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Tom Cleaver
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Eduard and Roden 1/48 Fokker D.VII

May 27, 2013 · in Aviation · · 4 · 3.5K

Both done about 7-8 years ago when the kits first came out.

The kit is an OAW-built in the famous markings of an otherwise-unknown airplane, with the markings of The Seven Swabians, an ancient German folk tale about a bunch of drunken bozos who go off into the forest to chase a giant rabbit. The left side shows them confronting the monster, the right side shows what he did to them. Essentially nothing is known about this airplane other than the fuselage markings - no pilot's name, the unit colors are conjectural. Done with good decals from Aeromaster. The Eduard lozenge has perhaps the most truly craptacular upper colors imaginable. The only decal maker who ever got lozenge right was Blue Max, and those sheets are longlonglong gone.

The kit is a Fokker-built D.VIIf flown by Leutnant zur See Gotthard Sachsenberg, commander of Marine Jagdgruppe Flandern, composed of Marine Field Jastas I and II in fall 1918. Sachsenberg scored 31 victories and was considered "The Navy's Richtofen." In 1919, in company with Theo Osterkamp, Sachsenberg founded the Freikorps Sachsenberg, composed of former Marine Field Jasta pilots, to fight in the Baltic Republics' wars of independence from the Bolsheviks. Decals are from an Aeromaster sheet, as are the lozenge; while not exactly right, the Aeromaster lozenge is day-for-night better than Eduard's and to my mind #2 behind Blue Max in 1/48.

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17 additional images. Click to enlarge.


4 responses

  1. Tom, Great looking models-really like the yellow AC. The DVII was the P-51 of its time; powerful, maneuverable, sturdy and a great gun platform.

  2. When I saw (...and had never seen, not being an afficianado of WWI..) that decal of the guys and the rabbit, the first thing that entered my mind was Monty Python's "Search for the Holy Grail".
    And speaking of decals, as much as I like to decal (yes...that's right - I actually LIKE to apply decals), those examples posted look like it would be the proverbial nightmare. Nice pics.

  3. gar·ish/ˈgɛərɪʃ, ˈgær-/ Show Spelled [gair-ish, gar-] Show IPA
    adjective

    1. crudely or tastelessly colorful, showy, or elaborate, as clothes or decoration.
    2. excessively ornate or elaborate, as buildings or writings.
    3. dressed in or ornamented with bright colors.
    4. excessively bright; glaring.

    Sorry, they are nicely built models but my eyes hurt...

  4. that's a sweet pair

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