History:  The Fokker DVII was designed by Reinhold Platz, and put into production in January 1918. It is generally considered to be the best fighter of W.W.I, and was the essence of simplicity and strength, combining a welded steel tube fuselage with thick wooden box structure wings that were incredibly sturdy, and needed little bracing by struts and wires. It was powered by an excellent BMW engine and had outstanding high-altitude capabilities. Luckily for the allies, the Germans were unable to produce this new design in sufficient numbers to be effective. The DVII in particular was feared by the allied pilots, and was the only plane listed by name to be surrendered in the armistice of 1918.

The Kit:  This model was constructed using the aged Monogram kit along with Eduard photo-etched machine guns. Despite its age, it is still a pretty nice kit, with an overall accurate shape, and good directions that make for an easy build. The only issue encountered while building this kit was an alignment problem with the upper wing.

Besides the very nice Eduard photo-etched guns, the cockpit was also modified with etched rudder pedals, and the welded steel tube fuselage was replicated with the addition of structural tubing on the inside cockpit walls. Wire was also used to link the control surfaces on the top wing and tail.

The kit was painted with Model Master paints, and the decals used were a combination of SuperScale and Techmod decals. The lozenge pattern on the wings is all decal, with the baby blue stripes cut to fit from a solid decal sheet, and applied over the lozenge decal.

References:   Fokker DVII - In Action - Squadron Publications