You guys make me green with envy with your awesome work - especially the Jasta 18 versions.
These look really lovely, Tim! The red/white combination is so striking. And that's a great tip using the Sachsenberg DVII for these - it's worked out rather nicely
Thanks for the inspiration And the Pfalz DXIIs are stunning, too!
All the best,
Matt
Another great addition to your Jastas Tim.
Thanks Matt. Glad you like them.
And thanks for the REP!
Last edited by Flying Helmut; 07-07-2015 at 16:15.
Thanks Peter!
More to come soon - stay tuned!
awe some looking planes
Yes Per you are quite right.
I also have it in my Jasta Raban.
It was used as the Jasta Hack.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
The DH4 A7703 was an ex-55 Squadron machine, forced down on 30th August 1918 (possibly by August Raben himself).
Taken to the Jasta 18 airfield at Montingen, it was repainted in full "Staffel Raben" colours (but probably DIDN'T carry the black raven - it is absent on all surviving photographs).
New Avatar, Tim?
and a realy nice one too
I did not notice that Tim although I know you mentioned getting Steffi done.
That is a very fine Avatar indeed old chap.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
This stubby plane has been one of my favorites for a long time
Here are three Siemens-Schuckert DIIIs from Jasta 15; von Ziegesar's is the most extensive repaint, but all three have had the black edges of the wings and tails and rudders overpainted, along with redoing the cabane struts and landing gear, as well as the engines and propellers...
As always, thanks for looking!
All the best,
Matt
You've made a grand job of those Matt!
You guys all have it in for me dontcha ?
Excellent work, Matt.
You guys nailed it. Very impressive repaints.
Beautiful repaints Harry. You must be proud to fly them
I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down is the hardest thing
Magnificent!!
They certainly look superb Tim.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Wonderful work here, Tim! Buchner's DVII has long been one of my favorites I love the clouds scudding along below them in a couple of the pictures...
Keep up the inspirational work
All the best,
Matt
Bravo, Tim.
Not only are the models beautiful, the framing of the photos is brilliantly done as well.
Thanks all!
The 'scudding clouds' idea I shamelessly stole from another Forum member (I forget who it was!) - it shows the planes off very well in planform view.
The framing of the photos is just me getting better at using the cropping tool!
That's some blooming nice work. I do worry that this thread's becoming your private fief though - I'll have to get my finger out some time....
Tim, you are putting out planes faster than the Fokker factories could!
I hope his quality control's better on the wings though....
Superb! and where did you get all those Fokkers? and the decals?
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
Thanks!
Most of the Fokkers (all 'Ares' "Stark" minis) were purchased from 'Dom's Decals', quite a few from the Oberst, the rest from 'Stafford Games' (same for all the Jasta 18 Fokkers, which are all 'Ares' "Saschenberg" minis). My future Jasta 40 kites will be based on 'Ares' "Goering" minis.
Decals - quite a mixture (stay with me if you can!)
The upper and lower wing surface lozenge decals are straight out of the 'Valom' 'Fokker DVII' twin kits (one "blue" set found in each box - that's 9 boxes, including my 2 Jasta 10 kites!)
The upper wing and lower wing balkenkreuzen are also 'Valom' decals, with the white ends cut off the arms of the cross before application (my one beef with 'Valom' decals - the white should not extend around the ends of the 'arms'.)
All the planes have had 'Dom's Decals' "Jasta 15" tail crosses applied, except for Niethammer and Michaelis (planes 2 and 3 from the left, below) which retain their 'Ares' crosses - I ran out of Dom's ones!
Now, on to the individual planes...................
From Right to Left:-
Plane #7 (unknown pilot) - the white fuselage sash was just painted on by eye (well, by ME, actually!)
Plane #6 (Wolff) - the white arrow is the 'Valom' decal straight from the sheet (I now have LOTS of spares of this arrow, and will use them as a Schlachta "squadron" marking!)
Plane #5 (Grimm) - the white G is a 1/48 "Panzergruppe Guderian" symbol I found on an old decal sheet; two symbols, two fuselage sides - simples!
Plane #4 (Haussmann) - the red fuselage band, "engrailed" in black, was painted by eye.
Plane #3 (Michaelis) - the trickiest of the lot! Each letter M started life as a 'Dom's Decals' "Jasta 15" Klaudat lance decal; I cut off the lance head, trimmed off the pennon, then cut the remaining pole into 4 equal lengths. The first was placed horizontally just below the fuselage longeron, with the other three placed perpendicular to the first, forming the 3 vertical bars of the letter, leaving an overhang on the top left of the symbol. I then painted a white curve below the right-hand 90 degree top corner, and added serifs to the bottom of the six vertical bars with white paint. I then painted, in the fuselage blue, a matching curve above the white curve, leaving a rounded corner on the top right of each letter M. Final retouching in blue gave the finished symbols.
Plane #2 (Niethammer) - each of the three riveting hammers started life as a 'Dom's Decals' "Jasta 15" Veltjens Staffelfuhrer tail stripe. I tapered each one slightly, using a scalpel, before application. I also cut three equal lengths from a '1/144 Direct' white stripe decal, a stripe a bit wider than the tapered "handle". I placed the 3 "heads" on the mini, then overlaid the "handle" decals perpendicular to the "heads", allowing a slight protrusion of the "handle" beyond the flat top of each "head".Then I retouched blue around the "heads" to make them symmetrical.
Plane #1 (Buchner) - '1/144 Direct' Franz Buchner decals, from Matt Sneddon's "German Aces" decal sheet, bought from his ebay shop.
Job done!
Last edited by Flying Helmut; 08-13-2015 at 15:12.
Now I'm even more in stunned admiration
And have a pressing need for decals!
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
Thanks for the REP Karl!
Jasta 13 decals..................I've heard a rumour.................
Excellent Tim, how easy to attach were the wing decals or do you use insanely small elves to do it for you?
Hi Mike
the 'Valom' wing lozenge decals were very easy to apply - I didn't need to resort to elves! (not this time)
I always go for the most difficult wing surface first, then work through to the easiest. This usually means;
1) underside of top wing
2) upper surface of lower wing
3) underside of lower wing
4) upper surface of top wing.
The Fokker DVII is a single bay biplane, so has just one set of interplane struts, as well as one set of cabane struts, per wing. This translates to 5 decal sections for 1), 4 for 2), and then 2 for 3) and one single piece for 4)
To decal 1), the underside of the top wing, I cut regular paper to the same size as the single large underwing decal, and cut that paper into 5 sections (centre, Left wing main and Left wing tip, right wing main and Right wing tip). This is done by matching the paper to the model, and cutting where the struts subdivide the whole.
The first piece is the centre section, which will cover the underside of the wing above the cockpit. The piece should be as large as possible, allowing it to be slid into position from either the leading edge or the trailing edge, and should include the trailing edge 'cut-out' for upward pilot visibility.
The Left and Right main sections will abut against the centre sections BEHIND the cabane strut assembly where it joins the top wing (on Ares Fokker DVII models, this assembly is a bar of plastic, which is not flush with the top wing) - simply cut a small rectangle out of the Left and Right main sections where the 'footprint' of the bar will prevent decal placement. At the interplane strut end, a simple straight cut as close to the struts as possible will suffice.
The two remaining wingtip sections just need a small square piece cutting out to match the 'footprint' of each strut; this will result in the finished edge resembling castle battlements, with the merlons sitting either side of, and between, the two strut footprints.
Once I am happy with the paper "trial run" pieces, I cut the lozenge decal to match.
I apply it in the same order; centre, then main sections, then tips.
When dry, and varnished in position, it only remains to retouch with paint any gaps between the sections as applied, and to add painted lozenges to the strut "bars" to disguise them.
The upper surface of the lower wings is easier (no centre section),
The underside of the lower wings are even easier (no struts!).
The upper surface of the top wing is a doddle.
The 'Valom' decal material itself is high quality; very thin and flexible (so it bends easily around the leading edge of the wings without cracking), fairly tough (it can be slid around on a gloss-varnished wing surface very easily when lubricated with Microset), and is printed on clear decal paper, so any freshly-cut edges remain invisible instead of showing up as a white strip (which needs to be overpainted!).
I have completed 10 or so DVIIs with 'Valom'-decalled wings, and have not lost/destroyed a single decal section yet!
It's really great to see this laid out like you have it in the pictures, Tim! What a great help for moving ahead with applying lozenge decals.
Thanks for sharing it
All the best,
Matt
No problem!
When all the pre-Doncaster mad scramble for time dies down a bit, I intend to post a full-blown Lozenge Decal How-to, with the remaining pictures included.
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