Roden 1/32 Fokker Dr.I – Manfred von Richtofen
Probably one of the most recognizeable airplanes in history. Done back in 2004 when the kit first came out, using the Cutting Edge decal sheet. Lots of good history in the sheet, I think this is from the research the most accurate look to MvR's triplane he was shot down in (by the Australian gunners, not by Roy Brown who never claimed to have done so).
The model was first painted like the factory airplane, with the "bandages" for the national insignia, and the streaky camouflage, then painted with a 50-50 thinned coat of Xtracrylix "Red 23". In person, you can see "shadows" of the underlying camouflage through the paint, as well as the overpainted "bandages. This gives it the "blood red" color described by witnesses.
This Dr.I is probably Roden's best WW1 kit, and is so good that WNW announced at the outset of their release program that they would not be doing a Dr.I since anything they did would not be a sufficient improvement on this kit. The CE decals are now collector's items on eBay, but if you can find them at a price that doesn't kill you and you have the kit, you can do any of the triplanes flown by Richtofen, not all of which were all red.
awesome! Been playing with the idea of getting a 1/32 Dr 1 and a 1/32 Camel. I like how you described the painting process you took- very sensitive to the details of how the real thing got painted- thanks for sharing your kit.
Thanks for the reminder, Tom! Great looking triplane, I remember this one and enjoyed your article over at MM. I have the CE sheet, but I was a bit disappointed to find that the instructions call for some of the Roden decals for certain options. No disrespect to DK, but I expected to completely replace the kit decals given the considerable sticker price.