The
Fokker D.VII needs no introduction.
This
article is the first in a series of “Do Something Different” models aimed to
offer alternatives for known machines,
After
the first world war a number of planes were used as civil machines. The one
represented here, O-BEBE, belonged to Belgium and was used at a flying school,
still wearing its camouflage but sporting prominent registrations on a white
background. Now, a camouflaged machine is not my idea of a civilian plane, but
another great candidate, B-BIXP, was not chosen as it was already modeled by
fellow modeler Tracy Hancock:
http://www.wingsofpeace.net/gallery/F/FokkerDVII_T/FokkerDVII_T.html
Belgian OO-UPP machine couldn’t be modeled either for lack of more complete
information. Another candidate, a Texaco Fokker, was again already modeled by
Steve Kallan:
http://www.wingsofpeace.net/gallery/F/FokkerTexaco/FokkerTexaco.html
So I went for O-BEBE (Bebe means baby in Spanish).
Click on
images below to see larger images
I got the Revell
D.VII, which is an old mold and a not totally bad -but a bit crude-. It
suited the project since I wasn’t especially looking for detail and I am
used to deal with kits that have some shortcomings. It has no interior,
only the dreaded styrene mummy that sits on a tab. Now, what is
unforgivable regarding the Revell kit is its laughable lozenge decals. Who
in heaven thought that you can provide a “paint-by-numbers” white
decal with a delimitation grid in black for the modeler to fill the
polygons with the different colors? It is just me, or this one qualifies
for the silliest decal sheet ever? In any case fortunately I wasn’t
going to use the decals anyway.
Flash,
ejector marks and dubious spots were sanded, scrapped, filed, filled and
otherwise made inconspicuous before construction began. The too prominent
ribs were toned down too. Revell provides one side of the wheel covers as
a separate part. If this was thought to facilitate painting, you still
have to deal with the tire-cover separation line on the other side anyway;
and in any case, the two-part approach could have been tire and
rest-of-the-wheel. The funny thing was that the covers won’t fit, due to
some excess plastic in the recess. I had to use a rotary tool to remove
plastic in order to be able to make room for the cover. Some genius is
loose in the Revell quarters.
A bit of
structural detail was added to the cockpit area and the addition of a
floor, seat, pedals, joystick and instrumental panel made for a suitable
interior. The decals were home made, which took its time. Once the
fuselage halves were closed the area were the guns used to be was filled
and blended and a new windscreen -as seen in photos of the original plane-
made. The lower wing was glued in place –had to sand a tad here and
there- and also blended-in. The other parts were being decaled separately
meanwhile. Since lozenge decals cover large areas, it is not always easy
to position and align a thin decal film. I had to re-do some areas. Once
all decaling was completed and the locating holes or gluing areas of parts
were cleared, the parts were given a coat of varnish in order not to mar
the decals during later manipulation.
Once all
major components were ready, final assembly began. The struts could be
replaced if so wished by more to-scale streamline stock. I only used the
outer wing “N” struts for the sake of alignment. All the other struts
were replaced.
Some details
were added like control horns and control cables, plus rigging.
When I was making
the decals, I spent some time reading discussions on lozenge. Boy, were these
discussions long. What it seemed to be the undeniable truth at some point was
just bogus at some other point. “Proofs” that demonstrated something, only
demonstrated their own relativity time later. What was supported by one
photograph was contradicted by the next. As in many areas of life, although some
general agreement exists, there is not really ultimate word on lozenge. Add to
that the variations of weathering, printing process, monitor screens, chromatic
aberration, ortho and panchro nuances and quirks and you have a carnival.
Where I am going
with all this? Firstly, you don’t have to have the latest thing in town to
make a nice model. Secondly, you can choose an original
livery, not necessarily the everyday “bust them” machine. And thirdly, all
this within reasonable effort and budget.
I am not sure if I
have a civil Fokker or a Mondrian, but I am pleased with it.
Looking forward to
seeing your new choices.
Gabriel Stern
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images below to see larger images
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