Ares Games
  • Building a Reviresco Fokker D.VII – With and Without Lozenge

    Now that the 1st (Day) Bombardment Group squadrons are activated, it’s time for their Adversaries; the dreaded Fokker D.VIIs!

    The four units I’ve chosen are Jasta 15, 18, 19, and 65. Although I’m building four Reviresco Fokker D.VIIs, I’ll only show building one.
    However, I will show the final photos of the other three once complete and any differences in the steps.

    So, for your reading pleasure, my version of the Jasta 18, Ltn. Kandt’s steed…


    1. Before trimming everything, give the parts a good bath to get rid of the mold release agents/oils


    2. Glue fuselage sides together and add the radiator to the front
    a. Putty and sand seams – Ooops missed this until Step 6!


    3. Before gluing bottom wing into the fuselage, drill out hole in bottom of the wing for the peg


    3b. gluing lower wing to fuselage


    3b. Dry fit to make sure aircraft will stay on the peg


    4. Glue tail fins together then


    5. Glue tail fin assembly to the rear of the fuselage. The instructions don’t mention the struts that have to connect the
    underside of the horizontal stabilizers to fuselage. So I added them after I glued the landing gear assemble in Step 11.


    6. Glue the engine and machine guns to the top of fuselage


    7. Glue the interplane struts to the bottom of the upper wing and as well as the rear cabine struts
    to the bottom of the upper wing. I used the aircraft fuselage as a guide to get the angle of the rear cabine struts – save the forward cabine struts to be added after the upper & lower wings are assemble.


    BEWARE – make sure you glue the struts to the rear of the upper wing versus the front – did this by mistake
    and had to pull apart and start over.


    8. Glue the upper wing assembly to the lower wing & fuselage. I had to drill out the holes and make a tad
    bigger to insert the struts.


    another angle showing Step 8


    9. Now glue the forward cabine struts to the upper wing and lower/front fuselage.


    another shot of Step 9


    10. Trim, putty, and sand the top of the upper & lower wing where the struts poked through


    another shot of Step 10


    11. You might need to drill out the holes first in the wheels & axle base. Two methods here:
    a. Assemble the landing gear struts, axle and wheels. Then glue to the bottom wing & fuselage


    11b. Or, as I did glue the wheels to the axle base, glue the struts to the fuselage, and then glue the axle base to the struts.


    12. Glue the short struts to underside of the horizontal stabilizers to fuselage


    13. Painting Prep Work
    a. Take care of any last minute puttying and sanding missed before.
    b. Wash the model to rid any oils & FOD
    c. Prime with white


    14. Painting:
    a. Since I’m going with Jasta 18, the primer served as the white, all I needed to paint was the
    red. One website suggested FS 11140 or as I did and used Vallejo Bermellon 70.947 (Red FS 31350)
    b. Finish out all the other details; i.e. struts, machine guns, radiator, engine, etc.


    15. Decal Prep Work - I used painted Pledge’s Floor Care Tile & Vinyl Floor Finish with ‘Future’ Shine
    where the decals were going and let dry for 48 hours – to allow curing.


    16. Paint the prop then push though the center hole of the radiator & paint


    17. Applying decals
    a. I created the Raven & diagonal strip using my Photoshop CS2 program, scaled them to size.
    b. Then I copied them and pasted them into Microsoft’s PowerPoint program. After making a
    dozen or so, I printed the slide on decal film paper from DecalPaper.com (http://www.decalpaper.com/Default.asp)
    for inkjet printers.
    c. Then used Krlyon’s Crystyl Clear Acrylic Coating #1303 and sprayed three thins coats allowing drying time between each coat

    .
    17 cont. d. After getting the decals wet, I’d add a drop of Micro Set where I wanted the decals. Using the flat edge of
    the X-acto blade slide the whole decal onto it, then slide the decal off onto the model.
    e. Allow the decals to setup/cure for another 24 hours


    17 cont f. Applying the flat finish. I use Testors’ All Purpose Dullcote Flat Clear Lacquer


    18. Trim the excess from the bottom of the pilot, trim pilot to fit into the cockpit and then paint before gluing into the cockpit


    19. Finally, make the card using Photoshop and some of the blanks found in the File Section plus had some help from Max Headroom (Alan);
    Jasta 18 Fokker DVII Ltn Kandt card front



    and the back of his card...

    Hope you enjoyed the read and stay tuned for the other three!

    Cheers,
    Andy

    Decals provided by:
    * WWI German Crosses by * by 1/144 Direct on eBay
    * Unit markings custom made by me…

    As promised here is an update on differences when building a Reviresco Fokker D.VII with either the German 4/5 Color Lozenge Camouflage Scheme...



    After Step 6: is where I deviated from the plan…

    O’ don’t forget to glue the struts that have to connect the underside of the horizontal stabilizers to fuselage.

    Since I was going to add the German 4 Color Lozenge Camouflage Scheme to the Topside & Lower side of each wing…

    This was frustrating part here.

    Which ones do I use? Should I use the standard German 4 color scheme? Or what?

    According to several references & images on the web, Gefreiter Wilhelm Scheutzel’s “Sieben Swabians” (Seven Swabians) didn’t use the standard four colors. After extensive search on the web and using my Photoshop program, I was able to recreate his pattern to include the turquoise blue strips on the ribs.

    The next issue was the artwork on the sides of the Fokker. This is where Zoe Brain came in. Since she had a set of artwork in her bag of tricks, she sent a PDF file with the artwork. However, I needed to tweak them a bit.

    First: due to the color of the fuselage, I needed to delete the background color she selected and make them clear to work on my model.

    Second: again from sources on the web, the shield Scheutzel used either white or gold ‘bones’ over a black shield. However, most of the images on the web, showed white. So again I needed to tweak her decals with white.

    With the decal issues solved…


    Step 7: Painting Prep Work
    a. Take care of any last minute puttying and sanding missed before.
    b. Wash the model to rid any oils & FOD
    c. Prime with white


    Step 8: Decals Part 1
    a. Decal Prep Work - I painted Pledge’s Floor Care Tile & Vinyl Floor Finish with ‘Future’ Shine where the
    decals were going and let dry for 48 hours – to allow curing.
    b. After getting the decals wet, I’d add Micro Set on the wings where I wanted the decals.


    c. Added the Lozenge Camouflage to the undersides of the TOP wing and the topside of the LOWER wing.
    d. Allow the decals to setup/cure for another 24 hours


    Step 9: Painting Part 1
    a. The Fuselage color: two options either Tamiya XF-66 Light Grey or XF-80 Royal Light Gray. I ended up using Tamiya’s XF-80 because it seemed to be a closer match to the references I had on this aircraft
    b. The Nose & Horizontal Stabilizers: I used Tamiya’s XF-9 Hull Red – a perfect match!
    c. The Dark Green & Violet Colors: Polly Scale RLM 71 Dark Green and Americana Acrylic Paint Dioxazine Purple
    d. Painted glossy white underneath those parts of the deals that had white in them due to my printer only printing “clear” for white; i.e. the white rabbit on the left side!
    e. Gunmetal paint used for the machineguns, engine, and grill work on front of radiator


    Step 10: Decals Part 2
    a. Decal Prep Work – again I used Pledge’s Floor Care Tile & Vinyl Floor Finish with ‘Future’ Shine where the decals were going and let dry for 48 hours – to allow curing.
    b. Trimmed the artwork and applied using MicroSet decal solution
    c. Allow the decals to setup/cure for another 24 hours


    Step 11. Glue the interplane struts to the bottom of the upper wing and as well as the rear cabine struts
    to the bottom of the upper wing. I used the aircraft fuselage as a guide to get the angle of the rear cabine struts – save the forward cabine struts to be added after the upper & lower wings are assemble.


    BEWARE #1 – discovered this one while building this Fokker DVII. Watch out gluing those interplane struts! The narrow opening strut goes to the lower wing while the larger opening goes to the upper wing. Very small and hard to notice. Only discovered this while dry fitting parts before gluing them!


    BEWARE #2 – make sure you glue the struts to the rear of the upper wing versus the front – did this by
    mistake when building my first one and had to pull apart and start over.

    Step 12: Painting Part 2 – OPITIONAL (Can wait until fully assembled too!)
    a. Paint the interplane struts & rear cabine struts before assembling upper & lower wings
    b. Easier to paint instead of waiting to be fully assembled


    Step 13: Glue the upper wing assembly to the lower wing & fuselage. I had to drill out the holes and
    make a tad bigger to insert the struts.


    another angle showing Step 13


    Step 14: Now glue the forward cabine struts to the upper wing and lower/front fuselage.

    Step 15: Trim, putty, and sand the top of the upper & lower wing where the struts poked through.
    Then prime the topside of the TOP wing and the underside of the LOWER wing


    Step 16: First, you might need to drill out the holes in the wheels & axle base. Two methods here:
    a. Assemble the landing gear struts, axle and wheels.
    b. Then glue to the bottom wing & fuselage


    Step 17: Or, as I did glue the wheels to the axle base, glue the struts to the fuselage, and then glue the axle base to the struts.


    Step 18: Painting Part 3
    a. Paint the landing gear assemble: the Dark Green & Violet Colors: Polly Scale RLM 71 Dark Green and Americana Acrylic Paint Dioxazine Purple
    b. Touch up any missed interplane struts & cabine struts


    Step 19: The Pilot & Prop
    a. Trim the excess from the bottom of the pilot, trim pilot to fit into the cockpit and then paint before
    gluing into the cockpit
    b. Paint & install the prop


    Step 20: Decals Part 3
    a. Decal Prep Work – once more I used Pledge’s Floor Care Tile & Vinyl Floor Finish with ‘Future’
    Shine where the decals were going and let dry for 48 hours – to allow curing..
    b. After getting the decals wet, I’d added Micro Set where I wanted the decals.
    c. Add the crosses to the rudder.
    d. Added the Lozenge Camouflage to the topside of the TOP wing and the underside of the LOWER wing.
    e. Allow the decals to setup/cure for another 24 hours


    Step 21: Painting Part 4 - The flat finish!
    a. I use Testors’ All Purpose Dullcote Flat Clear Lacquer













    Step 22: Finally, make the card using Photoshop and some of the blanks found in the File Section plus
    had some help from Max Headroom (Alan); Jasta 65; Fokker DVII; Gefreiter (private) Wilhelm Scheutzel

    Hope you enjoyed the read!

    Cheers,
    Andy


    Decals provided by:
    • “Sieben Swabians” by Zoe Brain
    • Balkenkreuz on the rudder by 1/144 Direct on eBay
    • German 4 Color Lozenge Camouflage with/without the Balkenkreuz were custom made by me
    Paints used:
    • The Fuselage color: two options either Tamiya XF-66 Light Grey or XF-80 Royal Light Gray.
    • The Nose & Horizontal Stabilizers: I used Tamiya’s XF-9 Hull Red – a perfect match!
    • The Dark Green & Violet Colors: Polly Scale RLM 71 Dark Green and Americana Acrylic Paint Dioxazine Purple

    Custom built playing cards availiable in the Files Section, WWI, Custom Cards, Custom Planes, Central Power Cards, Various Fokker D.VII cards...

    http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/dow...p?do=cat&id=36
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Building a Reviresco Fokker D.VII – Jasta 18: Leutnant Kandt’s started by freebird-52 View original post
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