engine powered many different German aircraft, and thus features in several Wingnut Wings kits. This one was built for the initial release of Wingnuts Fokker D.VII.

 

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The fuselage halves are closed around the completed interior, but only the top seam is glued. Once dry, the bottom can be glued, and a strip of 'stitching' fitted in to a channel running along the underside. This works well, and is the only way the stitching can be replicated without having a join line right down its middle, which would then be lost as you sanded down the seam.

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The two LMG 08/15 Spandaus are provided with etched brass jackets,

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but if you are not confident optional full plastic ones are supplied as an alternative. Two styles of windscreen are on sprue C, which is typical of Wingnut Wings attention to detail. They are tiny and very similar, but you get both. Not all manufacturers would do this.

 

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Sprue I holds all the engine cowling panels, and it is this whole sprue that is completely different in the OAW and Albatros releases of the kit.

 

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Even within each kit there are multiple options for all the cowlings, such was the variation among early, mid, and late production from even the same manufacturer. As an early machine, the ones applicable to this kit are the plain ones, or those with only a few louvers - some of which have to be cut off anyway. The instructions make it all perfectly clear. The area is finished off by fixing one of two different styles of exhaust to the engine.

 

Sprue D is provided in duplicate, with all those items that you require two of. Three different wheel hubs are present, but only one style is applicable to the Fokker built machines.

 

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The wings are simple to build and feature lovely rib detail. They can in fact be built, primed, painted, and decalled while the main construction of the cockpit/fuselage is going on.

 

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Final assembly involves beautifully moulded three-way cabane struts, parts B8 and B12. Use a drill to clear out their lower end mounting sockets at the top of the undercarriage legs. The tolerances are tight, so make sure nothing is clogged with paint. All the struts will fit precisely, and the bonus is that hardly any rigging is required.

 

Markings and decals.

Five different schemes are offered, with option C having a variation on the colour of the nose area, either red or yellow.

 

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A. Fokker D.VII, 262/18, Emil Thuy, Jasta 28w, mid-1918 (35 victories)

 

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B. Fokker D.VII, Rudolf Berthold, Jasta 15/JG2, mid-1918 (44 victories)

 

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C1.Fokker D.VII, Max Kliefoth, Jasta 19, October 1918 (3 victories)
C2.Fokker D.VII, Hugo Schäfer, Jasta 19, October 1918. As above but with red nose area.

 

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D. Fokker D.VII, Reinhold von Benz, Jasta 78b, August 1918 (1 victory)

 

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E. Fokker D.VII, Bruno Loerzer, Jasta 26/JGIII, November 1918 (44 victories)

 

Four A4/Letter sized decal sheets are supplied, with the first sheet containing all the individual markings for options A to E. As always they are close to perfection, with perfect colours, register, minimal carrier film and superfine detail. Some of the tiny data plates, shown at least double real life size, are completely readable.
Produced by Cartograf, need I say more?

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Two sheets of lozenge decal accompany the main sheet, one of four colour lozenge and another of five colour. The five colour is especially interesting as it provides two types of underside lozenge. The 'normal' and an overpainted set, replicating where pale blue paint has been washed over the lozenge fabric. I have never seen this on a decal sheet, but it looks great. The lozenges are just visible underneath, and having it provided like this takes all the risk out of having to do it yourself. Options A an B both use it, the others use the normal four colour decal.

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An interesting variation is that Option A actually uses five colour underside lozenge on both wing upper surfaces, with normal upper five colour on the ailerons. Certainly a very interesting and attractive scheme.
The decals themselves are in 'cookie cutter' format, designed and shaped to apply directly to the wing surfaces, complete with rib tapes. Be sure to paint the wings first, to give the decals something to 'bite' onto. Don't be tempted to think you can apply them directly to bare plastic. You can't, because they wont stick.

 

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The Fokker 'streaky' camouflage can be rather daunting to paint, but Wingnut Wings have made it simple by creating a full set of 'streak' decals for the fuselage.

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These are the same as provided in their original Fokker release, and found that they give an excellent result when applied over a pale green (or clear doped linen) painted fuselage. Again referring back to my earlier build; (flash photograpy does't 'arf make the colours look bright! It a lot more subtle in real life).

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Conclusion.
Wingnut Wings other D.VII's  sold out rather quickly, so don't hang about with this one. Another benefit is that this boxing contains all the plastic parts and options that were in the original (now out of production) Fokker D.VII release. So if like me, you have the original kit but wanted to build more than one option from it, then you now have everything to assemble an early, mid, or late production Fokker built D.VII contained within this box.
But if you missed earlier Fokker built D.VII completely, now is your chance to fill that gap in your collection. Buy two and build an early version straight from the box, and use the other one with Wingnut Wings own decal sheet 30006 'Fighting Fokkers part 1', which gives options for some later Fokker D.VII's.

Another absolute beauty from Wingnut Wings, very highly reccomended.

 

Review sample courtesy of
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Previous builds;

32011 Fokker D.VII (Fok)
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32027 Fokker D.VII (Alb)

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32030 Fokker D.VII (OAW) with decal sheet 30009 Fokker D.VII (OAW) Fighting Fokkers part 4

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Fantastic review. And in case you didnt know, Wingnut Wings now have Sprue I of every one of their Fokker DVII kits for sale as an accessory. So now you can built ANY variation (bar the Austrian built ones) of this aircraft using this kit as a basis

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Not only a fantastic review but great to see some quality builds!  Those are stunning models.  

I have  the original boxing in the stash and have just bought the Clerget engined Sopwith Camel.  I am going to have to build at least one of them on the strength of this and the Camel review!

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Thank you for the kind comments chaps!

 

On 5/20/2017 at 8:20 PM, andy wood said:

Fantastic review. And in case you didnt know, Wingnut Wings now have Sprue I of every one of their Fokker DVII kits for sale as an accessory. So now you can built ANY variation (bar the Austrian built ones) of this aircraft using this kit as a basis

 

Andy, I'd not noticed that yet so thanks for the 'heads up'. It's another good idea from WnW!

 

Cheers

 

John

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