Fokker D. VII by popeye the sailor - Aurora - 1/48 - PLASTIC - lozenge pattern camo

[popeye the sailor]

hi all........it's been a while since I last contributed anything.  the apartment is still in disarray since we got flooded in December.  for those just tuning in, we had a huge rainstorm in December........the roof peeled in the wind and sent water into all three floors of the apartment house.  we are on the first floor, so we suffered a lot less than the other floors.  so at this time,  wall are torn open.......the hobby room is empty.  I even had to put away the table in the computer room.

   leading up to this,  I was slowly working on another ship.........of course it got put on hold,  but I hope to start posting on that one soon {quite a journey to go on it}.  my desk seems to be the only surface I have to work with..........nothing new about that  

 

I got a few models this past Christmas.........a Japanese war ship,  couple of cars.....another B 25 {monogram}........and this little ditty,  an old Aurora kit {my love for these old German birds proceeds me}.

 

the kit was produced back in 1976.  it depicts Rudolph Berthold's plane, likely when he was in Jasta 18.  he and a comrade named Hans Muller came from Jasta 15 - 1917.........Berthold was promoted to commander.  by 1918, he transferred and August Raben took over.  interesting turn of events over there........I would need to find the rest of my notes.  both of these commanders adopted the raven as their insignia.  anyway........the subject here is the lozenge camo that these planes wore when they rolled off the assembly line.  when they got to the field,  they were painted in the squadron colors.  Berthold's Boys {what they called their squadron} was painted in blue and red.  Rabin's Ravens, as August called his squad,  was done in red and white.  also, each pilot could add a bit of artwork to designate their identity.  what didn't get decorated or painted over, usually remained in the lozenge camo.  the kit is molded in blue plastic.......likely a move by the manufacturer to aide the modeler along with the painting.  nice, but I would have been happier if the model was molded in white.........gonna be tough to cover over this blue......let alone the shade of blue     

the decals.....

I have a photo from Pheon decals covering both squadrons.

 

the crust of the biscuit lies here.......the diagram for the lozenge camo pattern.........

the sheet is about ten inches long.......the wing span of the model is 7 1/2 inches.  I found it interesting that older kits, this level of detail was explored.  I will get into the directions a bit later........fot the moment,  gotta go 

 

 

[Egilman]

58 minutes ago, popeye the sailor said:

the diagram for the lozenge camo pattern.........

You can get waterslide decals for this pattern brother... (and several other patterns, 3 color, 4 color and 5 colors, light and dark, upper wing, lower wing etc. etc. come to mind) in 1/48th scale....

 

Sprue Brothers...

 

Aeromaster, Print Scale & Superscale, all the major decal manufacturers do them in 1/48.... You would need a good thin white primer coat to go under them.....

Edited February 22 by Egilman

[Old Collingwood]

Good to see   you back Denis,   sorry to hear  about  your   situation  -  hope  you  get that  roof  sorted soon.

 

OC.

[Landlubber Mike]

Cool subject Denis, I'm in.  Hope your home situation is resolving itself.  Sounds like a real mess.

[Canute]

Glad to see you back, Denis. Events like that can be life altering.

 

Interesting subject. Like EG says, a good white primer, like Tamiya spray cans, should work well. And pursue the decals. Painting them on is way above and beyond.

[popeye the sailor]

hi all.........thank you for the interest    I also want to thank whoever changed the title, but I have to get a few things for it before I start.  I thought this to be a method too juicy to ignore.  this scheme has been done before.......I'm not uncovering something new.  I want to go over the directions.......answering your comments as I go.  for starters Egilman......correct sir, there are multiple camo patterns used.  there are kits out there that even supply the covering {not sure what they are made of} to add the authenticity to the model.  decals can be purchased and companies like Eduards, Roden and Wingnut, even include them in their kits.  I've seen some of these kits.........a bit expensive for my taste  {but the subjects are beautiful}.  as is mentioned in the Aurora directions, the upper surfaces and the lower surfaces are two different planes.  the upper plane is the darker surface.  in a four-color camo scheme, the base color is medium tan, with the following colors greenish orchid, light olive, and dark blue/gray.  for the lower plane, which is done in lighter colors, the base color is light mustard, followed by forest green, pale green/pink, and dark green/purple.  keen to note is that there was no rhyme or reason........if they ran out of a roll, another roll was used, they didn't bother to match up the colors, creating a visible seam.

   adding a primer color under decals sounds like a very good idea.  I'm not sure how I'm going to do this.  thanks for the head's up  

 

believe it or not Ken........that is the method Aurora directs the modeler to use.  only the lower plane needs to be done for this model.  so, this will be the underwings, the underside of the stabilizer, and the underside of the fuselage.  trapping carbon paper between the model parts and the template, the designs are traced onto the parts and painted by hand afterwards.  one would need a fine point for the tracing........would transfer the lines to the parts, but not damage the template.  for an added bit of detail, the directions mention that the wing and stabilizer ailerons would be installed after the wings were built, so alteration of the pattern position should be considered.  

 

I might try and import the template into the decal maker I have.  I can also try photo shop.  one hurdle I see would be the color spectrum that each one of these programs use.  the colors might not be exactly what the directions specified.  an alter though I have, is that the dark blue/gray, pale green/pink, and dark green/purple are either/or colors....could be one or the other.  this definitely would open the door to a camo scheme consisting of several colors..........but I'm not a color counter, and to say that I've seen it, I cannot say.  for those who have done this, my hat's off to you.........I have been wanting to try this, seeing that this camo is quite prominent in all the pictures I've seen.  one does not need to be a Picaso, the directions state.  the overall look of the camo will hide small goofs  

 

thank you, folks, for your well wishes and concerns over our recent setback here at the homestead.  out of eight rooms {including the bathroom}, six of them have been affected in one way or another.  I haven't seen it, but I hear that the third floor is in pretty tough shape!  I gave the gent on second floor credit for lessening the damage to our apartment...........that guy {even though he is an avid pot smoker}, was like a one-armed paper hanger in his efforts to catch the water onslaught with buckets and whatever would hold water.  third floor did absolutely nothing....they just sat back and watched!  they were moving anyway, and they did so the day the demo work began in their apartment.  second floor have no recourse, being section eight.........their rent is shared by the state, and they have no renter's insurance.  we on the other hands are limited as well.  even though we have renter's insurance, we would end up paying out more to relocate, and to remain here, we would have to pay the rent here to keep it.  then I heard that he told his insurance company about the vacancy on third floor, and they are going to pay him two months' rent for 'loss of use'.  he has been urging us to relocate, and this makes me suspicious that he would try and do the same to us.  we are not going to pay one dollar more on something that we did not cause, nor will we sit back and watch him make money over it either.  while he states that it's not his fault either, he is the landlord and should have control on the Maintenace of his property.  preventative maintenance is important too!  there is so much I can go into, but I don't want to cause retaliation at this point, so we will stay for the time being and see what happens.  I fondly refer to the place as Kruger's funhouse  

[Danstream]

Hi Denis, sorry to hear about what happened to your house. I hope you will manage to repair it and go back to normality in short time. Good luck with your Fokker, 

Dan