I want to build Richthofen’s famous 425/17 in the all red scheme, but I’m having a bit of a roadblock. I want to use the pre-1918 crosses with white background, but the only pic I found of it are with the camouflage of olive green and light blue. Then I found the 1918 scheme with the straight edged crosses that, if nothing comes up, I’ll have to use.
My question is, are there any pics or info of 425 wearing the all red scheme with the pre-1918 white backed crosses? I’d like to be as accurate as possible.
I believe you can do the Maltese crosses on the white background for 425/17. I did my Roden kit using a Cutting Edge decal sheet, which explained the odd mix of cross styles on the aircraft just prior to it being shot down.
The Maltese crosses were in the process of being modified to the simple cross style, and the large white backgrounds were also overpainted with red. The decal set instructed the builder to replicate this.
Supposedly, the stenciling was also overpainted red, as some believe 425/17 was delivered in the standard camouflage of light blue undersides and the unique Fokker streaked green topsides.
I painted my model accordingly, but faded the standard colors to make it easier for the red to cover. I also painted on the white areas on the wings and fuselage. I applied all the decals prior to painting the red, except the crosses. The underside crosses were not fully altered at the time of Richthofen’s death so they look kind of weird.
Anyway, long story short, you can do the scheme you want.
Thanks for the pics! Your model looks really good, is it the Eduard model? I’ve decided to go for 141/17, a Richthofen DR.I with the early Iron Crosses and light blue undersides, I think it’ll make a difference between the sea of red Fokkers out there.
Thanks! It’s the 1/32 Roden kit. Thank goodness a more modern kit is now available! I was going to get the Meng kit but was too sick and tired of dealing with the Roden Dr.I to buy another.
I masked the laminations on the propeller and decided it would be the last time I’d do that. It was a nightmare to apply.
Aftermarket laminated props from now on! I’ll gladly pay someone else to do my dirty work.
The lower wings and interplane struts required quite a bit of work to plug in smoothly. I ended up cutting the interplane struts in half so that they could be tweaked to line up with the upper and lower wings.
The horizontal stab has a large low spot and required filler to smoothly transition into the fuselage turtledeck.
The cockpit framing is terribly fragile and requires cutting down to fit between the fuselage halves.
Question on the D7. I see many built with shoulder straps. I know the Germans were early users of lap belts, but I thought shoulder harness was introduced much later.
