Wenzl’s War Horse—Eduard 1/72 Scale Fokker Triplane

[jlent]

My model represents the aircraft flown by Lieutenant Richard Wenzl, based at Cappy Airfield in April 1918.  During his flying career, Wenzl achieved 12 victories and survived the First World War.  He was assigned to Jasta 11 for a brief time and then moved on to Jasta 6, where he achieved most of his combat success.  One of the more interesting features of the model was the personal markings used on his aircraft.  While maintaining the red Jasta 11 markings, he included white and black bands on the fuselage in proportion to the Iron Cross ribbon, but he reversed the colors. This personal marking was also used on the Fokker D-VII and D-VIII aircraft he flew until the end of the war.  He also incorporated an alternating black and white markings along the leading edges of his triplane’s three wings.  I thought it would be a great subject to work. 

I love Eduard kits, and their Dr-1 profipack, with its photo-etch and wheel masks, is no exception.  The kit provides decals for 5 different aircraft, but since none of them were Wenzl’s, this presented a challenge later in the build.  My first challenge was accomplishing the olive-green streaked camouflage effect prevalent on Fokker aircraft of the period.  I found an article in iModeler.com that fit the bill—I highly recommend it.  Using Tamiya light blue acrylic paint as the base coat, I applied the model master olive-green using a small, angled brush—trying to proportion it to a 1/72 scale effort.  I was very pleased with the result.  Since the decal sheet provided in the kit didn’t include Wenzl’s markings, I also had to paint the fuselage band and the leading edges of the wing.  I also made notches on the ammunition chutes and painted them copper to simulate the belt-fed ammunition going to the gun.  I rigged the model and also attempted some weathering along the forward fuselage to simulate oil stains from the rotary engine. 

The only thing I really didn’t like on the build was no tab on the comma tail to insert into the fuselage.  The tail had to be glued directly to the “knife edge” portion of the rear fuselage, and this can potentially affect alignment of the rudder.  The biggest challenge however was the decals.  First, I went into my aftermarket stash to find the “perfect fit” decals.  I found them and despite placing lacquer on them and giving them time to dry, they fell apart; it just took a little longer—guess that was a good investment.  I used some of the kit decals and found Eduard decals from another kit and used them.  It went error-free until I applied the last national marking on the right fuselage—it shifted, and I couldn’t move it back in place before it started to fall apart.  I didn’t have a spare and I found out later that Eduard didn’t even make the kit anymore, so…after I got back from nationals last year, I found another kit to get the decal I needed.  The lesson I learned is to be careful “going off-script” with decals.  I thought with my aftermarket stash, it would be no problem.  I learned differently.  Other than that, I was very pleased with the outcome.

(Picture of Wenzl’s triplane credited to Osprey Aircraft of the Aces, volume 40).    

[ghodges]

That's a sweet looking build! I agree in that your olive streaking came out just right, and is even more impressive being done by hand. Thanks for sharing!

 

Gil 

[jlent]

Hey Gil -

Appreciate your feedback on my triplane.  I think it turned out pretty well, and I liked doing something a little different than "the norm."  Look forward to hosting you and the IPMS membership at the convention this August!