Fokker D.VII Limited Edition “Sieben Schwaben” Eduard 1139

Eduard has produced an outstanding Fokker D VII Kit in various versions and their newest addition is the 1/48 scale Limited Edition “Sieben Schwaben” kit 1139.
The kit represent Fokker D VII (OAW) constructed at Schneidemühl flown by Gefreiter Wilhelm Scheutzel. Scheutzel joined Jasta 65 at June 12, 1918 and served with the unit until end of the war. He flew Fokker D.VII (OAW) 4649/18, decorated by motives of the Seven Schwabians tales. He got the single victory in the Great War, possible flying this particular airplane, when he shot down a D.H.4 near Armawille. Decals are very thin and precise, perhaps the only weak point are Lozenge which are a bit moved from the centre.
I have mentioned decals at the start since they were the first step I begun when building this beautiful kit. If you follow carefully the instructions Lozenge are rather easy to apply but the ribs enforcements (blue stripes) will take you some time.

Eduard’s D VII is molded in standard Eduard olive plastic without any sink marks or flash present, details are wonderful and the kit is correct and precise. This model also contains a wheel masks and photo etched fret with some parts that are prepainted and really add to the realism of this model. Engine is highly detailed and I felt sorry to leave it invisible inside the nose, it would look great if you decide to open the nose compartment. Cockpit section is highly detailed including interior structure inside the fuselage halves. To this the usual fare is added such as the floor, rudder bar, seat, control column, compass and ammunition containers, seat mounts, fuel pressure pump, instrument panel and rear fabric screen. All the crucial parts inside the cockpit are present as photo-etched parts, and once finished the cockpit looks amazing. Once the cockpit is done fuselage is assembled and painting starts. I used some mix color for gray and for nose and tail I decided to use Wine Rot color similar to Chocolate Brown found on a preserved airplane belonging to the same Jasta (4635/18).

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I had no problems with fitting on this kit, everything sits well where it should and the only section that needed some attention was lower wing–fuselage joint, because the wings had inaccurate dihedral due to tight fit. It was solved with simple sanding taking me about three minutes.

It was my great pleasure building this kit, it is easy to build, the model looks great once finished and it is suitable for every modeler that wants to build his first biplane kit since not much rigging is demanded. Fellow modelers that are experienced in WW I modeling will have a real treat building this kit.
This product is highly recommended for both Expert and beginner modelers.

Darko Mladenovic

Sample kit is provided by Jan Zdiarsky from Eduard