Need a quick build! 1/48 Roden Junkers D1

[Brad Cancian]

Construction continues... I was surprised at how fast the major construction went. The construction of the fuselage is rather tricky, but full kudos to Roden as I don't think it could have been tackled in a better way... any how, major construction is now done besides some final clean up (below are some pics with it all dry fitted) and painting will likely commence in the next couple of days. I am likely going to use the same OOB scheme that Stephen Lawson used (as I believe the other scheme provided in the box is not correct for the long tailed version supplied in the kit)?




I remember now why I like the look of this little fighter

BC

[Brad Cancian]

OK guys i've been pondering over the camo information for this bird - Here's a pic of a D.I showing the wing camo:



I notice that one wing has very clear and sharp demarcation between colours but the remainder of the aircraft has a soft and much less apparrent demarcation (and very much less of a difference in tonal values for the colours). Anyone know why this may be?

To paraphrase Dan San Abbot's description of the camo from Stephen Lawson's build:

...the lilac is the dominant color and is the dark color in the photographs. The green is pale and lighter than the lilac. The color of the green is a soft, pale mossy green.

Therefore it looks to me like the aircraft would have a base camo of lilac with "strings" of the pale green painted (or likely sprayed) over the top. From Dan San Abbot's description I am guessing the green does not have many other tints (ie not a grey-green or a green-brown) so was a reasonably "pure" green but reasonably light... anyone have some paint or colour refs?

Also, what was considered the "standard" camo for this aircraft? Whas the brown / chocolate coloured fuselaged version included in the kit decals considered as "production standard" camo or was it unusual?

Cheers in advance!

BC

[Ross_Moorhouse]

This might help.... Roden 1/48 Junkers D.I

[MerlinV]

Brad,
I dunno if this helps clear things up or makes them worse, but have a look at the difference between the demarkation on the starboard wing as oposed to the port wing. There is very little demarcation evident on the Port wing at all???

Is it possible that somebody was having a play with the starboard wing, experimenting with camo?

Cheers,

Hugh

[Taz]

Brad- On the starboard wing you are looking nearly straight down into the corregations and can see the whole pattern. On the port wing you are looking across the corrugations and cannot see the whole pattern and it looks washed out because you are only seeing part of the paint. Sort of like looking at a small boat in high seas where you can only see it when nearly straight overhead, otherwise it is in the troughs and you only see waves.

Taz
Terry Phillips

[jumpinjan]

Originally Posted by Brad Cancian

Anyone know why this may be?

This D.I, in the picture, is not a production (or pre-production) unit, it is a prototype constructed by Jco. My theory on the tonal difference is probably an experiment to see which camo scheme is more effective to reduce detection & recognition visual ranges. The starboard wing panel looks similar to the camo scheme as seen on the Junkers J1. Since the port wing's tonal value is darker, I would assume that Mr Abbott is correct in his theory (Mauve is dominate color)

Originally Posted by Brad Cancian

...so was a reasonably "pure" green but reasonably light... anyone have some paint or colour refs?

Well Mr Abbott said a pale mossy green. What do you think "pale" means? The pale green color is lower in color saturation. A pure color (or a pure spectral color) of green is 100% saturated, and is going to be pretty bright, so that's just the opposite of what he said.

Originally Posted by Brad Cancian

Also, what was considered the "standard" camo for this aircraft? Whas the brown / chocolate coloured fuselaged version included in the kit decals considered as "production standard" camo or was it unusual?

The factory Junkers camo scheme is the pale green & pale mauve and I have some recent evidence that the green & mauve patterns (their shapes & locations) were standardized on each production unit as well. The chocolate brown D.I's fuselage was apparently painted in the field and some speculate that it was a squadron color (along with the blue & white banding). I know of two D.Is that were painted with the brown fuselage.
Mr Abbott's Methuen coding:
Pale Mossy Green - 2D8
Pale Mauve - 13C4
White Undersides - 20A2
Chocolate Brown - 6F4
Jan

[Brad Cancian]

Many thanks for the tips and info guys, much appreciated (even in fmy descriptions are fairly poor!)

Looks like lilac / light moss green / v/light blue it is - I will likely opt for a sprayed pattern as opposed to hard edged as there looks to be evidence that both sprayed and hand painted camo was employed (plus I am lazy and prefer spraying!!)

Right, out with the airbrush....

Thanks again!

BC

[Brad Cancian]

Ok, here she is, all done. All of the paints were my own mixture - I went with a slightly darker lilac on the basis that it was the dominant colour. The green took some playing with to come up with something that I was reasonably happy with, but the various washes I used darkened the colour somewhat, oh well - is it accurate - not so sure but I am happy enough.

The only modifications to the exterior was the addition of the foot plates on the wings, the addition of the extra undercarriage braces, the replacement of the control horns and the addition of etched jackets for the spandaus. I found the decals were very nice and very easy to use, but had a little trouble settling down (even after microsol) but this was to be expected on this type of surface.

All in all, the build took me a total of 6 days. I found the Roden kit a delight to build with few vices from the builder’s perspective (apart from the tricky fuselage, but I think Roden chose the best way to do this) - and with virtually no rigging, this kit makes a very nice change or a perfect starter for someone wishing to get into WW1 models!

Anyways, here are some pics:

[Brad Cancian]

I also tried my hand for the first time at figure painting - the figure is a resin one that I bought off ebay with no box so I am not sure of the manufacturer, but it was very nicely cast. I painted the figure in one sitting with oil paints (I only used four colours for the whole figure - black, white, burnt sienna and yellow ochre). Not great but I am happy for my first attempt!

All feedback welcome!

BC

[StephenLawson]

I like it! Another fine build Brad!