Aeromaster D.VII Hippert "Mimmi" decals

[cduckworth]

On topic, I also like that you took matters into your own hands with the 'Mimmi' lettering.

While living in St. Louis (I'm now in Omaha - near the North Pole) one of my fellow WWI modelers had a Polish book on different WWI a/c and paint schemes. One black & white drawing was Mimmi showing the top wing and a side elevation. I copied the drawing to 1/48th and traced the white Mimmi on to white decal paper and cut the individual letters out. After the white decal was dry I drew around it with black ink. Buying the decal has to be much easier. Thinking back I also used a drawing in "Over the Front" that had a side profile of Mimmi and described the blue nose, blue wheel covers and stars painted on the wheel covers.

1. Did you just draw a grid on the non-decal side of the sheet in pencil and cut them from that? I took the 1/48 drawing of Mimmi from the OtF and made up a set of individual black decal squares and started laying them out from the center line of the fuselage from the metal engine panels to the tail. Just make sure you keep them straight or it throws off all the other squares.

2. Any problems with squares being slightly 'out of true' with each other?

After I got the 1/48 size of the 'master' squares I took the decal sheet and made up probably 20 to 30 squares all the same size. I figured the painter who did Mimmi probably had a cardboard square to start as a pattern and that's somewhat I did with individual black decals.

3. How/where did you decide to place the crucial first decal, and how did you maintain even alignment? Did you check it with a ruler or was it all sort of hand/eye?

I don't remember using a ruler up probably did to ensure the first row was straight. Once you have the master set of squares down everything lined up, the real advantage to using black decals is you can overlap them due to the thinnest of the material. Also since I was decalling on gloss white I could add a little water on a previously dry black square and move it around.

4. I have the Osprey book "Fokker D.VII Aces of WWI, Part 2," and the color plates show Hippert's plane having blue interplane and cabane struts, and I noticed yours are green. Do you happen to know if there is anything remotely definitive on which it should be in order to be accurate? Or is it another of those things to disappear into the WWI correct color vortex?

My primary souces when I finished Mimmi was the 'Over the Front' description, I probably completed the model 8-9 years ago but the article must not have called out the interplane or cabane struts as being blue that's probably why I used Fokker green. At this point the choice is up to the modeler and the artist and authors doing the Osprey book probably thought the blue looked better.

[charlie bucket]

Got it. The detailed reply is much appreciated.

I have a fair idea now from looking at your model and reading your comments what the problems are going to be and how to fix them, and it doesn't seem as tricky now as it did. Preparations are underway!

Thanks.
-CB

[StephenLawson]

Greetings cduckworth; Masterful work. I have enjoyed your work for a long time. Just a bit about the kit please. Was it the DML / Dragon or ? What modifications were done to the kit? For those of you who might not be familar with this scheme here is the original. Over the front has some great shots of the other side of this bird as well.

[cduckworth]

Stephen, it's the DML kit; I only changes I made to the kit was to back date the side panels to what the Mimmi prototype had and the change the exhaust pipe to come out the side of the engine panel. I remember for 'whatever' reason the gloss white enamel took months to dry before I could start applying the black decals.

Thanks for your kind comments on my models - I've slowed down my 1/48 building since moving to Omaha as my 'other' hobby is modeling a Missouri Pacific RR branchline circa 1954. My 'to be built' pile of kits is getting larger thanks to Roden, Eduard and a few Blue Max kits I couldn't pass up. I do have a Roland C.II about finished and have the Junkers D.I ready to paint as soon as we get into Spring.

Charlie