and positioned on the blades to
create a laminated efect, the
darker colour in this case being
airbrushed, before the whole
was gloss-coated, wet-sanded
and polished. A metal hub-plate
is provided as an etched part
and this too was ‘aged’ using
a black/brown wash before
being glued to the centre of
the polished propeller. The
inter-plane struts and much
of the internal framework on
the real D.VII was made from
welded steel tubing, and so no
woodgrain efect was required
on these items. Instead, the
delicate plastic parts were
carefully removed from their
runners, cleaned-up and
painted in either Fokker Dark
Green (Colourcoats ACGW13) or
pale grey (RLM02 – ACLW12).
Some sources suggest that
the interplane struts on
Lindenberg’s aircraft were
inished in black and yellow
stripes to match the fuselage,
but the period photographs I
obtained suggested otherwise.
The integrally moulded and
rudimentary framing on the
inside of both fuselage halves
was removed and the internal
surfaces sanded before being
painted pale cream. Utilising
the Eduard decal sheet, sections
of lozenge fabric were cut to
size and applied to the inner
cockpit sides and lightly over-
sprayed in a pale mushroom
colour allowing some of the
lozenge patterning to remain
- the reverse side of printed
fabric being plain in appearance
but slightly translucent.
New internal tubing was
fabricated from stretched
sprue and assembled over the
lozenge decals before being
painted RLM02. The separate
rear cockpit wall-panel was
decorated with a section of
Aviattic lozenge to match that
being used on the mainplanes,
before the panel complete with
the pilots’ seat and support
tubing was inserted. An etched
metal throttle is supplied
which sits on the port tubing
as are colour-etched harness
for the pilots’ seat. With
the loor panel, the control
board and two ammunition
boxes added, the simple but
efective cockpit was fully
furnished. All that remained
was to it the completed
engine and the fuselage
halves were joined together.
PAINTING
There was little evidence
initially of the magniicent
plumage in which this bird was
to be inished, as initially the
fuselage was given brownish-
black basecoat. This, it was
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