Fokker Dr.I Framing Color

[WarrenD]

Forumites,
I am trying to consult all the scribes and sages I can find on this subject, and I'm sure it will, in the end, be a case of "we can't be sure", but here goes anyway.
What, in ya'lls opinion, was the color of the fuselage framing on Fokker Dr.I's? I have had many tell me "grey-green" but that still leaves it wide open. Some say the color was like RLM 02, others more green. The Dr.I on the Memorial Flight site has framing that is, to my eyes, decidedly green in color. I would appreciate your collective insight on this. Thanks!

Warren D.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

WarrenD:
What I have is based the fuselage frame of Fok.D.VII 10347/18, it was light grey tinged green, that is a hint of green. I saw this machine and thoroughly examined it when it was owned by Jim Mathison.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[WarrenD]

Dan-San,
Thank you very much sir.

Warren D.

[Langdon]

Hello WarrenD & Dan-San,

Late built Fokkers had their fuselage frame painted medium grey, that is my understanding as the Caproni museum's D.VIII was done that way (unfortunately since its restoration it has now been sprayed in matt black) but I believe the Dr.I fuselage frame was left unpainted or painted with shellack, possibly Achim Engles could tell you what the official regulations were but my information comes from my observations of parts mainly from MVR's 425/17 held in the Australian War Memorial, RAAF museum and the IWM in London. The AWM have the step from 425/17 and it is still attached to a piece of the lower longeron, this piece is unpainted but the step itself is painted with the same black enamel that the joystick, its torque tube and rear mounts for the guns are painted with (possibly also the rudder bar and its upright as well as the seat frame). The control column's black enamel is painted over an olive coloured undercoat but on the other parts the black paint is the only layer. The Dr.I rudder on display in the IWM has no paint on its internal frame apart from some black paint applied to the areas that were welded.

I would be very interested if anyone knows more about the medium grey paint that the latter aircraft were painted with, I have heard it was a lead based rust prevention paint.

Langdon

[Boz0]

WarrenD,

The colour we used on our airframe was based on the D VII fuselage from the Musée de l'Air during its restoration.

We found a lot of difference in this shade depending of its exposure to light, UV etc...
It ranges from the one below (the one we choosed)
found under tight linen covering , to a more grey shade in the exposed cockpit area, and even a brown hue were the paint was in direct contact with the dope.

Of course , I do not pretend, but who could, that this colour is correct for all the Fokker's products either built by this company or its sub contractors,
but at least, it seems satisfactory for one of them.

P.S. The colour looks more green on the pictures on our web site, but this is due to our camera, and the light reflection.

Regards

Alain

[WarrenD]

Thanks everybody, this gives me something to go on. Of course, we'll never know for sure, but I thought somewhat of a "range of color" could be established for me to work on. All of you have been a great help.

Warren D.

[Langdon]

Alain & Dan-San,

The texture of this paint, was it gloss, sheen or matt?

Thanks,
Langdon

[Boz0]

Langdon,

The paint was sheen on protected areas and more matt on exposed parts.

If you forgive the poor quality of this old picture, you can see that "brown" hue I was talking about were the paint was in direct contact with the dope.
You can also discern the limit with the "grey-green"
colour.

All the metal parts were painted in either "grey-green" black or dark green, ( the same colour as the cowling panels) like the hand pump, radiator shutter operating ring etc...

If we can assume that this is the "delivery standard"
we can not exclude variations.

Regards

Alain

[Langdon]

Thanks Alain, I appreciate your help.
Langdon

[AchimEngels]

Just unearthed this one. If anybody has to add something, I would of course apreciate it.

Achim