Now in the recent past I had watched another fine modeler decide that he was going to build his stack of DML / Dragon 1/48 Fokker D.VII kits. I had quite a number myself and thought it might be a fun project to build a late war staffel. This specifically brought me back to one of my favorite subjects aircraft dioramas. Yet being slightly... ok, moderately afflicted with AMS, I decided to do real aircraft and therefore use up some of the aftermarket decals that I have collected over the years. This mean that I had to do different aircraft from different units. Then my AMS kicked in. For several days the query puzzled my thinking.

"When would aircraft from different units be seen together?"

Then it came to me. You would see them at aircraft turn in depots at the war's end.

I. Armee Gruppe Rupprecht. Collection airfield. Nivelles. - kits used -
4 Armee.
Gruja Nr.3.
Jasta 14 SSW D.III (Old Eduard kit?)
Jasta 16b Fok. D.VII early Schwerin (white/black/white) bands around tail unit.
Jasta 29 Fok. D.VII (AM48-183)early Schwerin DML Ltn. Auffarth.
Jasta 56. Fok. D.VII early Alb. Jager

Gruja Nr.6.
Jasta 7 Dr.I 470/17 Jacobs (DML) &Fok. D.VII early Schwerin, Jacobs DML Eagle Strike decals.
Jasta 20 Brown fuselage w/ white tail unit? (Relation to J.30?)
Jasta 40s (PD 48-016 or Roden #421) Fok. D.VII late OAW. leaping stag Roden
Jasta 51. Tail unit half grn half blk Kit?

Marine Feld Jagdgeschwader,
MFJ I, (AM48-612) Sachsenberg Early Schwerin (3 vent) Roden MFJ II
MFJ III Fok. D.VII 4499/18 (AM48-611)(Mid Prod OAW) Eduard.
MFJ III Fok. E.V 144/18(DML kit decals #5909.)DML
MFJ IV
MFJ V.

6 Armee.
Gruja Nr.7.
Jasta 28 Fok. D.VII kit?
Jasta 30 Fok. D.VII early Alb. (ES48042 & Roden 421)Roden
Jasta 30 Fok. D.VII 247/18 (Hybrid kit)
Jasta 33 Fok. D.VII late OAW # 5 DML (ES48042)(loz.)
Jasta 43 Fok. D.VII early Alb. Eduard (Royal kit #20001)
Jasta 43 Fok. D.VII (Superscale 48-479, AM48-183) Eduard or Roden kit 421)
Jasta 52 Fok. D.VII Black fuselage w/ white wheels & radiator shell Eduard or Roden kit
Jasta 63 Fok. D.VII Black & white fuselage band, late model Alb. Eduard or Roden kit

17 Armee.
Jagdgeschwader Nr.3.
Jasta 2 Banding on fuselage like war ribbon tail planes half white half black.
Jasta 26 (Roden) Black & white fuselage & tail banding. DML (3 vent)
Jasta 27 Fok. D.VII(Monogram)decals # 5203 Roden kit #415
Jasta 36 Fok. D.VII(OAW)DML
Jasta 36 Fok. D.VII(OAW)Eduard
Jasta 36 Pfalz D. XII Blue Max wrecked
J.35b ?) DML or Blue Max

Gruja Nr.4
Jasta 1 Fok. D.VII Grn triangle on fin and grn and white angled stripes on horizontal tail plane and maybe a wrap around ribbon on the fuselage. Eduard Johannistahl 601/18
Jasta 57 Fok. D.VII early OAW lt blue similar to J.56 but with yellow details.
Jasta 58 Fok. D.VII(AM48-612, Eduard 8131(OAW) Mid Production
Jasta 59 Fok. D.VII late Schwerin late type black cat Roden

I am guessing that you are planning a build log here? If so I look forward to it

Build log? You got it. This diorama will be in 1:48.

Here are various pieces of field equipment I may use. (The figures are for another diorama.)

Well I have begun telling the story here. I'll post images as it all comes together.

Neat work and a neat idea. I collected a few AURORA WWI kits and you have given me a few ideas!

I will follow your work over there as well.






~ Jeff

Detailing kits with spare parts is one of the methods that sets one build apart from another.



The PE frets are left overs from DML / Dragon, Eduard and a fret of German detais from Tom's Modelworks. Off to the left one of my parts bins contains 2 Part of Poland sets for the 1:48 Fokker D.VII.

Wheels are DML / Dragon, Jager and resin copies of both.

Propellers are from Roden & Eduard kits.

When you begin to mix different manufacturers kits with each other in a diorama they need to look similar. Built strickly out of the box its easy to tell the differences between Roden, Jager, DML / Dragon & Eduard molds. The individual build reviews here at Aeroscale give you most of that information. But its the side by side comparisons that give you the best choices for displays. For instance the DML / Dragon fuselage is too short ih profile height and .040 thou needs to be added from the rear of the lower wing cut out to the rear king post. Also the rudder needs to be enlarged in height by .040 thou and about .030 thou in width. Roden's engine exhaust louvres are not as pronounced as any of the others but dimensionally the fuselage is good. Eduard, Jager louvres are highly pronounced and the fuselages are good.

Now to start showing the buildss I have chosen for this diorama. Note as I have mentioned earlier I will use aircraft from the units that surrendered at Nivelles but in some cases we don't know if a specifically marked machine was there or had been previously captured and was sent there.


Even with recent studies of Jasta Boelcke machines, the identity of this machine's pilot is shrouded in mystery. All we have is an image where this machine or one like it was photographed after having nosed over in a landing or a stalled take off.

Kit review here.

In June 1918, Jasta 43 had a mixture of Fokker D.VII and Albatros D.V & D.va types. In an attempt to consolidate the equipment into one type, when Jasta 18 moved from the 6th to the 19th Armee area, their older Fokker D.VII (Alb.) types were supplied to Jasta 46. These aircraft bear the original Jasta 18 markings, including the raven on the fuselage. This aircraft depicted as being from the D. 528 - 926/18 production batch was flown by Leutnant der Reserve (Ltn des Res.) Josef Keller. He joined Jasta 43 on 5 June, 1918. His only victory came on 8 August 1918 when he brought down an SE5a near Bray-sur-Somme. His combat career ended on October 11, 1918, he was seriously wounded when he crashed during test flight a Jasta 43 Fokker D.VII.

The stripes for the Jasta 43 machine of Ltn Keller are a bit thin in the clear area between the red stripes and care should be exercised when applying these two sections ( for the left and right side.) Always use warm water and keep the decal on the paper backing until ready to slide it off into place on the model. Carefully spread the decal out to the right location. Do one side at a time and using set first then sol and you will have very good results.

Feature here.

While flying Fokker D.VII types, Jasta 46 was commanded by Ltn Otto Creutzmann (8 victories) as a part of Jagdgruppe 2. The pilot of this aircraft is unknown but it was photographed in British hands post war. The lower wing crosses should be further out by one half of a rib space. There is evidence that The unit may have had red or black forward fuselages. The top wing is in 5 colour lozenge while the bottom wing is in four colour. When you work with models like this and you follow the directions without some other references you can get in trouble. Eduard recommends the early fuselage for the following scheme. But here is what you need to know about the problems you will face. Remember folks you saw it here first. Eduard implied in their artwork, but they did not include it in their instructions. To do this scheme / profile as photo-evidence provides:

A. Instead of using the early production fuselage you could use the late production and cut off select louvres and add the photoetch metal louvres to match the profile. ( Also don't forget That even though Eduard shows the capped exhaust port - in the known images you can not see this. A new side panel may have been fabricated in the field) or...

B. If you use the early production fuselage you have to cap off the the side exhaust exit and carve out the rim on the upper cowling to allow for the high exit exhaust . Then add the Eduard photoetch louvres.

Anthology 2 has some very interesting images of this bird in British captivity (with 84 RAF 1918 -1919.) The altered side panels are a strong indication that this early Albatros built Fokker D.VII had not only both of the side and one upper panel altered BUT had its exhaust changed out from the "early side exit " type to the "later high exit" type. There is not enough evidence to prove that the engine was changed out and exhausts were a fairly common item. The engine we do see present is a Mercedes 180hp D.IIIaü type.

Feature here.

This build represents The Early series Schwerin built Fokker D.VII flown by Hauptmann sur zee Gottard Sachsenberg Cmdr of Marine Feld Jasta I. From the ex-Aeromaster series of decals titled " Those incredible Fokkers Pt.II 48-612." The kit is Roden's kit #415. This will be my second build using this same kit and decals.

Another Marine Feld Jasta (Jasta III) Fokker D.VII 4499/18 flown by Vzflgmstr. Mayer who left on 6 Sept. 1918 to SeeFosta II. The personal & unit markings decals are from the ex-Eagle Strike series. The kit is an Eduard first issue of their OAW kit. the original machine probably stayed with the MFJ and was assigned to another pilot at the EOW.

Feature here.

This kit represents a late production Fokker D.VII (OAW) flown by an unknown pilot of Jasta 36. It is well documented that this unit used variations of light and medium blue as a unit marking. This pilot has added a white and medium blue banding around the empennage. The photo image of this machine was probably taken while Jasta 36 was in the field during the war but I include it as it may have been turned in at Nivelles. From the Fokker D.VII Anthology volume 2. The lozenge decals are the excellent the 4 colour version from the Microsculpt discussed here on Aeroscale.

I am taking the artisitic license to include aircraft that belonged to the surrendering German units. But no photo image exists of this machine at Nivelles in the public domain. There maybe some written knowlege by the specific pilot that he had a machine but little or nothing is noted about its markings or type designation. As an example I provide the following;



"This kit represents a Fokker D.VII from a late Albatros production batch in the markings of an earlier machine flown by Ltn. Des Res. Raesch of Jasta 43. His earlier machine was destroyed in combat on 25 July 1918. He parachuted to safety and was eventually given another machine. I duplicated the markings from his early Albatros production bird as it was a common practice for a German pilot that lost a machine to reproduce the same markings on his new aircraft to one extent or another.

It is generally known that Jasta 43 received its initial Fokker D.VII aircraft in a transfer from Jasta 18. Ltn. Raesch inherited this machine ( D.525/18 - 874/18/18 Johannistahl built) from the unit’s temporary commander Ltn.d.R. Otto Creutzmann on about 5 June 1918. The three pronged pitchfork is easily recognizable as a manure fork used in cattle and dairy farms. Both Ltn.d.R. Otto Creutzmann and. Raesch had grown up on farms so it is easy to see why it was retained.

Ltn. Raesch crashed the early machine on 25 July 1918. The markings of his late model Fokker D.VII (Alb.) are unknown at this writing. Since many pilots re-applied their old marking to newly assigned machines, I have represented it here. Ltn.d.R. Josef Raesch came from Jastaschule I at Valenciennes on 6 June1918 and served until the end of war. At that time Ltn. Raesch followed his unit to Nivelles to surrender their aircraft." The lozenge decals are the excellent the 5 colour version from the Microsculpt discussed here on Aeroscale.

The following is from the "When I flew with. . ." GB and the biography I created for this pilot represented there.

". . .It all began in a small town of Zweibrüken in the Pfalz Rhineland area. Coming from a family that operated a small Gesthaus and restaurant called Weinerwald. Hunting in the nearby black forest or the local Phesanery was his favorite leisure time activity. Oblt. Stefan Löwenson rose from the ranks and served inseveral Front line units. It was on 13 Sept.1918 that he was again transferred but to 2 Armee headqurters for the Gruppen Fluzeug Command. Where he acquired a roving commission as field inpector of Jasta materials and operations in and around Metz. It is believed that in his authority that he appropriated one of two aircraft destined to be assigned to the JG.I commander.

In the 147th Aero Sqdn log book for Sept 26,1918. There were 4 men on patrol at approx. 6:30pm. Brotherton and Brosnon at 1500m and Jones and Porter at 600m. It was the latter two that saw the formation above them at 1000m (approx.) The same comments are copied in the daily text. "In a flight of Fokkers . . .Leader was all-white with what looked like red crosses?. . ."



He further increased his victory total to 23 by traveling in his white Fokker D.VIIF and assigning himself to the different Jastas in that theater of operations during his inspection tours. It was his reports on Jasta 64w that noted the loss of many new Fokker D.VII aircraft due to the failure of substandard bungee shock chord during normal landings during Sept. - Oct. 1918.

Now for some allied aircraft that will be in the diorama. (We will get back to the German machines later.)

". . .Here is a Part of Poland set with some Roden parts. Will be doing more to put in a diorama. Remember the propellers from the thread "One good turn deserves. . ." The laminations go to opposing sides because one is a left hand and one is a right hand. . ."



This will be one of several aircraft that will be an a "stripdown mode".

Also I will include my Fok. D.VII 247/18 build for another Jasta 30 machine.

Wow, that almost came out of nowhere! Great builds Stephen, I'm trying to decide if I can even pick a favorite. I really like how your prop blades turned out.

Here is the highly modified DML / Dragon 1:48 Fokker D.VII in the markings of D.365/18 flown by Ltn. Josef Jacobs Cmdr of Jasta 7. He was actually in Berlin at the 3rd type testing competition and his machines were flown to Nivelles by other Jasta 7 pilots. The personal markings are from the old Eagle Strike sheet.





I have portrayed it with a BMW motor, Heine propeller with a Rupp quick release prop hub.

Jasta 7 line up about mid June 1918.

Fokker D.VII 387/18 from the top.

Heavily modified DML / Dragon Fok. D.VII 387/18 as flown by Ltn. Auffarth CO of Jasta 29. I just finished adding the footstep & grab handles.

Next I added the decals for Holtzem's D.402/18 from Eagle Strike Part 2 Fokker D.VII set #48080 to a hybrid / kit crash kit Fokker D.VII. (Known by WWI modelers as the Eagle Strike D.VII Bavarian set.)

Good decals and they take Sol & Set well but the tail bands are slightly short and will need to have a paint touch up to finish.





The build started here