FI 103/17: A Color Study

[Tim West]

Welcome all,

What follows is "my" conclusion on how 103/17 may have been finished. I'm not an expert, just a guy who has spent....a lot of time looking at this plane and its successor the DR.I.

I have based my conclusion on the photos, the articles and the endless, heated and lively debates on this subject. What I offer is merely a guide to what I have termed "The Color Zone"

Let's begin!




.

[Tim West]

Description: FI 103/17 wn. 1730

Overall finish was 3 colors, light green, dark green and black, streaked over a bleached linen. The same finish was carried to the tailplane and the wings upper surfaces. The underside of these sufaces were light blue. There was no return as seen on the DR.I. The cross fields on the upper wing was white whilst the bottoms were left clear. The struts were also light blue. The cowling, metal fuse panels and wheel covers were painted green. The rudder
was white and the axle wing was finished green and light blue.

It was delivered finished like FI. 101/17. Typical Fokker streaking with the cowling, panels and wheel cover were left unpainted. (turned metal and bleached linen) Once delivered 103 like 102 was painted in the field by mechanics. This would explain the difference in appearance between
102s and 103s cowling and wheel covers. They were neither red nor chrome yellow...imho =D

FI 103/17



..and what about the photo at Marckebeke and the DIII? Well....... Here is the above pic ran through my orthochromatic photoshop script..not perfect but close. Hmm looks green to me =D



The Marckebeke photo isnt evidence enough that the cowl was yellow. While 103s cowl looks similar to the DIIIs in tone......it also looks like 100's of other DR.I photos we agree to have been finished in green. I feel that if Voss's cowl was yellow....Every report on this plane would have noticed that...even from
a distance.

And just for fun here are some color samples...they also show the difference in linen color between the FIs and the DR.I.





To be honest, I don't think there was much science to doing the streaking or mixing the colors. Sure they followed a guid of sorts but really, I think it was just a guy with some buckets and a brush. Nothing fancy.

Other notes:
There doesn't appear to be the rib tape on the leading edges of the wings..as seen on DR.Is. The blotches seen on the fuselage are more likely repairs than some sort of nose art.

Oh..and for all you non believers...


so if it was finished in yellow... all of the fuse panels would have been yellow. There is no tone difference between the cowling and 103s other fuse panels. Infact, one would assume if the cowl was yellow, it'd appear darker than the green panels next to it.

That's all folks..have fun..be nice.

[RAGIII]

Tim, nice to hear from you, and see your latest efforts! Some very convincing stuff here, but probably not enough to change anyones mind
How about one for us REAL HERETICS that still like overall BLUE as the base
RAGIII

[jumpinjan]

Hi Tim,
I ran your color rendering through my ortho emulator and have the same result. Good job.
Jan

[Tim West]

Rick,

Thanks =) I've been having fun hangin out for sure. Lol, I think everyone here has agreed to disagree. I just had this info and wanted to share =)

I sort of was avoiding that =) The overall light blue finish. Out everything, that was one area I struggled with a lot. It is SOOOO hard to tell... but you know =D

[Tim West]

Originally Posted by jumpinjan

Hi Tim,
I ran your color rendering through my ortho emulator and have the same result. Good job.
Jan

Thanks Jan... I've learned a lot from your efforts on the subject =)


And really....Everyone here...thanks!! for all the help over the years

[Laserlloyd]

Tim:

Well that didn't take long...

As you know this is Taz's plane and he know more about it then anyone. There one thing that stand out to me, the "Fok. FI 103/17" markings are to light. All the photos I have it is vary dark and crisp.

I do see the line in the cross field, nice touch. I will have to compare them more and I'll get back to you....

Personally I was one of the green color scheme group. to me there is nothing that in the photos that stands out that it is a different color BUT I do like you first render of the true color of 103/17.


Lloyd...

[Tim West]

Originally Posted by Laserlloyd

Tim:

Well that didn't take long...

As you know this is Taz's plane and he know more about it then anyone. There one thing that stand out to me, the "Fok. FI 103/17" markings are to light. All the photos I have it is vary dark and crisp.

I do see the line in the cross field, nice touch. I will have to compare them more and I'll get back to you....

Lloyd...

Lloyd,

I guess you were right huh? Lol. =D Yep, Terry was a huge help in supplying images and insight into key areas to have a look at. Aaron also... working with him on the OTF article.

So about the stencil.... You're right most photos show 103 with dark makings... And since you brought it up...I instantly knew which photo to bring up. If you look at Leaman's DR.I book on page 46...upper right..2nd photo. Ok cool....But just one sec! He has it as 102/17 Ruh Roh Wraggy!

WAIT! I know I have a photo where its marked 103/3 at Kopie. And sure enough I do. At first glance you can't really see it. it might be 102! So not wanting to have to redo...my maps I decided to do some research.

What I did was find all comparable and know photos of 102 and 103 I had. I came up with a few.......And here are the results:



And then the linen repairs. Note how bright the area is in the shadow of the tail on the known photo of 103. Also note the shape. And I don't recall seeing any photos of 102 with visible linen repairs..though I wasn't really looking. Maybe later.



This is 103 not 102.

I had always assumed that the fading was due to the heavy scraping of crap of of the fuselage. This is also why I think some of the areas of the cowl are faded looking..like you can see the rivets around the bottom.

Whew....I really didnt want to re do that

[tcrean7828]

Originally Posted by Tim West

Lloyd,

I guess you were right huh? Lol. =D Yep, Terry was a huge help in supplying images and insight into key areas to have a look at. Aaron also... working with him on the OTF article.

So about the stencil.... You're right most photos show 103 with dark makings... And since you brought it up...I instantly knew which photo to bring up. If you look at Leaman's DR.I book on page 46...upper right..2nd photo. Ok cool....But just one sec! He has it as 102/17 Ruh Roh Wraggy!

WAIT! I know I have a photo where its marked 103/3 at Kopie. And sure enough I do. At first glance you can't really see it. it might be 102! So not wanting to have to redo...my maps I decided to do some research.

What I did was find all comparable and know photos of 102 and 103 I had. I came up with a few.......And here are the results:



And then the linen repairs. Note how bright the area is in the shadow of the tail on the known photo of 103. Also note the shape. And I don't recall seeing any photos of 102 with visible linen repairs..though I wasn't really looking. Maybe later.



This is 103 not 102.

I had always assumed that the fading was due to the heavy scraping of crap of of the fuselage. This is also why I think some of the areas of the cowl are faded looking..like you can see the rivets around the bottom.

Whew....I really didnt want to re do that

Mate,
They look great - can't wait for e-mail package. (i.e. both picture please) tcrean7828@yahoo.com

The patches on 103/17 are clearly visable and pointed out by Taz when he acquired three original glass Picture plates of 103/17. Essentially pinning it down to 23 Sept 1917 as when they were taken and its last flight into history.
The patches are from a dogfight that Voss got into on the 11th of Sept, I believe and one of the pilots from the oposite team poked a few holes in his machine - rudder, tail plane, left upper wing and under the rear quarterdeck under the tailplane. If you look real close and compaire it to when it came out in Sept, it went through a He__ of being beat up- in only a month.
The 103/17 number was pretty well washed out by then by mud, dirt, caster oil, etc, that Timm had to scrape off of the fuseladge.

ttfn

tcrean7828

tom

[tengew]

Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive at USHMM -- RG-60.3352

tim if you look at frame 1:21.20 or close youll see voss in 103/17 good side view and him staning infront of the plane
looks green to me
cowl