Carl Bolle's D.VII of Jasta Boelcke

[USRanger]

Started work on my first D.VII.  I have a long way to go yet.  I've only done the base colors of the fuselage, except for the white nose.  Haven't touched the wings yet, plus weathering, texturing, etc.  I thought it was a neat scheme so I'm giving it a go.  The wings will still have the lozenge pattern, but the colors are more dark blue, gold & deep purple.









I also have a beautiful color profile I'm working from, but it is from an online book & it won't let me copy the pic.

[Krusty]

One thing's for sure, our WW1 arena will have some primo-looking aircraft flying around in it!

 

[Nr_RaVeN]

Looking good Sir ~S~

[USRanger]

I'm very much the amateur skinner, so I'm sure I'll have lots of questions (even though I do read these threads daily).  I'm dreadin' working with the damage mask.

[Mus51]

Nice! UsRanger, skins and sounds! I can't wait to see it finished

[Plazus]

Good looking skin! Keep at it, Im sure youll get it lookin good before long.  

[USRanger]

Got my profile:


I found a motherload of D.VII profiles here if anyone is planning on doing one:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Oqh-aTpzB3oC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=Fokker+D.+VII+Willi+Gabriel&source=bl&ots=WlChlQZ1fJ&sig=u8mtBKa5dWAkQiLr5c4Fyf2D71o&hl=en&ei=OIWlS-P8DMH7lwfj5510&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Fokker%20D.%20VII%20Willi%20Gabriel&f=false

[USRanger]

A little more progress.  Probably a million more steps to go.




Btw skinners, as this is my first "official" skin, I will be looking for any help, pointers or problems you see as I go along.  Any advice is most appreciated.

[hammer]

Looking good. A question, though: Is the small wing between the wheels (whatever it's called) black? In the photo, it appears to be closer in color to the top of the wings than the black around the engine.

Regards,

Hammer

[USRanger]

Roger that Hammer.  I haven't gotten to that small bottom wing yet, or the wheels.  Last night was mostly spent on making my own lozenge pattern & playing with the colors (which have already been modified since this pic).  One thing I was concerned about was the size of the lozenge "cells".  I was afraid they were too large (they were a little larger than the default's) so I resized the cells a little smaller.  I'll post a pic tonight & folks can help me decide which cell size looks better before moving on to the detail layers.

[Krusty]

Looking good. A question, though: Is the small wing between the wheels (whatever it's called) black? In the photo, it appears to be closer in color to the top of the wings than the black around the engine.

Regards,

Hammer

You can't see it in the photo.

The lower one is not a real photo. Looks like a filtered game screenshot with digital blur added, to me.

[Wmaker]

USRanger,

The lozenge fabric was applied in strips perpendicular to the wing spars. So you would have seams running along the chord of the wing.

From here: http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=87962&page=1

"The four color fabric was 1320mm plus or minus 10mm wide and the five color fabric was 1350mm plus or minus 10mm wide. There was some movement inboard with the seams on the four color fabric. Still this amounted to six panels in most cases for a top wing."



"This is the "chordwise" application of four colour lozenge fabric for the upper surfaces of a wing. Note the "cut" edges of the fabric lay against the leading and trailing edges of the wing."

Also, I'd tone down the black shade of the forward fuselage a bit towards the direction of gray, kind of like the profile you posted. Would look a bit more believable IMO. Right now it looks like dark black has been applied with the paint bucket tool, there's not much detail visible.

[USRanger]

You can't see it in the photo.

The lower one is not a real photo. Looks like a filtered game screenshot with digital blur added, to me.

That pic is one of four shots from some movie, so I tried not to go by it too much, but it matches the profile pretty well.

USRanger,

The lozenge fabric was applied in strips perpendicular to the wing spars. So you would have seams running along the chord of the wing.

From here: http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=87962&page=1

"The four color fabric was 1320mm plus or minus 10mm wide and the five color fabric was 1350mm plus or minus 10mm wide. There was some movement inboard with the seams on the four color fabric. Still this amounted to six panels in most cases for a top wing."

(Image removed from quote.)

"This is the "chordwise" application of four colour lozenge fabric for the upper surfaces of a wing. Note the "cut" edges of the fabric lay against the leading and trailing edges of the wing."

Also, I'd tone down the black shade of the forward fuselage a bit towards the direction of gray, kind of like the profile you posted. Would look a bit more believable IMO. Right now it looks like dark black has been applied with the paint bucket tool, there's not much detail visible.

So I need to break up the lozenge into 6 sections then re-lay them then?  I'll have to go look at the default again because I didn't notice if that is how it appears with that skin.  It would look better once I add the spars.  Dang lozenge!

As for the black, you are correct.  Everything so far is just the base coat.  I've done no shading, highlighting or real detailing.  I want to get the base colors right before moving on to that.


Edit:  I just went & stared at the default's lozenge.  I can't see any breakup into different sections like has been described.  All I see is where they skinned one wing & then mirrored it over to the other side.  So is mine wrong if I don't break it up into 6 sections and do mine like the default, or am I totally missing what I'm being told here?

[USRanger]

   Ok, let me type this out & maybe someone can tell me if I'm correct or not.  The lozenge fabric was laid from front to back, usually in six strips according to what I read, which would mean that the patterns on the left & right edges of the strips won't match up to each other, correct?  If so, I just don't see it in the default skin.  Should I be using the default as a reference for skinning purposes?  Just go by the other information posted on sites as Wmaker posted?  Sigh.

Edit:  I see clearly now what you were saying Wmaker.  The cells on the left & right edges of the 6 panels don't line up with each other because every other panel is supposed to have the fabric running in the opposite direction, to break the pattern up even more.  I still don't see that happening on the default skin, but I'm going to do this as historically accurate as possible for an amateur like myself.  Looks like I got some lozenge work to do.

[Wmaker]

So I need to break up the lozenge into 6 sections then re-lay them then?  

USRanger,

Just as a warning: This issue is far, far more complex than this. Fokker D.VII was manufactured by three main firms (Fokker, Albatross Werke, Ostdeutsche Albatross Werke) and each of them used their own unique covering practices/stencils and so on...over which, the pilots applied their own personal markings in the units. There also were different types of lozenge fabric, with different shades, patterns and...so on. AFAIK Bolle's plane is a Fokker built, since the F-designation. Only the Fokker built machines with BMW-engines got the F-designation. Other manufacturers fitted BMW engines into their machines aswell but there wasn't any distinction as far as the designation goes.

I'll send you a package regarding this stuff in a PM.

Should I be using the default as a reference for skinning purposes?

Generally speaking, I'd say that's a no. I would generally suggest starting by doing a blank template and starting from there with an open mind.

Btw, check the top projection of that Bolle's aircraft in that osprey book (page 45) and you can see the seams of the lozenge strips.

...I'm going to do this as historically accurate as possible for an amateur like myself.  Looks like I got some lozenge work to do.

You have the right attitude. Having an open mind and doing a lot of research goes a long way!

EDIT/PM sent!/EDIT