Fokker D.VII - Erich Lowenhardt

[Robert Stuart]

Looking good AW.  I'd be tempted to leave the finish as is.

 

 

 

[Andwil]

Latest progress with the DVII.  Back from a weekend away and finished the yellow.  It took 5 thin coats, with a light rub down with micromesh between coats, before I was happy with the coverage:

 

 

I'll give it another micromeshing to even out the brush strokes before a gloss coat. 

 

Tail fin and rudder:  (Seeing it enlarged here I realise it is a bit rough and could use some cleaning up).

 

Exhaust pipe.  I drilled out the end, painted it all over with Tamiya gun metal followed by a dry brush of Lifecolour Rust and a very light dry brush of light grey:

 

Next tasks are the radiator, ammunition feed chutes and cockpit surround.

 

AW

[PlaStix]

Good to see more progress. I think yellow is always a tricky colour to paint especially when brush painting. Looks like you've got good coverage. Good idea about drilling out the exhaust.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Andwil]

Detail painting completed and gloss coat on, decals next.

 

 

 

Just noticed from the photos that I will need to do some touching up around the cockpit edge.

AW

[Andwil]

Lozenge fabric decals added to wing lower surfaces:

 

 

I must admit that when I started out on this build I was a bit daunted by the prospect of these whole of wing decals (and the upper wing has 5 decals on each of the upper and lower surfaces, a centre section, two outer sections and two ailerons), but I needed haven't worried.  Like the decals for the inside of the cockpit sides they went on like a dream.  I think it is fair to say that the Aviatik decals are by far the best decals and easiest to apply that I have ever experienced.  They are incredibly thin yet do not tear, wrinkle or fold up on themselves, are easy to slide into position, and per the instructions require no setting solutions only warm water.  They settle down beautifully, if you look carefully at the upper wing you can see how they have actually sucked down into the small holes I drilled to improve Roden's somewhat vague attachment points for the struts, holes I was a little worried about losing under the decals.  Other than a little trimming around the port wing tip and centre section cut-out there is nothing more to do on the under surfaces.  I'll leave these to dry and set overnight and tackle the upper surfaces tomorrow.

 

AW

[John Masters]

46 minutes ago, Andwil said:

I needed haven't worried

I have to agree.  They are the best decals if only that they already have the rib tapes printed!

[Andwil]

Upper surface lozenges applied along with the cross on the tail fin and the white backing of the fuselage and wing crosses.  The upper surface lozenge decals did not go on as nicely as the lower surface ones, leaving narrow edges where the white base shows and will need painting to touch up.  This is mainly due tomy ham-fistedness, although I have some suspicion that the thickness of the Roden wings may have contributed as the decals themselves have a greater chord than the wing to allow for the leading edge wrap around.  At this point I decided to stop for today as I could feel myself rushing and a terrible mistake was threatening as a result.

 

 

AW

Edited August 26, 2018 by Andwil
Putting the missing h in chord

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Those decals do look great. Cant wait to try mine out. 

[Brandy]

The Aviattic decals really are good, but a word of warning: Follow the instructions! They are not easy to trim once applied, so if you're not using the cookie cutter ones like these for the D.VII, make sure you get them cut as close as possible to the shape you need before you apply them.

 This one is looking better and better with every update, great stuff!

 

Ian

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Thanks @limeypilot ... I deliberately purchased the ones made for the D.VII. If i used them for a different aircraft i would trim them prior to placing them. I will however test fit prior to building the plane just to make sure, and will trim if necessary. 

 

Dennis

[Andwil]

On 8/29/2018 at 1:40 AM, limeypilot said:

 This one is looking better and better with every update, great stuff!

Thanks Ian that's very kind of you.

 

On 8/29/2018 at 2:19 AM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Thanks @limeypilot ... I deliberately purchased the ones made for the D.VII. If i used them for a different aircraft i would trim them prior to placing them. I will however test fit prior to building the plane just to make sure, and will trim if necessary. 

 

Dennis

The Aviatik decals fit quite well, just be careful with the fit around the wing tips.  Good idea to do a dry fit first.

 

Progress update with the trials and tribulations of this build.  Firstly the decals.  I decided to avoid the Roden supplied ones for two reasons: one, a have had a bad experience with then previously, and two, the crosses were the wrong style anyway lacking the white edges (which is ok for Goering's all white machine).  So I used some Super Scale ones that I have.  These come in two parts, the white for the edges which are applied first.  These went on easily.  After letting them set for 24 hours I applied the black centres: - lots of trouble.  Unlike the white parts they folded over on themselves, bent, stuck anywhere except where I wanted them to and one of the fuselage ones had an arm break into two sections.  Worse, while carefully moving the decals into position with a paint brush I noticed that the white under layers tended to come loose and move around as well.  Finally after much effort and use of Anglo-Saxon I managed to get all the crosses into position.

 

 

After these had settled and set for 24 hours I very carefully brushed on a coat of Liquitex matte varnish to seal everything in.

 

While the matt coat was drying I decided to assemble the undercarriage.  I realise now that painting the parts on the sprue prior to assembly was a bad mistake, as the very shallow locating "slot" was lost under the paint and had to be scraped put and deepened to take the struts.  The struts are very very close to scale thickness which makes them very nice to look at but very, very fragile.  Needless to say I managed to break one of them.  I managed to epoxy the struts to the axle wing using a card jig to set the correct angle.  In case this does not fix the broken strut I made up a second set from another kit (yes I have more than one of these horrors 😵).

 

With the matt coat now dry I set about adding the guns.

 

This can't be right:

 

 

Nicely detailed guns, but nowhere close to fitting.  After much scraping and filing we have:

 

 

Much better!  (Also noticed some touching up around the wing root required).  Suitably enthused by my victory over the spandaus I turned my attention to the tail fin.  Horrible fit, not even close.  Really, I have built short-run kits better engineered than this.  After much fettling I got to where I am reasonably happy with the fit and epoxied it into place, I seriously don't think I could get it much better.

 

 

Next up touching up the paint before, gulp, attaching the undercarriage and top wing.  The good news is it looks like the repaired undercarriage strut will hold.

 

AW

[PlaStix]

Good to see more progress and it looks good with the decals on. Good luck with the next stages!

Kind regards,

Stix

[Andwil]

More progress today and I am now feeling much better about this build than I was yesterday.  Undercarriage attached without too much trouble, I had to use my reserve set as the original set which I repaired just wasn't right - the angles were all out.  Fixed with CA gel and once set given its first coat of yellow:

 

 

Tailplane rigged with smoke coloured "invisible thread" secured with small dobs of CA gel:

 

 

AW

[Andwil]

Further progress today, exhaust and interplane struts attached:

 

 

Prop finished:

 

 

That is where I am going to have to leave it for now, away travelling for a few weeks so I won't be able to get back to it before mid-October.  Although I am ahead of where I planned to be at this time, it is frustrating to have to stop so close to the finish.  I'll be looking in on the other builds as and when I can, so keep up the good work everyone!

 

Cheers for now

 

AW

[Robert Stuart]

That's good progress AW, I'm relieced that you sorted the undercarriage

[Smudge]

Just caught up with this one. Nice work. That yellow scheme is a cracker 

[John Masters]

Lovely decal work and that prop is outstanding!

[Andwil]

Well I got back to the DVII yesterday but it turned out to be a day of frustrations.  I got the top wing on, but, and I was warned, the cabane struts are an absolute nightmare!  They just will not fit being way too long.  Then looking at the top wing it has an odd pitched forward look to it that doesn’t make sense as the interplane struts measured against a scale plan look spot on.  I can’t put my finger on it but there is something wrong with Roden’s Geometry with the struts.  So I am cobbling some cabanes together from this kit and some taken from the other DVII kit that donated its undercarriage.  At least I was able to separate the fine struts from the sprue without breaking them using a blade heated in a candle flame.

 

Then disaster struck, after messing about with the cabanes I noticed that I had put a dirty black finger print on the yellow fuselage, where that came from I don’t know as I was not using paint and my hands were clean.  So that will need to be repainted.

 

After that I managed to stick a new scalpel blade into the end of my finger.

 

With all these trials I forgot to take any pictures.  I almost consigned the model to the bin, but having come this far I just want to get it finished.

 

AW

[John Masters]

3 hours ago, Andwil said:

I forgot to take any pictures.

Who needs them?  It seems you have been struck by the Roden DVII Curse--the signs are a frustration and fascination with an awful kit driven by an intense desire to see the torture through!  I know it well...

 

Now you know why I scratch build the struts. 😄  

 

 

[Andwil]

2 hours ago, John D.C. Masters said:

It seems you have been struck by the Roden DVII Curse--the signs are a frustration and fascination with an awful kit driven by an intense desire to see the torture through!  I know it well...

 

I know what you mean, the desire to overcome every obstacle this kit throws at you and the bloody minded will to defeat it.  By the way John I forgot to thank you for your kind words regarding the prop, coming from a modeller of your ability has given me a lot of confidence.

 

Speaking of confidence I managed to put some semblance of cabanes together today, not perfect by any means but I am quite happy with how they turned out:

 

 

This photo shows the aftermath of the mysterious finger print just ahead of the fuselage cross that I am overpainting (any residual I think I will call weathering):

 

Nearly there.  I only have to touch up the yellow on the cabane struts and attach the wheels and prop and shes done.  (And I can move on to something straight forward and relaxing!)

 

AW

[John Masters]

Phew!  Tragedy narrowly averted...

[PlaStix]

Good save!! Glad to see it's progressing well now. 

Kind regards,

Stix

[Andwil]

Thanks Stix.  I should have it ready for the gallery in the next day or two.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Well I'm calling it done.  Wheels and prop on, a light sepia wash over the nose panels to highlight the louvres, a little dust on the leading edge of the axle wing.  I didn't use the kit foot step as it was thick and clunky so I made one up out of thin wire.

 

Proper photo to follow in the gallery.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking

 

AW

[John Masters]

Very nice and very bright AW.  We always need more DVII's around here.  Well done!

 

I think I did the same thing with the footstep...wire, that is.