New small Fokker

Years go by and I still don’t really know what’s Eduard "72nd Scale Revolution" really suppose to be about. Whatever, at least some new models are produced. Like this fresh Fokker D.VII released almost in time to commemorate 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Almost. Jokes aside, lets look what have we got this time.

D.VII with extras

Eduard doesn't fill any empty niche with this product, because there is more than one manufacturer with this type of fighter in 1:72 catalogue. However, when the choice comes down to Revell from the sixties, or more or less shortrun sets from MAC or Roden- I will gladly see a new design on a more modern level.

First (not counting the promotional version from the Nuremberg Toy Fair) we received a "Profipack" edition (catalogue number 70131), fitted with masks and PE. Inevitably this will be followed by many subsequent releases, including Weekend Edition and Royal Class. Let's take a closer look at the first pack.

The kit

Size of the box with characteristic orange stripe may be a little surprising, given the size of the aircraft being replicated, but at least this time nobody will make skits about cooking frames.

However, there is not as much free space inside as we could expect. There are four sprues of grey plastic provided, two sheets of decals, two masks sets, a small brass with painted photoetched elements and instruction manual.

Sprue "A" contains a number of smaller elements and we will surely find it in more than one set with other production versions of Fokker D.VII.

Exactly the same applies to the "B".

Sprue "C", marked "Fokker D.VII (OAW) late", contains the fuselage halves with the engine covers characteristic for late production OAW machines. Plus the lower wings and a few other elements.

"D" ("Fokker D.VII (OAW) mid") is mainly a second, unnecessary in this edition fuselage with details appropriate for the mid production planes, and the upper wings.

More observant readers have probably noticed that there is too many elements for one airplane. This is not only a redundant fuselage, but also a mass of other parts that will not be useful during the out of box build. Just look at the scheme from manual, where the blue colour indicates superfluous elements.

Parts "not for use" (Eduard)

Fortunately, Eduard does not go into (usually senseless) cutting parts out of frames and we get 6 versions of wheels, 8(!) propellers or 9(!) radiator designs. This makes it a little easier to build a different version than the set suggests. Cool.

Plastic

Closer inspection of plastic parts does not ruin a good first impression. The mouldings are nice, with clear details and no sink-marks visible. Persistent search will reveal very delicate plastic overflows on several elements (such as horizontal stabilizer or the trailing edge of the bottom wings), but dealing with them is a simple matter of formality.

Yeah, wings. These are cast as a whole, without any shrinkage of plastic, with subtly reproduced reinforcements on the ribs that may be liked.

It is worth mentioning that the wings of the lower panel constitute one segment, just like in Fokker Dr.I from the same manufacturer, which will greatly simplify the issue of maintaining appropriate geometry of those.

OAW machines from the late production series can be recognized by the characteristic pattern of the vent holes on the engine covers, quite nicely reproduced on the model.

As we are already at the fuselage- the cockpit sides with a marginally highlighted frame looks kind of poor.

This does not mean, however, that the interior has been overlooked. It is at least decent- for example pilot's chair with a nicely reproduced cushion makes a pretty nice impression.

Let’s come back to the outside of the fuselage for a while- sewing visible on the bottom was designed in a quite interesting way. It is a separate element glued into the appropriate recess formed after glueing the plane halves together. Just like in slightly larger models from Wingnut Wings.

I like the engine a bit less, but on the other hand it won't be very visible in the finished miniature, so maybe there's no cause to despair.

The installation of struts, which in the ragwing can turn into a horror, looks not so terrible in this case. A sensible project, manifesting itself in consolidating a part of the centerwing supports into one element, should make this part of the construction bit easier. Unless we manage to break these quite thin elements.

On the other hand- wheels. No, no- those look pretty good. But with such a multitude of versions (6!), a bit disappointing is the lack of elements for the construction of spoked ones.

Generally speaking, moulded parts looks at least very decent and it is hard to find something serious to complain about. The additional bonus is the plethora of additional elements, which may be useful in other builds.

PE

The metal plate included in the set is a bit modest, but contains the most necessary parts, including gun radiators and seat belts. For a coloured product, which I'm not really a fan of, it looks pretty OK. Although I have to admit that there are not many of these painted surfaces, so maybe it's just because of that.

It's no surprise (having plastic parts in mind) that we won't find any spoked wheel elements on the plate, well... Modellers who want to make Fokker with one of those will have to look around for the aftermarkets.

Masks

Two small sheets of masks will help us only with painting the wheels. They are made from the popular yellow Kabuki tape, just like in other Eduard kits.

If somebody was wondering why there are two sheets in the set- one is used to paint wheels with canvas covers of uniform colour, the other one is used to paint August Raben's machine, which had those in two tones.

Decals

Markings for the five machines are fitted on one medium-sized sheet and looks quite neat. You can read stencils easily.

It is worth mentioning here, that while making a miniature of the plane from the box illustration, we can choose direction of the the dragon on the right side of the fuselage. There is no known historical photo showing this aspect of Wilhelm Leusha's machine, so Eduard provided two versions, thus leaving us the choice.

The second, much larger sheet is a printed canvas designed to cover wings. None of the box aircrafts had a cover of this type visible on the fuselage, hence the decals only for the wings. Well, plus two pieces for insides of the cockpit, to be accurate.

Five-colour Lozenge is prepared in the form of appropriately shaped panels, just ready to be applied. Along with a whole range of strips used among others on the ribs of the wings. It will surely take a while to put all this on the model.

Of course, the accuracy of the colour scheme used is an open question. Well, Eduard did an excellent/poor job of it (delete as appropriate). In other words, I will not even try to deal with this subject, let everyone judge for themselves. I will only mention that in my copy the yellow colour seems to be printed with a minimal offset.

Instructions

No surprises here. Quality paper, colours and clear drawings, to which everyone has probably already got used.

Some novelty, however, may be the selection of suggested paints. In addition to Gunze products, this time there are also numbers from the Mission Models palette. But no one who reads the monthly "Eduard info" will be surprised.

Painting options

The set allows us to make one of five versions, some of which are known from earlier Eduard releases in 1:48 scale.

Kit painting options (Eduard)

Each machine is presented in the manual with four views colour profiles, containing information on both the painting and the arrangement of the decals.

Colourful and quite interesting selection. Unsatisfied modellers will probably reach for aftermarkets anyway.

Worth it?

It all looks quite appealing and I'm glad that Eduard has returned to the Great War themes in small scale. Now we can only wait for the next versions which will be unavoidably released. Or just make this one, that's also an option.

MMXIX