Eduard 1/48 Fokker D.VII "Sieben Schwaben"
By Dan Hamilton
Background
Die sieben Schwaben ("The Seven Swabians") is a Brothers Grimm story that apparently was the 19th Century equivalent of a "blond joke" -- but aimed at residents of a particular area of Southern Germany who were looked down upon as yokels by northerners. It concerns seven men from
Swabia who seek out adventures sharing a large spear as their only weapon. Their biggest battle, before they mistakenly jump into a deep river and all drown, was with a rabbit that they somehow mistook for a dragon. For some reason, Gefreiter (Corporal) Wilhelm Scheutzel had that "battle" painted on the sides of the Fokker DVII he flew while he served with Jasta 65 from June 13, 1918 until the end of the Great War. Who is Scheutzel? The pilot of the "Sieben Schwaben" Fokker D VII of course! I could find out little about him, other than while with Jasta 65 he shot down an English DH 4 over France in August 1918 and apparently was in the hospital for a week after himself being injured in a dogfight two months later in October 1918. Though undoubtedly a man of courage and
skill, it appears he is remembered by history simply because he was the pilot of the "Sieben Schwaben" Fokker DVII. The other mystery I could not answer is why he chose this colorful, but unflattering and arguably anti-German, vignette from a children's fairy tale to have painted on the most deadly German fighter of the war -- hardly the usual death's head or other symbol of a manly night of the air. Was the art an ironic comment on the folly of war, an insult to the Allies that they would flee like rabbits or perhaps Scheutzel liked the war cry given by the leader of the Seven Schwaben in his attack on the rabbit: "Then let us boldly advance to the fight, and thus we shall show our valor and might."
The Kit
Let’s admit it: our hobby is not for kids anymore -- kits are so expensive that modeling seems mostly for men with disposable income and time on their hands. Not meaning to get all "Norman Rockwell" here, but the kits many of us built as kids -- from Aurora, Airfix, Frog, Revel, Monogram, etc. -- could easily be bought with our weekly allowance or income from a paper route. Not so this $54 "limited edition" beauty from Eduard! On the other hand, the Eduard kit (kit #1139) is light years ahead of those kits of bygone years. This is quickly seen by looking first briefly to the closest modern equivalent to an Aurora kit of old -- the 1/48 Fokker DVII from another Czech Republic model company -- Smer (which modeler chatter on the web indicates actually is from an old Merit mould which is a copy of the mid fifties technology Aurora model). The Smer kit not only is covered with horrible flash around its limited exclusively plastic parts,
includes raised and exaggerated details and is reportedly more 1/40th than 1/48 scale but -- oh the humanity -- retains the old fashioned outline of the insignia molded into the plastic! The Smer kit serves the function of providing a relatively moderately priced entry level model for any kid who might still build them, those grownups who are just returning to the hobby and are in sticker shock and the true modeling masters who seek to relive their childhood, like a challenge and are masochists. These two companies from this former communist country have learned well the capitalist's credo -- you do often get what you pay for.
So what do you get in the reliably heavy cardboard Eduard box that is different from that provided by Smer? Most obvious are the four sprues of flash free and beautifully detailed injection molded plastic parts which number over ninety. Because Scheutzel's plane was built by the Ostdeutsche Albatros Werke ("O.A.W."), two extra fuselage halves with the appropriate half moon louvers have been added to the Eduard kit. Next is a fret of photo etched parts, some of which are pre-colored. Also included are masks for the wheels. Finally, the real reason for this particular iteration of the DVII -- four sheets of decals: one for insignia and the art work, one for the blue rib tape, and two for the differing lozenge patterns that were on the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. These camouflage decals are apparently a correction of their earlier offering in their other DVII kits and reportedly contain 10 separate colors. Each sheet is separated by tissue paper and protected in resealable bags -- they knew modelers would want to look at them as soon as the kit got home yet still want to preserve them for later use.
The usual well illustrated seven page Eduard instruction pamphlet includes an additional four page color insert of profiles for painting and decal placement. Construction begins with the engine, but the building of that stage consumes only the top of the first page while construction of the cockpit takes over a page and a half of detail! The instructions make clear that there will placement of a lot of fiddly PE parts – the smallest for the control surfaces -- and therefore the modeler will need fine motor skills and be less ham fingered than I almost always am.
Accuracy
The only criticism I've picked up from internet discussion as to any issue of accuracy is that, though the lozenge decals are in the proper colors, the arrangement of the individual lozenges are incorrect. If true, it would not be the first time that great effort has gone into decal research only to be undermined by an easily avoided mistake. I hate it when that happens!
Conclusion
This is not the kit of our childhood but of our maturity – in both finances and skill. If only I had the eyes of my youth with which to build it! Highly recommended.
Thanks to Eduard for the review kit.
References
https://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/people/389-gefreiter-wilhelm-scheutzel.html
Peter L. Gray, Aircraft in Profile No. 25: Fokker D.VII (1965)
Rand McNally, World Aircraft: Origins-1918, pp. 286-87 (1975)