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Red Baron D VII


Uncle Pete

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I'm trying to figure out how to paint a D VII for ol' Manny.  He's usually depicted with a Tripehound but I understand his preferred ride was the D VII.  Haven't been able to get Google to cough up any pictures of Von Richtofen's VII at all... Have I got the wrong end of the stick somewhere?  Worst comes to worst I'll just base it on the millions of pics of his DR 1 but I'd like to do it without so much guesswork.  Since waterboarding Google is not an option, does anybody have any old pictures squirrelled away?

 

Edit...  Just had a look at Wiki (should have done that before I asked on the forum!) and saw he worked on the development and loved it but never got to fly one in combat.  If nobody has a better idea, I guess it's off to the strange world of Uncle Pete's imagination...

Edited by Uncle Pete
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Never heard of the Red Baron flying a Fokker D.VII.  Given that he died in April 1918, a couple of weeks before the Fokker D.VII entered squadron service, any association he may have had with the later Fokker product must have been fleeting at best.  Happy to be proven wrong...and I usually am when I offer opinions on WW1 topics. :)

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11 minutes ago, mhaselden said:

Happy to be proven wrong

Hardly proving you wrong, mate, I'm walking around in the dark!  I gather, though, he was involved in the design and testing phases... More telling them what he wanted rather than telling them how to do it, of course, but one would assume he'd have a pretty good instinctive grasp of aeronautical engineering.  Seems he had the same opinion of it as Henshaw's of the Spitfire some years later... It was the cat's pajamas.  I guess I'm off to the wonderful world of whiff.

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4 minutes ago, Uncle Pete said:

Hardly proving you wrong, mate, I'm walking around in the dark!  I gather, though, he was involved in the design and testing phases... More telling them what he wanted rather than telling them how to do it, of course, but one would assume he'd have a pretty good instinctive grasp of aeronautical engineering.  Seems he had the same opinion of it as Henshaw's of the Spitfire some years later... It was the cat's pajamas.  I guess I'm off to the wonderful world of whiff.

 

Involvement in requirements specification makes a lot of sense.  According to Wikipedia (yes...I know) he also flew the prototype:

 

Late in 1917, Fokker built the experimental V 11 biplane, fitted with the standard Mercedes D.IIIa engine. In January 1918, Idflieg held a fighter competition at Adlershof. For the first time, front line pilots participated in the evaluation and selection of new fighters. Fokker submitted the V 11 along with several other prototypes. Manfred von Richthofen flew the V 11 and found it tricky, unpleasant and directionally unstable in a dive. Platz lengthened the rear fuselage by one structural bay and added a triangular fin in front of the rudder. Richthofen tested the modified V 11 and praised it as the best aircraft of the competition. It offered excellent performance from the outdated Mercedes engine, yet was safe and easy to fly. Richthofen's recommendation virtually decided the competition but he was not alone in recommending it. Fokker immediately received a provisional order for 400 production aircraft, which were named D.VII by Idflieg.

 

Maybe you can find an image of the prototype and build a model of that.  I have no clue whether he flew the type on operations, though.

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1 minute ago, mhaselden said:

This thread on The Aerodrome might help:

Thanks, I'll peruse it.  Sometimes a simple £4.99 kit gets away from you and turns into a three act play!  Don't expect miracles... I have my reputation as the eternal newbie to maintain!

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On 7/24/2020 at 11:57 AM, Wulfman said:

an all red D.VII would look great

That's what I thought till I tried to get the Humbrol 238 acrylic to stick to the blasted thing!  I'm now wishing I'd gone enamel.  I find different colours feel different on the brush and old 238 acrylic is treating me like it caught me in bed with its wife.  I can't get it to behave at all.  Generally once a couple of coats are on I'm starting to see consistency but this is still looking like an early attempt at mottled camo for hiding in a poppy field.

 

On 7/25/2020 at 11:14 PM, Orso said:

Okay... I give up!  That's a beauty. 👍👍

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On 7/29/2020 at 4:35 PM, tomcervo said:

Really matter which von Richthofen?

Yes...Lothar did have a colourful mount.  I should make that one soon...

 

Hmmm...a MvR WiF DVII?  Why?  So many amazing looking actual aircraft.  

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 7/31/2020 at 12:49 PM, europapete said:

Hhmmmm..........wonder what his Me109 would have looked like?

Oh, yeah!  Or his captured Spitfire!

 

On 7/29/2020 at 2:35 PM, tomcervo said:

Really matter which von Richthofen?

I have an Airfix Triphound I was planning to use for Lothar's but decided I'd do up another Major von Plonk whiff instead and Lothar can wait his turn.   As soon as I'm finished with Duke Ellington's P47 (which has been stalled on the bench while I take advantage of the rare nice weather here and work in the garden) von Plonk's Dr 1 will take shape.  There's also an S.E. 5 waiting for S/L A. C. Plonk but it's a Roden kit and I'm afraid to open the box!

 

On 7/30/2020 at 8:24 PM, John Masters said:

Hmmm...a MvR WiF DVII?  Why?  So many amazing looking actual aircraft.

Because it's easier for old Fumblefingers here to dream something up than to make something accurate!  (See also : The Plonk family).

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On 8/25/2020 at 9:30 AM, Uncle Pete said:

Oh, yeah!  Or his captured Spitfire!

 

I have an Airfix Triphound I was planning to use for Lothar's but decided I'd do up another Major von Plonk whiff instead and Lothar can wait his turn.   As soon as I'm finished with Duke Ellington's P47 (which has been stalled on the bench while I take advantage of the rare nice weather here and work in the garden) von Plonk's Dr 1 will take shape.  There's also an S.E. 5 waiting for S/L A. C. Plonk but it's a Roden kit and I'm afraid to open the box!

 

Because it's easier for old Fumblefingers here to dream something up than to make something accurate!  (See also : The Plonk family).

The last sentence is so true. I find working to my own "plans" so much easier.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 7/24/2020 at 8:57 PM, Wulfman said:

Sounds like a great idea for a whif , an all red D.VII would look great, I will do one myself !

 

Wulfman

Well theres always the various iterations of Udets DVII  'LO' in mainly red if all else fails?

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

If anbybody is interested in the flying life of Richthofen, so I suggest to read his book. Richthofen as author. And to try to build of all the a/c he flew with. As crew and pilot. It is a huge interesting amount of. Kits are available for some!

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