Tomorrow will be May 31st, the centennial for the Battle of Jutland. But this day means more, as 98 years ago, on May 31st 1918, the Luftstreitkräfte lost DFW C.V 287/18, built by Aviatik, in use by Fliegerabteilung (Artillerie) FA (A) 219, being forced to land behind british lines due to mechanical failure. DFW C.V (Av) 287 was given the capture serial number G/HQ/4 and extensively photographed before being sent to Great Britain for Examination. One photo is shown in Delve, K.: World War One in the air, Crowood Aviation series, 1997.
This aircraft is option D in WNW’s DFW C.V late production kit 32057, which is available since July 2014. The kit itself is lovely. Of course there is still room for improvement (is there a kit around that doesn’t profit from that little bit of extra detail?), and I like the solutions the designers came up with – Those stupid Mechanikers always ignoring those “Do not touch here” stickers and damaging the precious tailplane? Just put nails onto those parts, which will teach them to obey orders!
The photos show heavy wear and much dirt, including several crudely repaired rib tapes, converted Eiserne Kreuze (the small type on the fuselage, the larger type on the wings) and a rather wet airfield. I assumed the German side of the line would have been as dirty (just to have an excuse to dirty things up, of course).
Cockpit and engine where detailed extensively (of course nobody can see anything inside the cockpit, so that was a waste of time and energy. But I know it’s all there!), apart from that I didn’t add too much.
• The crew are from Kellerkind and David Allan’s Wing Cockpit figures, the dog is from Reality in scale.
• Anemometer and turnbuckles are from Gaspatch. I used 1/48 scale turnbuckles, as I find them looking more in-scale.
• Rigging was done with monofilament (fishing line); I used 0,08mm for steering cables and 0,12mm for structural rigging with a combination of 0,4mm brass rods and polyimide tubing wherever possible.
• The prop was painted using pencils
“Look, Franz! This is where we are going to!” It’s a pity that Franz doesn’t care – he is busy checking out some girls in the distance.
“Don’t worry, little dog. We will be back in a few hours, as always”
But it’s already dark. His master won’t come back, as he is already an unhappy guest of the Royal Air Force. Poor little dog.
