Fokker D.VIII 1:32

[Mike Norris]

Hi all,
I've read elsewhere that during 1918, Udet did fly a Fokker D.VIII (converted from E.V standard), Serial No.238/18).  That aircraft, which was armed, was fitted an experimental fuel tank in the undercarriage fairing.  The photo's show it had lozenge scheme fuselage.
After the war ended, Udet flew a Fokker D.VIII (serial not known) against Robert von Greim in mock combat/airshows in Bavaria.  The 'Lo' colour profile supplied in the kit is possibly extrapolated from his Fokker D.VII wartime scheme.

[petrov27]

Ahh - thankya for posting the other schemes/profiles!

[Jamo]

Here is a poster from the immediate post war period advertising the mock dogfights that Udet and von Greim used to fly together. Udet flew the Fokker D.VIII

[Mike Norris]

Good find there Jamo 

[petero]

I received my MikroMir kit yesterday, and also have the Avis kit.  The only difference I see between the old and new wings is the quality of the molding.  The new wings have cleaner edges with no rough areas, and the large sprue posts from the Avis wings are gone.  The new scribing is a bit more even too.

In these photos, the MikroMir wings are on the sprue, and the corresponding Avis pieces are to the outside.

The inside surfaces:



The outside surfaces:



Peter

[RAGIII]

So it looks as though there is no difference other than a little less flash on the Mikro Mir wings.
RAGIII

[petero]

Yup, that's about it.  The big sprue towers caused sink marks on the outsides, so not having them is a plus too.

Peter

[mike in calif]

Some solid late 60s/early 70s molding going on here.

[RAGIII]

Some solid late 60s/early 70s molding going on here.

The Molding is typical Roden / Limited production. They have made no claim to being WNW. I received mine today and confirm what the photos show. A cleaned up Avis kit with PE and new decals. I am really looking forward to Pheons decals!
RAGIII

[petero]

Yes, it's not WNW, but overall it's a nice kit.  I'm going to plus mine with a Vector resin engine, Aviattic Dr.I cowling (so the Vector engine will fit), Master Models Spandaus and HGW seatbelts.  I also have the Part PE set for the Dr.I, much of which will be usable on the E.V also.

I'd like to do the yellow/black diamonds markings, but without decals that's a non-starter.  The WNW Fokker D.VII (Fok) kit had the same pilot's diamond markings, but I doubt they would fit the E.V, which is more of a Dr.I fuselage shape than a D.VII.

Peter

[Rob_Owens]

Peter, The difficulty in reproducing "Sachsenberg's Diamonds" on the D.VIII using the WnW 32011 decals is not so much fuselage shape as it is size of the diamonds (roughly 8mm on the diagonals on the 320011 sheet)

Many profile/illustrations I've come across (including the MikroMir illustration) seem to assume that a regular pattern of evenly-spaced diamonds was used as a template, and simply "cut-to-fit" the sides, top, and bottom of the D.VIII, like a modeler would do if covering all sides of the fuselage from a printed sheet of Black/Yellow diamonds.

 If, on the other hand, one assumes that the pattern was regular on the sides but altered  on the fuselage top & bottom (like his D.VII) then I think fitting the 32011 decals to the D.VIII might not be so much a problem. Some of the D.VII profiles on the net show only TWO full rows of diamonds on the fuselage sides, which match almost EXACTLY the diamond size on the WnW sheet. I know, because I just pulled out the WnW sheet & compared it to the MikroMir fuselage
 
I've read of but never seen photos of Sachsenberg's D.VII with (faintly visible) diamonds and a "face" of so some sort on the cowl. 

Hope this helps,
Rob

[petero]

Rob, the photo you're referring to is in Osprey Naval Aces of WW1 Part 2, which also has color profile, plan and front views of Sachsenberg's E.V.  I have the PDF version, and the photo is not contrasty enough to show the diamonds, but it does have "eyes" on the cowling.  The photo is also online here, along with a discussion of the scheme:

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showpost.php?p=161073&postcount=10

The Osprey profile does show two rows of diamonds along the fuselage side, and two rows along the top, with the diamond sizes decreasing as the fuselage narrows.

Peter

[RAGIII]

One last comment on the Mikro Mir EV/DVIII. I couldn't resist removing the wing from the sprue and cleaning up, and test fitting. I have to say that the fit is FAR SUPERIOR to the original Avis wing.
RAGIII