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Eduard 1/48th Fokker D.VII OAW
 

Eduard 1/48th Fokker D.VII OAW

By Matt Bittner

Prelude

Since the Fokker D.VII is one of the most known and most famous aircraft of WW1 (the only aircraft named specifically in the Armistice) I will forgo any history. One thing I do want to bring up, though, is the availability of the best series of books on the Fokker D.VII. There are three books released so far in the Albatros Publications Fokker D.VII Anthologies (a fourth is planned) and all three I consider a must for anyone considered a student of this aircraft. You're truly doing yourself a disservice if you're interested in the Fokker D.VII and you haven't picked up these Anthologies.

The Kit

The Eduard Fokker D.VII consists of 86 exquisitely molded parts. I can find no flaw at all with the plastic. There are decals for four separate machines: von Wedel's from Jasta 23s; Büchner's blue-fuselage machine from Jasta 13; Stark's prominently purple bird from Jasta 35b; and a machine of an unknown pilot of Jasta 58. All schemes very colorful and should prove quite popular.

The instructions are first rate and Eduard should be commended by them. Some might call them "overkill", but they leave nothing out. There are not only color drawings of assembly, but aviation artist extrordinare Mark Miller provides artwork on various details of the Fokker D.VII. Since the instructions are complete, a rigging diagram is included.

Not only is there plastic in the kit, but also photoetch. Yes, Eduard does say the photoetch is not needed and "extra", but definitely takes this kit "over the top" and "to the next level", if you don't mind me using some old and tired clichés.

Construction start with assembling the engine. While it's not a 100% complete engine (there is no bottom portion) it's still quite a kit unto itself. Nice. After the engine is assembled and painted then construction moves to the ample cockpit, including photoetch. If I had to complain about anything with this kit it would be the molded-in cockpit detail. Very light and applying a wash followed by a drybrushing is a must to pop out all the detail. This kit is so complete that Eduard also provides interior lozenge.

Now that the cockpit pieces are together and added to the fuselage sides the fuselage halves can be brought together. The lower wing halves are also assembled at this time and then added to the assembled fuselage halves along with the horizontal tail. Another thoughtful addition in the kit is a separate part that resembles the stitching on the underside of the fuselage.

One thing to keep in mind is that all control surfaces are separate so can be added at any time.

Once the last of the main pieces are added then painting and lozenge application can be accomplished. One all that is finished then the rest of the kit can be finished.

Eduard provides some of their "kabuki" masks to help with such things as rudder and horizontal tail edging. Again, very thoughtful.

Conclusion

If 1/48th WW1 kits are what you enjoy building then I'm sure a lot of satisfying model time can be applied building the Eduard Fokker D.VII. The build should go relatively smoothly and it appears there will be no major hurdles to overcome. Definitely recommended.

My thanks to Eduard for the review sample.