Hi everyone - some slow but steady progress on the Eduard Fokker.
Initially I was thinking i'd paint this one as Kempf's famous Jasta Boelcke machine (as I have a soft spot for this, thanks to the old DML kit). But... I wanted something with slightly more colour (and no red...!) I have the following print hanging on my wall, from Barry Weekley - it's a lovely painting of some Jasta 19 triplanes in flight:
I've always liked Hans Koerner's machine, Dr.1 503/17, Wk Nr 2130, with the zig-zag fuselage marking:
This machine has been rendered very nicely by Ronny Bar:
It is interesting that this machine when photographed had overpainted crosses; all Jasta 19 machines seemed to have overpainted fuselage crosses (well blended with the original streaked finish) and this one was no exception. Of note, the machine at one point did not have the white wing fields overpainted:
But later, it did:
It also sported a telescopic gunsight, which I'll have to add later on.
This machine is included on the Pheon JG.II decal sheet (and is also included in a weekend edition boxing of this kit, I believe). I decided to go with the version with the unpainted wing fields. I also decided to use the Aviattic Fokker Streaking decals, which would let some pre-shading work show through.
First, I started with some priming followed by some pre-shading:
Next came the white sections of the wings:
Then, I lightly oversprayed the 'overpainted' crosses on the wings, as well as the under surface and upper surface colours (upon which the translucent streaking decals would later sit over):
I then sprayed the straight edged crosses:
Then the tail, cowl, and other bits and bobs:
Next came the Aviattic decals. These went down reasonably nicely. The pre-cut shapes were not quite right and did not quite fit in a number of places. Luckily, I had their other sheet which effectively represents solid sections of 'streaking', so I could tailor some parts here and there. I also tried to make the painting out of the fuselage crosses fairly obvious, using contrasting sections of the decal, but just allowing a hint of the fuselage crosses to poke through, just as in the photographs of Jasta 19 machines:
Next came the pointy arrows and other decals:
Then a few extra additions, a flat coat, a little bit of post shading, and the start of some weathering. And here is where she is at the moment:
The Aviattic decals do show the pre-shading through, but I did have to do a little post shading to get the wing ribs to show through just a little more. I could stand to have them a little more obvious, but I have learned enough times that the art of subtlety is difficult - you're always better served stopping just before you think you have too much
These decals are nice to use, but are stretchy, and very difficult to cut once dry (even a sharp knife tends to 'stretch' the decals... arg). Hence I still have some cleaning up to do around wing trailing edges, and so forth. That being said, I do like the representation of streaking; it's not unnaturally even, and does well I think to represent the subtle irregularities of real life hand painting. Decals allow for a cleaner job as well. So, well done Aviattic
Likewise, the Pheon decals are very nice, but appear silvered in certain light, even if not in other light, and even with a gloss base. Curious.
So, next is more major construction, and the next round of weathering. But i'll shift my attention back over to my Marine Fokker first, to get it to much the same stage.
As always, feedback, comments, criticisms and tips are welcomed!
Cheers,
BC
