Author Topic: Fokker D.VIII wing colours  (Read 1985 times)

Offline Seahawk

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Fokker D.VIII wing colours
« on: February 07, 2019, 09:58:15 PM »
The Windsock Datafile on the Fokker D.VIII says a dark olive green dope was applied to the "wing, upper forward and lower fuselage panels, all struts and, usually, the entire axle aerofoil fairing".  However the instructions for the Arma 1/72 Fokker E.V/D.VIII show all 4 aircraft (2 German, 2 Polish) with a streaky 2-tone segmented colour scheme on both the upper and lower wing surfaces.  Owing to shadow and reflections, study of the photos in the Datafile is inconclusive, for me at least.  Has the state of our knowledge moved on since Peter Grosz wrote the Datafile in 1995 or are Arma just wrong?
« Last Edit: February 08, 2019, 12:22:34 AM by Seahawk »

Offline ermeio

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Re: Fokker D.VIII wing colours
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2019, 11:30:45 PM »
Arma is right
an in depth study of the E.V -D.VIII colours was performed by Achim Engels during the restoration work
http://www.fokker-team.de/
Some information is also contained in the last issues of WW1 Aero.

The Fokker D.VIII datafile is archeology now and it has not to be trusted as for what regards the wings colours

Offline Seahawk

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Re: Fokker D.VIII wing colours
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2019, 12:23:09 AM »
Many thanks for a very quick and helpful answer.

Offline lcarroll

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Re: Fokker D.VIII wing colours
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2019, 12:48:57 AM »
Ermeio,
    That's a great link you provided, I've saved it as well. I wish I'd had it when I did my D.VIII Build!
    Many Thanks!
Cheers,
Lance

Bughunter

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Re: Fokker D.VIII wing colours
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2019, 01:36:31 AM »
I still think, that this brown/green theory is wrong.
The wing wood stain was green/"German purpur" as on all other german aircrafts of that time. Green/brown was not allowed due to risk of confusion with allied aircrafts.
Blue underside. The purpur underside does not make any sense.

The theory comes from a list of stains (with green, purpur and brown).
The brown stain was used inside to improve the resilience against condensated water.

So my Fokker looks like this:
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8550.0

Cheers,
Frank

Offline lcarroll

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Re: Fokker D.VIII wing colours
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2019, 03:59:07 AM »
  After considerable (informal) research I agreed with Frank's assessment and did my Mikr-Mir Kit with green and purple on the upper wing surface and blue below as well.

https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8892.0

   The so called "correct" colors may never be 100% established however; as I love saying regarding WW.I Aircraft colors (and other details) "the only thing we can be sure of is............ we're not sure"!!!!! I believe that any given informed interpretation of colors is as valid as the next, I'll be very interested in which way you go on this!
Cheers,
Lance

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Fokker D.VIII wing colours
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2019, 12:54:58 AM »
This is a cropped version of the photo that finally convinced me that there were two colors on the undersurface on at least some EV/DVIII wings.







and my build:

https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=9032.0

On the other hand, I agree with Lance. No one can totally prove any color info on this one.



RAGIII
« Last Edit: February 09, 2019, 12:59:57 AM by RAGIII »
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

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Bughunter

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Re: Fokker D.VIII wing colours
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2019, 06:04:44 AM »
Yeah, both of you are right! Really pitty, that pictures with colors are invented later.
On the other hand there is more room for interpretation on WWI issues, so we have enough things to discuss, every modeler has some freedom and not every model looks the same.

Cheers,
Frank

Offline Borsos

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Re: Fokker D.VIII wing colours
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2019, 07:22:53 AM »
Because I love that kind if discussion, I‘d like to add my thoughts here: Let the photo be taken of a wing that shows varnish of two different drying stages and you‘d have another explanation for the tonal difference.
And at last: In 1916/early 1917 truely German brown/green camouflage was dropped in favour of green and mauve due to its similarity to allied camouflage colors. But in later 1918 this wasn’t the case any more as the French used their 5-tone camouflage.
Best regards
Andreas
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Remarque.