1:32 FOKKER Dr.I

Personal colors of a whole squadron

The unit led from the summer of 1917 by the most successful German pilot adopted the habit of painting its machines in striking colors. It was not vanity: in crowded airspace the commander and one's own flight had to be recognized within a second, and color managed that better than any number. Every pilot was given his own combination, and one of them, a saturated red, became the best-known finish of the whole war. The prescribed insignia stayed in its place and had to be legible even over the most garish base.

A short but loud career

The Fokker triplane reached the front in the autumn of 1917 and its service was accompanied by trouble with the strength of the upper surface, on account of which production was temporarily halted. After the structure was strengthened it returned and in the hands of an experienced pilot it was hard to attack, because it could turn in a space where an opponent needed twice as much room. In speed, however, it fell behind, and in the second half of 1918 more modern types replaced it.

On the execution

On a strongly colored surface it is right to lay an opaque white under the insignia first, otherwise the dark color would show through. There are two stencils in the set and nothing else, so the paints and the kit remain up to the modeler.

The lower surfaces deserve particular attention. From below the machines were often left in the base cream color of the covering, so the markings there call for a different procedure than on the colored upper side and the white base falls away. It therefore pays to plan the whole sequence of steps before reaching for the first film, and always to start with the surface that will best take a possible repair.