So this is my first biplane ever, very kindly donated by Trackpad. I've always worked in 1/72, so no fear there, but never on something quiiiite this small, and never on a pre-WWII subject. So I'm a little nervous. Also, I'm aware the D.VII from Roden has something of a reputation, especially w/r/t the wing/fuselage fit, so you can imagine my trepidation. On the plus side, I have lots of excuses in my hop pocket for when I inevitably screw this up, and I was never a terrific modeller to begin with, so my internal bar is set low, low, low.
As you can sort of see from my lousy cell phone photo, Trackpad kindly has already begun the interior with some lozenge decalling; a good thing, too, as I would never have even guessed that was needed, nor did I have any on hand. Going by
a cockpit photo from the Air and Space Museum, it seems the supporting structure is painted a light grey, so I used some Light Ghost Gray that was onhand, and it's totally unnoticeable. Perfect. I also got started on the engine. It's so tiny and perfect! Also hideous. The Germans have never been able to manufacture a nice-looking aero engine.
I've been itching to try the whole oil paint wood effect thing I see so often here, and fortunately virtually everyone in my family but me is an artist of some sort, so I was able to score some oil paints and mineral spirits, neither of which I've used before. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that mineral spirits and mineral water have nothing whatsoever in common!
As you can see, I got started on the cockpit floor and the instrument panel. For right now, I'm sort of blundering along.
