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Fokker D.VII 1/32 Battle Axe


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Despite the phenomenal D.VII builds on this forum I'm starting this beast of a model. I felt very lucky to find three 1/32 Battle Axe Fokker kits at a model club swap n' shop a few years ago for $10 each. The fellow was unloading them because the Wingnut Wings Fokkers had been announced. Then I looked inside the boxes. I built the E.V a couple years ago and it worked out nicely, but this D.VII will be another animal. Still have the E.III in the stash.

 

It comes with a small photo etch fret and resin guns, I also bought the Karaya details for the guns. I recently ordered a couple kits during Wingnut Wings anniversary .sale and should have added an engine spue to the order. The engine in this kit is a blob.

 

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Edited by Ted
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Started fixing up some of the interior parts. I sculpted a cushion with green stuff. I'll add buttons when it cures. I tried heating and bending the seat to add more flare to the wings but it didn't really work. I stopped before I damaged the plastic with my lighter.

 

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The ammo magazine is pretty grim. No detail at all. So I was thinking of ways to carve in the belts and shells. Then while I was sitting at work today twirling a tie wrap in my hands it hit me.

 

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So crazy it just might work.

 

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Edited by Ted
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I'm a big fan of the DVII (in fact anything with multiple wings I guess :) ) so will follow. I have at least one in 1/48 in the stash (afair I also have a DVIII and a DR1, among other things)

Edited by Marklo
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23 hours ago, clive_t said:

This looks promising, I'll follow along if I may!

Thanks Clive, no promises though. :)

14 hours ago, pheonix said:

Brillianr idea for the ammunition belt from the box to the gun. I will follow along tooin case there are more ideas like this.

 

P

That one was luck, I was sitting at my desk at work, thinking about how to make the feeds/belts while I was chewing on a tie wrap.

 

8 minutes ago, Marklo said:

I'm a big fan of the DVIII (in fact anything with multiple wings I guess :) ) so will follow. I have at least one in 1/48 in the stash (afair I also have a DVIII and a DR1, among other thins)

I'd like to build a 1/48 D.VII sometime, either Roden or Eduard.

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I started painting the interior parts. Base coats of black Vallejo primer on the steel parts, Tamiya deck tan on the linen parts and wooden deck tan on the plywood.

 

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The plywood parts got rubbed with oil paint mixes, burnt sienna and yellow.

 

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Steel parts were sprayed with Alclad chrome.

 

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The plywood parts were dried under a lamp and sprayed with clear orange. The instrument panel was fun to make. The kit provides the photoetched front and a plastic backpanel with the three instruments protruding. I painted the details and applied a decal to the plastic part then glued the photoetch on top. Was very happy with the result.

 

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Next up are the fuselage sides.

 

 

Edited by Ted
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  • 7 months later...

I got back to this beast, added some stretched sprue control cables. The engine is a blob, I'll maybe put a bit more effort into it before closing the fuselage.

 

 

 

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Edited by Ted
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The fuselage is buttoned up now. I had to add some material to move the tail back, also added a fuel fill cap, coolant tube and a missing engine part (not sure what the part is but it was missing)

 

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The kit propeller is not great, luckily for me Wingnut Wings has four propeller choices on their Mercedes engine sprue. I pulled the Axial option from my Albatross kit.

 

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I made some headway on this and got to the really fun stage - After glueing the fuselage and multiple rounds of gap filling, I sculpted the cockpit combing with green stuff eopxy.

 

Then I painted the linen and yellow with Tamiya, and the blue stripe with Vallejo. After de-masking it got a couple coats of Pledge to get ready for streaking!! Did a test panel to test oil paint streaks. I think the raw umber, and green mixed with raw umber, thinned with spirits works well. After brushing some streaks over the whole panel I took a stiff dry brush and streaked some of the paint off to expose some linen. The most difficult part is making the brushstrokes parallel.

 

It will take some careful brushwork to make it look decent, but I think the oil paint is the way to go, I was going to test acrylics as well but won't bother now.

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Some modellers say that you don't so much build a Battle Axe kit as become a victim of a Battle Axe kit.

 

I struggled with blobby parts, poor fit, shattered decals, inflexible lozenge, and scratched details until I was ready to add the top wing. Then my chair tipped over and I crushed the thing.

 

I'm not too disappointed, mostly relieved that it's over and I can bin it and start a nice model. Maybe a rebound kit like the Tamiya deuce-and-a-half. Or the Tamiya Renault UE. Something Tamiya.

 

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On 2/11/2020 at 12:40 AM, Bandsaw Steve said:

Looks salvageable to me - what about a diorama showing these being broken up post-war? 
 

Just saying...

Not a bad idea Steve, and there are some projects I'll enjoy despite any obstacle or challenge but this isn't one of them.

 

To recover, I started building the Tamiya Renault UE, the parts fit together with with a heavenly click, like a chorus of angels.🤘

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