WW1 Aircraft Models

I think I'm going to do one of those balsa frame models of a Fokker Dr 1 and paint it to match Voss's colors. I'd like to know a good place to buy the model. I've done a model of a Spad before and it was quite challenging. I also need to find his colors. I know he had an interesting design on the cowling of the aircraft. It was a face. And I believe the cowling was yellow on the planes in his Jasta. Can somebody let me know where I can get a color portrait of his plane?
Maybe I'll take pictures of it when I'm done and post it somewhere so everyone can see it.

I am surprised that you don't have more responsed but
perhaps your title should have been Voss' plane. That
would bring folks in. I am not into balsa but do check out
the WWI aircraft modelling site at http://pease1.sr.unh.edu
What I know of Voss' Fokker is that the only distinguishing
markings was the face on the front. Hope this helps and
maybe one reply will get another.

I haven't paid any attention to balsa kits for years, but I know that Guillow used to make a balsa Dr.1. I couldn't begin to get you how to find a balsa kit, though your best chance would probably be at a store that specializes in RC and other flying models. (Any particular reason why you want balsa as opposed to plastic?)

There was a thread some time ago about the colour of the cowling on Voss's triplane. There wasn't much of a concensus (is there ever, here?), but most seemed to agree that the cowling wasn't yellow, but rather some darker colour. FWIW, I have a print on my wall showing the cowling as a dark green, verging on black. The face markings are white. Otherwise, Voss's Dr.1 is finished in standard light blue dope overstreaked with olive green.

I'd certainly go along with the cowling being olive rather than yellow..All the combat reports relating to Voss' final fight describe the colours of an Albatros which briefly joined in, but no-ne mentions any yellow on the tri-plane. I think they would have had it been so.
Be careful if modeling the Voss machine though. Don't forget it's an F1 not a Dr1.There are quite a few noticable differences. Not least a curved tailplane

Peter

What? What is an F1? I've never heard of it. From the picture I have of him standing next to his plane it appears to be a Dr. 1. Where can I get the best schematics of an F1? Do you think Janes would have it in their Aircraft of WW1? So white face on dark olive background. Basically the only way to get colors right is from combat reports or originals, right?

OK I hate to swim against the tide here, BUT, In the book

High in The Empty Blue

High in The Empty Blue

by Alex Revell there is a color plate showing Voss' plane as defintely having a chrome yellow cowling. I asked this ques. here many moons ago and got a lot of responses and a quite lengthy discourse about the film, cameras, etc. used during that time period. Jasta 10's squadron colors were defintely yellow, (Voss flew a Pfalz with a yellow nose), so who knows for sure? Also I think I saw one of those old Guillows Balsa DrI's on the eBay.com auction site under collectibles,military, world war I. Don't EVEN go there unless your significant other is extremely understanding, because you are going to want to bid on everything. Anyway, I will have to agree on the reposting. If you post again under something "Voss' Colors" or "Voss' DrI" you will probably set of a firestorm of debate, which is kind of fun isn't it? Hals und beinbrech.

The first 3 a/c built were designated F1 and can be cosidered pre-production a/c. Fok F1 101/17 was tested to destruction, F1 102/17 went to MvR, and F103/17 went to Voss. These aircraft differed in detail from the full production Dr1. A curved leading edge to the tailplane is one notable difference, the absense of under-wing skids another.
Incedentaly, if all this speculation about yellow cowling and tail does turn out to be correct, the Imperial War Museum holds a yellow Dr1 type rudder as yet unidentified. I don't go along with it myself, but it's a thaught isn't it?

Peter L

I was the one who commented on photographic film during the earlier thread on Voss's F.1/Dr.1. The only problem I have with the idea of a yellow cowl -- even a dark yellow cowl -- is that white facial markings wouldn't have much in the way of visibility against such a background. That being the case, why would Voss have bothered with the face decoration?

(The solution, Vickers, is to buy two kits and give one a dark green and the other a dark yellow cowl.)

Talk about a labor of love. Two planes...hmmm. Don't think so. Anyway, in a picture with him standing beside his F1, you can see the face on the plane quite clearly. It would make sense that it would be a dark background. Maybe with the introduction of the F plane, the ground crew was hesitant to change the original colors. You sure the face was white? Maybe the totem face was chrome yellow on a dark olive background. That would kind of make sense. It would also stand out quite a bit.

This is kinda complicated, V, so forgive me if I ramble.

The problem is one of visual perception versus panchromatic versus orthochromatic film. What appears dark to one won't be dark to another. Another poster has referred to the way the yellow markings on Jasta 10 a/c appear dark in photos. That's in photos taken with a certain type of film (don't ask me whether it's pan- or ortho-; I can't remember). If you were to paint a model yellow and then put a white face on the cowl, outside of a few feet the white would blur into the yellow and the face would be invisible -- to the eye (it would still appear in a photo because the yellow would register darker on film). By the same token, if the cowl was dark green and the face yellow, it would be highly visible to the naked eye -- but in a photo the yellow would be dark and the face would be hard to distinguish from its surroundings.

The conclusion I have to draw is that the cowl and face had to be painted in such a way as to have full contrast whether viewed directly or through photos such as have survived. That's why I'm more or less in agreement with artists who've gone with the dark green cowl/white face markings.

Of course, none of this is to say that Voss couldn't have painted his machine's rudder yellow...