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Added
16/12/2007 Tim Carroll sent me some photos of the
new 32nd E.V by Avis this week. When I saw them I asked him to do an
inbox review.
This might be the first review of this kit. :-) Thanks Tim.
This is Avis’
first 1:32 scale kit. I am only aware of 1:72nd Hs -123 by this
company.
The kit is limited to a production run of 1000 and is moulded in a
blue/grey plastic.
The box has a picture of Theo Ostercamp’s aircraft and is of light
cardboard and susceptible to crushing.
The attachment points for the parts are remarkably fine for a
limited run kit. There is a little flash present on many of the
parts;
this is will not be difficult to clean up. The moulding and detail
is as fine as that of a Roden kit.
The kit has 5 sprues, one is duplicated, and fuselage and wing
halves. A small clear foil containing compass, instruments and
windshield is included. There two a sheets of lozenge, upper and
lower, as well as marking for the aircraft of Lt. z.
See Theo Ostercamp and from Jasta 24, Offz-Stv Friedrich Altemeier.
There are good pictures of both these aircraft in the Windsock
Datafile 25 of the Fokker D.VIII.
This is my only reference on this aircraft apart from the “WW1
Modelling” site and “The Aerodrome” discussion group.
The interior is provided with the fuselage frame work, floor, fuel &
oil tank, and rear frame with fabric bulkhead
to which you fit the seat mounts and seat. The assembly is much the
same as the Roden Fokkers.
The throttle quadrant on the port side is separate and the empty
belt and ammunition container are solid but
the latter has the cut-outs at the lower corners to allow for the
push rods of the T shaped controls on the sides of the cockpit.
The flying controls are all provided. The ignition switch on the
port side is not provided and the only instruction I have issue with
is they would have you install the compass on the port side. I think
this was usually on the starboard side of the cockpit. This cries
out for the detailing with the addition of the control and
synchronising cables. Fuselage bracing and seatbelts.
The machine guns are provided with cartridge and empty belt feeds
and they have cooling jacket moulded in place. Another version with
the barrel only to allow for the use of etch cooling jackets is
supplied as well.
The upper fuselage fairing has openings for the fuel and oil
fillers, the fuel gauge and cut outs for the MGs correct looking at
the windsock plans.
The fuselage is moulded in left and right halves with the bottom
section moulded separately. The interior has the fuselage frames
present aft of the rear bulkhead. The ply fairings on the sides are
nicely represented. The outer sides have the fuselage frames and the
ply fairings delicately represented, a real highlight, and will look
great under the lozenge. You may have to open the induction intake
openings as mine were flashed over on one side. The lower section
has the forward access panel and the openings for the control stick
and cables. There is a seam along the centre of the fabric section
and delicate representation of the stitching.
The engine is moulded in two halves; front/rear, with a separate
head for each cylinder. The induction pipes and pushrods are
separate again similar to Roden. There is a pin, retaining cap and
two part ferrule that fit into the firewall to allow the engine to
rotate. Two types of propeller are provided; Axial and Heine. The
cowl has the front panel represented and the lower lip is rounded
correctly. The lower edge will need to be thinned a bit to look more
like the aluminium sheet it was made from.
The tailplane has separate elevators with fine representation of the
interior structure. The issue with the Roden tailplanes is not
repeated. The fin and rudder are the same.
The wing is in upper and lower halves with a span wise join running
from the aileron to the centre section cut-out, about 3-4mm in from
the trailing edge. While this will mean a filling task it does mean
the trailing edge is nice and sharp. The ailerons are separate. The
wing will need cleaning and refining of the seams and joins due to
flash. Also my example will need some surface sanding to remove
small lumps. There a panel lines engraved correspond to those shown
in the plans in the windsock.
The location for the struts is clearly represented by raised mounts
similar to the Roden D.VI.
The undercarriage wing is in upper and lower parts and the wheels
have both inner and outer hubs separate. This again will allow the
use of etched spokes, another nice touch, it will also allow the
application of the lozenge easier. All struts provided are fine and
close to scale, however they are not joined in “V”at the U/C wing
like the Roden kits. The fineness of both wing and U/C struts will
need a jig to set up the wing and U/C. The completed model will need
to be handled with care, though it wouldn’t be too difficult to
replace the fine plastic struts with flattened brass tube or
“Strutz” brass extruded struts.
Avis provide 2 sheets of lozenge which are the only downside of the
kit I can see. The colours of the lozenge provided are not even
close to that shown on the WW1 modelling site -
http://www.wwi-models.org/misc/Colors/index.html gives a
good indication of what the colours should be. The upper being too
grey while the lower are orange. It would be best to not to use them
or do Ostercamp’s yellow and black striped aircraft to avoid using
lozenge at all.
There is no commercially available 4 colour lozenge that I am aware
of since the closure of Americal, though Spada has announced they
will do some.
The instructions for both aircraft follows the accepted D.V
finishing of 4 colour upper and lower lozenge on the fuselage with
the wings, cowl and upper and lower decking painted in Fokker olive
green.
There is an issue with instructions for Ostercamp’s aircraft as they
show the leading edge of the wing to be covered in lozenge. Looking
at the photo on page 10 of the data file the leading edge of the
wing has marks that look like lozenge so it is a reasonable
interpretation, though I believe it’s wrong.
On the Aerodrome forum there has been considerable discussion on how
the wings on the E.V/D.VIII were finished and it seems they were
stained “Moccha” brown and green on the upper surfaces and a violet
and azure blue on the lower surfaces. The streaks ran diagonally
from front to rear with blue matching the green and the violet
matching the mocha. In the data file there is a bill of materials
for finishing the wings that has these stains, this can be seen on
page 30, it does speculate that these could be mixed to get the
olive green though this is wrong.
Refer to this thread on the Aerodrome forum for an idea of the
colours:
http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/aircraft/13469-fokker-e-v-d-viii-wing-camouflage.html
I was unable to find a profile or diagram on the internet to help
with the location and size of the stained areas. There are a
considerable number of pages in threads on the Aerodrome on this
topic. I will use what pictures I have to paint mine.
In all a really nice kit that will need a little extra work to get
nice model. A great first effort from Avis, don’t hang around this
kit is limited to 1000 copies.
References;
Fokker D.VIII, By P M Grosz. Windsock Datafile 25. Albatros
Publication. UK
The Aerodrome web page:
http://www.theaerodrome.com
WW1 Modelling Page:
http://www.wwi-models.org/
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