Yep, I'll be buying one, possibly two. I have a fascination with not only WWI but also it's immediate aftermath and the Junkers D.1 fits right in with it's use with the Saschenberg Geschwader. I too love the whole steampunk/dieselpunk esthetic of the design with its retro futuristic looks, you can see in this one aircraft all of what's to come yet it still has enough of the WWI elements (fixed undercarriage, wooden prop, open cockpit...etc) to make it look like some sort of strange hybrid.
The cynic in me can see why WNW has decided on the Junkers, they give their game away at the end of the instruction manual with the enticement to try one of their 'traditional' kits. It's obviously not aimed at the WWI fans, but the WWII end of town and to that end it might work given that a lot of the glowing reviews that I've seen over the years of WNW kits are from non WWI modellers and they usually are quite lavish in their praise, so this kit can be seen as sucking in those that still sit on the fence!
All that said, it still looks like a great kit to me anyway, I was going to get only one, to do the Saschenberg scheme, but the all bare metal option really looks nice as well, it kind of reminds me of the end of the movie version of the Blue Max (I know
, it was a Morane parasol, but it still looked kind of swanky in all silver with maltese crosses
) Some of the other MFG schemes also look interesting as well.
I can understand why this release isn't to everyone's taste, it definitely isn't a traditional WWI aircraft. But, as I've said elsewhere on the forum, if I'd been asked to guess what aircraft they would release at Nuremburg the Junkers wouldn't have even been on my list! What I'm taking away from this is that WNW next release could be anything from WWI and not necessarily mainstream at all, they don't seem to be afraid to step into the realm of the esoteric and I think that's a good thing.
Dave Rickard
Rockhampton QLD
