+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Late in 1917, Fokker built the experimental V 11 biplane, fitted with the standard Mercedes D.IIIa engine. In January 1918, IdFlieg held a fighter competition at Adlershof, and for the first time, front line pilots participated in the evaluation and selection of new fighters. Fokker submitted the V 11 along with several other prototypes. Manfred von Richthofen flew the V 11 and found it tricky, unpleasant and directionally unstable in a dive. On short notice, Platz reacted and lengthened the rear fuselage by one structural bay and added a triangular fin in front of the rudder. Richthofen tested the modified V 11 and praised it as the best aircraft of the competition. It offered excellent performance from the outdated Mercedes engine, yet was safe and easy to fly. Richthofen's recommendation virtually decided the competition but he was not alone in recommending it. Fokker immediately received a provisional order for 400 production aircraft, which were named D.VII by IdFlieg.

After the war, the Allies confiscated large numbers of D.VII aircraft after the Armistice. The United States Army and Navy evaluated no less than 142 captured examples and used them in what would today be called “aggressor” units for dissimilar air combat in training and for the development of indigenous military aircraft. Several of these aircraft were re-engined with American-built Liberty L-6 motors, which were very similar in appearance to the D.VII's original German power plants and hard to tell apart. France, Great Britain and Canada also received numbers of war prizes, but these aircraft did not enter active service. Other countries used the D.VII operationally, though: the Polish deployed approximately 50 aircraft during the Polish-Soviet War, using them mainly for ground attack missions; the Hungarian Soviet Republic used a number of D.VIIs, both built by MAG and ex-German aircraft in the Hungarian-Romanian War of 1919; the Dutch, Swiss, and Belgian air forces also operated the D.VII. The aircraft proved still so popular that Fokker completed and sold a large number of D.VII airframes that he had smuggled into the Netherlands after the Armistice. As late as 1929, the Alfred Comte company manufactured eight new D.VII airframes under license for the Swiss Fliegertruppe.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 6.95 m (22 ft 10 in)

Wingspan: 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in)

Height: 2.75 m (9 ft 0 in)

Wing area: 20.5 m² (221 sq ft)

Empty weight: 670 kg (1,477 lb)

Gross weight: 906 kg (1,997 lb)

Powerplant:

1 × 137.95 kW (185 hp) BMW IIIa 6-cyl. water-cooled in-line piston engine with a 180 kW (240 hp)

emergency only rating at low level, driving a wooden 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 189 km/h (117 mph, 102 kn) at normal power

200 km/h (124 mph; 108 kn) at emergency power

Range: 266 km (165 mi, 144 nmi)

Service ceiling: 6,000 m (20,000 ft)

Rate of climb: up to 9.52 metres per second (1,874 ft/min) at emergency rating

Time to altitude:

1,000 m (3,281 ft) in 1 minutes 40 seconds

2,000 m (6,562 ft) in 4 minutes 5 seconds

3,000 m (9,843 ft) in 13 minutes 49 seconds

4,000 m (13,123 ft) in 10 minutes 15 seconds

5,000 m (16,404 ft) 14 minutes 0 seconds

6,000 m (19,685 ft) 18 minutes 45 seconds

Armament:

2× synchronized 7.92 mm (0.312 in) LMG 08/15 "Spandau" machine guns,

firing through the propeller disc

The kit and its assembly:

My fifth submission for the “Captured” group build at whatifmodellers.com, and a very simple one, since the kit was built OOB. Inspiration came from a profile of a captured Albatros D.III in USAAC markings, unfortunately without further explanation. However, the aircraft sported a garish paint scheme, including bright green and even pink, so that I assumed that it would be not only WWI booty, but also in some operational use, since the paint scheme/camouflage did not look like a German pattern, but rather like an American design, similar to the aircraft operated by the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in continental Europe, just with bright colors.

When I checked options for a different aircraft to apply this idea to, I came across the common Fokker D.VII and the fact that a lot of these aircraft had been captured and tested/flown by the USAAC – and then the weird scheme started to make sense, and this what-if model was born.

The D.VII kit is the ESCI offering, which was released in 1983 but is actually a mold from 1968. I thought I gave it a chance, instead of the Revell kit, which dates back to 1963 and is rumored to be not a pleasant build. The bet and newest one in 1:72 is probably the Eduard kit, which also has the benefit of offering optional parts for various production versions.

As a small biplane model, the ESCI kit is a simple, straightforward affair, and no major conversions were made, I just added a pilot figure, because the ESCI kit lacks one as well as any interior detail except for a kind of tub that it molded into the fuselage halves. IIRC, the figure I used comes from a Revell biplane, and I had to chop the legs off to make it fit into the D.VII’s tight cockpit. However, this solution had the benefit that I did not have to worry about any interior details.

Another weak point of the ESCI kit is that it lacks some finer details like the boarding ladder or handles at the tail. These were scratched with thin wire. Overall fit is also not the best – PSR on the fuselage halves, and on some visible ejection markers (e.g. under the single-part wings) and sinkholes. Esp. the integral cockpit tub with its rather massive walls left visible dents in the flanks that had to be filled! On the other side, the fabric structure on the wings and the fuselage is nicely reproduced, and the cowling is apparently from a late production D.VII with additional/bigger air scoops, so I decided that my model would also be one of the final machines with the uprated BMW engine.

A problem that cannot be blamed on the mold but rather the specific 2nd hand kit I bought is that the stabilizer was missing – it had probably detached from the sprue long ago, and slipped through the box lid, gone and eaten by some carpet monster… ☹ I had to improvise and decided to cut a replacement stabilizer from 1mm styrene sheet. I used the painting instructions (which are almost 1:72 scale) as benchmark and tailored a piece of sheet into shape, sanding away the edges for some light curvature and also added some shallow grooves to mimic the rib structure. Not perfect, but I also did not want to spend too much time on this. As a bonus, though, I added the (tiny) rudder levers of the tail surfaces and the ailerons, which originally are also not part of the ESCI mold. These were later, after painting, outfitted with wires during the final rigging process with heated sprue material – thankfully the D.VII does not require too many strings, just some wires between the landing gear struts and on the tail.

Painting and markings:

The funnier part, with many, really bright colors united in a tiny space – almost like an anime movie prop! I stuck to the original Albatros benchmark and applied scheme, colors and markings truthfully to the D.VII. Paints/tones became, as a guesstimate, Humbrol 155 (Olive Drab), 7 (Light Buff), 47 (Sea Blue) and a mix of 200 (Pink) with a little 68 (Purple), maybe at a 5:1 ratio, for a deeper tone. The contrast between the colors is pretty strong and aircraft looks very individual!

The wing struts were painted in black, the interior in a light olive drab tone. The engine was painted with Revell 99 (Aluminum) and treated with grinded graphite for a more metallic look, and the propeller was painted with a streaky wet-in-wet mix of Humbrol 71 and 113.

The roundels come from a Hobby Boss F4F, and since they have a rather odd style with a kind of dark blue border, they suit the model pretty well, because these roundels were introduced around 1920, so that deviations from the later, “classic” look appear plausible. The tactical code comes from an RAF Gloster Gladiator and the BuNo on the fin were created from a post-war Spitfire code.

A light black ink washing was applied, and some light post-shading was done, in order to emphasize edges and the boxy form of the aircraft with its fabric-covered surfaces. After the decals had been applied, I also added an overall light dry-brushing with khaki drill (Humbrol 72) and light grey (Revell 75). Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri), final bits were assembled and the rigging was added.

A simple build, but a very colorful one – hard to believe that there were aircraft in real life that actually looked this way! But the small D.VII now really stands out among “seriously” camouflaged biplanes in my collection, a very picturesque model. BTW, I am also surprised how effective the camouflage is, at least in the air - despite the garish colors!

Day 31 of the project finally I'm outside of the house but still around the neighborhood took this long exposure @ 11mm @ f/2.8 like the structure of the clouds @ night and you can see the moon is partially covered by the clouds, and the houses are almost in this fisheye like state, gives the exposure some interesting appeal.....

Manual Mode, WB-Sodium vapor lamp, ISO-200, Shutter speed-3.000s, Aperture-f/stops-f/2.8, Focal length-@ 11mm, Metering Mode-center weight, Lens-Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX AF 11-16mm f/2.8 aka Toki, Filter-Hoya UV HMC-77mm, Camera-Nikon D90 aka Nikki, Flash-not used/used low light (street lamp post and moonlight), Tripod-Manfrotto 190XPROB w/322RC2 Grip Ball & Head, Trigger-Manually

fineartamerica.com/featured/parliament-and-light-post-sun...

Over the Varlungo bridge in Florence.

Original shot taken with a Polaroid Procam camera loaded with Polaroid Image Softtone instant film expired in 10/2009, light post processing.

Samsung camera pictures

Auburn, Indiana

A close up shot of two CD 252 and a CD 221 Hemingray insulators used on a street light post.

All around the courthouse in downtown Auburn, Indiana they use three styles of glass insulators for the street light posts.

The shot in the comment section is more of a close up shot of the same street light post.

at Hwy 26 and Cornell Rd. overpass in Beaverton, OR

Rabbit has (had) red eyes... gates between worlds?

Original shot taken with a Polaroid Procam camera loaded with Polaroid Image Softtone instant film expired in 10/2009, light post processing.

Washington, DC

The Buckingham Branch Railroad is a short line railroad that carries freight and offers passenger rail service at different times of the year. The railroad has operated since 1989, and its headquarters are located next to the train station in my previous photo. I composed this shot to include the light post across the street, which displays the sign for Dillwyn, Virginia. Information from the railroad's website.

How many billion eyes have embraced this moon over the years?

Tonight, it is a SUPER moon...apparently 30% brighter than a regular full moon.

All I have is a f/2.8, 70-200mm, but racked up against a light post...with a higher than should be ISO, and a reciprocal shutter speed...I can handhold it...

A Carole King tune is in order...with James Taylor on acoustic guitar. Penned by King for her Tapestry album, 1971. Remember "albums?"

So Far Away by Carole King

So far away

Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore

It would be so fine to see your face at my door

Doesn't help to know you're just time away

Doesn't help to know you're so far away

~~~~~

May you be "moonstruck" tonight.

Test Shots using the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS II USM

Best Large-

Keeping The Colors Of Light I Saw (JHWatkins)

Keeping the colors of light I saw,

Hidden deep in my heart-

Here, chambered in silence they grow-

Where, watered by time they flow,

To places concealed at the start.

Each shade, a life of its own,

Gathering force like the wind,

Bursting with promise

And purpose renewed,

In heavenly dreams they ascend.

Returning to sources of similar schemes,

Gliding down currents of circular themes,

Reveried ideas of wondrous things,

Calling my mind to attend.

Revelation perpetually rose,

Comically cracked in poetical prose,

Fractured infighting,

Formidable foes,

Deceived by games they portend.

Up through atmospheres,

Right through the stars,

Backed-down multitudes,

Battered and scarred-

Groaning, condoning,

Conditions bizarre,

Where correctional forces contend.

Keeping the colors of light I saw-

Hidden deep in my heart-

Here, chambered in silence they grow-

Shaping the future with wisdom I know,

In places concealed from the start.

JHWatkins

The kit and its assembly:

Another small and vintage 1:100 VF-1 Fighter. This time it’s a non-canonical aircraft, based on a limited edition decal sheet that was published with the Japanese Model Graphix magazine in April 2001 (check this here for reference: www.starshipmodeler.com/mecha/jl_clrvalk.htm) with Hasegawa’s first release of their 1:72 Valkyrie Fighter kit. The give-away sheet featured several VF-1s, including an anniversary paint scheme for the 2.500th production Valkyrie. This is AFAIK neither ‘official’ nor canonical – but the pretty blue-and-white livery caught my attention, and I had for a long time the plan to re-create this livery on one of my favorite 1:100 models. This would not work 100%, though, so I had to improvise – see below.

The kit was built OOB, with the landing gear down and (after taking the flight scenic pictures) with an open canopy, mounted on a small lift arm. Some typical small blade antennae the 1:100 simple kit lacks were added around the hull as a standard measure to improve the look. In the cockpit I added side consoles and a pilot figure for the in-flight shots.

The only non-standard additions are the IRST sensor fairing in front of the cockpit – the model of the anniversary VF-1 in the Model Graphix magazine carries this canonical upgrade, too, it was created from clear sprue material. Another tiny addition are the RHAWS antenna fairings at the top of the fins, scratched from small styrene profile bits.

The Valkyrie’s ordnance is standard and was taken OOB, featuring twelve AMM-1 missiles under the wings plus the standard GU-11 gatling gun pod; the latter was modified to hold a scratched wire display for in-flight pictures at its rear end. The Model Graphix VF-1 is insofar confusing as it seems to carry something that looks like a white ACMI pod on a non-standard pylon, rather attached to the legs than to the wings? That's odd and I could not make up a useful function, so I rejected this detail. The magazine Valkyrie's belly drop tank was - even though canonical, AFAIK - also not taken over to my later in-service status.

Painting and markings:

The more challenging part of the build, in two ways. First, re-creating the original commemorative livery would have called for home-made decals printed in opaque white for the manufacturers’ logos, something I was not able to do at home. So, I had to interpret the livery in a different way and decided to spin the aircraft’s story further: what would become of this VF-1 after its roll-out and PR event? In a war situation it would certainly be delivered quickly to a frontline unit, and since I had some proper markings left over I decided to attach this colorful bird to the famous Skull Squadron, SVF-1, yet to a less glorious Flight. Since flight leaders and aces would frequently fly VF-1s in individual non-standard liveries, even bright ones, the 2,500th VF-1 could have well retained its catchy paint scheme.

The second part of the challenge: the actual paint job. Again, no suitable decals were at hand, so I had to re-create everything from scratch. The VF-1J kit I used thankfully came molded in white styrene, so that the front half of the aircraft could be easily painted in white, with no darker/colored plastic shining through. I painted the white (Revell 301, a very pure white) with a brush first. For the blue rear half, I settled upon an intense and deep cobalt blue tone (ModelMaster 2012). For the zigzag border between the colors I used Tamiya masking tape, trimmed with a tailor’s zigzag scissors and applied in a slightly overlapping pattern for an irregular edge.

The landing gear became standard all-white (Revell 301, too), with bright red edges (Humbrol 174) on the covers. Antenna fairings were painted with radome tan (Humbrol 7) as small color highlights.

The cockpit interior became standard medium grey (Revell 47) with a black ejection seat with brown cushions (Humbrol 119 and Revell 84), and brown “black boxes” behind the headrest. The air intakes as well as the interior of the VG wings were painted dark grey (Revell 77). The jet nozzles/feet were internally painted with Humbrol 27003 (Steel Metallizer) and with Revell 91 on the outside, and they were later thoroughly treated with graphite to give them a burnt/worn look.

The GU-11 pod became standard bare metal (Revell 91, Iron metallic), the AMM-1s were painted in light grey (Humbrol 127) with many additional painted details in five additional colors, quite a tedious task when repeated twelve times...

After basic painting was one the model received a careful overall washing with black ink to emphasize the engraved panel lines, and light post-shading was done to the blue areas to emphasize single panels.

The full-color ’kite’ roundels came from an VF-1A sheet, the skull emblems were left over from my Kotobukiya 1:62 VF-4 build some years ago, wich also carried SVF-1 markings. The 2.500th aircraft nose art decoration was printed on clear decal film with an ink jet printer at home. The SVF-1’s “ML” tail code was created with single white decal letters, the red “555” modex came from an PrintScale A-26 Invader sheet, it's part of a USAF serial number from an all-black Korean War era aircraft.

The wings' leading edges were for some extra contrast finished in medium grey, done with decal sheet material. The Model Graphix Valkyrie does not sport this detail, but I think that the VF-1 looks better with then and more realistic. Red warning stripes around the legs - also not seen on the model in the magazine - were made from similar material.

The confetti along the jagged edge between the white and the blue areas was also created with decal material; to match the cobalt blue tone, the respective enamel paint was applied on clear decal sheet material and cut into small bits. For the white and red confetti, generic decal sheet material could be used. All in all, this was another tedious process, but at the small 1:100 scale even using maskes for painting would have been much more complex and less successful. And the result looks really good for this home-made approach!

Finally, after some typical details and position lights were added with clear paints over a silver base, the small VF-1 was sealed with a coat of semi-matt acrylic varnish.

The well known building in Vienna from Friedensreich Hundertwasser 1983-1986. Here a small series about it...

Original shot taken with a Kiev 60, 45mm f3.5 mir lens on Fujifilm 400H film, 6x6 format, light post processing.

Yellow and green are my son's two favorite colors. Right now, the landscape in Shell Ridge open space is filled with yellow and green. The mustard flower are very high and in full bloom. Meanwhile, the leaves on the oak trees are filling in quickly and young enough to be a vibrant green. This shot tries to capture the magic of the place right now.

Shot with a Lensbaby Composer with double glass optic and swirl creative aperture, handheld in the fading evening light. Post-processing consists of a contrast adjustment, a gradient filter, sharpening, and a small vignette effect.

Tell me if you like or not.

French Embassy, Pondicherry

Manosque, summer 2011.

Original shot taken with an Olympus SZ-20 16Mp compact camera, light post processing.

A drink with various cameras around...

More about this shot here and here.

Original shots taken with an Ormaf 508 speedmaster passportrait camera, Luxlight 128mm four lenses, loaded with Fujifilm FP-100 instant film, Vivitar 283 Flash with coloured filters, light post processing.

4 sec exposure with a light post as tri-pod.

© Tous droits réservés.

Minolta Dimage G600 - Natural light - Post prodution sur Lightroom

Je tenais tout particulièrement à ce que cette photo soit la première contribution car c'est celle qui m'a donné envie de me lancer dans la photo, d'où son titre ;)

Le mois d'octobre 2009 avait été exceptionnellement ensoleillé. Chaque jour, une lumière extraordinaire inondait la chambre. Je cherchais aussi un angle qui immortalise mon point de vue pendant que j’allaitais mon bébé.

Ce jour là, j'ai attrapé mon petit appareil numérique, je me suis contorsionnée comme un vers de terre et j’ai shooté à l’aveugle. Plus de 40 photos ont été nécessaires avant d'obtenir celle-ci mais mon torticolis a été récompensé :)

Peu importe la faiblesse de mon matériel de l’époque, peu importe ses défauts, j’adore cette photo. La pureté et la douceur qui se s’en dégagent, continuent de m’émouvoir encore aujourd’hui.

Quelques jours plus tard, j’ai acheté mon Canon 500D :)

.

.

Taken at Kharadi river banks in the moonlight.

ISO-100, Exposure 75sec @ 10mm.

Not U.F.O, and there assembly. Is the lamp post, which seems to be illuminating the Moon.

(61/365)

A row of trees at peak color lit in the golden hour by the setting sun.

Quick, somebody name the flowers! Their name escapes me. First person to do so will win a free bag of hair!

the thin red line cuts through my troubles

- Dr. Seuss

Secret # 9: I am completely fascinated by the dark and mysterious. I -love- books and movies that involve suspense, mystery and even the occult. A couple of years ago I even read almost all of the books my pastor had on the occult and demons. It's just something I find to be very intriguing. I've read books that even other people had to put down in the first chapters because they couldn't sleep.

View Large On Black

Taken for dailyshoot.com "Converging lines" #ds418

Rollei 35 SE, Fujifilm 400 Superia, f/2.8, cloudy

1938 Lrica III F

Elmar 5cm F/3.5

Adox Silvermax

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Late in 1917, Fokker built the experimental V 11 biplane, fitted with the standard Mercedes D.IIIa engine. In January 1918, IdFlieg held a fighter competition at Adlershof, and for the first time, front line pilots participated in the evaluation and selection of new fighters. Fokker submitted the V 11 along with several other prototypes. Manfred von Richthofen flew the V 11 and found it tricky, unpleasant and directionally unstable in a dive. On short notice, Platz reacted and lengthened the rear fuselage by one structural bay and added a triangular fin in front of the rudder. Richthofen tested the modified V 11 and praised it as the best aircraft of the competition. It offered excellent performance from the outdated Mercedes engine, yet was safe and easy to fly. Richthofen's recommendation virtually decided the competition but he was not alone in recommending it. Fokker immediately received a provisional order for 400 production aircraft, which were named D.VII by IdFlieg.

After the war, the Allies confiscated large numbers of D.VII aircraft after the Armistice. The United States Army and Navy evaluated no less than 142 captured examples and used them in what would today be called “aggressor” units for dissimilar air combat in training and for the development of indigenous military aircraft. Several of these aircraft were re-engined with American-built Liberty L-6 motors, which were very similar in appearance to the D.VII's original German power plants and hard to tell apart. France, Great Britain and Canada also received numbers of war prizes, but these aircraft did not enter active service. Other countries used the D.VII operationally, though: the Polish deployed approximately 50 aircraft during the Polish-Soviet War, using them mainly for ground attack missions; the Hungarian Soviet Republic used a number of D.VIIs, both built by MAG and ex-German aircraft in the Hungarian-Romanian War of 1919; the Dutch, Swiss, and Belgian air forces also operated the D.VII. The aircraft proved still so popular that Fokker completed and sold a large number of D.VII airframes that he had smuggled into the Netherlands after the Armistice. As late as 1929, the Alfred Comte company manufactured eight new D.VII airframes under license for the Swiss Fliegertruppe.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 6.95 m (22 ft 10 in)

Wingspan: 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in)

Height: 2.75 m (9 ft 0 in)

Wing area: 20.5 m² (221 sq ft)

Empty weight: 670 kg (1,477 lb)

Gross weight: 906 kg (1,997 lb)

Powerplant:

1 × 137.95 kW (185 hp) BMW IIIa 6-cyl. water-cooled in-line piston engine with a 180 kW (240 hp)

emergency only rating at low level, driving a wooden 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance:

Maximum speed: 189 km/h (117 mph, 102 kn) at normal power

200 km/h (124 mph; 108 kn) at emergency power

Range: 266 km (165 mi, 144 nmi)

Service ceiling: 6,000 m (20,000 ft)

Rate of climb: up to 9.52 metres per second (1,874 ft/min) at emergency rating

Time to altitude:

1,000 m (3,281 ft) in 1 minutes 40 seconds

2,000 m (6,562 ft) in 4 minutes 5 seconds

3,000 m (9,843 ft) in 13 minutes 49 seconds

4,000 m (13,123 ft) in 10 minutes 15 seconds

5,000 m (16,404 ft) 14 minutes 0 seconds

6,000 m (19,685 ft) 18 minutes 45 seconds

Armament:

2× synchronized 7.92 mm (0.312 in) LMG 08/15 "Spandau" machine guns,

firing through the propeller disc

The kit and its assembly:

My fifth submission for the “Captured” group build at whatifmodellers.com, and a very simple one, since the kit was built OOB. Inspiration came from a profile of a captured Albatros D.III in USAAC markings, unfortunately without further explanation. However, the aircraft sported a garish paint scheme, including bright green and even pink, so that I assumed that it would be not only WWI booty, but also in some operational use, since the paint scheme/camouflage did not look like a German pattern, but rather like an American design, similar to the aircraft operated by the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in continental Europe, just with bright colors.

When I checked options for a different aircraft to apply this idea to, I came across the common Fokker D.VII and the fact that a lot of these aircraft had been captured and tested/flown by the USAAC – and then the weird scheme started to make sense, and this what-if model was born.

The D.VII kit is the ESCI offering, which was released in 1983 but is actually a mold from 1968. I thought I gave it a chance, instead of the Revell kit, which dates back to 1963 and is rumored to be not a pleasant build. The bet and newest one in 1:72 is probably the Eduard kit, which also has the benefit of offering optional parts for various production versions.

As a small biplane model, the ESCI kit is a simple, straightforward affair, and no major conversions were made, I just added a pilot figure, because the ESCI kit lacks one as well as any interior detail except for a kind of tub that it molded into the fuselage halves. IIRC, the figure I used comes from a Revell biplane, and I had to chop the legs off to make it fit into the D.VII’s tight cockpit. However, this solution had the benefit that I did not have to worry about any interior details.

Another weak point of the ESCI kit is that it lacks some finer details like the boarding ladder or handles at the tail. These were scratched with thin wire. Overall fit is also not the best – PSR on the fuselage halves, and on some visible ejection markers (e.g. under the single-part wings) and sinkholes. Esp. the integral cockpit tub with its rather massive walls left visible dents in the flanks that had to be filled! On the other side, the fabric structure on the wings and the fuselage is nicely reproduced, and the cowling is apparently from a late production D.VII with additional/bigger air scoops, so I decided that my model would also be one of the final machines with the uprated BMW engine.

A problem that cannot be blamed on the mold but rather the specific 2nd hand kit I bought is that the stabilizer was missing – it had probably detached from the sprue long ago, and slipped through the box lid, gone and eaten by some carpet monster… ☹ I had to improvise and decided to cut a replacement stabilizer from 1mm styrene sheet. I used the painting instructions (which are almost 1:72 scale) as benchmark and tailored a piece of sheet into shape, sanding away the edges for some light curvature and also added some shallow grooves to mimic the rib structure. Not perfect, but I also did not want to spend too much time on this. As a bonus, though, I added the (tiny) rudder levers of the tail surfaces and the ailerons, which originally are also not part of the ESCI mold. These were later, after painting, outfitted with wires during the final rigging process with heated sprue material – thankfully the D.VII does not require too many strings, just some wires between the landing gear struts and on the tail.

Painting and markings:

The funnier part, with many, really bright colors united in a tiny space – almost like an anime movie prop! I stuck to the original Albatros benchmark and applied scheme, colors and markings truthfully to the D.VII. Paints/tones became, as a guesstimate, Humbrol 155 (Olive Drab), 7 (Light Buff), 47 (Sea Blue) and a mix of 200 (Pink) with a little 68 (Purple), maybe at a 5:1 ratio, for a deeper tone. The contrast between the colors is pretty strong and aircraft looks very individual!

The wing struts were painted in black, the interior in a light olive drab tone. The engine was painted with Revell 99 (Aluminum) and treated with grinded graphite for a more metallic look, and the propeller was painted with a streaky wet-in-wet mix of Humbrol 71 and 113.

The roundels come from a Hobby Boss F4F, and since they have a rather odd style with a kind of dark blue border, they suit the model pretty well, because these roundels were introduced around 1920, so that deviations from the later, “classic” look appear plausible. The tactical code comes from an RAF Gloster Gladiator and the BuNo on the fin were created from a post-war Spitfire code.

A light black ink washing was applied, and some light post-shading was done, in order to emphasize edges and the boxy form of the aircraft with its fabric-covered surfaces. After the decals had been applied, I also added an overall light dry-brushing with khaki drill (Humbrol 72) and light grey (Revell 75). Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri), final bits were assembled and the rigging was added.

A simple build, but a very colorful one – hard to believe that there were aircraft in real life that actually looked this way! But the small D.VII now really stands out among “seriously” camouflaged biplanes in my collection, a very picturesque model. BTW, I am also surprised how effective the camouflage is, at least in the air - despite the garish colors!

Art piece near the La Brea Tar Pits.