accommodate the high exhaust.
This combination does not fit; the
filler pipe of the radiator fouls
the front portion of the cowling
and prevents it from seating
properly. Assuming another attack
of “confusion”, I went back over
the instructions, and yes, I had
the correct pieces. The solution I
came up with was to drill a hole
for the filler cap to poke through,
similar to the alternative cowling
panel supplied for Options A, B,
and C. This does seem to match
the photo of the aircraft itself.BEAUTEOUS PERIPHERALS
The undercarriage was next and
I felt it needed strengthening in
some way, given that the beautiful
scale mouldings as supplied are
barely up to the job of supporting
the finished model. I couldn’t
source a metal replacement from
anywhere, so my solution was
to use 0.3mm brass wire for the
rigging. It is slightly overscale
but does add the necessary
rigidity to the final assembly.
Next came the two Spandau
machine guns. These are the usualexquisite WNW examples, and
no one it does better. There is a
solid plastic option if you’re not
confident with rolling photo-
etch (or you could use Masters’
beautiful brass examples. Ed.),
but with the latter they build into
perfect replicas. There is even a
former supplied to roll the cooling
jackets around to get the correct
diameter. Once done and painted,
they are models in themselves.FINAL ASSEMBLY
As with most WNW builds, the
top wing goes on with no drama
at all, not even needing a jig.
With the wing attached, I added
the windscreen, empennage
struts, lifting handles, etc. I
also completed the weathering
using thinned oil paints, Tamiya
pastels, and Humbrol pigments.
One of the attractions of
the Fokker D.VII is that, apart
from the undercarriage, rigging
is confined to control wires
and a couple of bracing wires18 • NOVEMBER 2017 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
FOKKER D.VII (FOK)
014-19-FEAT-FokkerBarcode-1117.indd 18 16/10/2017 15: