fuselage. The technique used
was to blend the brown enamel
into the paintwork using a soft
paint brush dampened with
white spirit to give it a natural
look and suggest exhaust and
dirt staining. The only other
areas so emphasised were the
wing and tail plane control
surfaces and the rudder.
Several coats of gloss enamel
varnish were applied to seal and
protect the paintwork before
the fuselage was wet-sanded
over-all with 3,200 grit sanding
cloths until all the paint ridges
had been lattened. Extreme
care is obviously required
during this process to prevent
rub-troughs and it is therefore
essential that enough varnish
has been applied. Those areas
to receive decals were further
polished with 12,000 grit
cloths to achieve a faultless,
shiny surface. The minimal
marking used came from the
kit decal sheet and once they
had settled, the varnish and
sanding process was repeated
to remove the ridges caused by
the carrier ilm and so make the
decals appear painted-on. With
the wet-sanding accomplished,
the lower plane was itted.
GUNSThe styrene machine guns
supplied in the kit are
rudimentary and somewhat
stunted, so replacements were
sought from amongst the
excellent GasPatch Models
range of accessories. There are
several 48th scale, Spandau
08/15 sets available, each
containing a pair of guns.
Those used here were described
simply as: Fokker Type with
Extended Loading Handles.
The detail that the guys at
GasPatch have been able to
achieve on these small items is
simply stunning, and with no
moulding-blocks to remove and
being cast with single-piece
bodies featuring hollowed-out
jackets with only a resin barrel
to slide into place, they are far
more user-friendly than the
Eduard etched alternatives
optioned in the kit. There is
usually a certain amount of
prevarication required before
mounting a mainplane while
an assembly plan is formulated.
But with very few struts and
no rigging to worry about, the
order of assembly was pretty
straight forward in this case.
Initially, the two-part forward
inner struts were attached
to the fuselage and their
vertical-spacing measured
using a Vernier calliper. The
two outer struts were then
added to the lower wings and
the whole assembly left to
harden. Placing the mainplane
upside down on the work
bench it was then a simple
matter of ofering the inverted
airframe to the underside of
the mainplane and aligningthe mounting plates with the
strut-tops. Cyanoacrylate was
then run into the joints and the
fuselage held in place for the
few seconds it took the glue
to bond. It was then a simple
matter of easing the remaining
pair of inner struts into place
and the job was complete. As
already mentioned, rigging
a Fokker D.VII is not a taxing
job, though there is a single
control cable running from the
fuselage to the underside of
the upper plane which is more
easily attached before the wing
is in place, as are the short
control cables running from the
underside of the upper-plane
to the ailerons. The remaining
control wires can be added after
wing assembly. The spindly
landing gear was added next
and lastly the thinly-moulded
and extremely delicate tail and
rudder sub-assembly. Albion
Alloys metal rod was used in
place of the thin tail-struts.CONCLUSION
Eduard’s Fokker D.VII is easy
to assemble and features
ample detail. I consider that
spending that little bit extra
on a ProiPACK version of the
kit as opposed to buying one of
their basic weekend oferings
is well worth the money, as the
etch frets ofer some useful
additions and the multi-
scheme decal sheets give plenty
of colourful aircraft choices.
My sincere thanks go to
Costas of GasPatch Models for
supplying the machine guns,
and to Richard of Aviattic for
the wonderful lozenge decals.SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL • MARCH 20191/48
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