Transparent Brown Varnish/Overcoat on Lozenge

[lcarroll]

   Alright, all you experts.......... I recall seeing some discussion on this topic somewhere however cannot now locate it. I was of the belief that this practice was used on many of the late war aircraft and applied to ALL the lozenge fabric surfaces. The Wingnut Instructions for the Fokker, Alb, and OAW Built versions all indicate clearly that the fuselage only gets the "glaze", there is no direction to apply it to the flying surfaces.
   Does anyone here know the answer, or have a Reference? If all components does that mean upper only or both upper and lower? If Richard from Aviattic reads this, I note you have (I've one on order) a Fokker Built "cookie cutter" Sheet 32020 with brown varnish effect which tells me your research indicates the flying surfaces get the effect. (or does his apply only to the Fokker built Version?) It seems to me this question should logically been raised already, or have I just missed it?
   Any & all info, opinion, or just plain conjecture much appreciated.
Cheers,
Lance

[lcarroll]

Richard,
   Thanks for the reply and your comments. I agree that we can only guess at many such questions; as I like to say about PC10, "Fokker Red", and puzzles such as this one, "the only thing we can be sure of is..................... we're not sure"!
   I contacted Richard Alexander at Wingnut Wings with the question and he replied very promptly. The piece of fabric in the photo on page 32 of Kit 32030's (the OAW Built version) Instruction Booklet has a very pronounced brown varnish and he states it is the only evidence he has seen of the brownish overcoat. He also opines that the upper flying surfaces could easily have been given similar treatment however their Instructions have cautiously(perhaps too much so) in his words) indicated fuselage only based on interpretation of available photos. Richard kindly indicated to share this information with "other modellers who may be interested".
   In the absence of any further info I'll be doing at least one of my D.VII's in your brown tinted Lozenge, probably the RK Scheme, 5324/18 of the Alb version, and using the tinted lozenge on the upper flying surfaces as well. Such little quandaries add tremendous interest to this Hobby in my mind; perhaps as time passes we'll solve some of the mysteries.
   It is refreshing that the experts are not exaggerating their cases nor claiming interpretation to be fact; further both you and WNW appear to be in agreement on the answer to this question..............it could be, or not!
Cheers,
Lance

[ALBATROS1234]

as mentionioned i have also often wondered why many or dare i say most period photos seem to look very faded and have poor contrast between the colors. i have seen some photos where you have to strain to see a polygon here and there otherwise it would look like a solid dark painted airframe. is it the fabric that faded, varnish or the poor photo equipment? i do no know, i just have noticed they(printed fabric coverings) mostly look very faded in pics.