I have never been a big fan of the Fokker
D-VII. Its overall look is a little too boxy for my tastes. Then Eduard has to
go and put together an all-Ernst Udet boxing consisting of 3 kits with markings
for, I think, most if not all of the airplanes Udet personalized. (1 for an
Albatros D-Va, 2 for a D-V, 2 for a Fokker Dr.1 triplane and 2 for a Fokker
D-VII). You get decals for all of the options as well as the lozenge fabric
option used on some of the choices. There is a color pe fret for each kit
as well as a mask for the windscreens. A figure of Udet is included along with a
Blue Max replica. The replica I got was a small pin, but apparently later
boxings have a 1:1 replica. Finally, there is a reproduction of a self
portrait done by Udet, an accomplished sketch artist. I admit it, I'm
a sucker for this kind of thing so I bought it.
Ernst Udet was the highest scoring
German ace to survive World War I. He flew with Jasta 4, attached to the Red
Baron's Flying Circus, JG. 1. Probably his most famous airplane during the war
was a black and red Fokker D-VII, manufactured under license from Fokker by OAW.
Jasta 4 used black as an identifying color, applied to the cowling wheels and
interplane struts. This particular D-VII was flown only one time by Udet on June
29, 1918. While attacking a French Bruguet XIV, he was shot down. Udet
managed to jump from the doomed Du Doch Nicht and use his parachute. The Germans
were one of the few to issue pilots a parachute, but only very late in the
war. With some difficulty, Udet bailed out and made it back to German lines.
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
After
staring at the "Du Doch Nicht" option, I decided to build that one
first, due to its striking color scheme and the challenge painted on the
tailplane. Also, it had very little lozenge fabric and lately I've been lozenged-out.
The Windsock Fokker D-VII Anthology, No. 2, has an excellent article by Dave
Roberts on this airplane that includes a discussion on how many stripes are on
the upper wing and what possible colors can be used (red...black...blue?). There
is some question as to whether the white tailplane chevron continues onto the
top of the fuselage, but I decided not to go that route.
Anyway,
the red fuselage body is done with Tamiya X-4, a glossy red. The black is Tamiya
semi-gloss black. The white is Model Master gloss white. I used the kit supplied
lozenge for the lower wing. I opted to go with the red/white stripes on both the
top and bottom of the upper wing. There is only 1 known photo of this plane and
it doesn't show the underneath of the top wing, so either striping continued or
lozenge is defensible. The lower wing shows lozenge fabric with a light color
rib tape. I used the light rib tape decal supplied with the kit. The tailplane
white chevron didn't settle very well, as one of the photos clearly shows. I
think, in hindsight, if I had offset the control surface downward and cut the
decal to fit, it would look a lot better. Lesson learned.
So, how many stripes on the upper
wing? There is some controversy over this that is explained both in the WIndsock
Anthology and the kit's instructions. I went my own way and decided to just use
Tamiya 6mm yellow tape. It looks ok to me, and maybe even fits one of the
arguments in the aforesaid sources. The kit itself builds up easily, with the
only difficult spot being the weak attachment points for the landing gear. I
used some out of scale wire and used ca to attach it to the fuselage and landing
gear. The result is a sturdy base for the model.
I don't speak German. I believe the
phrase "Du doch nicht" strictly translated means "You
however/surely not." Udet adorned this D-VII (along with most of his other
airplanes) with the name of his future wife, Eleanore "Lo" Zink. They
married after the war in 1920 and divorced 3 years later in 1923. Udet went
on a barnstorming career after the war, having survived with 62 victories to his
credit. Eventually he got entangled with Goering and the Nazis. Udet committed
suicide on November 17, 1941.