1/72 O.A.W.-built Fokker D.7 nr.01954

[Frank3k]

I really liked apophenia's artwork of a South African Fokker DVII. I didn't have a kit with the wire wheels, so I went with the gray Fokker D.7 nr.01954.

The white decals were pretty easy - the data block is actually a link to apophenia's post, and the date I created the decals - you can't really read the text at approx. 3pt, though.

The kit is the Revell 1/72 Fokker D VII. That little Fokker originally dates from 1963, only 45 years after WWI.

For the lozenge decals, I scanned in and resized a Fokker D VII decal that I have, then printed on decal paper. I applied the decals to the bare white plastic, which toned down the lozenge colors and makes them seem faded. Of course, the toner on the decals cracked, so in some places I applied a second layer of decal, which darkened the lozenges. Since these planes were flying 3+ years after WWI, any repairs top the fabric would make them look darker (my theory and I'm sticking to it).

So far, the orange has been tough, mainly because I ran out of paint - so the model is missing the crosses. The "orange" on the side has a darker edge because the decal is larger than the white area underneath.
This is my progress so far - there's a gloss coat to protect the decals and I'm slowly finishing the build, waiting for the paint to show up. I printed some crosses in white, and I'll just spray them with orange.



The decals look pretty bad from this angle, but it's mostly due to the harsh light. I added a seat, control stick, instrument panel and rudder pedals:



Thanks for looking, and thanks to Stephen for coming up with some great artwork!

[Old Wombat]

Lookin' good, Frank!

[Brian da Basher]

That's some magnificent work on what, by today's standards, could be considered a pretty rough kit.

The decals look great Frank and perhaps it's due to Anthony's Dutch heritage, but orange always looks good on a Fokker to me.

This is shaping up to be a real stunner!

Brian da Basher

[Frank3k]

I finished this a couple of weeks ago. The flat clear seemed to react with the gloss clear below it, and it shows in some of the pictures (but is barely visible to the eye):

Compared to apophenia's side view:


This side came out OK:




The orange crosses are the kit's crosses applied to a piece of plastic, painted orange, then transferred to the kit. The laser printer lozenges didn't fare well to being manhandled and they faded and cracked in spots:


Overall, it was an interesting project - the kit wasn't the greatest and my decals sucked, but apophenia's artwork is top notch - many thanks to Stephen for his great artwork!

[kitnut617]

Excellent work   

[Brian da Basher]

I'd have never been aware of the challenges you faced on this Fokker if you hadn't mentioned it, Frank.

Your luck with lozenge is much better than mine. I figured I just got a bad batch. Never a good thing when painting it seems easier.

Talk about a looker! This one certainly gets my attention!

Brian da Basher

[Old Wombat]

Agree with BdB, she's a stunner!

[Frank3k]

Thanks guys - the main failings were a less than stellar old kit, printing the lozenge decals and not sealing them right away, flat coat screwing up (my fault), orange markings were hard to color match. This would probably look stunning with either a better kit in this scale (the 1/72 Eduard) or a 1/48 or even 1/32 kit.