Wingnut Wings Fokker D.VII (early) - My build pics

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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I realized recently that stepping away from modeling (and this forum) for seven months to concentrate on job-hunting had a really bad effect on my mental health. So I’m back at it again, and back in the forum! Yay! Thankfully I bought so many kits last year (when I was employed), that I have a nice stash to work on.

Below are photos of the Wingnut Wings Fokker D.VII (early) kit that I finished about two weeks ago. It’s a great kit.

I started with the engine (contrary to the directions) just because I had watched a video specifically about detailing this engine with some copper wire as spark plugs and lifter springs. It worked out great. The video was by Scale-A-Ton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT7tGiDzoZs

My engine didn’t turn out as great as the one in the video, but I’m quite happy with it. Learned a lot of new stuff.

On to the interior:

Probably the “fiddly-est” cockpit I’ve ever built. Really tried my patience, but was also really reawarding. Again, learned new stuff. Especially painting the wood bits. Added control lines and copper wiring details.

Test fiting cockpit and framing in fuselage. Amazing engineering in this kit.

Completed interior section. WooHoo!

Landing gear sub-assembly, painted and weathered:

Fuselage:

Completed interior mated to fuselage. Only a tiny bit of filler needed right behind cockpit. The rest of the fuselage glued up perfectly.

Engine cowling panels and cockpit coaming painted and installed. Base coat of paint on fuselage and lower wing.

Factory camo streaks (large decals) added to fuselage. Cross decals added, then overcoat of blue sprayed onto the rear of fuselage. First time I’ve done this kind of overcoating. Was a bit unnerving, but I like how it came out.

Blue, blue and more blue…

Giant decals for the undersides of the wings. Had a bit of trouble with these. Prone to small tears, and some slight silvering. But overall I am happy with them.

Lower wing, landing gear, and struts mated to the fuselage. Also added the vertical stab and rudder.

Top wing and markings added. I can’t say enough about the engineering of this kit. I basically just had to set the wing down and glue it. No fussing with the strut alignment at all.

The prop was an entirely new experience for me. Again, I learned about this from YouTube videos by Scale-a-Ton. I used water-color pencils to draw in the laminated seperations of the wooden prop, then filled in the shapes. Took quite a few starts and re-starts but finally got something I was happy with. Finished it off with a couple coats of Tamiya Orange Clear, with Tamiya Dark Iron and Vallejo Aluminum dry-brushing for the hub.

FINAL

I’m super happy with how this build went, with the amount of new techniques I tried and battled through, and the final product. Originally I intended to heavily weather this bird, but I decided after it was done to do minimal weathering. Just some light streaking on the wings to age the fabric a little. I might go back and do more at a later date, but for now I like the clean look.

Sorry for the avalanche of pictures all at once. Now That I am back to the forum I will return to posting WIP’s so I can get feedback and advice during the build. [:)]

Next on the bench is Hasegawa’s Nakajima E8N “Dave” floatplane. I’ll fire up a WIP thread for it once it get’s going.

Cheers, Mark

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Wow, that is fantastic work. Thanks for sharing.

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Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

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Excellent results, Mark. Nicely done weathering - not too much.

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Looks great!

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Wow fantastic build! It’s a real stunner.

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Really fine work, Mark. You had my attention at the engine. Beautiful.

Happy to hear you are finding relaxation and peace back at the bench.

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Thanks Aggieman.

Thank you knox.

Thanks kensar.

Thanks falconmod.

Thank you Greatmaker.

Thanks Greg, glad to be back.

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Holy crap, Mr. Stecks… you really opened a can of modeling whoopass on this one! The engine looks like you could spin the prop and fire it right up, the cockpit looks like it’s waiting for a butt in the seat. Not to mention the rest of the finish.

One to be proud of for sure. Thanks for sharing!

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Lovely model sir!

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Beautiful!

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hahaha… thanks RadMax8. I might have opened a can of whoopass, but I think I only used about a quarter of it. [:D]

Thanks Chris, I appreciate it.

Thank you ridleusmc.

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Well since you only used a partial can, make sure you put a good lid on it… don’t wan it to lose its fizz! [:P]

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I’d be happy with that turnout as well. Good lookin’ bird.[Y]

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Congrats on a really fine build!

I agree with you about the “clean” look - a really handsome bird.

Your work on the engine and the prop show how your skills have progressed to a marked degree. Many kudos.

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One word. Awesome

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Nah…you used the whole can Greg. Gorgeous! You Tube is a great resource for the modeler. That’s where I learned how to use the AK Interactive stuff. I’ve heard good things about Wingnut. I may need to try one of these someday. Thanks for sharing it.

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Your DVII is absolutely outstanding Mark. You have done some really stunning work. Seriously impressive. I want to thank you for detailed build thread as I just just recently acquired a Wingnut DVII kit myself. You have provided some valuable insight into the building of this kit as well as some marvelous tips on painting and detailing. Thank You for sharing your impressive skills and techniques.

Cheers, Joe

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Those WNW Kits are really great,yours looks fantastic

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Thanks mustang.

Thank you Mike. I was actually quite surprised when I suddenly realized the prop was going to come out looking okay.

One word back at you… Thanks!

Thanks Joe. Yeah, I think the WNW kit was fantastic. Fantastically engineered. But of course, like Tamiya, that excellence comes at a price. Probably won’t do another one any time soon.

Thank you Joe.

Thanks Tojo.