I’ve decided to build these two side by side and finally use the Aviattic lozenge that I acquired a few years ago. The SSW is one of my favorite planes and I haven’t built a SSW or Fokker D.VII in 30 years. They’re both quality kits and aren’t complicated. This should be fun!

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John Healy (@j-healy)
Hello John ! This is going to be fantastic. It looks as if we have similar tastes in aircraft as well. The Fokker D-VII is my all time favorite from the War, with the Dr-1 Triplane, Albatros and Pfalz single engine fighters being close behind these.

I no longer build biplanes in 1/48... but I have similar plans to build the "Seven Swabians" using a WNW D-VII and some Aviatik upgrades. Please let us know your thoughts on the lozenge decals. I have several of them in 1/32 scale with the 5 and 4 color upper / lower schemes. I'm very curious to see how they work.

They even have the fabric look to them when studied up close and appear to be a very nice addition.

Keep it going my friend !

John Healy (@j-healy)
Thanks ! The Pfalz is a BEAUTIFUL plane. I recently watched a video of a 1/2 scale RC flying model of one... It was almost big enough to get into and take it for a spin. Had a 15 feet wingspan on it...

I have plans to build a WNW Pfalz D-III with white and yellow markings of Werner Voss. I also want to build up his Albatros D-III using a 1/32 scale kit, but this one will be a Roden kit. Then I will have three of his most iconic planes built and on display in the display case. Thinking about building a 1/32 Rhys-Davis SE-5 as well...

It would look great parked next to this 1/28 scale Revell kit I made a few years ago.

I started some preliminary work on both kits today. Wing assembly and decal work/painting in the Fokker interior, and sanding down the stitching on the SSW’s wings and control surfaces. The stitching is really exaggerated and needs to go. I also realized my oil paints are dried out and I need to buy some for the interior woodwork on both planes.

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That's a great start already, John @j-healy

@j-healy Off to a flying start on a couple of fantastic aircraft! Love the SSW especially - great addition.

I managed some quality time with my airbrush today. I pre-painted almost all of the small internal parts on both planes. I also assembled some of the interior parts including the Fokker’s engine mount and SSW’s major wood toned cockpit parts. I sprayed the SSW’s cockpit area with Tamiya acrylic Desert Sand. The Fokker’s floor board and instrument panel got the same treatment. All of these parts will be wood grained with oil paint. I was able to get the oils on the Fokker parts before calling it a day. All of the surfaces that will receive Aviattic lozenge were sprayed gloss white with Tamiya lacquer after a spray can coat of Tamiya white primer. The plan is to get the lozenge done while the oil paints dry. This can take several days in my experience.

12 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Excellent progress, fantastic prepainting, my friend @j-healy!