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Fokker D.VII (OAW) Seven Swabians - 1:32 Wingnut Wings. ***Finished***


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Fokker D.VII (OAW) Seven Swabians

1:32 Wingnut Wings


Got a week off work so plenty of time to pull a 'big' build out of the stash and make a decent start.
I've been itching to do the Wingnut Wings Fokker D.VII (OAW) for a while now, but had a massive problem in that I could not decide on which colour scheme to finish it in. It is a problem in a good way, because there are so many really attractive ones to choose from.
For sure I want to do 3 OAW versions, Franz Buchner's and Willhelm Leusch's......

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...and the 'Seven Swabians' from Wingnut Wings own 'aftermarket' decal sets.

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I knew that if I chose just 1 of these schemes and stared the kit, I would regret not choosing one of the other 2! I solved this problem by dipping my hands deep into my pockets and ordering 2 more of the OAW kits. 'A modellers got to do what a modellers got to do' and I can't get enough of Fokker D.VII's.

Anyway, good progress has been made, and this week has reminded me why I enjoy Wingnut Wings kits so much. This has been pure modelling pleasure, such a beautifully engineered kit. All this is out of the box, apart from the stretched sprue bracing wires & control runs, plus the ignition leads on the engine from black and yellow twisted thread soaked in white glue.

Cockpit & engine bay;

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Daimler-Mercedes 200hp D.IIIau engine;

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Engine & Prop in place;

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In one fuslage half. Note the 'faded interior' side of the external lozenge fabric. Although this aircraft has a painted pale grey fuselage, it was delivered in lozenge fabric which was the overpainted on the outside.

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Wings will be covered with lozenge decals, but I have undercoated these with sutable base colours. A painted finish is essential to give the decals something to bite on to.

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The 3 builders of the D.VII (Fokker, Albatros, & OAW) all had their own distinctive cowling panels. I've prepared the OAW specific ones, and airbushed the insides with Citadel 'Runefang steel'.

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Next stage is to zip up the fuselage.

Thanks for looking,

John

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More progress, fuselage is zipped up now.
I then trial fitted the cockpit coaming and the fuselage was a tiny bit too wide, so I sqeezed the sides slightly, and CRACK! out fell the instrument panel and gun mount;

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The tolerances are tight on these kits! Never mind, I trimmed them slightly at each end and refitted them. Also I painted the OAW 'Giraffe' pattern on the coaming. This was a distinguishing feature of OAW built D.VII's, and was irregular mauve patches over dark green. As delivered, they had all coaming & cowling panels in this finish, but the Jasta's often overpainted them.

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All done, coaming fitted, masked up and primed with Halfords grey plastic primer straight from the rattle can.

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Wingnuts instructions suggest Tamiya XF-66 Light grey for the fuselage but I felt this was too dark. I went for XF-80 Royal light Grey instead. (It looks a bit like the bare plastic I started with, but this is all painted, honest!)

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With engine dry fitted;

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Engine, guns, and cowling panels need fitting next.

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There are a lot of sub assemblies & components ready to come together. Most of the work on this project is now done and it becomes an assembly job, bringing all these parts together. It is one of the nice things about WW.1 aircraft and Wingnut Wings kits. You are building an aeroplane in much the same way as the real one (like the tubular fuselage structure & engine mount) , and learn a fair bit about it on the way.

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Thanks for looking,

John

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More progress, fuselage is zipped up now.

With engine dry fitted;

John

I always learn something new when enjoying your build John. For instance; I always thought the fuselage was laced. :shrug:

Don't leave that engine dry either. It will seize up if you don't put some oil in it.

Wonderful work as usual Matey.

Chris

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I've just realised that the forward triangular panel is not a separate part on the OAW aircraft, but part of the continuous fabric of the fuselage side. I've got time to fill / sand blend it in, and respray the 'Royal light grey'.

Filled today but I'll have to wait for the Milliput to dry before I can sand it tomorrow.

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Just realised in the nick of time!

Thanks for looking,

John

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Beautiful work. One question. Where you have added rudder lines and cross bracing etc, is this referenced in the instructions or did you do your own research? I no nothing about WW1 aircraft but have a yearning to build one of these.

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Beautiful work. One question. Where you have added rudder lines and cross bracing etc, is this referenced in the instructions or did you do your own research? I no nothing about WW1 aircraft but have a yearning to build one of these.

Thanks Tim.

This gives me a chance to show the splendiferous WNW instructions, here is how they give you the info on the contol wire rigging;

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And just to make sure you have enough info, they include colour photos of a preserved D.VII, as well as colouredd CAD drawings of the completed kit assembly, showing how it should all look.

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WNW instructions are reference works in their own right, and IMHO no other manufacturer comes close.

Cheers

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bit more progress. Smoothed & blended the forward sections in, and resprayed the area.

I wanted to replicate the look of the structure underneath, so outlined it all with thin strips cut from 10mm Tamiya tape.

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and then misted on a thinned spray of Tamiya 'Smoke' along the tape lines. It creates a very subtle effect and breaks up the plain look of the colours.

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The lower wings and tailplane are now on, engine and some cowl panels are fitted, and the twin Spamdaus are in place.

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Hopefully the underlying structure work can be seen here. It is subtle enough to be difficult to photograph.

I have tried to 'blue' the exhaust towards it's end.

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I aim to get all the strutting and top wing on this weekend.

Thanks for looking

John

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Thanks Gary, a little more progress has been made. The wing & undercarriage are on, and I have started decalling.
I'll leave the fin & rudder until last, as I usually knock them off while doing the decals and rigging, not that there is much rigging on this one.
The Decals behaved beautifully and snuggled down with virtually no carrier film visible.

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Fin & rudder dry fitted;

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It all looks a bit 'clean' at the moment, a few washes of dark oils should give it a more 'used' look.. That'll be the next stage.

Thanks for looking

John

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 6 years later...

I am very impressed by this beautiful build and I joined britmodeller because of it. Actually i am working on my own Fokker D.VII, i've got the newer Fok "early" kit by Wingnut Wings. I've also just got Aviattics Seven Swabians decals. So.... is there anybody out there who got a spare J-sprue and willing to swap for an I, the newer kit's decals or selling? Would make my day!!

 

Edited by Xtof P
Looks like i have to practice my english a bit 🙈
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