Voss Triplane

[BobE]

Need help gang. Just bought a 1/72 model of MVR's Tripe. Built the same model years ago as Voss' but the old paint job came out an awful purplish color so decided to rebuild and repaint at the same time as the new one. Have sifted through my own material and looked over model by others on the Web.Confused!

Can any one tell me:
Wheel Hubs- Lt Blue or Black?
Undersides- Lt Blue or Turquoise?
Engine Cowl- Dark Olive or Black?
Topside Streaking- Olive cast or Lt Blue/Grayish?
Looking from the top: does the streaking run diagonally up from left to right or down from left to right? All wings streaked in same direction?

Thanks all. I'm sure I came to the right place.

[dpcmodels]

Hello BobE,
* * * *I'm sure I'll catch a lot of flack from this but here goes:
Wheel diskcovers were LT. blue (sky) or tourquise, undersides
were the same Lt.blue as well as the struts. The engine cowling was actually a chrome yellow but others insist it was dark olive. Streaking on the wings are as follows: Top wing had streaks running cordwise (up and down). The ailerons, however, were done at a 45 degree angle with the right aileron streaks going towards the center of the top wing and
the left going to the right (see below)
* * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
* * * * * * * * //////// * * * * * * * * * * * * *\\

The middle wing had streaks again at 45 degrees meeting on the center cowling gun section (see below)

* * * * * * * * * * //////////////////\\\\

The lower wing was done in the same way. Fuselage sides were done with up and down strokes while the top decking
had the streaking applied 45 degrees from the top longeron
to the right. (see middle wing streaks-left side)
This same direction also applied to the stabilizer. Hope this helps some.

Dave

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Bob E.:
Ltn Werner Voss' Fok. F.I 103/17 was received at Marckebeeke Airfield on 28 August 1917, with the Fokker standard streaked camouflage that was introduced on th Fok. D.IV and used on Fok. D.III for a Dutch order and the later Fok. D.V machines. The upper surfaces of the wings, axle wing, tailplane, top and sides of the fuselage. and wheel covers were given one coat of olive brown streaking varying from dark to very light, over 3 coats of clear doped linen. A single coat of copal varnish water proofing top coat was applied over the streaked and on the under surface sky blue. The undersurfaces of the wings ,axle wing, fuselage and tailplane and all struts were painted with one coat of sky blue and varnished which resulted in a turquoise blue. The upper wing and fuselage cross fields and rudder were painted flat white over matte black standard form iron crosses. the lower wing crosses were painted on a clear doped cross fields. The engine cowling and top aluminum cowling panels were painted solid olive brown. The streaking on the 3 wings ran diagonal / spanning one rib bay^ fwd.. On top of the fuselage and tailplane ran at approximately 45°/. On the sides of the fuselage the streaking was vertical. On the cowl was a face of white eyes, eye brows and moustache. I have a color print available of Voss' machine, contact me if interested. This data is based on photographs and known facts and not supposition.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[BobE]

Thank you gentlemen, both. Only two responses but top quality and very helpful.

Dave, Thought the typed "diagram" was really neat. Pretty clever these modelers! Never thought of the ailerons being different.I've seen some comments elsewhere about the yellow cowl. Not sure of the original source or reasoning.I have to go with Dan and the dark olive on that one. If it was yellow I don't think you would have enough contrast to show up the white "face" as it appears in the photos I've seen.
Good luck with DPC Models. You certainly are getting enough interest from this site.I used to build the Gullowe(?) models as a teenager and they were really fun. Don't have the space for the scale any more. That's why I do 1/72nds. The electric motor idea intrigues me though.

Dan, What can I say? I knew you would come through with what I needed. You even answered a question I forgot to ask about the engine panels which I had originally done as unpainted metal. Thank you. I really appreciate it.

[dpcmodels]

BobE,
* * I knew this would draw some debates. While I don't
dispute the the facts given by Dan-San as to the color of
Voss's tripe, I'd suggest you do further digging and draw
your own conclusions as to the exact color (or close to it).
Check out this link:
http://blindkat.tripod.com/voss/color.html

Perhaps you may find some answers here. Have a good one!

Dave

[BobE]

Dave,
*Where did you find that? Looks like a one time WWI item on an obscure site. Very interesting stuff.

Looks like I can pretty much do what I want and other people will have to prove that I'm wrong.

I notice Voss' plane did not have the wing skids. That's good. I was going to file the molded ones off and add scratch builts. Saved me that effort! The yellow cowl argument sounds plausible (squadron reg's) but I still think the probabilities are in favor of the olive.

Thanks for the input. Notice you were on pretty early in the morning. Must have a lot of balsa to cut!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Bob *;D

[dpcmodels]

BobE,
Just trying to help. If you look at Vzbt. Hecht's captured
pfalz DIII 1370/17, you'll notice the forward section as being
a dark color in Black & white photos. This color is reported as being yellow. If you compare it to the tripe, they are almost
exact (as far as shading goes) since Jasta 10 used yellow noses as a squadron marking. Just my 2 cents worth. That
site is old and there are many more updated sites out there.
You just have to look. I do get up pretty early....gotta get the kids off to school. I won't be doing any cutting until my new laser gets here. Then we'll do some serious cutting then.
Good luck on your Voss project.

Dave

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Bob E & Dave:
The illustrator of the A/A page used the word "suggested" which isan expression of opinion, and not fact. My data is based on known and established facts and not opinions or wishes of what I would like it to be. It was not silvery blue, that came from an observation by McCudden during the fight. No one else described it as such. The yellow nose came from Alex Imrie. MvR's F.I 102/17 had the exact same shade of grey in the photos, so on that basis MvR's also had a yellow nose? Both cowlings were exactly the same, dark olive brown. The yellow rudder was suggested because there was a yellow rudder in IWM in London, well that has been refuted recently on the Old Forum. Gentlemen, those facts are as I presented them, if you can refute what I have stated please do, not with suggestions or opinions, but with hard indisputable factual evidence. : By the way, what color nose was on the Pfalz D.III parked next to Fok. F.I 102/17 at Marckebeeke Airfield?
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[dpcmodels]

Dan-San,
* * * *I do appreciate the insite and corrections. The pictures
of FI.102/17 that I have show the cowling as being natural
scrolled aluminium. (taken from "the Fighting Triplanes") Also in the same book page 75 lower right hand corner is a picture
of a Pfalz painted in olive drab. If you look closely at the picture, you'll see the cowling parts are much darker than the rest of the aircraft. I can clearly see the color line between the two. Surely, this can't be olive brown. Can you shed some light on this? Also, could the heat from the engine also cause a color distortion? open to to further insite. Thanks.

Dave

Well, now I'm going to stir this pot even more!

I just pulled my copy of Richthofen: Beyond The Legend Of The Red Baron by Peter Kilduff off the shelf. There is a photo of Voss' F.I 103/17 in the photo section between pages 162-163 that clearly shows a stripe in front of the white border of the national insignia on the starbord fuse side. It is lighter colored than the cowl, but darker than the streaked finish of the fuse aft of the cockpit. Yellow would seem to be a very real possibility here. In the shadow of the horizontal stab, it is impossible to tell, but the color aft of the national insignia seems darker than the rest of the fuse as well.