HISTORICAL MINIATURES BY GEORGE GRASSE

WORLD WAR 1 AIRCRAFT IN 1:48 SCALE

 

Fokker D.VII (OAW) 2052/18, Ltn Karl Thom, Jasta 21s, 1918

by George Grasse

RODIN 1:48 SCALE INJECTION MOLDED KIT RO0420 FOKKER D.VII (OAW - early)

 

RODIN RO0420 BOX ART
 
FOKKER D.VII THREE-VIEW DRAWING
This 3-view drawing is credited to J. D. Carrick or F. Yeoman and appeared in Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War compiled by W. M. Lamberton and published by Harleyford Publications Limited, page 127.  Other sources for detailed drawings are listed in the bibliograpy below.



THE FOKKER D.VII TO BE BUILT
  • The model to be built is Fokker D.VII (OAW) 2052/18, flown by Ltn Karl Thom of Jasta 21s.  The profile above was created by Harry Dempsey from the Osprey Fokker D.VII Aces of World War 1, Part 2, written by Norman Franks and Greg VanWyngarden.  This profile is number 24 on page 56 with a corresponding top view on page 60. 
  • Thom's brief biography appears in Above the Lines by Norman Franks et al, page 215 plus several other references listed in the bibliography below.
 

PHOTO OF THE FOKKER D.VII TO BE BUILT
This photo was taken from The Imperial German Eagles in World War I by Lance J. Bronnenkant, page 302.

 

 
 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.1
The beginning of this Fokker D.VII (OAW).  I used the instruction sheets from Wingnut Wings' Fokker D.VII (Alb) to paint the pieces shown above.  The interior cockpit is a Aviattic 1:48 scale 4-color Faded decal.  Interior structural framework was painted in my mix of Vallejo German Grey-Green. 

 
 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.2
Parts pre-assembled and painted.

 
 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.3
Cockpit interior is finished and the fuselage halves are glued together.  The front end assembly procedure differs slightly from the kit's instructions in that I went ahead and glued the shell of the engine compartment to the fuselage.  The normal assembly was to completely build up the front end and then glue it to the fuselage.

 
 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.4a & 4b


Wings had a base coat of Vallejo 976 Buff and overspa]rayed with Vallejo 28.532 Acrylic Satan Varnish spray.  The 4-color lozenge camouflage decals are from Aviattic's ATT32021 Fokker D.VII sheet reduced to 1:48 scale and laser printed.  Another coat of Vallejo 28.532 Acrylic Satan Varnish spray
was applied.  The 1918-style crosses were taken from Peddinghaus 48.3961 Fokker D.VII Karl Thom decal sheet.  Another coat of varnish was applied to seal the decals.

 
 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.5
The lower wing was glued to the fuselage bottom.  Some plastic putty fills minor spaces.  The tail unit was glued in place. 


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.6
The kit's plastic landing gear struts were discarded and replaced with brasse tube and rod substitutes which provided substantial strength to support the model.  The landing gear wing was modified to take brass rod axles.  The far landing gear strut is primed but the near one is bare for now.


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.7
Continuing with the landing gear, the struts were painted in my mix of German grey-green.  The landing gear wing (topside and underside) was painted in my mix of lilac, seen on the left side, and dark green on the right side.  The propeller was first painted in Vallejo 912 Tan Yellow overall and then striped in Vallejo 984 Flat Brown.  When dry, the overall propeller was rubbed down using five shades of brown colored pencil.  The lower wing was glued to the fuselage bottom.  The German propeller logo decals are by Print Scale.


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.8
My mix of semi-gloss black (Andrea black in flat and gloss) covers the nose and horizontal tail.  The fin and rudder are Andrea white.  Barely visible are horizontal stabilizer brass support rods painted grey-green.  The decals all come from Peddinghaus 48.3961 for Karl Thom's Fokker D.VII.  The Spandau machine guns glued in place along with fuel tank gauge, barely visible, and RPM gauge lower front cockpit, not visible. 


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.9

This photo shows the beginning of the top wing's installation using brass tube and rod for the struts.  Here are shown the main fuselage struts measured against the kit's plastic strut parts and Windsock's drawings in Fokker D.VII Anthology, volume 1.


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.10

All of the fuselage and wing struts have been manufactured and installed.  The next step is to prime and paint them.  Much more to be done.


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.11
The Fokker D.VII is done.  This photo highlights 1) the anenometer by Gaspatch attached to the lower left wing strut; 2) the cross wiring of the landing gear; 3) the addition of a rigging diagram decal under the fuselage "T"; and 4) the barrel of the flare pistol protrudes from the cockpit side just above the "T". 


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.12
This right front view shows the ring and bead gunsight attached to the engine front. 


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.13


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.14
Note the .006 tail bracing wire and Albatros logo decal. 


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.15


 CONSTRUCTION PHOTO No.16


------------------------------------------------ finis-----------------------------------------------

 Bibliography:

Bar, Ronny.  Ronny Bar Profiles, German Fighters of the Great War, Volume 2 (Thom's Fokker D.VII page 234).  Horncastle, UK: Tempest an imprint of Morton's Books.  ISBN: 9781911704096.

Brannon, D. Edgar.  Fokker D.VII in Action, Aircraft Number 166.  Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1996.

Franks, Norman and Greg VanWyngarden.  Fokker D.VII Aces of World War 1, Part 2.  Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2004.

Franks, Norman, Frank W. Bailey and Russell Guest.  Above the Lines.  London, UK: Grub Street, 1998.

Gray, Peter and Owen Thetford.  German Aircraft of the First World War, scale drawings by George Haddow.  London: Putnam & Company Limited, 1962.

Herris, Jack and Jorn Leckscheid.  Fokker Aircraft of WWI, Volume 5, Part 2: Fokker D.VII (includes Albatros and OAW-built D.VII variants.  The Internet: Aeronaut Books, 2021.  ISBN: 9781953201614.

Lamberton, W. M., Compiler, and E. F. Cheesman, Editor.  Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War.   Los Angeles, CA: Aero Publishers, 1962.

Rimell, Ray et al.  Fokker D.VII Anthology 1 thru 3. Berkhamsted, UK: Albatros Productions Ltd, 1997 (1), 2000 (2), 2002 (3).

 

GO TO?

BACK TO GERMAN AIRCRAFT INDEX

BACK TO AVIATION MAIN INDEX

HISTORICAL MINIATURES JOURNAL
HISTORICAL MINIATURES MILITARY MINIATURES
NAVIGATE TO OTHER PAGES
TOP OF PAGE
COPYRIGHT

21 November 2025