August 2024
Fokker D.VII
Albatross D.V
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Fokker D.VII
JaSta 15 / JG II, Imperial German Air Service (Luftstreitkrafte)
Western Front, Belgium / Germany, November 1918
Revell 1/72
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The Fokker D.VII, designed by Reinhold Platz, was one of the finest German aircraft of World War 1, with over 3,300 produced in the 2nd half of 1918 alone. It restored much of the technical superiority that Germany aircraft had lost to the Allies in late 1917, but came too late to regain the strategic advantage in the air. The aircraft was regarded so highly by the Allies that it gained specific mention in the Armistice treaty, with Germany required to hand over all aircraft (as well as being banned from building any more).
With its thick section high-
Building the Revell Fokker D.VII Kit:
My second build of the month is very different from the Eduard Albatross, both in
the design of the real aircraft and the standard of kit. Revell first issued this
kit way back in 1963 (in fact it was the old Revell GB subsidiary) and it has seen
regular re-
I bought this one in 2021 for the grand total of £3.99 from TK Maxx. My expectations weren't that high, but these older Revell biplanes/Triplanes can still be satisfying builds. It also has some modern Revell decals, which are usually well up to scratch and cover a typically bright and colourful late German war machine.
Moulded in a very stark white plastic, first impressions were a little underwhelming, mainly because of the obvious ejector pins, but once I started the kit it was clear that it is not that bad a mould, with adequate surface detail, including a subtle canvas effect on the fuselage. Its cockpit is completely bare, but there is a pilot figure (who may be suitable for a clean up) to fill it and hide the emptiness. Since one of the reasons for the Fokker D.VII's excellent performance was its clean wings with no real rigging to speak of, this is also one of the easier small biplane kits to build. The aircraft in the RAF Museum in Hendon is in a striking lozenge scheme, but after the trials of the Albatross' decals, I am quite relieved to see a less stressful pattern on this!
Below: IWM Q 66832 -
Below: The RAF Museum at Hendon has a genuine Fokker D.VII hanging from the roof of its WW1 Hall.
This aircraft was built in 1918 by the Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke Gmbh (OAW) factory at Schneidemuhl, Pomerania (now Pia in Poland). It was never issued to any unit and was abandoned in Ostende, Belgium by retreating German forces It may then have served with the Belgian Air Force until 1928.
Or so I thought……..
Although Revell provide some simple decals to use, once you read the instructions
it becomes clear that the white and black pattern on the undersurfaces is, in fact,
a template for you to hand-
A quick search on the internet discovered some different interpretations of the colours and markings, specifically some with the original German Balkenkreuz markings on the fuselage still visible (although painted over) and some with a gold/khaki/striped green section in front of the fuselage. Whether Revell have chosen to ignore this in order to simplify the kit, I cannot say, except that Berthold did crash several times, so presumably had several aircraft!
What I do know is that the blue fuselage is that adopted by Jagdgeschwader II and the red nose is Jagdstaffel 15. The white symbol is Bethold's personal "rune", and is derived from the symbol of his previous infantry regiment.
The CMR decals proved not to be the easiest solution as they were quite brittle and
wouldn’t fold around the wing leading edges, even with copious amounts of decal softener.
Then, when I tried to pierce holes to attach the wing struts to the upper wing,
they cracked and splintered -
This is a rather crude kit that is past its best, and if you really want a good D.VII in 1/72 scale, I strongly suggest that you go for the Eduard or Roden kits instead, not least because they will come with feasible decal schemes included in the price!
Link to more German WW1 Aircraft on my “Other Side” pages
The aircraft depicted is that of Oberleutnant Oskar Gustave Rudolph Berthold, a Bavarian infantryman who progressed to become an officer, then joined the newly formed Imperial German Fliegertruppe in 1913 after learning to fly at his own expense. He started WW1 flying small bombers, but was quickly put in charge of one of the first fighter units, Kampfseinsitzer Kommando Vaux in January 1916.
Badly wounded on several occasions, he sustained a serious injury to his right arm that did not heal and limited his flying abilities. Nevertheless, he ended WW1 in command of JGII and JaSta 15 with over 40 victories to his name, but no longer able to fly due to his paralysed right arm.
Post WW1, Berthold formed an armed right wing racist Friekorps militia to fight against communist and socialists in Germany and Latvia. He would not recognise the terms of the Versailles Treaty and was closely involved in armed rebellions trying to overthrow the German Weimar government. He was killed in March 1920 by an outraged crowd of citizens near Hamburg, where his Freikorps were attempting to take control and had shot indiscriminately into crowds.
In short, Berthold was one of WW1 Germany's highest scoring pilots, but was an unpleasant and vicious man who came, ultimately, to a predictably bad ending.
Above: The Fokker D.VII with my Albatross D.V and Roland C.11